374

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 42, NO. 4, AUGUST 1995

Torque Capability and Control of a Saturated

Induction Motor Over a Wide
Range of Flux Weakening
Horst Grotstollen, Member, ZEEE, and Josef Wiesing

Abstract-The 6rst part of this paper covers an investigation of

the maximum torque which an induction motor with saturated air
gap inductance can generate over its permitted speed range, when
voltage as well as current are limited. From the investigation
three regions of operating speed are identified, based on limiting
quantities which determine the maximum obtainable torque.
In each of these regions a different control strategy must be
applied. When maximum torque is not required, efficiency can be
optimized but this strategy should not be applied at low torque
levels when good dynamic performance is required. The second
part illustrates how a modified rotor flux oriented control strategy
is applied to achieve full utilization of the torque capability over
the whole speed range. Several measures for improving dynamic
and transient behavior of the drive in the flux weakening region
are suggested. Performance of the new control strategy is verified
by experiments.

NOMENCLATURE
Components of stator current vector in the
rotor flux oriented frame.
Magnetizing current.
Components of stator voltage vector in the
rotor flux oriented frame.
Electromagnetic torque.
Rotor flux.
Angular speed of motor.
Rotational speed.
Amplitudes of maximum stator current and
maximum stator voltage.
ZSdlim, iSqlim Limits of stator current components.
VSdlim, VSqlim Limits of stator voltage components.
$Rnom, $Rapt Nominal value and optimal value of rotor
flux.
Maximum torque (depends on speed).
Maximum mechanical power.
Saturated mutual inductance.
Leakage inductances of stator and rotor
winding.
Resistances of stator and rotor winding.
Number of pole pairs.
Manuscript received March 23, 1994; revised January 6, 1995.
H. Grotstollen is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University
of Paderbom, D-33095, Paderbom, Germany.
J. Wiesing was with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University
of Paderbom, D-33095, Paderbom, Germany. He is now with LUST Antriebstechnik, D-3563 1 Lahnau, Germany.
IEEE Log Number 9412497.

I. INTRODUCTION

N MANY applications, electrical drives have to deliver

constant torque (rated or maximum) at low speeds only,
and a decrease of torque and operation at almost constant
power is acceptable at medium and high speeds. In these cases,
weakening of the motor flux is a suitable control method which
results in an economic rating of the power converter and motor.
If the maximum torque and power are required over a wide
range of flux weakening, the following aspects need to be
considered: First, the calculation of the obtainable torque as
well as the design of a control scheme which makes it possible
to reach maximum torque over the whole speed range must
take the nonlinearity of the magnetization curve into account
[l]. Second, the flux weakening region has to be divided
into two parts since the current limit has to be considered
at medium speed only, but not at high speed. Third, when
maximum torque is not required efficiency can be optimized.
Fourth, during transients ringing or overshoot of the currents
can appear due to the limitations existing in the control loops.
Interest in the influence of magnetic saturation on the
performance and control of induction motors as well as the
operation of these motors in the flux weakening region have
increased in recent years: All the phenomena listed above
have been investigated or are at least mentioned by many
authors. To achieve satisfactory results, all these phenomena
must be considered simultaneously. Until now, few attempts
were made to achieve this goal.
Many investigations, for example, were devoted to the
influence of the magnetic saturation on the torque capability
[l], [2] and the control [3], [4] of the saturated induction motor
when being operated in the basic speed region. In [5],the lower
flux weakening region was considered in addition.
Control of an induction motor with weakened flux has also
been investigated and three methods for establishing the flux
were suggested: a) The flux reference can be set according to a
fixed flux-speed characteristic; or b) it can be calculated from
simplified motor equations, which can be improved through
consideration of additional variables; or c) it can be provided
by a voltage controller, which sets the flux in such a way
that the voltage required by the motor matches the voltage
capability of the inverter [ 6 ] . The strategy c) seems to be
optimal because it is not sensitive to parameter variations.
When this strategy is applied a torque break-off will appear at
high speed. For this reason, different control strategies were

