Speed Control of Multilevel

Inverter-Based Induction Motor

Using V/F Method

Smrati Singh, Piyush Sharma, Arpit Varshney and Ankit Kumar

Abstract In this paper, the speed of a three-phase induction motor is controlled by

using modified cascaded five-level inverter and we compared the total harmonic
distortion of the modified cascaded five-level inverter with the conventional three-
level inverter. To reduce the total harmonic distortion, multicarrier PWM is used.
An open-loop speed control has been achieved by using V/f method. The simula-
tion result gives that the modified cascaded five-level inverter effectively controls
the motor speed and enhances the drive performance through reduction in total
harmonic distortion (THD).

Keywords Modified cascaded five-level inverter (MCFLI)
Induction motor

Multicarrier PWM THD V/f control

1 Introduction

Adjustable speed drives (ASDs) are the essential and endless demand of the industries
and researchers. They are widely used in the industries to control the speed of con-
veyor systems, blower speeds, machine tool speeds, and other applications. In many

S. Singh (&)
A. Varshney

Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, SRM University, NCR Campus,
Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India
e-mail: smrati.friends@gmail.com
A. Varshney
e-mail: arpit291189@gmail.com
P. Sharma
Electrical Engineering Department, SS College of Engineering, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
e-mail: piyushsharma034@gmail.com
A. Kumar
School of Electrical, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Subharti University,
Meerut, India
e-mail: sunnytyagi2005@gmail.com

© Springer India 2015 231

K.N. Das et al. (eds.), Proceedings of Fourth International Conference on Soft
Computing for Problem Solving, Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 335,
DOI 10.1007/978-81-322-2217-0_20
232 S. Singh et al.

industrial applications, traditionally, DC motors were the workhorses for the ASDs
due to their tremendous speed and torque response. But, they have the inherent
inconvenience of commutator and mechanical brushes, which undergo wear and tear
with the passage of time. In most cases, AC motors are preferred to DC motors, in
particular an induction motor due to its low cost, low maintenance, lower weight,
higher efficiency, improved ruggedness, and reliability. All these features make the
use of induction motors mandatory in many areas of industrial applications [1–5].
The advancement in power electronics and semiconductor technology has trig-
gered the development of high-power and high-speed semiconductor devices in
order to achieve a smooth, continuous, and step-less variation in motor speed.
Applications of solid-state converters/inverters for adjustable speed induction motor
drive are widespread in electromechanical systems for a large spectrum of industrial
systems. Voltage or current converters, as they generate discrete output waveforms,
force the use of machines with special isolation and in some applications large
inductances connected in series with the respective load. Also, it is well known that
distorted voltages and current waveforms produce harmonic contamination, addi-
tional power losses, and high-frequency noise that can affect not only the power
load but also the associated controllers. All these unwanted operating characteristics
associated with pulse-width modulation (PWM) converters could be overcome with
multilevel converters. Nowadays, multilevel inverters are the promising alternative
and cost-effective solution for high-voltage and high-power applications including
power quality and motor drive problems. Multilevel structure allows raising the
power-handling capability of the system in a powerful and systematic way.
In this paper, three-level and a modified cascaded five-level inverter Simulink
models are developed for induction motor drives. A modified cascaded five-level
inverter has less number of switches as compared to conventional five-level
H-bridge inverter. THD of this inverter has been compared with the conventional
three-level inverter and gives a reduced amount of THD. The simulation of three-
level and modified cascaded five-level inverter-fed induction motor models is
carried out in MATLAB. The FFT spectrums for the outputs are analyzed to study
the reduction in the harmonics.

