IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. IA-1l, NO.

5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1975 483

Variable Speed induction Motor Drives Use Electronic Slip

Calculator Based on Motor Voltages and Currents
ALBERTO ABBONDANTI, MEMBER, IEEE, AND MICHAEL B. BRENNEN

Abstract-In certain types of adjustable frequency induction at this point indicates the flux level, no matter what the
motor drives, optimal coit!ro,_of the motor can be best implemented load, the voltage, and the frequency are. Similarly, a
by using information on the motor slip frequency. Unfortunately, second family of curves (dotted lines) defines the torque
this generally requires the use of an electromechanical speed trans-
ducer coupled to the shaft. The presence of this transducer spoils magnitude in percent of the rated torque. Again, if the slip
the general characteristics of ruggedness and mechanical simplicity frequency and the stator current amplitude are known,
typical of an ac drive. This paper discusses an improved method of t') a point on the graph is defined and the T curve riding
obtaining the slip information without the use of rotary transducers \through this point univocally defines the torque level,
of any kind. By sensing the electrical quantities applied to the motor regardless of the other electrical or mechanical quantities.
(voltages, currents, and phases) and by performing simple signal T
processing operations on the sensed quantities, an analog signal This shows how information on the slip level, coupled
proportional to the slip level is derived and used in motor control >Xwith the knowledge of the stator current level, is sufficient
functions. / I to completely characterize the motor conditions.
2\nE k A number of control schemes for ac drives have taken
USEFULNESS OF SLIP SIGNAL ()\1O advantage of the availability of a slip signal to improve
ULthe dynamic performance of tne drive [1], [2]. In parti-
IN ADJUJSTABLE speed ac drives, where an induction t cular, one type of drive is totally dependent on the exist-
motor is controlled by varying its frequency through )ence of a slip feedback for its basic operation, and in
an inverter or a cycloconverter, the knowledge of they principle could not be run without the presence of such
instantaneous value of the motor's slip frequency offers signal. This is the well-known "current fed" inverter
an important advantage for the purpose of controlling ,drive [3],[4], or adjustable current input (ACI) drive.
the static and dynamic behavior of the drive. By definition, Fig. 2 illustrates the basics of the control of such a drive.
the slip is a direct indication of the discrepancy between\
the converter output frequency (which sets the speed of I
the rotating field in the machine) and the actual shaft \ .
speed, and therefore information on the slip level is
valuable to compensate the motor's natural droop in\X -
speed with load, whenever close speed regulation is re-> /
quired. However, a more significant use can be made of-'\ J.
the existence of a slip signal by recognizing its usefulness
as a precise indicator of two parameters critically impor- 3 f/
tant in implementing optimal control of the drive, namely, V
the magnitude (and sign) of the generated torque and the TO - . /
degree of excitation of the machine, or flux level. J / fo0
Graphs, such as Fig. 1, can be plotted for any type of
induction motor, based on the motor fundamental
tions anid the value of the equivalent diagram parameters.
equa-v), se
These graphs relate the motor slip frequeney (horizontal
axis) to the amplitude of the stator current (vertical axis). 4
A first family of curves (solid lines) defines the motor
flux level 0, in percent of the nameplate value. Knowing /
simultaneously the slip frequency and the current ampli- 1
tude, one locates a point in the graph. The 4 curve passing 2lo

Paper TOD-75-5, approved by the Static Power ConverterenaiCom-

mittee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society for presentation
at the 1974 Ninth Annual Meeting of the IEEE Industry Applica-
tions Society, Pittsburgh, Pa., October 7-10. Manuscript released -
for publication March 20, 1975.
The authors are with the Research Laboratories of the Westing- Fig. 1. Correlation between slip, current, and flux or between slip,
house Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15235. current, and torque.
 484t IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, SEPTENIBER/OCTOBER 1975

The inverter circuit routes through the motor windings,

at a controlled sequence an(I frequency, the currenit
generated by a front end converter (or chopper). Such
current is regulated by the converter control in responsec
to the level of slip, in order to achieve a programmed inter-
depenidenlcee b(etweTen staltor current alnd slip) level, las in-
dicated by Fig. 1. The regulation program can be(- chosen.
to achieve, under any load situatiorn and at atiny output
freqluency, a desired level of flux, usualIly the nominal
flux defined by the machine nameplate voltage and
frequency. ~Iequel^C)
Ye esnce
r
Ll

DRAWBACKS OF CONVENTIONAL SLIP Fig. 2. Basic control scheme of current-fed ae dIrive.

