A Modified Online Rotor Time Constant Updating

Algorithm in Induction Motor Drives

Pengpeng Cao, Xing Zhang, Shuying Yang

School of Electrical Engineering and Automation
Hefei University of Technology
Hefei, China
Email: caopengpeng1216@163.com

Abstract—Rotor time constant is a key parameter in an results are described in Section IV. Conclusion and future work
induction motor drive with indirect field oriented control. In this are given in Section V.
paper, a modified Model Reference Adaptive Controller (MRAC)
utilizing d-axis stator voltage is proposed for online updating of
rotor time constant. Compared with the traditional d-axis voltage
II. IM MODEL AND STEADY-STATE ANALYSIS WITH
model, the information of torque current and stator frequency is DETUNED SLIP GAIN
incorporated into the adaptive scheme to expand its effective
range. Besides, the modified scheme is derived through A. IM Model
Lyapunov theorem. Simulation results are given to verify the The dynamic model of IM in synchronous reference frame
proposed algorithm and analysis. is given as (1), with stator current and rotor flux selected as
state variables [10].
Keywords—d-axis stator voltage; induction motor drive;
lyapunov theorem; rotor time constant d ª is º ª is º
«ψ » = A «ψ » + Bus (1)
dt ¬ r ¼ ¬ r¼
I. INTRODUCTION
T T T
Induction motor (IM) drive with indirect field oriented where is = ª¬isd isq º¼ , ψ r = ª¬ψ rd ψ rq º¼ , us = ¬ªusd usq ¼º ,
control (IFOC) is popular due to its simple structure and fast
dynamic response [1]. Detuned rotor time constant would lead ª § Rs L2m · Lm § 1 ·º
«− ¨ + ¸ I − ωe J 2 ¨ ∗ I 2 − ωr J 2 ¸ »
to incorrect field orientation, deteriorating the performance of « © σ Ls σ Ls LrTr∗ ¹ 2 σ Ls Lr
© Tr ¹»
the system [2]. A= ,
« Lm 1 »
Many online rotor time constant estimation algorithms have « I2 − ∗ I 2 − ωs J 2 »
«¬ Tr∗ Tr »¼
been reported in literatures [1]-[9]. The MRAC-based T
estimation scheme is attractive because of its simplicity and ª 1 º ª1 0 º ª0 −1º
easy implementation [1]. Depending on the functional B=« I 2 O2 » , I2 = « » , J2 = « » ,
candidate used to form the error signal, such as d-axis voltage ¬ σ Ls ¼ ¬0 1 ¼ ¬1 0 ¼
[3], [4], reactive power [1], various kinds of MRACs have been ª0 0º
developed. The advantages and limitations of various models O2 = « *
» , and Tr and Tr are the rotor time constant used
¬ 0 0 ¼
were discussed in detail from different perspectives [3]. In [4],
d-axis voltage is chosen to form a MRAC to track the variation for slip calculation and its actual value, ωe, ωr, and ωs are
of the rotor resistance. Besides, other issues such as the synchronous, rotor and slip angular frequency, respectively.
nonlinear characteristics of the power devices, stator resistance The parameters of the tested IM in this paper are given in
variation were also taken into consideration. However, the Table I.
effective range and the stability of the model were not clarified.
In this paper, a modified d-axis stator voltage based MRAC TABLE I. PARAMETERS OF THE TESTED IM
is studied in detail. It is concluded that the traditional d-axis
voltage model is limited and the information of torque current Rated parameters values Rated Parameters values
and stator frequency should be introduced into the scheme to Rated power 10kW Stator resistance 0.076
confirm its effectiveness in more industry applications.
Moreover, such an incorporation is further derived through Rated voltage 220V Rotor resistance 0.055
Lyapunov theorem. This paper is organized as follows. The Rated current 32A Magnetizing inductance 13.6mH
effect of detuned rotor time constant on rotor flux and stator
voltage is investigated in Section II. Lyapunov theorem is Rated frequency 100Hz Stator inductance 14.1mH
applied to derive the adaptive scheme in Section III. Simulation Pole Pairs 2 Rotor inductance 14.1mH

978-1-5090-5157-1/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 1670

 According to the principle of the indirect rotor flux oriented time constant detuning on d-axis stator voltage for different
control method, the slip frequency is given by: current references at different speeds.
is∗q
ωs = (2)
Tr is∗d

(Wb)
where isq* and isd* are the reference values for torque-producing
and magnetizing current.