2 Multilevel Inverter

Multilevel voltage source converters are emerging as a new breed of power con-
verter options for high-power applications. The multilevel voltage source converters
typically synthesize the staircase voltage wave from several levels of dc voltages.
There are some multilevel voltage source converters which are
1. Diode clamp
2. Flying capacitors
3. Cascaded inverters
Speed Control of Multilevel Inverter-Based Induction Motor … 233

Increasing the number of voltage levels in the inverter without requiring higher
rating on individual devices can increase power rating. The unique structure of
multilevel voltage source inverters allows them to reach high voltages with low
harmonics without the use of transformers or series-connected synchronized
switching devices. The harmonic content of the output voltage waveform decreases
significantly. Ac loads require constant or adjustable voltages at their input termi-
nals. When such loads are fed by inverters, it is essential that output voltage of the
inverters is so controlled as to fulfill the requirements of AC loads. This involves
coping with the variation of DC input voltage, for voltage regulation of inverters and
for the constant volts/frequency control requirement. There are various techniques to
vary the inverter gain. The most efficient method of controlling the gain (and output
voltage) is to incorporate PWM control within the inverters. The carrier-based PWM
schemes used for multilevel inverters are one of the most straightforward methods of
describing voltage source modulation realized by the intersection of a modulating
signal (duty cycle) with triangular carrier waveform [6, 7].

3 Modified Cascaded Five-Level Inverter

In modified cascaded five-level inverter, an auxiliary circuit is added in the simple

H-bridge inverter. The output voltage of simple H-bridge inverter is the three-level
voltage waveform, and to make it a five-level waveform, the auxiliary circuit is
connected, which contains two back-to-back IGBT switches in series with the
diodes. Figure 1 shows a single-phase modified cascaded five-level inverter.
For +Vdc/2, switches S4 and S6 are on, for +Vdc, switches S1 and S4 are on, for –
Vdc/2, switches S2 and S3 are on, for –Vdc, switches S2 and S5 are on, and for zero,
either switches S4, S1 or switches S2, S4 is conduct shows in Table 1. Therefore,
five-level inverter output voltage is obtained. Multicarrier sinusoidal PWM law has
been adopted to generate the gating pulses for modified cascaded five-level inverter.

Fig. 1 Single-phase modified cascaded five-level inverter

234 S. Singh et al.

Table 1 Switching states

On switching state Va Vb Vab = V0
S4, S1 Vdc 0 +Vdc
S4, S6 Vdc/2 0 +Vdc/2
S4, S3 0 0 0
S2, S1 Vdc/2 Vdc/2 0
S2, S5 0 Vdc –Vdc
S2, S3 0 Vdc/2 –Vdc/2

Fig. 2 Pulse width modulation for generating the gate pulses

4 Adopted Pulse Width Modulation

Figure 2 shows the pulse width modulation for generating gate pulses of single-
phase MCFLI. To obtain the five-level PWM, reference sine wave is compared with
two triangular carrier waves of high frequency (about 1.6–2 kHz). First, Vref is
compared with the carrier 1 as Vref [ Vc1 up to Φ1. After Φ2, Vref is compared with
Vc2 and similar outputs received. If modulating index is (Ma) > 0.5, the output will
be a five level. Modulating index is Ma = Am/2Ac, where Am is amplitude of
modulating (reference) signal and Ac is the amplitude of carrier signal.

5 Speed Control of Induction Motor

It is very important to control the speed of induction motors in industrial and

engineering applications. Efficient control strategies are used for reducing operation
cost too. Speed control techniques of induction motors can be broadly classified into
two types—scalar control and vector control. Scalar control involves controlling the
magnitude of voltage or frequency of the induction motor (Fig. 3) [8–11].
Having known the torque–speed characteristic of the motor, its speed can be
controlled in three ways:
(i) Changing the number of poles
(ii) Varying the input voltage at fixed frequency
(iii) Varying both the input voltage and frequency accordingly
Speed Control of Multilevel Inverter-Based Induction Motor … 235

Fig. 3 Torque–speed characteristic of induction motor

To maintain the torque capability of the motor close to the rated torque at any
frequency, the air gap flux, uag , is maintained constant. Any reduction in the supply
frequency without changing the supple voltage will increase the air gap flux, and
the motor may go to saturation. This will increase the magnetizing current, distort the
line current and voltage, and increase the core loss and copper loss, and it makes the
system noisy.
The air gap voltage is related to uag and the frequency f as

Eag ¼ K1 uag f ð1Þ

Vs  K1 uag f ð2Þ

or

Vs
uag ¼ constant  ð3Þ
f

where K1 is a constant.