TRANSDUCERS
The usual means by which a slip signal is obtained is
through the use of electromechanical rotary transducers A
Ri
Lf
coupled to the motor shaft. The simplest arrangement,
commercially used in ACI drives, is the use of a tacho- V,~~~E -
L
LM RU
,
A-

meter coupled to the shaft. The tachometer indicates the

shaft speed and this signal, subtracted from the analog N C _ ;

frequency commandl to the inverter, yields information

Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit of inductioni motor.
on the slip. This methodI re(uires the use of a rather
precise tachometer, since even small relative errors
between the two terms of the subtraction greatly affect
the difference. In partictilar, the tachometer ripple is
bothersome, when fast 10o1) response is desired. Pulse
tachometers have been used, implemetiting the differenice TxCC09, '0y2C j2

digitally and thus eliminating inaccuracy problems.

Differential electromechanical transducers [5] or even
geared differential mechanisms [6] have been considered.
All these systems have two drawbacks in common. For
one, they encumber the mechanical interface between the
motor andl the load, interferriing with the requiremenits
of tight coupling or close spacing in the mechanical l ayout
or imposing the application of undesirable gear trains
or belts. Secondly, they generally re(quire the use of such
maintenance items as brushes or slip rings or light sotirces
and therefore represent the w%eak linki in the drive system,
from the viewpoint of overall reliability. In short, they
spoil the characteristics of sirnplicitv- aLind ruggednwss,
which are ofteii the sellinig points of atnl iniductioin miiotor
drive.
ELECTRONIC SYNTHESIS OF SLI1P SIGNAIL
In,
Fig. 4. Phasor diagram of equivalent, circuit.
quantities, and to make such information available is
merely a question of devising a proper way of processing
the available signals representing these quantities to
extract a slip signal in a convenient analog form.
The base of such an operation of analog calculation
rests on the simple relationship relating torque T, air-gap
voltage E1, and slip angular frequency W2, as derived in
most textbooks on induction motor fundamentals, i.e.,
with reference to the motor's equivalent circuit of Fig. 3,
T
EAl 2 + 2
12

W2

The preceding inconveniences disappear if means are (02 2

provided to obtain infornmation o(n the slip level by
signal processing techniques applied to signials representing Expanded in series and limited to its first term, this
the electrical quantities supplied by the converter to relation simplifies to
the motor, i.e., the instantaneous values of the stator
voltages and curreints, which inherently have informnation T k'2 =
(1)
on relative phases and frequene. In this case, the "slip R2 9

sensor" is nothing more than an additional subassembly The accuracy of this simplified form (I) is within a
of the solid state drive control circuitrv and is as reliable small percentage of the machine rated torque in most
and inconspicuous as any other fuinctional block in the conventional motor designs.
overall drive control svstem. From (1) we obtain
Since the slip is a consequence of the motor load and I
R TC~
A

excitation conditions, information on its level is hidden E12 D-

172
(2)
at any moment in the status of the motor input electrical
ABBONDANTI AND BRENNEN: INDUCTION MOTOR DRIVES 485

with
N coiT
N= DD- E12
k COl

This shows that the slip can be obtained by performing

the analog division of a numerator term N by a denomi-
nator term D and applying to the result a scale factor
R2, which is a known parameter of the motor. The problem
of calculating the slip is therefore reduced to the one of
evaluating the terms N and D from the known informa-
tion on the instantaneous value of the motor input quanti-
ties.
It can be shown, from Fig. 3 and the phasor diagram
of Fig. 4, that the numerator term N has the following
expression:
N =- El2 COS 02 = E1Ii cos 01. (3)
From (3) it can be seen that N represents the power fed
by the voltage E1 to the section L2, L of the equivalent
circuit of Fig. 3 (air-gap power). This suggests that N
can be obtained by a power calculating circuit, processing
signals proportional to the stator current and the air-gap
voltage.
The denominator term D involves operations on the
amplitude of the air-gap voltage and the stator frequency.
CIRCUIT IMPLEMNIENTATION OF SLIP
CALCULATOR
The motor input quantities are first sensed by voltage Fig. 5. Sensing circuits.
and current transducer circuits applied at the inverter
output lines (Fig. 5). The sensing arrangement provides
more than simple reproduction of the three line-neutral 7,,v sinw,tt
fundamental stator voltages V'A ,'B and V7c and the VA vBnV1sn(w t-) I

