Analysis of Thyristor Controlled Induction Motors Based on VVCF
Li Kai, Chen Xinglin, Wang Yan
Department of Control Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150006, China
Abstract In this paper, the author has aimed at the
variable-voltage controlled induction motor, analyzed the
steady-state performance of variable-voltage thyristor
controlled induction motor system, and presented the
mathematic model and circuit model of such system. Power
factor, as a significant variable to measure the efficiency of
motor operation, is particularly studied in the paper, and the
control strategy based on the studies of power factor and slip
is given. The simulation curves and real waves are shown in
the result. Finally, the transient performance of induction
motor is mentioned. The analysis and results reveal that
such system based on the special arithmetic is available.
I. INTRODUCTION
The electrical driven system has been used widely in
the industrial fields since the 19th century. DC motors
have dominated the majority of the applications for quite
a long time. At that time, the speed of DC motors could
be regulated continuously by adjusting the voltage fed on
the armature, modulating the resistance of the armature,
or reducing the magnet flux, the methods of which were
comparatively simple and had been turned into realities,
and the torque of DC motors was able to be controlled
with the variation of loads. As a result, the mechanical
characteristics of DC motors were quite suitable to meet
the general industrial occasions. However, the control
means of AC (induction motors) motors were a little bit
complicated, and we couldn't drive AC motors with their
speed and torque being controlled so freely as those of
DC motors. Besides it also had brought the increase of
cost. The most important was that the AC motor's
mechanical characteristic was not so satisfying than that
of the DC motor's at that time. According to these reasons,
AC motors were often applied in the occasion that we
didn't need to regular the speed, or control the toque.
Thus a mass of the energy were wasted.
With the development of power electronics, and the
global crisis of energy sources sweeping all over the
world, people are compelled to do everything to save
energy, and look back to the induction motors. The
shortcomings of DC motors have also lead people to
change their sights back to AC motors again. Because the
mechanism of DC motors leads to the frequent friction
between the brushes and the commutators, and it results in
the mechanical abrasion, which has increased the
difficulties of repair. Another problem is that the
capacities of DC motors can't be made so large or such
DC motors can't be produced by the machine. In the
1930's, power electronics first came into the picture with
thyratrons in place of rotating equipment. The drive was
an induction motor which commutated the inverter
package. In the late 1950's, semiconductor static power
made its debut in the form of thyristors as three layer
silicon controlled rectifiers. In the 1970's silicon
controlled rectifier with high gain, low loss, high voltage
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ratings, good reliability and medium cost rapidly took
over applications in inverters for adjustable speed drives.
Of the principle schemes for induction motor speed
control, the variable-voltage constant-frequency (VVCF)
type is simple, economical and increasingly employed in
low to medium power applications, especially where the
load torque varies as the square of the motor speed. Such
applications are typically compressors, pumps and fan
loads. In this scheme, the stator voltage is controlled
smoothly at line frequency between zero and full value by
symmetrically controlling the firing angle of thyristor
devices. Though the new developing method of variable-
voltage variable-frequency (VVVF) has presented a
wonderful foreground, it also brings about unnecessary
power loss of the additional control equipments, which
simultaneity increases the cost. On the other hand, the so-
called "VVVF" meet the needs of the certain occasions
during which the rigid speed regulation and precise torque
are required. As a result, general guideline of speed and
torque while using VVCF can satisfy an amount of
industrial fields when usual speed and torque is permitted.
Although variable-voltage, constant-frequency control of
induction motors is one of the simplest schemes of speed
control as it is a naturally commutated system, the
analysis of such system is extremely complex. The main
emphasis of the paper is to find the inner relations of
thyristor controlled induction motor system based on the
principle of VVCF.
II. THEORY ANALYSIS
2.1 FORMULA DERIVATION
In order to make the thyristor-controlled induction
motor system based on VVCF operate effectively, the
first necessary thing is to establish the mathematic model
and physical model of such system. The system of Fig.1,
comprising a six-thyristor power control circuit in
conjunction with a 3-wire triangle connected motor, has
been found to be the least demanding as far as the motor
performance is concerned. The circuit is therefore
selected for detailed study in this paper.
Fig. 1. Power circuit configuration
Neglecting magnetic saturation, an induction motor
may be regarded as a linear device, when the motor
operates smoothly [1]. With non-sinusoidal voltage supply,
the motor/controller system may then be analyzed by the
superposition of the fundamental voltage and each
harmonic term. The conventional equivalent circuit for
one phase of an induction motor on a sinusoidal supply is
shown in Fig.2.a with fundamental wave and Fig.2.b with
harmonic term.
b
Fig.2. Motor equivalent circuit
The rotor slip with respect to fundamental rotating
field is
Si = (c -o,) IC
Where si is the slip of the fundamental wave, os is the
speed of the rotating magnetic field, and cOr is the speed of
the rotator.
The nth harmonic of the phase current produces a
time-harmonic MMF rotating forwards or backwards at a
speed ncsQ. Hence the rotor slip for a forward and a
backward rotating harmonic field are given by
sn (ncos cor ) / ncos I (cor / ncos )
= =
Where sn is the slip of the nth harmonic wave.
According to Thevenin theorem, the frame of such
circuit can be converted to a resistor in series with an
inductance while the back electromotive force generated
by the equivalent rotator resistor being attributed to the
power supply. The final equivalent circuit is shown in
Fig.3, and is followed by the corresponding coefficients.
Fig.3. Simplified forms of the equivalent circuit
Zeq2 = Req2 + IXeq2 = R1 + i(X + X2) (3)
VOC= [(R2 /S)j/[m+X2) (]2/51)2+(Xm+AI)2] (4)
Where R1 is the resistor of stator, X1 is the reactance
of stator, R2 is the equivalent resistor of rotator, X2 is
the equivalent reactance of rotator, and Xm is the
magnetizing reactance of the motor.
2.2 ANALYSIS OF THE PHYSICAL MODEL
Since we have established the mathematic model of
one phase induction motor in conjunction with the anti-
paralleled thyristors, the next step will be focused on the
analysis of the physical model based on solving the circuit
equations. Now the simulation curves indicating the
solutions of the electrical circuit of Fig.3 with sine wave
voltage forced on are shown in Fig.4.
(1)
(2)
Fig.4. Single Phase Waveform of Resistance and Inductance Load
To evaluate the terminal voltage of each phase, two
possible situations are considered. Casel: There are three
thyristors conducted, leading to two loop circuit effective.
In this situation, the firing angle of each thyristor is no
more than 60 and larger than the power factor angle.
Case2: There are two thyristors conducted, leading to
only one loop circuit effective. In this situation, the firing
angle of each thyristor is larger than 60 and less
than120 . Other cases such as firing angle is less than
power angle or even larger than 120 are not valid
according to this design.
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 Where a ------the firing angle
° 6 3
r