0278-0046/95$04.00 0 1995 IEEE

GROTSTOLEN AND WIESING TORQUE CAPABILITY AND CONTROL OF A SATURATED INDUCTION MOTOR

375

Fig. 1. Rotor flux oriented model of the induction motor

combined in [7]: In the lower flux weakening region, the

flux reference is provided by a voltage controller while it is
varied inversely to the actual speed when the critical highspeed region is entered. Until now, this simple flux-speed
characteristic is frequently used [8] even though being not
optimal, especially when the control is related to the rotor flux.
The reason for this is demonstrated in [9] where the differences
between the lower and the upper flux weakening regions are
illustrated graphically but where, as in [6]-[8], saturation is
not considered.
The possibility of optimizing efficiency at partial load was
discussed for the basic speed region, and implemented in a
field oriented controller which takes magnetic saturation into
account [5). In [lo], optimization of either torque or efficiency
or a weighted optimization of both quantities, was suggested
for the unsaturated machine. It is, however, not clear why the
results of the optimization depend on the choice of flux (stator,
air gap, or rotor) by which the model of the motor is oriented.
Last but not least, the mechanisms by which current overshoot can occur in the flux weakening region where the
voltage is limited were only investigated systematically in
[1 11. Various countermeasures are employed to minimize
this phenomenon: Either the voltage component of the daxis is given priority to assure a good flux control, or both
components of the voltage vector are decreased by the same
ratio to avoid phase errors. For both methods there exist
operating conditions for which the response of the current
control is neither predictible nor satisfactory.

In this paper, all aspects concerning operation of an induction motor in a speed region limited only by mechanical
stress are considered together and based on this a rotor flux
oriented control strategy is presented refemng to [ l l ] and
[12]: In Section 11, the torque capability of the saturated
motor is determined for the whole speed range considering
constant limits of current and voltage. At the same time,
control strategies are obtained which allow the utilization of
the maximum attainable torque at all speeds. The possibility
and the suitability of optimizing the efficiency at partial load
is discussed in Section JD.In Section IV, all basic knowledge
derived earlier is implemented in a rotor flux oriented control
scheme which is applied in combination with a voltage source
PWM inverter. Phenomena which can disturb the control are
explained and countermeasures are suggested. In Section V,
the performance of the new control scheme is verified by
experimental results obtained with a 3-kW spindle drive, for
which the maximum speed is more than five times the rated
speed.
11. TORQUE
CAPABILITY OF THE
INVERTER-FED INDUCTION MOTOR

In contrast with [lo], the torque capability and the efficiency

of the drive are assumed to be inherent characteristics of the
power sections which do not depend on the type of inverter or
on the method of investigation. This is why the investigation
of the power section can start from the dynamic model of
the induction motor in the rotor flux oriented frame [13] (see

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 42, NO. 4, AUGUST 1995

316

701

TABLE I
DATAOF INVESTIGATEDSPINDLE
DRIVE

1
Unit
Inverter:

Motor:

.
5

2.5

7.5

10

12.5

15

17.5

20

Magnetizing current (A)

Fig. 2. Mutual inductance of investigated motor (measured points and approximative curve)

Fig. 1) which is used afterwards for control. From this model

the well-known steady-state equations are derived and the
stator flux as well as all frequency variables can be eliminated.
This results in the following equations which establish the
components of the stator voltage V S d , usq,the torque T M ,and
the rotor flux I+!JR as functions of the stator current components
i S d , isq and the angular motor speed W M = 27r . n M

Parameter
dc link voltage
maximum phase voltage (amplitude) usmax
maximum current (amplitude) ismax
rated power (data sheet)
rated current (amplitude) isnom
maximum speed R
M
~
~
~
stator resistance Rs
rotor resistance RR
stray inductances Ls,, = L R ~
mutual inductance (nominal) Lmnom
inertia (load included)

100

300 v
173 V
38 A
3 kW
21 A
SO00 r/min
0.212 R
0.221 R
1.24 mH
30.1 mH
0.04 kgm2

Rotor flux (Vs)

Fig. 3. Current limit curve for is = ismax. Unsaturated motor:
Lm = L,,,,
= 30.1 mH. Saturated motor: L , according to (7). and
(L, = 10 mH, La = 63 mH, Lp = 30 mH, (I = 0.071 A-', and
p = 0.77A-l).

At first, the torque generated when only the current limit is

considered will be investigated: Using the secondary condition
izd

(3)
$R

= Lm * i S d .

