ELECTRICAL MACHINES AND DRIVES: PRESENT AND FUTU
P. Vas PhD, DSc, CEng, F E E
University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB9 2UE, Unil ecl Kingdom
Tel (44) - 1224 - 272818 E-mail P.Vas&abdn ac uk
W. Drury PhD, CEng, FIEE
Control Techniques Plc, St Ciles, Newtown, Powys, Wales SY 16 3AJ, United Kingdom
Abstract - The paper discusses the present and
future of electrical machines and variable-speed
drives. Although at present improved dc drives iirc
emerging the market for dc drives is expected to fall
and ac drives will dominate the market. Different
manufilcturers have released various universal drives,
and it is expected that other similar drives will ;also
emerge. There will be an increase in vector-controlled
drives (speed-sensorless implementations as well),
permanent magnet synchronous motor drives imd
different types of reluctance motor drives (switched
reluctance motor, synchronous reluctance motor).
Various drives, including vector and direct torque
controlled drives are also discussed and compared. It
is also shown that there will be a revolution in the
packaging of drives and also in the application of
various intelligent control techniques, (fuzzy, ineural,
fuzzy-neural etc.) techniques. Drive efficiency will be :L
critical issue. Most recent trends for niiaimum
configuration DSP controlled drives are also discussed.
Results of a survey on the future of drives ;tire also
presented. This involves a large nuniber of
manufacturers.
1. INTRODUCTION
Variable-spced drives have existed for almost ;I cciiturv
Great progress has been made from the Ward-Lconhard
dc drive through mercury arc rectifier controlled diivcs lo
silicon-based controlled drivcs
Although iniportant advarices have been made in the ac
drives field, until the early 1970's. thc dyndllilc
performance of dc drives was superior to those of ;IC
drives [l, 21 The introduction of the so-called field-
oriented control technique (magiieti sing-flu x-oriented
control) and other vector-control sclicnies (i e. rotor-flux-
oriented control, stator-flux-oriented control) has brought
significant changes in the field of drives. In the 1980's
microprocessors have enabled the development of cost
eflective digital drives and the widespread availability of'
DSPs has enabled the development of a large cariety of
drives with advanced features There exist basically tuo
types of high perfomiance ac drives: vector drives 13, 4J
and direct torque controlled drives Vcctor drives wcre
introduced more tlian then twenty ycars ago and have
achieved a high degree or maturity Direct torque
conuolled dnves have found vanous applicatioiis 111 Uie
past ten years including traction applications and at
prcscnt there is an increascd intcreqt in thcsc driycs duc lo
0-7803-3 1-09-5/96/$5.00 0 1996 IEEE
67
the fact that ABB lias recently marketed one specific form
clf such a drive Universal drives have started lo emerge
and advanccs in infelligent control techniques and
packaging of drives is causing a revolution
2. T.HE PRESENT
2i.l T h e de drives field: improved drives
The coweriTiona1dc motor drive continues to take a large
of the variable-sptted drive inarket However, it is
expected Ittat this sltare will very slowly decline
Similarly to ac drivss, efforts are being made to reduce
tlhe costs and to iuxease reliability and thus new and
iinpro\cd dc driver; arc being introduced by various
nianufacturcrs The gzneral industrial dc drive power
circuits ~ J V Cclianged little since the earliest introduction
of the si\.-pulse fully contd-ollcd thyristor bridgc
However, this might change, if legislation to limit the
liarnionic ccrntcnt of the supply current begins to have an
iiupact ou the iuarkcl
2.2 Ac drives: vector drives, direct torque
controlled drives, reluctance motor drives
Induction motors are often thc prefemed choice in
v;lriablc-spccd drik e applications Although irnproved
efficiency and low-speed pcrfonnauce can be obtained by
using penuanent iiiagitet synchronous motors, howcvcr.
urilcss thcie is a significant reduction in the cost of rarc-
earth pcniiauicnt iiiagitct materials, the position of thc
induction motor i s secure
The PWM \ oltagc sourcc inverter, based upon IGBTs has
gained a doniinnnt position in the ac drives market in the
power raiigc to 200 kW due to its ease of application,
good power factor arid potential to provide good dynamic
perf'oIiiiancc PWM inverters are most commonly applied
in inductiori motor drives. but tlicy also fonn the basis of
brushlcss ac SCIVO drives Current source invcrters using
thyristors contiriue to have a role for single motor drives
up to Uie 3-MW range for induction niotor drives
Synchrowu:j niolor clrives with CSI find application at the
higher powcr range (>4 MW) and at high speed (>5000
rpiii). Cyclocorfiverlcr-l'ed ac drives for low speed/high
power applications, have particular merits The static
KJ-aiucr dnvc lias Poruid extensive applications where the
torquc is proportional to the square of the speed, for
example, for fans, pumps and blowers. This type of load
is responsible for a substantial part of the electricity
consumptioii.
The introduction of various vector-controlled drives has
allowed the dynamic performance of ac drives to match
or sometimes even to surpass that of the dc drive. By
using vector control, it is possible to control separately
the flux and torque producing components of the supply
currents. The trend is to develop speed or position
sensorless vector-controlled drives where all the
idormation required is obtained by utilising the
monitored voltage and/or current waveforms. Limitations
on the drive dynamic are now largely set by the
bandwidth with which the inverter c a i control the stator
currents of the machine subjected to vector control. This
in turn is determined by the supply voltage and the
inductances of the machine. For further improvement of
the dynamic performance, the user will have to move to
permanent magnet brushless motor. Brushless motors can
also be constructed with very low inertia, giving excellent
speed responses. Switched reluctance [5, 61 motors have
high torque-inertia ratio, enabling them to be used in
servo-drives.
Vector controlled drives providing high-dynamic
performance, are finding increased number of industrial
applications and there are many manufacturers who
market these drives (CTC, Siemens, Mitsubishi, Hitachi,
etc.). There are many types of implementations, direct
and indirect methods, stator-flux-oriented control, rotor-
flux-oriented control, magnetising-flux-oriented control
etc. [l- 31. There exist several speed-sensorless
implementations, but future work will concentrate on
further speed sensorless drives. Drives with direct torque
control are finding great interest. Recently Al3B has