- 6 .
7 4
3v 1bi 2
0 ------the angle of flow
- -------the power factor angle
VT2
y ------the current holdoff angle

K 6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-6
Thus the voltage RMS of the load satisfies the equation
0;
(02Uj ott)2 d(ot) sin
5.

UO0
r 2r r . _
i z
T
.74
= (7)
6 3 2 3 6 6 3 2 3 6

This equation indicates the final voltage fed on the motor

VF5
6 3 2 3 6 6 6 is a nonlinear function of a and 0, where a can be
VI6
controlled and 0 can't be controlled directly. However,
0 6f 6
3f
3 2T
2
3 6 6 3T -5- 3 2
-T 6T there exits the constraint relations with these variables in
equation(5) and equation(6). If we establish the principles
Fig.5. Working waveform of the six thyristors with a = 30 -
of power angle 0 , we may confirm the principles of the
6
Fig5 shows the working waveform of six thyristors other variables. The variation of S7 has relations with the
1T 72T 42T variable of s . Fig.6 displays the variation curves of the
with a = For example, from [ ], it belongs ,
characteristics of power factor angle and slip.
6 6 3
5;T 7;T U ,,,,, ,,
Il, =I

to casel and from [ , ], it is in case2 situation. 0.1

6 6
2.3 POWER FACTOR 0.2L
Power factor, as a significant variable to measure the 0.3 [
efficiency of motor operation, has been paid more and 04k
more attention since the crisis of energy sources swept all
over the world. Engineer Nola proposed a new technique
named "Power Factor Control" to regulate the power 0.6k
factor in electrical driven system. [2] From then on, people 0.7
began to find every method to improve the power factor 0.8F
to meet the general industry applications. As we have 0.9
known that power factor is the cosine value of power
factor angle. And the power factor angle is the electrical I
20 30 40 60 60 70 80 90
angle between the voltage and the current floating through Power Factor Angle(Degree)

the component. The thyristors belong to a kind of Fig.6. Curves of Power Factor Angle and Slip
commutation equipment. There exits the steady state and The parameters in Fig.6 is that:
the transient state of the voltage and the current. As a R1 = 1.33Q,R2 = 1.12Q,Rm = 7Q,X1 = 2.43Q,
result, the definition of power factor also has two (s)
meanings. One meaning is defined during the transient X2 = 4.4Q,X.
90Q =
state, the power factor angle is expressed as the electrical If the firing angle a is reduced like Fig.7 shows, the fact
angle between the voltage crossing zero intersection and that 0 and the final voltage U0 vary smoothly with the
the corresponding current crossing zero intersection. This
angle is equal to the true power factor angle 0 when the variable of s will be found. The curves of 0 and U0 are
thyristor phase delay is zero. [2] The other meaning is given in Fig.8 and Fig.9.
applied on the other state, when the motor is running UP
smoothly. The power factor can be considered as the arc 0.1
tangent value of the ratios of virtual power and the real
power. Since the electrical characteristics of the motor are 0.2L
evaluated by the value of power factor, the mechanical 0.3
characteristics can be evaluated by the value of slip s For .
04k
fixed input voltage, load changes are accommodated by L
c,
changes in the slip s Once the slip varies, the power
.