(4)

Notice that all voltage and current quantities are amplitudes,

Rs, RR. and Ls,, L R are
~ the resistances and the stray
inductances of the stator and the rotor winding, and Pp is
the number of pole pairs. The mutual inductance L , which
is related to the flux of the air gap is assumed to be saturated
and to depend on the magnetizing current ,i by

L , = L,(im)

L,

+ Lae-aam
. - Lpe-Pim .

(5)

The magnetizing current depends on the stator current components according to

The current dependent mutual inductance L , = Lm(i,) of

the motor investigated is shown in Fig. 2. In Table I, all the
data of the 3-kWspindle drive to which all results of this
paper refer are given. Notice that a second exponential term is
used in (5) to model the increasing slope of the magnetization
curve $R = $ ~ ( i , ) at low currents which causes the almost
linear section of the curve to be offset from the origin. This
measure has proved to be important for modeling operation at
very high speed where flux becomes very small.

+ i z q = ;2

= const. where is = ismax (7)

and (3) through (6), the flux and the torque are calculated
that appear when the decomposition of the current into its
d- and q-components is varied. Since the voltage equations
do not need to be considered, unique results are achieved
which are independent of speed. In Fig. 3, the torque of the
investigated drive is plotted as a function of the flux. This
is because the flux magnitude will be used as reference for
the suggested flux oriented control scheme. Curves with and
without considering saturation are given to demonstrate the
magnitude of the error which is made when saturation is
ignored. In particular it becomes obvious that under conditions
of saturation an accurate setting of flux is required when
maximum torque must be achieved. Evidently the error which
is made by neglecting saturation depends on the current limit
is investigated.
and will be smaller when the case is = isnom
In the following text, the torque curve of Fig. 3 is referred
to as the current limit curve and the area below this curve
in which the permitted current is not exceeded is called the
permitted operating area.
In the next step the torque is investigated by considering
only the voltage limit established by
vzd

+ vgq =

= const.

(8)

Flux and torque of the motor that would appear when the
maximum voltage is applied are calculated for varying de-

GROTSTOLLEN AND WIESING: TORQUE CAPABILITY AND CONTROL OF A SATURATED INDUCTION MOTOR

Rotor flux (Vs)

Fig. 4. Borders of operation area defined by voltage and current limit curves.
Voltage limit curves us = usmax: 1.1 for n = n1 = 1150 r/min, 1.2
for n = n2 = 1490 r/min, 1.3 for n = ng = 2500 r/min, 1.4 for
TZ = n4 = 5250 r/min, 1.5 for n = n5 = 7000 r/min. Current limit curve
for (is = ismax):2 for any speed.

composition of the voltage into its d- and q-components. This

calculation cannot be performed analytically because (1) and
(2) have to be considered, and cause the result to depend on
speed. In Fig. 4, a set of five torque-flux characteristics (curves
1.1 through 1.5) are given, which are obtained when the speed
is set to five constant values 721 through 725. These curves
are referred to as voltage limit curves and mark the upper
border of the possible operating region which the drive cannot
exceed, due to the limitation of the inverter voltage. From
the well-defined peak of each curve the maximum attainable
torque at the related speed without consideration of current
limitation, can be seen. This torque is almost identical to the
well-known breakdown torque of the line-fed induction motor
which is calculated under constant frequency conditions. The
possible operating region is further decreased when the speed
is increasing.
Following these considerations, the true torque capability
of a drive can be determined by considering the voltage and
current limits simultaneously. For this purpose the current
limit curve of the saturated motor is shown again in Fig. 4.
Now, for each speed the area in which operation is permitted
and possible, and the point in this area where the torque
is a maximum can be seen easily. As a consequence, the
maximum torque T
M and~the ~
corresponding flux $JRopt
can be calculated. But in doing so, it becomes obvious that
three speed regions can be identified as follows:
Basic speed region, refer to Fig. 4: At low speeds (for example nl) the current limit curve 2 or at least the peak of
this curve is situated below the voltage limit curve (curve
l.l), i.e., inside the possible operating region. Since the
permitted operating area must not be exceeded, the peak
of the current limit curve determines the maximum torque.
' does~ not depend
~
~ on
Thus the maximum torque 7
the actual speed, and it is achieved when the drive is
operated with a flux $JROpt which is constant and which
~ ~
motor.
is established to be the nominal flux $ J R of~ the
The border of the basic speed region is reached at
speed 122 at which the associated voltage limit curve 1.2
intersects the peak of the current limit curve.
Lower flux weakening region, refer to Fig. 4: At medium
speeds (for example, at speed 123) an intersection of the