introduced a direct torque controlled (DTC) drive, which
can work even at zero speed, bbt it is expected that other
manufacturers will also follow and further developments
are under way for other speed sensorless implementations.
Fig. 1 shows the schematic of the DTC.
y h
comparator
Fig. I Schematic of a VSI-fed DTC drive
63
In a VSI DTC drive, torque control involves separate
control of the stator, rotor or magnetising flux through thc
selection of optimum inverter switching modes. In its
68
simplest Form it is required to have the flux vector in one
of the six sectors of the flux hexagon. The flux arid torque
errors are restricted within their respective hysteresis
bands. The scheme requires flux and torque estimators.
The stator flux can be obtained by integrating the terminal
voltage reduced by the ohmic losses but at low
frequencies- large errors can occur due to the variation of
the stator resistance, integrator drift and noise. It is not
necessary to monitor the terminal voltages since they can
be reconstructed by using the inverter switching modes.
The outputs of the flux and torque comparators are used
in the inverter optimal switching table which also uses the
position of the flux vector. The main features of the DTC
are: direct control of flux and torque; indirect control of
currents and voltages; approximately sinusoidal stator
fluxes and stator currents; reduced torque oscillations;
excellent torque dynamics; inverter switching frequency
depends on flux and torque hysteresis bands. The main
advantages of the DTC are: absence of coordinate
transformations (which are required in most of the vector
controlled drive implementations); absence of separate
voltage modulation block (required in vector drives);
absence of voltage decoupling circuits (required in
voltage-source vector drives). The main disadvantages of
DTC are: possible problems during starting and low speed
operation and during changes in torque command; it
requires flux and torque estimators (same problem exists
for vector drives). Torque response times typically better
than 5 ms are claimed by ABB together with high torque
control linearity even down to low frequencies including
zero speed. It is also claimed by ABB that the new AC
drive technology rests chiefly on a new motor model with
enables the computation of the motor states without using
a speed or position sensor. However, the motor model
used by ABB is a conventional type of model using
various machine parameters (i.e. tlie stator resistance,
mutual inductance. inertia etc.), but it is believed that
higher robustness and precision can be obtained by
utilising advanced adaptive control theories.
Switched reluctance motor drlves are gaining increasing
interest mainly due to the simple technology involved.
However. most of the difficulty in understanding the
operation and design of switched reluctance motors
originates from the fact that the switched reluctance
motor is doubly-salient aud highly non-linear.
Switched reluctance motors have several attractive
features They require only unidirectional stator winding
curreuts This results in an econonlical and robust
controller. The converter has totally independent circuits
for each stator winding. Direct control is achieved
through the stator currents. A rotor position sensor is used
to switch the stator currents at the appropriate instants.
The control circuit incorporates logic and data sets to
provide the switching instants and also to ensure that
these are optimum in some sense in relation to the
application of the drive For overall performance, in
particular minimum cost, the power aid control
electronics and the magnetics must be designed as a
single entity in relation to the particular application.
Future work will also be perfonned on the applications of
observers to obtain real-time cstimates of the rotor
position, rotor speed and electromagnetic torque and work
is also in progress to improve tlieir noise and vibration
characteristics since so far aspects of noise and torque
ripples have not been successfully rcsolved for thc
technology to be widely applied in the field of gencral
drives
Synchronous reluctance motors 17. 81 arc rugged, simple
in structure and cheap to manufacture In particular
inverter-Fed synchronous reluctance motors require simple
controllers due to the absence of rotor wiindings
However. the torque density, power factor and efficicncy
is only lligh for high saliency ratios (Ld/Lq) arid high Ld-
Lq. However, there is a limit to tlie maximum saliency
ratio, since the maximum for the direct-axis induckincc is
the synchronous inductance (Ls) for cylindrical rotor case
of the same stator and airgap and thc minimum for the
quadrature-axis inductance is the stator leakage
inductance of the machine The rotors of synchronous
reluctance motors can take different forms segmental,
flw barrier and &xially laminated. For seginental rotors
and rotors with flux barriers tlie saliency ratio of
approximately 6-7 has been achieved and with inachincs
equipped with axially laminated anisotropic rotors have
produced a saliency ratio of 9-12 has bcen rcportcd ‘The
stator of these motors is similar to that of an induction
motor. However, the magnetic structure of thc motor
maybe doubly-salient similarly to switched rcluctauce
motors For comparison purposes Tablc 1 shows thc main
features of switched reluctance (SWRM) arid
synchronous reluctance (SYRM) motors
Rectifier-inverter system: The conventional ac-ac
converter for variable-speed ac motor drives is the
combination of an uncontrolled rectifier and a three-phase
bridge inveirter. It is likely that for the foreseeable future
the rcctifier-iwerter-J~ed induction motor drive will
dominate the markcl.
The most siqificant dievelopment in drive technology in
11995 has been the introduction of universal drives which
;re capable of contrcdling virtually any motor in any
mode of operation Control Techniques was the first in
the world to producc the first universal drive in the world
1Jnidrivc: is a radically new drive, which combines
sensorless vcctor open-loop, closed-loop flux vector and
high-performam brushless servo technologies as a single
fully enclosed product Unidrive is available in five frame
sizes to 1 MW It can be directly controlled from a
tontrol module panel or remotely through a serial
c;ommunications interface Universal drives o€fer distinct
advanlages to the user in that the control method,
parameter listing mi user interface are the same for each
rnetliod oP control, eliminating the need for different
training progranme!; For the manufacturer of the drive, a
universal drivc can lead to signifhnt rationalisation of
the nianufacturmg process and hence, to lower production
costs Fig 2 shows ttie Unidrive.

