Open loop Volt/Hertz Control of I.M.
Using
MATLAB/Simulink and its Hardware Realization
Anish Tiwari(1)
(1)
M.E. Scholar, Electrical Engineering Department
University Institute of Technology, RGPV Bhopal, India
Email: (1) anishtiwari283@gmail.com
Abstract-This paper describes MATLAB/ Simulink and hardware
implementation of open loop Volt/Hertz control of Induction
motor. These models are developed to enhance and support the
power electronic as well as electric drive education at under
graduate and post graduate levels respectively. The proposed
control strategy has been successfully deployed on hardware at
Power electronics Lab UIT RGPV, Bhopal.
Index term- dSPACE1103, Education, Induction Motor,
MATLAB/Simulink and Volt/Hertz.
I. INTRODUCTION
With advent of technology and its applications in the field
of education to make learning easier leads to the development
of simulation software which is found very useful in order to
educate young minds without actually constructing the
hardware which is sometimes not feasible in laboratories.
Although in this paper the technique has been successfully
deployed using hardware in-loop controller (dSPACE1103).
This is considered as a mere effort to make education at
undergraduate and post graduate level more interesting and to
attract the interest of student by presenting them a model of
what is actually happening while applying a controlling
technique and how the machine will behave when any such
techniques is being applied.
Electrical drive and Power Electronics courses at
undergraduate level are integrated as a part of curriculum of
RGPV University Bhopal. It includes both theoretical
explanation and practical sections. During lectures, Student gets
the knowledge regarding the type of converter being employed,
Input and output waveform analysis and how to calculate RMS
and average value. With this knowledge student has developed
considerable understanding regarding how to manipulate the
parameters of electrical machine in order to get the desired
output from it. The output can be speed or torque in case of a
Motor.
Electrical drive and Power electronic courses at post
graduate level are integrated to assist the thesis work and to
develop interest of the candidate towards research work. Since
Electric drive plays a vital role in any Industry it is therefore
desirable that concepts must be revised.
During lab session, Students performs the experiment on
control strategy that they have designed and compare the results
with calculated ones. But since lab sessions are time bounded
prior preparations need to be done to get better understanding.
This is where the role of Simulation Software
978-1-4799-6876-3/14/$31.00 2014
c IEEE
Bhoopendra Singh (2), Toshi Sharma (3), Jaydeep
Srikakolapu (4)
(2)
Asst. Professor, (3), (4) Contract Asst. Professor
Electrical Engineering Department
University Institute of Technology, RGPV Bhopal India
Comes into picture MATLAB/Simulink is one of such
software. By using MATLAB/Simulink and dSPACE1103
concepts can be very easily understood and this is what being
implemented in Power electronics Lab of UIT RGPV Bhopal.
The objective of this paper is to Simulate and implement
open loop Volt/Hertz Control Strategy which is primarily a
Scalar Control Method for speed control of induction motor
drive. In this paper, 3HP Induction motor, a Universal bridge,
PWM Generator and eddy current loading is used to observe the
load variations.
The latter of the paper is arranged in the following manner
Section I. which describes Induction Motor and its applications
in industries, comparison between three phase and Single phase
induction motor. This section also deals with dependence of
speed on various parameters. Section II deals with the
Volt/hertz Control scheme for speed control of Induction motor
drive. Section III describes various modes of operation such as
constant torque mode, constant power mode and lastly constant
slip mode under Volt/ Hertz Control strategy. Section IV is
about simulation Model of the desired control scheme and its
hardware implementation. Section V comprises of the results of
the Simulation model and their comparisons with the results
obtained after hardware implementation. Section VI includes
the conclusions being drawn from the results and lastly section
VII enlist reference papers being studied in order to formulate
the paper.
II. BASICS OF INDUCTION MOTOR
Induction motor is singly excited ac machine in which
energy is fed from a single ac source and received by the rotor
through transformer action. The stator produced mmf wave and
rotor produced mmf wave, both rotate in the air gap (same
direction) at synchronous speed. These two mmfs combine to
give resultant air gap flux density wave of constant amplitude,