*
rq -rq
B. Q-Axis Rotor Flux Error
The rotor time constant error has a pronounced effect on isq
rotor flux. In steady state, by neglecting the derivation d/dt in (A
)
(1) and solving for ψr, q-axis rotor flux can be obtained as:

Tr∗ Fig. 1. 3D plot of function curve between q-axis rotor flux error and torque
isd isq − isd isq current, rotor time cosntant mismatch.
Tr
ψ rq = Lm isd 2
(3)
§ Tr∗ · 2 2
¨ ¸ isq + isd
© Tr ¹
According to (3), it is seen that accurate field orientation is

Δusd (V)
naturally achieved if Tr = Tr* and q-axis rotor flux is simplified
as ψrq=ψrq* =0. In the case of Tr  Tr*, one can find that the
polarity of q-axis rotor flux error is in relation with Tr error as
well as the sign of torque current. For the tested IM tabulated in
Table I, the effects of the rotor time constant detuning on q- isq
(A
axis rotor flux for different current references are plotted in ) kr
Fig. 1, where kr = Tr*/Tr. (a)

C. D-Axis Stator Volatge Error

From (1), steady-state d-axis stator voltage can be obtained
Δusd (V)

as:
Lm
usd = Rs isd − ωeσ Ls isq − ωe ψ rq (4)
Lr
isq
If perfect field orientation is achieved, i.e., ψrq=ψrq* =0, (4) (A
) kr
would become:
(b)
usd = Rs isd − ωeσ Ls isq (5)
Fig. 2. 3D plot of function curve between d-axis stator voltage error and
According to (4) and (5), the stator voltage error can be torque current, rotor time cosntant mismatch: (a) 30r/min, (b) 2400r/min.
defined as:
Δusd = Rs isd − ωeσ Ls isq − usd (6) III. PROPOSED SCHEME
Summing up (3) and (6), steady-state d-axis stator voltage In this section, Lyapunov theorem is utilized to derive the
error can be obtained as: adaptive scheme. For the rotor time constant used for slip
calculation, two different models were supposed: one is the
Tr∗ reference model (Tr = Tr*), the other is the adjustable model in
1− which the rotor time constant used for slip calculation is
Tr
Δusd = (1 − σ ) Ls is2d isqωe 2
(7) unknown, as shown in (1). Meanwhile, the rotor speed and the
§ Tr∗ · 2 2 current references are presumed to be same for both cases.
¨ ¸ isq + isd Corresponding to (1), the dynamic expression of the reference
© Tr ¹ model in dq frame can be obtained as:
As shown in (7), it is obvious that detuned rotor time
constant can impose an influence on the amplitude of stator d ª isref º ª isref º
«ψ » = Aref «ψ » + Bref usref (8)
voltage and its alignment between d- and q- axis, especially in dt ¬ rref ¼ ¬ rref ¼
high-speed range. Moreover, the sign of d-axis voltage error is
determined by both the rotor time constant mismatch and the Subtracting (8) from (1), the estimation error of the stator
sign of the term isqωe. Fig. 2 presents the effects of the rotor current and rotor flux is described by the following equation.