Table 1
SWRM SYRM

Stator salicnt pole smootli borc (slottcd)

Rotor salient pole salicnt pole
Stator winding concentrated polyphase
Rotor winding -
Stator currents unidirectional multi-phase balanced
Control position-feedback position-feedback

Due to the inherent low cost and largc obtainable torque-
per-volume, synchronous reluctance motors will also have
a more dominant role in the future. Future will work will
concentrate on vector-controlled synchronous reluctance
motor development, this will also include the detailed
study of the iron losses (the results are important for high
speed applications), development of new topologies of
rotor structures etc.
There will be continued pressure for all types of drive
converters to develop, and it is witli tlie ac drive that the
most significant innovations are likely to occur as drive
manufacturers focus on the sector of the market witli most
potential growth.
Fig. 2 Unidiive (Courtesy of Control Techniques plc)
3. THE FUTURE
Various future trends have also been emphasised in the
previous section, bul firther detail is given below.
3.1 General, convergence of technologies
The dc drivle will not dke in the near future. It is expected
that there will be a growth in the dc drive market,
cspccially in the field of improved dc drives, but ac drives
will be dominant. Due to its ruggedness, low cost and
reliability the induction motor will remain to be the
preferred niacliine ]’or most industrial drives. However,
higher performance arid kigher power densities will call