consequently producing a steady electromagnetic torque. [5].
since the machine cannot run at synchronous speed it is also
known as asynchronous machine. This is due to the fact that at
synchronous speed there will be no flux cutting action of rotor
conductors hence no emf will be induced in the rotor circuitry.
Induction Motor is the most popular type of ac motor which
is used for industrial drive applications. These motors are robust
and require little maintenance [5]. Usually, 3 phase induction
motors are preferred over single phase ones because single
phase induction motors are not self starting. In most of the
industrial applications certain mechanical load is being driven
71
by the induction motor. In order to have control over the whole
process one must have control over the speed of the induction
motor [3]. This can be easily achieved by considering the
following equations. The rotor speed of Induction motor is
given by
ͳʹͲˆ
” ൌ •ሺͳ െ •ሻƒ†• ൌ
 expression is reduced to
ଵଶ଴୤
‫ ” ׵‬ൌ ሺͳ െ •ሻ (1)
୔
From equation (1), It is found that speed can be changed by
change in frequency f, number of poles P, or slip s. Anyone of
the above can be changed or any combination of the above can
be used to achieve speed control of induction motor [3].
Commonly used techniques that are employed for speed
control of Induction motor are
• Pole Changing
• Variable Supply Frequency Control
• Variable Rotor Resistance
• Variable Supply Voltage Control
• Slip Recovery
• V/f Control
• Vector Control
Out of these techniques, V/f Control is the most popular one
because of the following pros
• Transient and running performance is good
• Lower starting current requirement
• Wide and Stable operating region
• Acceleration controlled by rate of change of supply
frequency
• Good range of speed
• Voltage and frequency both reaches their rated values
at base speed
• Comparatively, cheaper than any other controlling
technique and also much easier to implement
There are certain cons of V/f Control technique
mentioned below
• Inferior dynamic performance compared to vector
control restrict V/f Control technique to be used in
areas where precision is required
III. VOLT/HERTZ CONTROL STRATEGY
Speed control has been achieved by varying the supply
frequency since voltage is proportional to product of frequency
and air gap flux. Any reduction in supply frequency, without
change in terminal voltage will cause increase in air gap flux.
Induction Motor is designed to operate at knee point of
magnetizing characteristic to make full use of the magnetic
material [2]. Increase in flux will saturates the motor resulting
in noisy operation and increased core and copper losses. A
decrease in flux should also be avoided in order retain the
torque capability of the motor. Dependence of torque on voltage
and frequency is given by the relation
72 2014 IEEE International Conference on MOOC, Innovation and Technology in Education (MITE)
.ሺ9ΤIሻ
ܶ௠௔௫ భΤ మ (2)
5V ೃೞ మ
r൤ቀ ቁ ାସగమ ሺ௅ೞ ା௅ೝ ᇲሻమ ൨
I ೑
Where K is constant, ୱ and ୰ are respectively, stator and
stator referred rotor inductances. In equation (2), the positive
sign is for Motoring operation and negative sign is for breaking
operation. When frequency is not low then the torque
୏ሺ୚Τ୤ሻమ
୫ୟ୶ ൌ േ (3)
ଶ஠ሺ୐౩ ା୐౨ ᇲ ሻ
Equation (3), suggests that with a constant Volt/Hertz (Ԉ)
ratio, Asynchronous motor develops a constant maximum
torque, except at low frequencies or speeds. Motor thus operates
in constant torque mode. For low frequencies according to
Equation (2) maximum torque will have lower value for
motoring operation (+ sign) and larger value for braking
operation (- sign). This means that flux is reduced with
motoring operation and increased with braking operation. In
order to retain same maximum torque at low speeds (Ԉ) ratio
is increased which saturates the machine in braking operation
[2].
When either Voltage (V) saturates at base speed, it cannot
be increased with frequency. Therefore, above the base speed,
frequency is changed with Voltage maintained constant.
Equation (3) implies that with Voltage (V) maintained constant,
maximum torque (୫ୟ୶ ) decreases with increase in speed or
frequency. [2]
IV. MODE OF OPERATION
The variation of maximum torque ୫ୟ୶ and power with
frequency shows that the motor has constant maximum torque
୫ୟ୶ from zero to base speedɘ୫ୠ ; hence the motor operates in
constant torque mode. In this mode slip speed ɘୱ୪ remains
unchanged. From base speed ɘ୫ୠ to speed ɘ୫ୡ , the
maximum power is constant, hence the motor is said to be
operated in constant power mode. At speed beyond ɘ୫ୡ the
motor will stall [2]. Therefore, it is advisable to operate the
machine at constant slip speed. In this mode of operation the
Fig.1 Voltage and Frequency Relation
 ௉
߱௘ ൌ ߱௠ (5)
ଶ