311

corresponding voltage limit curve (curve 1.3) and the

current limit curve exists as in the case for speed 722. But
now the peak of the current limit curve is situated above
the voltage limit curve, i.e., outside the possible operating
region and cannot be attained. Therefore the maximum
torque which is permitted and possible at speed 723 is
achieved when the drive is operated at the intersection
of both limiting curves where the voltage as well as the
current are maximal, and where, consequently, the maximum apparent power is applied to the machine. When
the speed varies, the point of maximum torque shifts on
the current limit curve 2 and flux weakening has to be
applied when the speed is increased ($JRopt < $JRnom).
A simple strategy to reach maximum torque regardless of
the actual speed is to apply maximum current to the motor
with as much flux generating d-component as permitted
by the limited voltage. An important advantage of this
control strategy is that the result does not depend on
any parameter of the machine nor on the actual value
of the maximum inverter voltage nor on the flux (stator
or rotor or air gap flux) by which the reference frame of
the control is oriented.
The upper border of the lower flux weakening region
is reached at speed n4 where the peak of the voltage limit
curve 1.4 has reached the current limit curve.
Upper flux weakening region, refer to Fig. 5: At high
speeds (for example 725) the peak of the voltage limit
curve (curve 1.5) or even the complete voltage limit
curve is situated below the current limit curve. Consequently, the maximum torque is now determined by the
voltage limit only and appears at the peak of the voltage
limit curve. As another consequence the control strategy
must be changed. Otherwise the break-off phenomenon
mentioned in the introduction appears, due to the fact
that the intersection of the current and the voltage limit
curves, being the setpoint in the lower flux weakening
region is shifted to very low torque values and vanishes
with increasing speed. As a likely method, the flux
reference can be established by a flux-speed characteristic
which, as justified in the following, should not be the
frequently used hyperbola. But first a particularity should
be mentioned: In the basic speed region and in the lower
flux weakening region, the only differences in quantity
appear when the motor state changes from driving to
braking. In contrast for many drives the upper flux
weakening region does not exist under braking conditions,
and this is the case with the investigated spindle drive.
Experience has shown that this fact can be ignored by the
control without achieving lower torque than under motor
operation. Thus, a discussion of details can be dropped.
In Fig. 6, the optimum flux and the maximum mechanical
power which is related to the maximum torque of the saturated
induction motor are plotted as functions of the speed. For
comparison, a first order hyperbola and a straight line are
shown which are the corresponding curves of an equivalent dc
motor. From the power curves essential differences between
both motors can be seen which are caused by three phenomena:
When the drive enters the flux weakening region higher torque

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS,VOL. 42, NO. 4, AUGUST 1995

378

When efficiency optimization is applied without any limitation, large changes of the required torque will require large
corresponding flux changes. These changes progress slowly
because the flux control is slow by nature and the voltage
is at its limit. For this reason efficiency optimization by flux
variation should be limited to the region where the torque and
the current are high and where it is important to minimize the
copper losses.

"

0.'02

O.b4

0.b6

0.'08

0::

0.'12

0.'1\4'

Iv. CONTROL SCHEME BASEDO N ROTORFLUX ORIENTATION

The control strategies derived in Sections II and III were

Rotor flux (Vs)

Fig. 5. Borders of operating area (extract from Fig. 4).