6 V/F Control of Induction Motor

Figure 4 shows the block diagram of closed-loop V/f control of three-phase

induction motor. The speed error is processed through a PI controller and slip speed
regulator. The slip speed regulator sets the slip speed command xsl , whose maxi-
mum value is limited to limit the inverter current to a permissible value [12–15].
236 S. Singh et al.

Fig. 4 Closed-loop volts/Hz

control of induction motor

The synchronous speed, obtained by adding actual speed xr and slip speed xsl ,
determines the inverter frequency. The reference signals for the closed-loop control
of the machine terminal voltage Vs are generated from frequency f using a function
generator. It ensures nearly a constant flux operation up to the base speed and the
operation at a constant terminal voltage above the base speed. A step increased in
speed command xm produces a positive speed error. The slip speed command xsl is
set at a maximum value. The drive accelerated at a maximum permissible inverter
current and producing the maximum available torque until the speed error is
reduced.

7 Simulation Results

Figure 5 shows the MATLAB/Simulink model of closed-loop V/f control of three-

phase induction motor. It consists of DC source, three-phase inverter, and three-phase
induction motor as open loop, and in addition to that, it has PI controller and limiter.

12.38

Constant2 Tm
g
+ <Rotor speed (wm)>
A
A <Electromagnetic torque Te (N*m)>
Vdc m
B B <Stator current is_a (A)>
- <Stator current is_b (A)>
C
C <Stator current is_c (A)> Scope2
Universal Bridge
3 HP - 220 V
60 Hz - 1725 rpm
gate pulses
actual speed

Subsystem

Fig. 5 MATLAB/Simulink model for closed-loop V/f control of induction motor

Speed Control of Multilevel Inverter-Based Induction Motor … 237

-K- >
PI f(u)
157
NOT
V/f Relational
Saturation Fcn1
Constant1 Discrete 1
Operator Logical
PI Controller f(u) > gate pulses
Operator2
1
Fcn2 Relational
actual speed
NOT
Operator1
f(u)

Clock Logical
Fcn3 >
Operator4

Relational
NOT
Operator2
Repeating
Sequence Logical

Operator5

Fig. 6 MATLAB/Simulink model for pulse generation

Now, the simulation circuit is run with closed-loop control that shows speed of the
induction motor. Here, a subsystem shows the generation of gate pulses, and a uni-
versal bridge is used as a three-phase inverter. Figure 6 shows the Simulink model for
generating the pulses.
Figures 7, 8 and 9 show the motor speed, torque, and stator current of a three-
phase inverter-fed induction motor. Reference speed is set at 157 rad/s. It reaches
the steady state at 0.3 s.

Fig. 7 Speed of three-level

inverter-fed I/M

Fig. 8 Torque curve of

three-level inverter-fed I/M
238 S. Singh et al.

Fig. 9 Stator current of

three-level inverter-fed I/M

Figure 10 shows the PWM generation for a modified cascaded five-level inverter
for one phase. PWM generation is considered the more important in the inverter
design, and several multicarrier techniques have been developed to reduce the
distortion in multilevel inverters, based on the classical (SPWM) with triangular
carriers.
The PWM pattern adopted in modified cascaded five-level inverter makes the
inverter producing output voltage with three levels (zero and half supply dc voltage
positive and negative, respectively) at modulation index (Ma ≤ 0.5) and five levels
(zero, half, and full supply voltage positive and negative, respectively) at modu-
lation index (Ma > 0.5).
Figure 11 shows the modified cascaded five-level inverter for a single phase.
Here, only six controlled switches are used to get five levels which reduced the
complexity of the circuit and the total harmonic distortion as compared to con-
ventional inverter.