Where, ɘୣ is in electrical rad/sec, P is the number of pole

pairs and ɘ୫ is in mechanical rad/sec. The speed thus obtained
is then used to get the value of Ʌ and also multiplied by the V/f
ratio so as to have d-axis component of voltage i.e.,ୢୱ
.Furthermore, this value is taken in per unit by dividing it to its
base value.
The following are the advantages of per unit system
• Numerical values are related to their rated values
irrespective of the size of machine.
• Number of parameters required is minimized.
Now in order to produce reference value of voltages we will
take the aid of Park’s transformation which was introduced by
R.H Park. [1]

Fig. 2 (a) Mode of operation and torque/Power limits ݂௔ ݂ௗ

቎݂௕ ቏= [‫ܥ‬௣ ]቎ ݂௤ ቏ (6)
݂௖ ݂௢

Where ˆ஑ can be either stator voltage, current or flux

linkages of stator winding Ƚ(Ƚ ൌ ƒǡ „‘”…). [୮ ] is given by

…‘• ߠ െ •‹ ߠ ͳ
ଶగ ଶగ
[‫ܥ‬௣ ] =൦…‘• ቀߠ െ ଷ ቁ െ •‹ ቀߠ െ ቁ
ଷ
ͳ൪ (7)
ଶగ ଶగ
…‘• ቀߠ ൅ ቁ െ•‹ ቀߠ ൅ ቁ ͳ
ଷ ଷ

The Reference values of sinusoidal voltages are then

compared with high frequency carrier signal which results in
generation of pulses that are used in switching of Inverter legs.
This type of firing technique for Inverter is known as SPWM or
Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation.

Fig.2 (b) Mode of operation and variation of‫ܫ‬௦ ,ܲ௠ , ߱௦௟ and T with per unit
frequency k

motor current reduces inversely with speed and torque

decreases inversely as speed squared. This operation is required
for drives with wide speed range but low torque at high speeds.

V. SIMULATION IMPLEMENTATION AND

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Implementation of open loop V/f control topology requires
parameters such asɅ,ୢୱ and୯ୱ . It is known that Ʌ can be
obtained by integrating the speed of induction motor since it is
given by the relation where ɘthe speed in rad/sec is

ௗఏ
߱ൌ (4)
ௗ௧

The ୢୱ parameter taken in the simulation has per unit

value while ୯ୱ has null value. A speed encoder is used to
sense the mechanical speed of Induction motor. This speed is
then converted to electrical speed by using the relation
Fig. 3(a): Basic Block Diagram of V/f Control technique