69
upon the permanent magnet synchronous motor drives
Various reluctance motors (switched reluctance,
synchronous reluctance) may have an increased role
Open-loop drives with better perfonnance will be
required in the future as well Further closed-loop drives
will emerge
New control techniques will emerge and find wide
applications such as intelligent soft-computing
techniques ANN-based control, fuzzy control, genetic
algorithm-based control. various self-tuning techniques
etc There will be a development of various observers 191
for speed-sensorless drives It is expected that intelligent
sensorless vector drives will become the standard in the
future These drives have many advantages besides the
higli dynamic performance
There is the possibility for the "electroilic" motor with ai
integrated motor and controller to be manufactured
Reliability is a key issue of the future Totally automated
manufacture is an important goal especially since greater
volumes are expccted
The various types of variable-speed drives are showing
the signs of convergence This is mainly the result of the
introduction of the IGBT The IGBT has provided the
drive industry with a voltage-controlled device. with a
good Safe Operating Area, which could operate off-line at
a switching frequency which gives adequate bandwidth
both for vector controlled drives and brushless dc motoi
servo drives. Thus there is only a little practical
difference between the power circuit of an inverter for an
induction motor drive and that of a brushless dc servo
drive The trend in brushless servo drives is therefore for
off-line operation taking advantage of the relatively low
cost of inverters resulting from the higher volumes in tiie
ac drives market
If there will be a significant reduction in the cost of rare-
earth permanent magnet materials, or if a type of
permanent magnet is discovered, which has the
perfomiance of the rare-earth pemunent magnet matenal.
but with a much lower cost, then the inverter/induction
motor combination could find itself under threat in many
applications from the sinusoidal brushless servo niotor
drive
The replacement of resolvers and expensive decoder
integrated circuits with absolutc encoders is a further
significant trend in servo drives when smooth rotation is
critical Further advances are expected in the field of
position sensing Sensorless operation, mainly by the use
o f observer-based techniques (Extended Kaliiian filtcr,
extended Luenberger observer etc j may also h a ~ ea
significant impact It is expected that due to the large
volunies involved, there will be a significant reduction in
DSP prices, which will allow further DSP-controlled
drives to emerge
3.2 Size of the world and European drive markets
In 1993 the world market for drivcs was in the order of k7
billion [a, 3, 101 The market for the controllers was
approximately 54 billion ln volume terms this
corresponds to 8 million drives (about 50 % of this is
classed as low-perroniiance, low-cost drives) Tables 2a
and 2b show the value and volume of the various drive
types, and the estimated g-owth of the world market for
drives for the period 1993-2000 respcctively
Tables 2a- Value and volume of world drive
market
Volume (YO Value 9'0
Dc drive 27 20
Servo drives 11 5
Open-loop ind motor drives 50 19
Low-cost drives 6 54
Other 6 2
Table 2b Estimated growth of world drive market
Volume %) Value Dc
Dc drives 5 10
Servo drives 150 125
Open-loop ind. motor drives 100 100
Low-cost drives 120 75
Other 30 15
The European market for ac and dc drives comprising ac
inverters. flus vector drives, dc drives and servo drives
(excluding naotors) was worth $1361.9 million in 1994
and is forecast to grow by an average of 5.9%) a year to
reach the value $1813.4 million by 1999. The UK market
represents a sizeable portion of this total and was worth
an estimated $152.9 million in 1994. Growtli in the
European ac and dc drive market is forecast to peak
during 1995-1996. In 1994, Siemens and ABB together
with CTC have dominated the Europem drive market. It
can be seen from the Table shown above that although the
dc drive market is expected to slowly expand, for open-
loop induction motor drives and for servo-drives it is
e'qected to increase significantly. There are two basic
factors stimulating growth in the European drive market.
Firstly, modem industrial manu€acturing technologies are
placing cousiderablc demands on industrial automation to
imnprovc plant flexibility. Secondly, there is a significant
trend in all industry sectors towards more efficient
systems.
3.3 Packaging, "electronic motors": integration of
motor and inverter
It is now becoming conmon practice to use an eimded
or diecast heatsink as a part of the converter casing and to
complete the unit with a moulded plastic unit for the
walls and the front. Increased reliability is achieved by
using reduced number of interconnections: rcduced
coniponents and fewer assembly steps. These
developments are expected to continue with the emphasis
on the case of construction, enhanced reliability and good
aesthetics. With a growing market, there will be a trend
for increascd automation of the manufacturing process.
It is expccted that in the future the inverter and motor will
be integrated into a single, compact unit ("electronic
motor"). being matched to each other and optimised
already at the manufacturing stage This will also result in
much simpler installation, will also eliminate the need for
inverter control rooms, ventilation equipment and the
cabling between the motor and inverter A significant
decrease in the price OF DSPs is expectcd, this may also
allow an integration of the inverter and its controllers
3.4 Power semiconductors, their management
IGBTs dominate the medium-power range of variable-
speed drives. Since the maximal current rating of IGBT
modules is around 1 kA and the voltage rating is around 2
kV, IGBTs will continue to be used instead of GTOs at
the higher power levels. The MOS controlled llhyrislor
(MCT) seems to be the natural successor of the IGBT
However for the MCT to beconie a successful competitor
l o the IGBT, it will have to be further developed A
possible altemativc to the IGBT and the GTO is the ficld-
controlled thyristor (FCT)
Power semiconductor module manufacturers now provide
inverter bridges in a single module (complete with gate
drivers and protection circuits). There is also the
possibility of including the rectifier bridges and also a
transistor for switching a resistor across the dc rails during
regeneration. These are now known as 'intelligent' power
modules
3.5 Self-tuning, fuzzy, neural, fuzzy-neuro and
Artificial neural networks have been recently used for the
identification and control of non-linear dynamic systems
Thcrc are many different types of ANNs, but it is a
common feature that tlhey learn from examples rather thari
by utilising coanple Y algorithms required by conventional
softwarc-based solutions. The leaming and adapting
capability of neural networks makes them ideal foir
control putposes. 'I'he ANN can be successfully applied
even if the motor which is to be controlled and the load
parameters are unknown ANNs can be combined with
fuzzy logics and the arising fuzzy-neuro controller has ii
great advantage over conventional fuzzy logic controllers
the membership functions, the number of rules and the
rules themselves axe lproduced by an automated process
[16] The fuzzy-y-neural controller described in 1161
contains five layer:;: the input layer; a layer for fuzzy
membexshilp sets, a f k z y AND layer, fuzzy OR layer, an
output layer A fuuas.y-iieura1 controller enables automated
desigi.
In all types of intelligent control applications nlininium
configuration-based systems are preferred. This leads to
greater siniplicily, robustness, reliability and reduced
Execution limes. Fig 3 shows experimentally obtained
results for a DSP-controlled vector controlled drive
containing two fuzzy logic controllers Fig. 4 shows
results obtained on ihe same drive. but utilising minimum
configuration h z z p controllers
__---*
* , e , r n W I v ( ( d d
-___
$ 1