Sine Wave

Divide
AND 1
OR Out1
Sine Wave1 Logical
Add1
Operator Logical
NOT
Pulse Operator5
Divide1 2
Generator1 Logical
NOT Out2
Operator7
Logical
Operator9 AND
>=
Logical
Scope2
Relational Operator1
OR 3
Operator
Out3
Repeating Logical
Sequence Operator6
AND NOT 4
Interpolated
Out4
Logical Logical
>= Operator2 Operator8
15 Add
Relational
Constant
Operator1

AND

Logical
Operator3
5
Pulse Out5
Generator NOT

Logical
6
Operator4
Out6

Fig. 10 MATLAB/Simulink model for pulse generation of MCFLI

Speed Control of Multilevel Inverter-Based Induction Motor … 239

iout

To Workspace3
i
+
-
+ Current Measurement1

C
g

C
Vdc
m g s1 s2
E C

m
m

E
i s5 Connection
+ Diode1
- Port
Current Measurement2 1
g m
Connection
C E Port1
s6 2
Diode2

C
Vdc1
s3 s4

m
E

E
Out1

Out2

Out3

Out4

Out5

Out6
sinusoidal PWM
generator

Fig. 11 MATLAB/Simulink model for modified cascaded five-level inverter

Figure 12 shows Simulink model for the open-loop V/f control of the modified
cascaded five-level inverter-fed induction motor. Here, remaining two phases have
been obtained by giving a 120° phase shift in modulating signal. The scope is
connected through bus selector that shows speed, torque, and stator current of the
induction motor.
Figures 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 show the phase voltage, line voltage, motor
speed, torque, stator current, and THD of a modified cascaded five-level inverter.
By comparing the three-phase inverter and a modified cascaded five-level inverter,
we can say that the distortion in five-level inverter voltage is less. The current

12.38
Phase A
Constant2 Tm

Connectiction <Rotor speed (wm)>

Port A
Phase B <Electromagnetic torque Te (N*m)>
m
B <Stator current is_a (A)>

Connectiction <Stator current is_b (A)>

Port C
Phase C <Stator current is_c (A)>
3 HP - 220 V Scope1
60 Hz - 1725 rpm
Connectiction
Port

Fig. 12 MATLAB/Simulink model for modified cascaded five-level inverter-fed I/M

240 S. Singh et al.

Fig. 13 Phase voltage of a modified cascaded five-level inverter

Fig. 14 Line voltage of a modified cascaded five-level inverter

waveforms are closed to sinusoidal. The speed and torque ripples are very less as
compared to three-phase inverter. Dynamic response is also better for five-level
inverter, which can be observed from the speed and torque waveforms. Figures 18
and 19 represent the harmonic spectrum analysis of a five-level inverter. In this
case, the total harmonic distortion is 12.30 % in phase voltage and 1.55 % in line
voltage. Table 2 shows the comparison of THD in three-level inverter and modified
cascaded five-level inverter.
Speed Control of Multilevel Inverter-Based Induction Motor … 241

Fig. 15 Speed of a modified Speed Curve

cascaded five-level inverter- 200
fed I/M
150

Speed in rad/sec
100

50

-50
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Time in sec

Fig. 16 Torque of a modified Torque Curve

cascaded five-level inverter- 200
fed I/M
Torque in N-M

100

-100
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Time in sec

Fig. 17 Stator current of a Stator Current

modified cascaded five-level 150
inverter-fed I/M 100
Current in Amp

50

-50

-100

-150
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Time in Sec
242 S. Singh et al.

Fig. 18 Harmonic spectrum

of phase voltage and voltage
of modified cascaded five-
level inverter

Fig. 19 Harmonic spectrum

of line

Table 2 Comparison of
THD Parameter THD (%) in THD (%) in
three-level modified cascaded
inverter five-level inverter
Phase voltage 22.50 12.30
Line voltage 4.27 1.55

8 Conclusion

A three-level and a modified cascaded five-level inverters have been simulated. The
following features of the system have been demonstrated in the simulation study.
The less total harmonic distortion has been achieved in phase voltage and line
voltage with modified cascaded five-level inverter. Speed of the induction motor
has been controlled and achieved the steady-state response in 3 s in the case of
three-level inverter and in 25 s in the case of modified five-level inverter.
Speed Control of Multilevel Inverter-Based Induction Motor … 243

Appendix

Parameter Values

Induction motor: RS = 0.435 Ω, LlS = 4e − 3H, R0r ¼ 0:816 X, L0lr ¼ 2e  3 H,

Lm = 69.31e3 H, p = 4, power = 3 hp, line–line voltage (rms) = 220 V.
PI controller: Ki = 50, Kp = 2.

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