2014 IEEE International Conference on MOOC, Innovation and Technology in Education (MITE) 73
 The model for open loop Volt/Hertz Control is shown in
figure 3(b). DC voltage supply is applied across Universal
bridge block which is used here as an inverter. The output of
inverter is being fed to a 3-phase induction motor whose speed
(ɘ୫ ) and torque (ୣ ) can be observed using scope. There is a 3-
phase measurement block placed between the motor and the
Fig.3 (b) Simulation Implementation of Open Loop v/f Control of an Induction
Motor Drive
The basic block diagram of the proposed topology is shown
in fig 3(a).The Simulink Library is a powerful design tool that
helps power system engineers and researchers to build models
easily. MATLAB and Simulink have been widely used by
educators to enhance teaching of speed controlling techniques
of an induction motor. Although other commercial software is
used for the purpose of education such as Maples and
MathCAD but still we have chosen MATLAB because of its
popularity among students and educational institutions. [4]
Students get idea of basic programming and simulation model
by accessing help and support of MATLAB which is embedded
with features like examples, demos and videos.
In the following both Experimental setup and Simulation are
described.
Fig.4 Experimental Arrangement of Volt/Hertz Control Strategy in Open-loop
74 2014 IEEE International Conference on MOOC, Innovation and Technology in Education (MITE)
inverter which is used to measure voltage ୟୠୡ and currentୟୠୡ .
RMS block gives the root mean squared value of voltage
waveform ୟୠୡ which can be observed using scope2.
Experimental setup for open loop Volt/Hertz strategy is
shown in figure 4. HDIL (dSPACE1103) module is used to link
the MATLAB Model with actual hardware. PWM pulses being
generated by dSPACE1103 are fed to the IGBT inverter via
PWM input and Inverter output is given to a three phase
induction motor which is coupled to eddy current loading. FRC
connecter is used to sense the speed of induction motor which
can be taken back to Control desk of dSPACE1103 in order to
observe the speed and torque waveforms on Desktop in the
dSPACE control desk.
VI.RESULTS
The waveforms of rotor speed and electromagnetic torque in
figure 5 shows the simulation result obtained from MATLAB.
The latter waveforms represent Line Voltages and Line currents
respectively.
Results obtained from hardware are shown below. Figure
6(a), figure 6 (b) and figure 6(c) represent currents in A, B and
C phases respectively. Similarly, figure 7(a), figure 7(b) and
figure 7(c) represent voltages of phase A, B and C respectively.
Figure 7 represents variations in rotor speed with respect to
the load application. It is found that the motor runs at rated
speed on no load. Its speed drops to minimum on application of
full load. With removal of load speed reaches to its rated value.
A 30 percent loading is applied on the motor and variations in
speed are observed.
Fig. 5 Simulation result of Open loop Volt/Hertz Control Strategy
 Fig 7(a) Voltage waveform for phase A in open loop Volt/Hertz Control
Scheme
Fig.6 (a) Current waveform for phase A in open loop Volt/Hertz Control
Scheme

Fig 7(b) Voltage waveform for phase B in open loop Volt/Hertz Control
Fig.6 (a) Current waveform for phase B in open loop Volt/Hertz Control Scheme
Scheme

Fig 7(c) Voltage waveform for phase C in open loop Volt/Hertz Control
Fig 6 (c) Current waveform for phase C in open loop Volt/Hertz Control Scheme
Scheme

2014 IEEE International Conference on MOOC, Innovation and Technology in Education (MITE) 75
 Fig 8 Variation in rotor speed with respect to load changes

VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper, Simulink model is explained in details and
compared with experimental results. On comparing hardware
results with the simulated ones it is found that MATLAB is
excellent tool to implement any control strategy or technique.
Furthermore, it concludes that open loop Volt/Hertz Control
technique is successfully simulated and implemented for
induction motor both on MATLAB/Simulink and Hardware
using dSPACE1103 module. A thorough understanding about
the control technique is developed which help the students to
learn the subject further in an interesting manner.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The proposed work has been carried out at Power
Electronics laboratory of UIT RGPV, Bhopal. Also, the grant
for the registration is been issued under TEQIP – II.
REFERENCES
[1] R.H. park, “two reaction theory of synchronous machines-part I;
generalized method of analysis’’, AIEE Trans. Vol. 48, pp. 716-
730, July 1929.
[2] Gopal K. Dubey, Fundamentals of Electrical Drives, Narosa
Publishing House PVT. LTD., Delhi, Second Edition, 2001.
[3] Ashfaq Husain, Electric Machines, Dhanpat Rai & CO. (Pvt.) Ltd.,
Delhi, Second Edition 2005.
[4] C.A. Canizares and Z.T. Faur, Advantages and disadvantages of
using computer tool in electrical engineering courses, IEEE
Trans. Educ., vol 40, pp. 166-171, Aug. 1997.
[5] Dr. P.S. Bimbhra, Electrical Machinery, Khanna Publishers, New
Delhi, Seventh Edition 25th Reprint: 2012.
[6]. M Harsha Vardhan Reddy and V jegathesan, “Open loop V/f
Control of Induction Motor based on hybrid PWM with Reduced
Torque Ripple”, ICETECT 2011, Karunya University.
[7]. M.C. Trigg and C.V. Nayar, “Matlab Simulink Modeling of a
Single Phase Voltage Controlled Voltage Source Inverter”, Dept.
of Electrical Engineering, Curtin University of Technology.

76 2014 IEEE International Conference on MOOC, Innovation and Technology in Education (MITE)