line fundamental currents JA,1, and IC of Fig. 6. It also A

VI zq sian(wl t+
combines these quantities to reduce the symmetrical IC 2
=I sin(w t_f3
three-phase system of Fig. 6 to its equivalent two-phase vC - se B=Ilsin(WIt-32f f.)
system of Fig. 7, in which stator voltages and currents
are resolved in pairs of orthogonal phasors V'd, Vq and
VI
d,Iq, carrying in a compact form the information present Z=!} oB08f+Jsiny)
in the original system. The sensing circuit also cross-
couples voltage and current signals in each phase to ac- Fig. 6. Three-phase phasor diagram of motor.
count for the stator resistive and reactive drops across
L1 and R1, and thus fabricates at its voltage outputs the
direct and quadrature components of Ed,Eq of the air-gap
voltage. These are related to the stator voltages and
currents by
-$ -_-VV~1In,
Ed = rd- Id(Rl + jwILj) vq ( Js CCOSwntwt
1
' ,+ Y~d=TA=I1in4@, t.)
E-q Vq Iq(Ri + jcoLI).
R1 and L1 are known motor constants (Fig. 3).
To obtain the term N, the outputs of the sensing -1t
circuit are applied to a power calculating circuit (Fig. 8), Fig. 7. Two-phase phasor diagram of motor.
consisting of two analog multipliers and a summing
amplifier. As shown by the relations labelled on the
figure, the result of each product contains ripple terms
at twice the fundamental frequency, which, being in
486 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1975

?-A
2i 1 El,I,|05 e - cos (2 ,t + 2- - @>

Rd

-iv Es = v El COS (t+i

+
-(AAs,I,c:os 9e-kv-*, N) _

iI =i
d Cos (uj,t +- el)
-

*VAEI -C0 GI+ I >=- iI It +O ,2

( t + <- 9,

Fig. 8. Numerator circuit.

kVs,j'[ CO5(2 WIt +-2)- j

i- I ES iV E
=
StN (J,t++ )

RC

'<' kVo-

ZRC -+ ?-U,)
V,u~O52t
Fig. 9. Denominator circuit.

antiphase, are cancelled in the summation. Only the kvNkz

nonsinusoidal terms in the multipliers' outputs add up to
form the dc output signal k,k1EiIi cos 0,. The coefficients klTP
k,, and k1 are the sensing circuit scale factors, E1 and h
are, respectively, the amplitudes of the air-gap voltage I k2D

