ELECTRIC DRIVES

MODULE 5

JEENA JOHN, ASST. PROFESSOR, GEC THRISSUR

Module 5 (7 hours)

Concept of space vector – Clarke and Park transformation – field orientation

principle – Introduction to direct vector control of induction motor drives –
decoupling of flux and torque components - space vector diagram and block
diagram

Synchronous motor drives – v/f control – open loop control – self-controlled

mode – load commutated CSI fed synchronous motor.
Variable Frequency Control
• Synchronous speed is directly proportional to frequency.
• Motor speed can be controlled by varying the frequency. For speed control below base
speed, frequency is decreased so that V/f ratio is constant.
• For speed control above base speed, frequency is increased keeping the terminal voltage
at rated value. Unlike an induction machine, it will run at synchronous speed or will not
run at all.
• Variable frequency control may employ any of the two modes :
i) true synchronous mode or
ii) self controlled mode (or self synchronous mode).
• In the open loop or true-synchronous mode, the motor speed is controlled
independently by changing the voltage and frequency of an inverter or cycloconverter.
• In the self control mode, the stator frequency is automatically adjusted by the motor
speed according to the information obtained from an absolute rotor position sensor
mounted on the machine shaft.
 Open Loop Inverter-fed Synchronous Motor Drives

• In true synchronous mode, the motor speed is

controlled independently by changing the
output frequency and voltage of an inverter or
cycloconverter as shown.
• If a diode rectifier is used instead of controlled
rectifier, the input voltage to the inverter is
constant and the output voltage and frequency
can be varied by using PWM technique of the
inverter.
• If the frequency is suddenly changed or changed at a high rate, the rotor poles
may not be able to follow the stator rotating field and the motor will lose
synchronism. Therefore, the rate at which the frequency is changed must be
restricted.
• A sudden change in load torque may also cause the motor to lose synchronism.
The open loop drive is therefore not suitable for applications in which load may
change suddenly.
• This simple method is attractive in multi-motor installations where all the motors
must run at exactly the same speed.
Self Controlled Synchronous Motor

• A synchronous motor tends to lose synchronism on shock loads.

• In the open loop or true synchronous mode, if a load is suddenly applied, the rotor
momentarily slows down, making the torque angle δ increased beyond 90° and leading to
loss of synchronism.
• However, if the rotor position is sensed as the rotor slows down and the information is
used to decrease the stator frequency, the motor will stay in synchronism.
• In such a scheme, the rotor speed will adjust the stator frequency and the drive system is
known as a self-controlled synchronous motor drive.
• Two converters are used, one at the supply end and the other at the machine end. In the
motoring mode of operation, the supply-side converter operates in the rectification mode
and the load-side converter in the inversion mode.
• The roles of the rectifiers reverse for regenerative braking, in which the power flow
reverses.
• The thyristors in the supply-side converter are commutated by the supply line voltage and
those in the load-side converter by the excitation voltage of the synchronous machine.

• The rotor position sensor, mounted on the rotor shaft, generates signals having rotor
position information. These signals are processed in the control logic circuit and used to
fire the thyristors of the load-side converter.
• Therefore, any change in the rotor speed due to change in load will immediately
change the frequency of the firing of the thyristors and hence adjust the stator
frequency at the correct rate to maintain synchronism. (Frequency of operation of the
inverter will be same as the frequency of the induced voltages.)
• A current loop is implemented around the supply end rectifier to maintain the machine
current at the desired value.
• The dc link current Id, being proportional to the machine current Ia, is compared with the
reference current and the error signal adjusts the firing of the supply end rectifier to
keep the armature current constant at the reference value.
• Torque developed in the synchronous motor is given
by,
3𝑋𝑠 ′
𝑇= 𝐼 𝐼 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝛽
𝜔𝑠 𝑎 𝑓
where β is the angle between the Ia and If’ phasors.
• Torque varies sinusoidally with the angle β.This
angle β can be controlled in the control logic circuit
for the machine end rectifier, because the signal
from the rotor position sensor defines the position of
the field axis and the firing instant of the thyristors
defines the position of the armature field axis.
• If angle β is regulated at a specified value and the
field current is kept constant, the torque (and hence
the speed) can be directly controlled by the armature
current. This current is controlled by the current
control loop of the supply end rectifier.
 Closed Loop Speed Control
• For a self controlled synchronous motor drive system without
closed loop speed control, if the load torque is changed, the speed
will change.
• If the speed is to be maintained constant, the dc link current Id
must be adjusted to satisfy the change in the load torque. This
can be achieved by inserting an outer speed loop as shown in
figure.
• The position sensor supplies information about the position of the
rotor field as well as the speed of the rotor. If the speed drops
because of an increase in load torque on the synchronous motor,
the speed error increases, which in turn increases the current
demand Id*.
• Consequently, the firing angle of the controlled rectifier will
change to alter the dc link current Id to produce more torque as
required by the increased load torque. The speed will eventually
be restored to its initial value.
Load Commutated CSI fed Synchronous Motor in Self
Synchronous mode
• A load commutated current source inverter fed synchronous motor is shown below.