genetic-algorithm-based controll systems,

minimum-configuration soft-computing
Various types of intelligent control schemes have bcen
described for dc and ac drives in the literature and it is
expected that there will be a widespread use of these
techniques. Fuzzy-logic based control systems i l l ] and T m e I,,

artificial-neural-network-based control systems [ll2 - 141

seem to offer great advantages. but more conventional
self-tuning schemes (e.g. pole placement controllers 1151)
will also be used increasingly. For optimal response, the
control loops of a drive must be tuned to take account of
thc whole mechanical system (not just the motor). but the
load as well. However, the drive manufacturer does not
::I
i o ~
11 ~

7,m e

Fig. 3 Expcrimental results for DSP-controlled ruzzy

( 3 ,

have prior information on the nature of the load, and must

provide controls which allow the tuning of the systcm. induction motor drive
Manual tuning would require a skilled operator In the
future intelligent control schemcs arc expected to become
standard features of drives. However minimum
configuration intelligent drives will represent an
important step. Such systems are under development at
Aberdeen University 3

Fuzzy logic control is receiving great interest world-wide

Fuzzy logic control providcs an algorithm which can 61 11111' (4
convert the linguistic control strategy based on c ~ p c r t JI

knowledge into an automatic control strategy F u z ~ ylogic

control may yield results superior to those using
?I/
(1
I
,+%
,.A
-. iuv"vvq - ---.w
I IIIIC'
--
(\)

conventional control algorithms "he main advantages of 11 5 I 1 7 2 1

usmg fuzzy logic controllers are' they can work well Fig 4 Experimental results for a DSP-controlled
without having to construct any model of the process (or minimum icoifiguration fuzzy induction motor
plant) and the tuning efforl can be significantly reduced drive