and stator current, and 01 is the phase angle between these
quantities. Bv virtue of (3), the output of the power
calculating circuit is the desired numerator term A" in (2).
The denominator term D = E12/wl could be obtained by
performing the operation of rectification, squaring and
division by wc on the outputs k4Ed and kuEq of the sensing
circuit. It is however more convenient to process these
signals in the two-multiplier circuit of Fig. 9. Signal
k Id and the time integral of kvEq are applied to a first
multiplier, whereas signal klvEq and the time integral of
k,Ed are applied to a second identical multiplier. By
working out the trigonometric expressions of the multi-
pliers' inputs, it can be shown that the difference of the
Fig. 10. Outptit divider circuit.
products is the dc term k,2(E12/wI), proportional to the
desired term D in (2).
The final operation to yield the slip signal in (2) is
the analog division of the term NV by the term D. Ac-
cordingly, the outputs of the two dual-multiplier circuits
are applied to an analog divider (Fig. 10). This divider is
equipped with auxiliary circuitry (not shown), per-
mitting it to develop output signals of both polarities. The
result of the division is the slip-proportional signal (k1/
k.R2) W2.
ABBONDANTI AND BRENNEN: INDUCTION MOTOR DRIVES
Fig. 11. Slip calculator circuit on circuit board.
Fig. 12. Slip response to step load. 'Upper trace: conventional
tachometer. Lower trace: slip calculator. (0.1 s/square.)
REDUCTION TO PRACTICE
The described method of analog slip calculation has
been implemented and tested satisfactorily on a pro-
totype 15-hp ACI drive controlled as per Fig. 1. Motoring
and regenerative loads up to 200 percent of the motor
ratings could be handled over a 10:1 speed range with
performances similar to those of tachometer feedback
schemes. In particular, 100 percent impact loading at all
speeds was not a problem. The overall circuitry, including
487
C.."re.nt
+,
.u,c _
Fig. 13. Current-fed ac drive with voltage feedback.
the bulk of the sensing arrangement and the servo com-
pensation elements, could fit in a hand-wired board of
about 6 in X 12 in (Fig. 11). The oscillogram of Fig. 12
shows a comparison of the slip response to a step load,
registered simultaneously through a conventional tacho-
meter (upper trace) and through the slip calculator. The
tachometer response exhibits ripple components and
oscillations due to coupling elasticity, both of which are
absent from the slip calculator output, whereas the
transient behavior is conserved.
COMPARISON WITH ANOTHER TACHO-
METERLESS CONTROL SCHEME OF
ACI DRIVES
Papers have been published E7] on a control scheme
of current-fed drives by which the need of a rotary slip
sensor was eliminated through the use of voltage feedback.
The principle (Fig. 13) consists of sensing the motor
terminal voltage and adjusting the dc link current source
so as to achieve at any speed and under any load a constant
V/f characteristic, which would in turn guarantee, at
least to a first approximation, that the excitation of the
machine is maintained at its nominal level.
In this respect, and with less complication, the voltage
feedback scheme reaches in appearance the same result
of the slip calculator scheme, i.e., the elimination of the
rotary slip sensor. However, close inspection of the
mechanism of operation of the voltage feedback scheme
shows that the loop stability can be obtained only at the
cost of severe overexcitation of the machine, with a
negative impact both on the motor thermal behavior
at any speed and on the voltage stresses applied to the
inverter thyristors at high speed. One can convince
himself theoretically or experimentally that in an induction
motor operating near nominal excitation, either from a
converter or, for that matter, from the 60-Hz mains, a
positive increment of applied voltage amplitude results in
an increment of stator current amplitude which is positive
at light loads and negative at high load. Therefore,
the sign of the voltage feedback signal changes with the
load level and regenerative feedback cannot be avoided
over a wide load range in the scheme of Fig. 13. How could
then such a scheme be experimentally verified? Simply
by operating the motor in an overexcited mode, such as
to achieve a magnetizing current component which, under
488 IXEE
any load, dominates the overall stator current. Only
in this case can the sign of the feedback signal be con-
served throughout the load range. Even in this situation,
it can be anticipated that the drive stability under sudden-
ly applied loads of large magnitude can be problematic.
On the other hand, schemes sensing the slip are exempt
from the overexcitation requirement, and drives regulated
through the proposed slip calculator approach behave in
this respect as well as traditional tachometer-controlled
systems.
CONCLUSIONS
The analog slip calculator circuit presented here is a
workable solution to the problem of improving the regula-
tion charactetistics of an ac drive without paying the
price and facing the inconveniences of a rotary slip trans-
ducer coupled to the shaft. It can be advantageously
utilized in any type of ac drive, including fixed frequency
adjustable speed induction motor drives, using thyristor
or magamp phase control. Whenever, as in this last case,
or in the case of current-fed inverter drives, the use of
slip control is a must, the possibility of resorting to the
described approach should offer significant economic
and practical advantages.
REFERENCES
[11 F. Blaschke and G. Huetter, "Inverter for control of induction
machines in motoring and regenerative drives," Elektrotech. Z.
Augs. A (Germany), vol. 89, part 5, pp. 108-112, 1968.
[2] P. G. Cushman and A. A. Clark, "Co-ordinated voltage control
for induction servomotors," U. S. Patent 3 700 986, Oct. 1972.
[3] K. P. Phillips, "Current source converter for ac motor drives,"
in Conf. Rec. 1971 6th Annu. Meet. IEEE Ind. Appl. Soc., pp.
385-392.
[4] M. B. Brennen, "A comparative analvsis of two commutation
circuits for ACI inverters feeding induiction motors," in Conf.
Rec. Power Eng. Soc. Canadian 1973 Meet., pp. 201-212.
[5] T. M. Corry, "Triggering circuit for a controlled rectifier,"
U. S. Patent 3 413 493, 1968.
[6] P. D. Agarwal, "The GM high-performance induction motor
drive system," IEEE Trans. Power App. Syst., vol. PAS-88,
pp. 86-93, 1969.
TRANSACTIONS ON INDJUSTRY APPLICATIONS, SEPTIEMBER/OCTOBER 1975
[7] T. Kume and Y. Yoshida, "Speed transient of induction motor
driven by current source inverter," in Conf. Rec. 1973 8th Annu.
Meet. IEEE Ind. Appl. Soc., pp. 865-874.
Alberto Abbondanti (M'71) was born in 1933
in Zaire, from an Italian family. He received
the M.S. degree in electronic engineer-
ing in 1959 from the University of Liege,
Belgium.
He worked in Belgium and Italy for Euro-
pean subsidiaries of American companies
(ITT and Raytheon) in the fields of data
processing and radar technology. He moved
to the U.S. in 1964, as a design engineer for
American Optical Company, for which he
developed test instruments for inertial guidance apparatus. With
the Research Laboratories of the Westinghouse Electric Company,
since 1967, he has become part of a team of power conversion experts.
His past and present involvements include development programs for
static power supplies and ac motor drives. He is considered an in-
verter specialist.
Michael B. Brennen graduated in elec-
AI trical engineering in 1960 from Jozsef Nador
Technical University, Budapest. In 1964
he joined the Mining Faculty of the Univer-
sity of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle
upon Tyne, England, as a Research Associate.
Working on rock burst prevention in deep
* mnes, he received the M.Sc. degree in mining
engineering in 1966.
Between 1960 and 1964 he worked at the
Hungarian Bureau of Mines on mining control
equipment.
He joined the Research Center of Westinghouse Electric Corpora-
tion, Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1966 where he developed the Westinghouse
coordinated ground fault protective system, based on one of his
patents. His later interest in solid state power conversion resulted in
several novel dc and ac variable speed drives and generators. Most
recently, he has been concerned with static power conversion on
utility power level holding several, including the basic system patent
disclosure on the advanced Westinghouse reactive power (VAr)
generator.