implemented in the digital control of a spindle drive consisting

of an induction motor and a voltage source PWM inverter. As
a control strategy, rotor flux orientation was combined with
the basic scheme of [6],[7] for flux weakening (see Fig. 7).
With regard to the following, only the controller section is
of interest. It consists of two current controllers, the reference
signals for which are delivered by a speed controller (adaption
to variations of flux is made as usual and not shown in detail)
and a flux controller. The flux reference is generated by a
2000
4000
6000
Sddb
voltage controller (which in fact is controlling the modulation
Rotor Speed (rpm)
index). The voltage control has two very useful features: On
the one hand, it tends to increase the flux as long as the voltage
Fig. 6. Optimal flux and maximum mechanical power.
required by the motor does not exceed the value which is
and power can be achieved than with an equivalent dc motor set by the voltage reference U:. In this way, it is aimed to
because the decrease of the flux generating current iSd makes operate at the voltage limit. On the other hand, the flux is
it possible to increase the torque generating current isq.This reduced automatically when the voltage required by the motor
phenomenon is reinforced strongly by the magnetic saturation becomes too high, i.e., when overmodulation is imminent
which enforces a large decrease in the flux generating current or present. In this fashion, the voltage requirement of the
for a small decrease in the flux. At high speeds, however, the motor is adjusted automatically to the voltage capability of the
voltage consumption of the leakage inductances which does inverter by variation of the flux in the flux weakening region.
not exist in dc machines causes a reduction of the current and Unfortunately this task is related to the poor dynamics of the
the obtainable torque. From the flux curves can be seen that flux control and problems can be expected during transients.
The particularities of the control presented here are impleweakening the flux according to a first order hyperbola is not
optimal for an induction motor. The loss of torque and power mented in the basic scheme, through special handling of the
limitations. Unless otherwise explicitly mentioned, no change
will be up to 35% as shown in [ll].
Now, before implementing this knowledge about maximum in the control scheme takes place when the drive changes from
torque and how to achieve it in a control, the conditions at driving mode to braking. In this way problems which can arise
from changing the control scheme in the upper flux weakening
partial load will be discussed briefly.
region are avoided. Results obtained for braking have proven
to be satisfactory over the whole speed range.
In. FLUX CONTROLAT PARTIAL
LOAD
10000,

,0.5

When the drive is operated in the flux weakening region and

when the maximum torque is not required, the operating point
can be moved on a horizontal (see dashed line in Fig. 5 ) which
is limited by the voltage limit curve at the right and by the
current limit curve at the left. The possibility of optimizing
the efficiency therefore exists. Efficiency is optimized by
operating the drive at the voltage limit, since the flux is as
high as possible and the required torque is generated with
minimum current amplitude and minimum copper losses. It
should be remarked that iron losses and additional losses are
not taken into account. This assumption of negligible losses
is valid because of the following two opposite phenomena:
When speed is increased, iron losses are increased, due to the
frequency increase, at the same time the losses are decreased
due to flux weakening.

Basic Speed Region

In the basic speed region, the voltage controller tends to

increase the flux reference, and operation with the nominal flux is ensured by limiting this signal at the output of
the voltage controller to the corresponding constant value,
$Rlim 1$Rnom- TO achieve satisfactory behavior of the drive,
priority is given to the control of the d-component of the
current as usual. This means that the d-component is limited to
the maximum current iSdlim = ismaxwhile the limit of the qcomponent is calculated from (7) while considering the actual
With the
value of the d-component: isqlim =
spindle drive, no loss of performance was observed when the
actual value of i S d was replaced by the constant value &nom
which is related to the nominal value of the flux $Rnom. In

Jn.

GROTSTOLLEN AND WIESING: TORQUE CAPABILlTY AND CONTROL OF A SATURATED INDUCTION MOTOR

319

Fig. 7. Modified scheme of rotor flux oriented control.

this way the time-consuming on-line calculation of

avoided.

isqlim

is

Flux Weakening Region

In the flux weakening region, the voltage control loop is in
action and varies the flux in such a way that the amplitude
of the voltage vector V S agrees with its reference value U;.
This mechanism is enabled by the d-priority of the current
control and does not depend on the amplitude of the torque
generating current and the torque. For this reason the flux
is increased and the efficiency is optimized automatically
when the maximum torque is not required. With regard to
the dynamic behavior, the increase of flux should be limited
as discussed above. As a result the limiting flux value is no
longer constant but it is decreased inversely proportional to
WMnom
the speed $Rlim = $Rnom *
WM
With respect to transients, a margin in the inverter output
voltage is indispensible. That is why the reference value of the
voltage control has to be smaller than the available voltage of
the inverter. But with the new control scheme the margin can
be as small as 5 V, i.e., 3% of the rated voltage and therefore
almost negligible.
In the upper flux weakening region, the control strategy
has to be changed and for this investigation a precalculated
characteristic is used as in [7]. In contrast to [7] a change of the
control scheme with all its related problems is avoided and the
voltage controller is not replaced by a flux-speed characteristic.
Instead, the limit i s l i m of the stator current is reduced to
exactly that speed dependent value which corresponds to
the breakdown point which also forms the maximum torque
operating point. By this measure the current limit curve (curve
2 of Fig. 5) is lowered as far as necessary to make it cross
the voltage limit curve (for example curve 1.5) at its peak.
The basic control scheme of the lower flux weakening region
can therefore be used without any change; in particular, the
p
.