71
Genetic algorithm can also be used for motor control [17].
They are optimisation procedures inspired by the laws of
a natural selection and genetics. A combination of fuzzy
and genetic algorithm based techniques can also yield
self-tuning controllers which automatically produce the
membership functions and the rulc-base.
3.6 Efficiency
The need for energy conservation is accelerating the
requirement for increased levels of electric motor
efficiency. It is expected that issues concerning efficiency
may become increasingly important For energy saving
purposes, in the future, for high-speed applications, there
will be a trend to replace conventional induction motor
drives employing step-up gearing with unconventional
drive systems
3.7 Railway traction, electric vehicles
In Europe and Japan, the activities of the traction
engineers have contributed to the development of high
power GTO thyristors. Traction drives using IGBT's have
also been built in the past few years It would appear that
in the future for high-speed traction the main competitors
will be magnetic levitation systems.
Recently there has been an increased interest in electrical
vehiclcs However, no clear leader has emerged from the
various motor-controller systems, which include chopper-
Fed brushed or brushless dc niotors, inverter-Fed induction
motors with vector control and also switched reluctance
motor drives However, the key component to the success
is the battery. Although at present dc motors are dominant
in electric vehicle application, it is eqcctcd that in the
future their role will be taken over by the induction
machine. Further advances in the application of svvitclicd
reluctance motors in this area are also e.\pected
3.8 Machine design, testing and maintenance,
other developments
The main trends in machine design are: standardisation of
structura and parts, minimisation of parts; minimisation
of production costs and tooling; optiinisation of the design
process. The main efforts in manufacturing are directed to
automation to achieve a reduction of costs, shorter
delivery times and higher quality There is a trend for
computerised tests to be perfomied on thc test bed.
Microprocessor-based protection and diagnostic-condition
monitoring systems [ 181 will become more widely used in
the future.
Further developments are expected in the fields of
piezoelectric actuators, ultrasonic motors. The slotless
brushless motor is gaining rapid acceptance in industrial
and automotive applications in the USA. The high torque
hybrid stepping motor is fimding increased nuniber of
applications. High-phase induction motors may be used
72
increasingly. The interest in photovoltaic and wind-
powered systems is expected to grow. Hydroelectric
power generation will increase its share.
3.9 Future of drives as seen by various
manufacturers
Bclow are extracts from reports on the future of drives
provided by various well-known drive manufacturers.
m:Most recent development has seen the introduction
of a product-specific standard for power drive systems.
IEC 22G/21/CDV which appears to gain approval. This
standard will take precedence over all other standards
prcviously used and it stipulates the required emission and
irnxnunity levels of drive systems and test methods to
measure the levels
Allen Bradlev/Reliance Electric: With the advent of
niore advanced digital drivcs the possibility of direct
reniote coinniunication with the drive itself becomes
realistic This will result in a more comprehensive and
immediate diagnostic evaluation. In the future it will be
possible for a drive manufacturer to 'dial up' a drive via
standard telephone links utilising readily available pc and
modem colliigurations and also to read drive and
operational diagnostic data registers and make the
required adjustments remotely. Continuous remote drive
interrogation and surveillance will result in more efficient
setting up of drives and fewer site visits for periodic
maintenance
Baldor: In addition to industrial applications. quieter.
safer variable-speed drives will find increasing
commercial and domestic applications with energy
savings. An increasing nuniber of drives will be used in
lift and escalator drives. In the commercial field further
variable speed drivcs are expected for heat, ventilation
control and for applications in air-conditioning systems.
Further intelligent domestic drives For applications in
washing machines, dishwashers etc. are expected.
Cegelec: In the future designers will need to make use of
a range of techniques to limit harmonics produced by
non-linear loads. These include: use of dc link chokes and
ac supply reactors; connection of loads at higher voltages;
incorporation of harmonic filters; increasing the pulse
nunibcr of the rectifier; adoption of a common dc bus;
utilisation of sinusoidal rectification systems; the
deliberate introduction of distortions to the modulation
pattem driving the semiconductors of the sinusoidal
rectilicr to produce harmonics in anti-phase with existing
disturbances etc.
Danfoss: The application of serial communications have
the following advantages in drives: reduced installation
time: flexibility; reduction in cabling; cost effectiveness
arid flexibility. At present the most widely used fieldbus
is the Profibus system delivering reliable communications
at speeds up to 12 Mbaud This enablcs the
commissioning of a drive from a central location in 0 5
Ins, and up to 120 different equipment can be linked on
the same system Larger drive manufactures at ]present
can offer Profibus and WorldFP fieldbuses With