1671
 d be traditional d-axis voltage model, as presented in [4].
e = Ae e + W (9) Besides, the stator frequency may be zero in industry
dt
application, while division by zero is not allowed. Furthermore,
ª Δi º ª i − i º in order to improve the speed of the rotor time constant
where e = « s » = « s sref » , updating, the following proportional and integral adaptive
¬ Δψ r ¼ ¬ψ r −ψ rref ¼ scheme is usually used practically.
ª § Rs L2m · Lm § 1 ·º 1 1
«− ¨ + ¸ I 2 − ωr J 2 ¨ ∗ I 2 − ωr J 2 ¸ » = + kp λd Δusd + ki λd ³ Δusd dt (15)
« © σ Ls σ Ls LrTr∗ ¹ σ Ls Lr © Tr ¹» , Tr Trini
Ae =
« Lm 1 »
« I2 − ∗ I2 » where Trini denotes the initial value of the rotor time constant,
«¬ Tr∗ Tr »¼ kp and ki are the adaptation gains and

­ ωc 0 ≤ ωe ≤ ωc
ª us − usref º
− ωs J 2 is + ωsref J 2 isref » sgn ( isq ) °
W = «« σ Ls ».
λd = , k ω = ® ωe ωe > ωc (16)
kω °−ω
«¬ −ωs J 2ψ r + ωsref J 2ψ rref »¼ ¯ c − ωc ≤ ωe < 0

Then the following Lyapunov function candidate is defined. sgn denotes the sign function, ωc is the cutoff frequency,
typical choices are between 0.05 and 0.2 per unit of the rated
2
§1 1 · stator frequency.
V = eT e + ¨ − ∗ ¸ / λ (10)
© Tr Tr ¹
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
where λ is a positive constant. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed anlysis
The time derivative of V becomes and rotor time constant updating algorithm, an IM drive with
IFOC has been simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK. The
§ 1 1 ·§ 1 d 1 · parameters of the motor are available in Table I. In the
V = eT ( AeT + Ae ) e + 2 ¨ − ∗ ¸¨
d
− Lm isqψ rq ¸ (11 simulation, the actual value of rotor time constant is presumed
dt T
© r Tr ¹© λ dt Tr ¹ to be constant while the initial value of slip gain is changed
) deliberately to introduce Tr mismatch. To validate the analysis
Compared Ae with A, one can find that Ae is the state matrix of sign relation between d-axis stator voltage error and Tr
when the slip frequency of IM is zero, thus, (AeT + A) is mismatch, the reference torque current and Tr used to obtain
negative-semidefinite. Therefore, one can find the following slip element is supposed to vary according to Fig. 3.
adaptive scheme by equalizing the second term to the third Fig. 4(a) and Fig. 4(b) show the simulation results for usd
term from (11). and usdm response curves at the speed of 300 r/min and –300
r/min when Tr and isq* vary as depicted in Fig. 3, where usdm =
d 1
= λ Lm isqψ rq (12) λdusd. From Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, it is seen that the modified d-
dt Tr axis stator voltage error usdm can reflect the error of rotor time
constant correctly when compared with the traditional d-axis
Summing up (3) and (12), it can be concluded that the
stator voltage error usd. Therefore, it can be concluded that the
torque current must be incorporated in the scheme, confirming
modified MRAC utilizing d-axis stator voltage can be a
q-axis rotor flux mode is still available when the sign of torque
reliable estimator of slip gain.
current is negative. From (4), steady-state q-axis rotor flux of
IM is obtained as:
Lr Rs isd − ωeσ Ls isq − usd
ψ rq = (13)
Lm ωe
Substituting (13) in (12), the following scheme having no
need of flux estimation can be obtained: 1/Tr*
1/Tr=8
d 1 Rs isd − ωeσ Ls isq − usd isq
= λ Lr isq = λ Lr Δu (14)
dt Tr ωe ωe sd 1/Tr=2

Summing up (7) and (14), it is shown that the effect of the Time (s)
term isqωe on the effectiveness of the method is eliminated with
the incorporation of the term isq/ωe in the proposed modified Fig. 3. Presumed step variation in torque current refernce and slip gain used
scheme. Therefore, the effective range of the d-axis stator for slip frequency calculation.
voltage based MRAC is expanded. Meanwhile, if the ratio of
torque current to stator frequency is positive, (14) turns out to

