Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Dhaka-1205,Bangladesh

EEE 203
Energy Conversion- I

Assignment on

Variable Voltage Variable Frequency controlled Three phase Induction

motor

Submitted to: Dr. Enamul Basher sir

Name: Naveed Ishraq

Student id:1506044

Section: A

Date of submission: 15/7/17

Induction motor:
The machines whose rotor voltage (which produces rotor current and rotor
magnetic field) is induced in the rotor windings rather than physically connected
by wires are called induction motor. This motor doesn’t require any DC field
current. There are two kinds of induction motor rotors, 1) Cage rotor and 2)
Wound rotor.

An induction motor relies on the induction of voltage and current on the rotor from
the stator circuit. Because the induction of voltages and currents in an induction
motor is essentially a transformer operation, its equivalent circuit is similar.

Fig: Equivalent circuit of an induction motor Fig: Cutaway diagram of 3-ph induction motor

The three phase induction motor can be controlled by varying voltage and
frequency. These variables have rated values beyond which the motor might be
damaged. They control the torque-speed characteristics of induction motor.
Stator voltage control of a three phase induction motor
Stator Voltage Control is a method used to control the speed of an Induction
Motor. The speed of a three phase induction motor can be varied by varying the
supply voltage. As we already know that the torque developed is proportional to
the square of the supply voltage from this relation,

3𝑉𝑡ℎ 2 𝑅2 /𝑠
𝜏=
𝜔𝑠𝑦𝑛𝑐 [(𝑅𝑡ℎ+𝑅2 /𝑠)2 +(𝑋𝑡ℎ +𝑋2 )2 ]

The slip at the maximum torque is independent of supplied voltage,

𝑅2
𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥 =
√(𝑅𝑡ℎ )2 + (𝑋𝑡ℎ + 𝑋2 )2

But the variation of supply voltage doesn’t alter the synchronous speed of rotor.

The Torque-Speed Characteristics of the three phase induction motors for varying
supply voltage and also for the fan load are shown below.

By varying the supplying voltage, the speed can be controlled. The voltage is
varied until the torque required by the load is developed, at the desired speed. The
torque developed is proportional to the square of the supply voltage and the current
is proportional to the voltage.
Hence, to reduce the speed for the same value of the same current, the value of the
voltage is reduced and as a result, the torque developed by the motor is reduced.
This stator voltage control method is suitable for the applications where the load
torque decreases with the speed.

This method gives a speed control only below the normal rated speed as the
operation of the voltages if higher than the rated voltage is not admissible.

Frequency control of a three phase induction motor

Variable Frequency Drive or VFD is the way that enables controlling of the speed
of induction motor by applying varying frequency of AC supply voltage. By
controlling the output AC frequency, it is possible to drive the motor at different
speed based on the requirements. These are adjustable speed drive largely used in
industrial applications such as pumps, ventilation systems, elevators, machine tool
drives etc It is essentially an energy saving system. Therefore the first requirement
is to generate sine wave with different frequency for VFD.

What is the technology adopted in VFD?

It is the system that gives AC output with varying frequency to control the speed of
the motor according to the needs. Single Phase Variable Frequency Inverters are
more common since most devices are working in Single phase AC supply. It
consists of a full wave bridge rectifier to convert 230 / 110 Volt AC to
approximately 300 / 150 volt DC. The output DC from the bridge rectifier is
smoothed by a high value smoothing capacitor to remove ripples of AC. This fixed
voltage DC is then fed to the frequency generating circuit formed of MOSFET
(Metal oxide field effect transistor) / IGBT (Isolated Gate Bipolar Transistor)
transistors. This MOSFET/IGBT circuit receives the DC and converts it into AC
with variable frequency to control the speed of the device.

Constant V/F control of induction motor

This is the most popular method for controlling the speed of an induction motor.
As in above method, if the supply frequency is reduced keeping the rated supply
voltage, the air gap flux will tend to saturate. This will cause excessive stator
current and distortion of the stator flux wave. Therefore, the stator voltage should
also be reduced in proportional to the frequency so as to maintain the air-gap flux
constant. The magnitude of the stator flux is proportional to the ratio of the stator
voltage and the frequency. Hence, if the ratio of voltage to frequency is kept
constant, the flux remains constant. Also, by keeping V/F constant, the developed
torque remains approximately constant. This method gives higher run-time
efficiency. Therefore, majority of AC speed drives employ constant V/F method
(or variable voltage, variable frequency method) for the speed control. Along with
wide range of speed control, this method also offers 'soft start' capability. The V/f
follows the following relation,

𝑉 = √2𝜋𝑓𝜑𝑚 𝑛

n =no. of turns, 𝜑𝑚 =magnetic flux, f=supplied frequency

In practice the, the voltage to frequency ration is based on the rated values of these
variables. There are three speed ranges in the V/Hz curve. They are as follows:

I. At 𝑓𝑐 =0 Hz, a voltage is required ,so the drop across the stator resistor
cannot be neglected. To counter this voltage, 𝑉𝑠 must be given. Thus the
V/Hz curve is not linear. The cutoff frequency 𝑓𝑐 and the stator voltage 𝑉𝑠
must be given from the analytical results computed from the equivalent
circuit of induction motor.
II. Between 𝑓𝑐 − 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 Hz, the V/Hz relation follows a constant relationship.
The slope actually represents the air gap flux.
III. At 𝑓𝑐 > 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 the V/f ratio is not satisfied because the stator voltages would
be limited at the rated values to avoid insulation breakdown at stator
windings. Therefore the resulting air gap flux will be reduced and this will
cause decreasing torque. This region is called the ‘field weakening’ region.
The constant V/Hz is also violated in this region.

Since the stator flux is independent of supplied frequency, the torque produced
will depend on slip speed. By regulating slip speed the torque and speed can be
controlled using the constant V/f principle.

This is how variable voltage variable frequency controlled three phase induction
motor works.