advances in technology serial conmunication plays a
more vital role since greater levels of control and
monitoring will be required Serialconms is also ihe key
to progressively smaller. easier mannfaclurabilily and
thus to cheaper control systems. Serialcomms also offers
significant benefits in terms of flexibility. since system
changes require only changes in the software Their
application also results in great benefits in the
commissioning and installation procedures
Eurotherm Drives: Recently a quite revolution has
taken place in the field of drive control The
sophistication and adaptability of drive control has
undergone enormous changes by hamcssirig digital
technology, a process which is set lo continue At ]present
there are highly sophisticated ac and dc drives offering
the user standardised hardware that can be programmed to
perform the drive functions required The next inajor step
will be related to the introduction of DSPs in place of
microprocessors. ']This will have two major advantages to
the user: the control algorithms will beconic faster and
more accurate; there will be an increase user flexibility
DSP technology will place new requirements on die
driver-to-user interface. Next gerxration gi-aphica?
systems which are pc-based x e e ~ p c c ~ etod beconnc the
norm. There will be furtlier developments of future
support softwares as well in the direction of intclligent
support softwares. Commissioning of drives is another
area where giant steps are expected
w: The advance of inverters has bcen inextricatebly
linked with semiconductor and microprocessor
technology and this trend will continue for the immediate
future. At present the ac drive standard rests at tlic self-
tuning, sensorless torque vector level. The current
generation of torque vector drives offers supdative
starting torque and high dynamic perfomiance without
motor feedback but falls just short in zero speed
performance Flux vector drives close the gap and offer
highly accurate speed control and positioning for more
specialist applications, ever down to offering Iull torque
at zero speed but at the inconvenience of an encoder on
the motor shaft. Current products therefore offer much
more than most users need for simple applications but the
demands of volume manufacturing mean that the standard
drive is becoming more and more complex to embrace a
wider market sector with a single model Once dc drive
performance levels are acllieved as an opcn loop ac drive
standard, then fundamental changcs will take place
Efficiency is still an area for improvement New circuit
board techniques, such as double-sided surface mount
technology and LSI also have made a huge inipact 011
inverter compactness and reliability The compactness of
modern inverters has also led to the dcvclopment of the
inverter witliin Uie motor. This market sector is expected
to e,\pand The push €or efficiency may also bring into
standard production thc four-quadrant regenerative drive.
taking advantage of fully integrated 'intelligent' power
chips.
Mtachi. In the future there will be no need for printed
manuals Many drives already have automatic tuning
features Users will get advanced features whether they
need tliierii or not, ;imply because the economics will
dictate that every drive gets everything Several inverter
manufacturers already incorporate bus systems as
standard I n the future there will be a larger scale of
networking and network control Fault tolerant drives and
drives with rcmote diagnostic features will be more
common place Nevi drives could be programmed and
inslallcd electronically from remote centres The latest
gencralion of intelligent IGBTs is about to go into
production These will give greater protection in the
current liniiting circuits offering still higher reliability.
Mitsubishi
_ _ _ Electric
_ _ ~ A power
- hybrid module is under
devclopmeni that has input diodes and output transistors
in the same semiconductors The near future will also see
an assortment of smart input bridge topologies, including
active sections designed to reduce mains disturbance to
minimum They have e rcellent performance and they can
pass power in the reverse direction In the future active
EMC filters may replace the bulky EMC filters applied at
present They are easy to design, have high performance
and Lhc user can achieve space saving Future
development of IG13Ts involve the integration of all
control and protection electronics in the same package
New dcvclopnients in the MOS controlled thyristor may
change Uie cost and performance of large drives Low
noise inverters are gowing in demand and the drives
industry responds to this by designing low loss ICBTs
which are switched at high fTequencies This considerably
rcduccs audible noise, but at the cxpense of step change
in the RFI (output and additional stresses on the motor
windings To counter this, designers can use soft
switching. but this rcquires special components or output
filters At present any competent inverter on the market
uses c\trcmely advanced software This is a major area
for dcvclopment
Siemens. Technology in industry has taken a giant leap,
__I__
but Uic level of dynamic perfomiance provided by the
state-of-the-art d r i i e s is not required in many
applications Probably less than 10% of all drive
applications really denmnd the level of technology that is
on offer
Telemcran!&~ Variable speed drives are becoining
more and more alike. Ftuthermore ac drives are rapidly
displacing their de counterparts in all but the most
specialist applicatioirj Modern inverter drives incorporate
flexible microprocc 3sor systems, which means that