1672
 Δusd ( V )

1/Tr (s1)
Δusdm ( Wb )

Time (s)
(a)
Δusd ( V )

rq (Wb)
Δusdm ( Wb )

Time (s)
(b)
Fig. 6. Simulation waveforms of online updating of slip gain and q-axis rotor
Fig. 4. Simulation waveforms of usd and usdm with the motor running at flux, –300 r/min.
different speeds: (a) 300 r/min, (b) –300 r/min.
The updating process at speed of 300 r/min is presented in
Fig. 5. Corresponding curves of q-axis rotor flux are also given.
At 2s, the updating scheme is activated. At 7s, a step change
from 40.8A to –40.8A is applied in the torque current
reference. As shown in Fig. 5, accurate convergence of slip
1/Tr (s1)

gain is confirmed. Similarly, online updating of Tr at reversal

speed of 300 r/min is demonstrated in Fig. 6. It is shown that
the effective range of d-axis stator voltage based MRAC is
expanded and the proposed scheme is validated.

V. CONCLUSION
This paper presents a modified d-axis stator voltage based
MRAC for online updating of rotor time constant. It is shown
that the information of torque current and stator frequency
should be incorporated into the traditional d-axis stator voltage
model to expand its effective range. Such an introduction is
rq (Wb)

further proved though Lyapunov theorem. The validity of the

algorithm has been verified using simulations. Future work will
focus on a comprehensive stability analysis of the model
reference adaptive system utilizing d-axis stator voltage.

REFERENCES
[1] S. Maiti, C. Chaakraborty, Yoichi Hori, M.C. Ta, “Model reference
adaptive controller-based rotor resistance and speed estimation
Fig. 5. Simulation waveforms of online updating of slip gain and q-axis rotor techniques for vector controlled induction motor drive utilizing reactive
flux, 300 r/min. power, ” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 55,no. 2,pp.
594-601,Feb.2008.
[2] R. Krishnan, F. C. Doran, “Study of parameter sensitivity in high-
performance inverter-fed induction motor drive systems,” IEEE
Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 23, no. 4,pp. 623-635,
Jul./Aug. 1987.
[3] T. M. Rowan, R. J. Kerman, and D. Leggate, “A simple on-line adaption
for indirect field orientation of an induction machine,” IEEE

1673
 Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 720-727, [7] K. Akatsu, A. Kawamura, “Online rotor resistance estimation using the
Jul./Aug. 1991. transient state under speed sensorless control of induction motor,” IEEE
[4] X. Yu, M. W. Dunnigan, B. W. Williams, “A Novel Rotor Resistance Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 553–560, May.
Identification Method for an Indirect Rotor Flux-Orientated Controlled 2000.
Induction Machine System,” IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, [8] D. P. Marcetic, and S. N. Vukosavic, “Speed-sensorless AC drives with
vol. 17,no. 3,pp. 353-364,May.2002. the rotor time constant parameter update,” IEEE Transactions on
[5] S. Wade, M. W. Dunnigan, and B. W. Williams, “A new method of rotor Industrial Electronics, vol. 54, no. 5, pp. 2618–2625, Oct. 2007.
resistance estimation for vector-controlled induction machines,” IEEE [9] L. Zhao, J. Huang, J. Chen and M. Ye, “A parallel speed and rotor time
Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 44, no. 2, 247–257, Apr. constant identification scheme for indirect field oriented induction motor
1997. drives,” IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 31, no. 9, pp.
[6] A. B. Proca, and A. Keyhani, “Sliding-mode flux observer with online 6494–6503, Sep. 2016.
rotor parameter estimation for induction motors,” IEEE Transactions on [10] H. Kubota, K. Matsuse and Takayoshi Nakmo, “Dsp-based speed
Industrial Electronics, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 716–723, Apr. 2007. adaptive flux observer of induction motor,” IEEE Transactions on
Industry Applications, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 344–348, Mar./Apr. 1994.

1674