• This synchronous motor operates in self-synchronous mode. A rotor position sensor is

mandatory.
• The currents waveforms are switched according to the measured rotor position information
such that the current waveform in each phase has a fixed angular displacement γ with
respect to the induced emf of the current in the corresponding phase.
• The load commutation is possible only if the synchronous motor is operating at
leading power factor (when it is overexcited).
• Because of the large dc link inductor, the phase currents may be considered to
remain constant between switching intervals.
• The quasi-square current waveforms contain many harmonics and are responsible for
large torque pulsations that may become troublesome at low speed.
• The motor can be reversed easily by reversing the sequence of switching of the
inverter.
• It can also be braked regeneratively by increasing the firing angle of the input rectifier
beyond 90◦ while maintaining the dc-link current at the desired braking level until
braking is no longer required.
• The rectifier now returns the energy of the overhauling load to the ac mains
regeneratively.
Field Oriented Control (Vector Control)

• Advantages of DC drives over AC drives using conventional inverter-fed induction

motors are
1. Good transient response of the DC motor
2. Torque can be directly controlled even under transient conditions by controlling the
armature current.
• In a separately excited dc motor, electromagnetic torque is proportional to the product
of field flux and armature current.
• If magnetic saturation is neglected, field flux is proportional to field current and is
unaffected by the armature current because of orthogonal (field flux and armature flux
are 90°apart) displacement.
• Hence for a separately excited dc motor, if the field current is kept constant, the
torque will be proportional to the armature current. The field flux and the developed
torque can be independently controlled.
• In an AC induction motor, the flux producing current (Im) and torque producing current
(Ir’) are ‘inside’ the motor and cannot be measured externally or controlled separately.
• As in the DC drive, these two currents are also roughly at 90° to one another and
their vector sum makes up the stator current, which can be measured or controlled.
• This is what makes the control of an AC motor more difficult than its DC counterpart.
• In induction motor, stator flux rotates at synchronous speed.
• Rotor flux also rotates at synchronous speed, but it lags the stator flux by an angle
which depends on the slip.
• Since this angle is not 90°,independent control of torque and flux are not possible.
• Objective of the vector control is to produce the two fluxes at 90°.
• Hence, it produces separately excited dc motor type characteristics.
• The vector control can be implemented by either direct method or indirect method.
The methods are different essentially by how the rotor flux position θ is generated.
 Concept of Space Vector

• Any three time varying quantities (such as currents,

voltages and flux linkages of AC motors), whose sum is
always equal to zero and are spatially displaced by 120˚
can be expressed as space vector.
• In a 3 phase induction motor, the stator winding creates
current and mmf, which are sinusoidally distributed along
the airgap.
• Is, the space vector represents the instantaneous
magnitude and angle of sinusoidal distribution of current
vector in space. Its magnitude and angle varies with time.
Principle of Vector Control

• In Vector control we are controlling Im and Iw independently

• There are 3 stator currents in a 3 phase induction motor and they together produce
the required flux and torque inside the machine.
• To control torque and flux independently, we transform 3 phase stator currents (Ia, Ib,
Ic) into 2 phase current by using ABC to dq transformation (Clarke and Park
Transformation)
• Now the 2 phase currents are
1. Flux producing component Id which produces net flux in the motor.
2. Torque producing component Iq which produces torque in the motor.
▪ Two phase stationary frame (α,β) to (d,q) rotating reference frame components
• In the direct method, the rotor flux vector is computed from the terminal quantities of the motor.

• In the indirect vector control method (figure shown below), rotor flux angle is indirectly obtained
by summation of the rotor speed and slip speed. It is simpler to implement than the direct method
and is used increasingly in induction motor control.
Block Diagram of Direct Vector Control
Block Diagram of Indirect Vector Control