successful features ollrered by one manufacturer can
sooiibc copied lby ollicrs The important differenlidtirig
factor for the future between the various suppliers of
drives will not be technology, but support The versatility
of new drives will enable their use in more and more
complex applications. The focus of attention will shift
from the drives themselves to the customers and the
applications The most advanced drives arc self-
configuring in standard applications. however, it is their
handling of the more specialised and unusual applications
which is one of the factors that will ultimately separate
the good supplier from the merely adequate. The
successful suppliers will be customer-focused
Yaskawa. The integration requirements of modem drive
systems mean communications are vital. The chosen
products must offer seamless compatibility and reduced
software The true aims of an integrated drive solution
are. the ability to communicate a large nuniber of drives
on a network; communication via a simple two-wired or
three wire system to simplify installation and reduce
costs, the ability to connect other pieces of factory-level
equipment, easy access to a small or large iiumber of
parameters in the drive line with the coniplexity of the
application, a data throughout that will not degrade any of
the vast variety of applications: simple software
connection for ease of commissioning and ease of use,
integration designed in to individual products from the
outset, rather than relying on the different products of a
number of different suppliers
4. CONCLUSION
The paper has attempted to give a survey of the present
and future developments and trends in electrical maclunes
and drives. It was shown that the market share of the
drives will siMvficantly increase and the cage induction
machine will remain the dominant machine for industrial
drives. However, there is a continued role for dc drives,
especially improved dc drives. There will be an increase
in sensorless high-performance drives (DTC + vector),
and there will be a larger role for permanent magnet
synchronous drives for applications requiring a high
perfomiance or high specific output. There will also be an
increased role of various reluctance motor drives for
various applications. Intelligent softcomputing control
techniques will become dominant. extended observers,
improved self-tuning controllers will find many
applications. Furtlier universal drivcs will emerge. Energy
efficiency, diagnostics and condition monitoring will
become more important. There will be a revolution in the
packaging with integrated power modules providing a
complete controller for smaller drives and maybe even the
integration of the motor and the inverter
Extracts of a s w e y conducted on thc futurc of drives has
also been presented.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Acknowledgement is niadc to EPSRC, GEC and Control
Techniques Plc for the support of the soft-computing-
74
based research of Professor Vas. The authors also wish to
thank Control Techniques plc for the photographs.
6 . REFERENCES
[ I ] 1.' Vas, W. Drury, "Future dcvclopnients and trends in
electrical machines and variable-speed derives", (In Italian),
Energia Elettrica, January, 1996.
121 P. Vas, "Electrical machines and drives: A space-vector
rheory approach"; Oxford University Press. 1992.
131 P. Vas, W. D m y , "Vector-controlled drives", PCIM,
Numberg, pp. 213-228, 1994.
141 P. Vas, "Vector control of ac machines", Oxford lrniversity
Press, 1990.
151 P. J . Lawrenson, "Switched Icluctance drives": A
perspective, ICEM, pp. 12-21., 1992.
[6] P. J. Lawrcnson, "A brief status review of switched
reluctance drives". EPE Journal, 1, pp. 133-144, 1992.
17 ] A. Fratta, A. Vagatti, "A reluctance motor drive for high
dynamic perfonnance", IEEE US, pp. 38-43, 1988.
[SI G. Franceshini, G. P. Rosso, A. Fratta, A. Vagati,
"Performance of synchronous reluctance motors in servo-drive
applications", K I M , Nurnberg, pp. 15-27, 1993.
[Y] T. Du, P. Vas, A. F. Stronach, "Design and application of
extended observers for joint state and parameter estimation in
high-perfoniiance ac drives", E E >Pt.R, 71-78, 1995.
[10] C . T. Whcatley, "Drives", 5th EPE, pp. 33-39, 1993.
[1 11 Vas, I>.>Stronach, F, Neuroth. M., Du, T.: A fuzzy
controlled speed-sensorless induction motor dnve with flux
estimators, IEli E m , Durham, 11-13 Septeniber, 1995, pp.
3 15-319.
1121 P. Vas, J. Li, A. F. Stronach, P. Lees, "Artificial neural
network-based control of electromechanical systems", Control
94, IEE, COVCIL~Y, pp. 1065-1070, 1994.
[13] A. F. Stronach, 1'. Vas, "Variable-speed drives
incorporating multi-loop adaptive controllers", IEE, Pt.11, pp.
41 1-420. 1995.
1141 F. Fillippetti, G. Franceschini, C. Tassoni, "Neural network
aided on-line diagnostics of induction motors rotor faults",
LAS, Toronto, pp. 313-323, 1993.
[15] M. Cimncione, R. Rizzo, G. Vitale, P. Vas; "Neural
networks in motion control", PCIM, Numberg, pp. 131-141,
1995.
[ 161 A. F. Stronach, P. Vas, "Fuzzy-neural control of variable-
speed drives", PCWI, Nuniberg, 20-22 June, pp. 117-129, 1995.
[17] C . Franwsliini, A. Piuzi, C , Tassoni "A genetic algorithm
approach to design flux obseiver for induction servo drives",
ECON94. Bologna, pp. 2132-2136, 1994.
[IS] P. Vas, 'Pararrieter estiniation, condition monitoring and
diagnosis of eiectrical niachines", Oxford University Press.
1993.
[19] E. Chiricozzi, F. Parasiliti, M. Tursini, D. Q. %hang,
"Fuzzy self-tuning control of PMSM synchronous motor
dnves", PEDES'95, Singapore, pp.749-754, 1995.