0.6k
factor, current, input power and efficiency will changes
correspondingly. 0.7
2.4 CONTROL STRATEGY 0.8F
From Fig.4, the equation that the variables should 0.9
satisfied is that
+0 =;T +0
II
a (5) 30 40 50 60 70 s0
Firing Angle(Degree)
90 100 110

7 =;T-O=a-0 (6) Fig.7. Curves of controlled firing angle and slip

117
 0 I- . 1 @ 1@ . @1 * o

0.1
0.2
o0.
0.4

0.6
Fig.1I .Waves of real system with a 1 Iand full voltage
0. 7
06 The comparisons of real system and the simulation
0. 9 model indicate that the curves matches well in the steady
state of a = 1I0° and full voltage. During the course of the
1. 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230
variations of two conditions, the system will experience
The Angle of Flow(Degree)
Fig.8. Curves of the angle of flow and slip the transient state. Every parameter changes uncertainly,
even this kind of variation is immeasurable. Actually the
transient state only last very few seconds or even short,
0. and the parameters which judge the performance of motor
0.:2-
such as stator voltage and current vary a little[5]. As a
result, neglecting the analysis of the transient state is
o.:
acceptable on the condition of the dynamic characteristics
o..4- of induction motor not being the focus of our researches.
1
6-
0.1 IV. CONCLUSION
0. 7- Representation of a non-sinusoidal voltage supplied
0 induction motor has now been fully developed. The
0. 9-
analysis of thyristor controlled induction motors has tuned
to the tools of mathematics deduction, circuit calculation
i90 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 and simulation. It remains to be a widely used method of
The Voltage of LoadM VVCF to a mass of industry applications. For example,
Fig.9.Curves of the load voltage and slip such driven system can be utilized to control the light-
From the curves above, the control strategy of such loaded motors, to be used as a soft-starter and to be a
system is to cut down the firing angle a linearly, the aim voltage regulator. The analysis of the driven system
of which is to insure the load voltage and current increase including the working conditions of each thyristor, the
slowly preventing from the strike to the electrical network relations of every variables, and the principles of power
and the harm to the induction motor. factor angle and slip illustrates the driven equipments
After all, it is a type of open-loop control system, the have the significance both in theory and in practice. The
vibration of the torque may be acute. To overcome this feedback of power factor angle also helps improve the
difficulty, the feedback of power factor angle S7 has to be stability and availability of such system.
introduced. The close-loop system comes into being, in
which the actual control variable is the holdoff angle y. REFERENCES
[1] S. A. Hamed, MSc, PhD, Prof. B. J. Chaimers, Phd, DSc, CEng,
III. SIMULATIONAND EXPERIMENT FIEE. "Analysis of variable-voltage thyristor controlled induction
motors" IEE PROCEEDINGS, Vol.137, Pt. B, No.3, May 1990
Fig. 10 reveals the simulation curves which is created [2] TIMOTHY M.ROWAN, THOMAS.A.LIPO, "A Quantitatives
Analysis of Induction Motor Performance Improvement by SCR
by solving the circuit equation. Fig. 1 Iis the real voltage Voltage Control" IEEE TRANSZCTIONS ON INDUSTRY
waves of a driven system based on such arithmetic. APPLICATIONS, VOL. IA-19, NO.4, JULY/AUGUST 1983
[3] Wang.Yi, Zhao. Kaiqi, Xu. Dianguo, "REASEARCH ON
DISPLACEMENT ANGLE IN THE CONTROL SYSTEM OF
MOTOR SOFT STARTER" Proceedings of the CSEE, Vol.22,
No.8, Aug, 2002
[4] R. Stem, D. W. Novotny. "A Simplified Approach to The
Determination oflnduction Machine Dynamic Response" IEEE
Trans, Vol. PAS-97, No. 4.1430-1439
[5] Tang.Yunqiu, Shi. Nai, "TELEVISION" Ver. 1,The Publishing
House Of Mechanism, 1999
[6] T. A. Lipo. The Analysis of Induction Motors with Voltage Control
by Symmetrically Triggered Thyristors. IEEE Trans, 1971, PAS-90:
5 15-525
Fig.1IO. Computed curves of current with a 1 wand full voltage

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