flux limiting signal which has to limit the region of efficiency

optimization can continue to perform this task. The current
limiting signal is thus implemented as a precalculated currentOf course, the
speed characteristic i s l i m ( W M ) < ismax.
robustness against parameter variations is now lost as is the
case with any off-line [7] or on-line [9] calculated flux-speed
characteristic. In contrast to a flux-speed characteristic, the
implemented current-speed Characteristic does not depend on
the flux used for orientation of the control frame.
Transient Behavior of the Voltage and the Current Control
Behavior of the control strategy in the flux weakening region
was improved considerably by the handling of two limitations
which determine the operation of the voltage control loop.
a) Optimization of the dynamic behavior of the voltage
control loop is complicated by the extremely unusual
plant. Two parallel loops exist in the control section.
The first loop is formed by the controllers only and
has almost no delay. The second loop includes the
closed flux control loop, which includes the machine,
and therefore has a large delay. As a first measure, the
input signal of the voltage controller (the voltage error)
is limited to 5 V. This measure prohibits unnecessary
stimulations of the voltage control loop as might be
caused by the q-current control. Such stimulations are
initiated by the speed control and can disturb the voltage
control severly because of its poor dynamic properties.
In addition, the voltage controller is made adaptive. The
gain is varied in proportion to the flux amplitude (not
shown in detail).
b) Current overshoot is avoided under all operating conditions by the use of a new strategy for limiting the voltage
components which are applied to the inverter. The new
strategy results from an investigation into the origin of
the overshoot phenomenon, which is explained referring
to Fig. 1.

380

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 42, NO. 4, AUGUST 1995

42.0

gow

7.0

ni
S O

280
v

/'

.ow

10

0.0--

s
h

-7.0-"

-14.0--

140

-21.0::

2
8
.
0
:
:

00

-35.0..
-15M

-7.0
1:O

2'0

3'0

4:O

5'0

42.0-

Time (s)

(a)
0.7

01
~~

00
1'0

2'0

3'0

Time (s)

4'0

5'0

(b)

Fig. 8. Acceleration from n~ = 100 r/mh to n~ = 8000 r / h . (a)

Reference and actual values of speed n and q-current asq. (b) Reference
and actual value of rotor flux $ R .

When the speed and the frequency signals are assumed to be

positive and of sufficient amplitude the following conditions
exist, which are typical for the flux weakening region: Because
of the high frequency, the d-voltage WSd is determined by
the coupling voltage V,d and therefore the sign of usd is
opposite to the sign of the q-current isq.Consequently, when
the motor is driving the load, WSd < 0 (due to isq > 0)
and i S d > 0 (always true) hold which implies that the dvoltage and the current which it has to control have opposite
signs. Consequently, '1)Sd has to be made more negative,
i.e., the amount of V s d has to be increased, when i S d has
to be decreased. The same requirement exists and must be
satisfied under all conditions if an increase of i S d has to be
prevented, i.e., if i S d shall be controllable. That is why the
voltage component V s d is given priority (VSdlim = usmax.
VSqlim = J
-)
when the motor is driving the load
( M M . WM

>

0).

When the motor is braking, the critical condition of a

current and the controlling voltage having different signs can
appear in the q-axis. At high speeds, voltage component usq
is determined by U E and so usq > 0 holds. Consequently, a
critical state is reached where an increase in usq is required,
when the magnitude of isq has to be reduced while isq < 0 or
when an increase of the negative current must be prevented.
Thus under braking conditions ( M M . W M < 0 ) voltage
component usq is given priority (wsqlim = usmax, 'USdlim =

V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
To demonstrate the operation and the performance of the
new control scheme, the spindle drive was investigated with
an inertial load.

7.0

.350i
-420

+
0.0015

Time (s)

(b)

Fig. 9. Dynamic response of qcurrent control at braking and in the flux

weakening region ( n =~6OOO dmin). (a) Voltage components reduced by
the same ratio. (b) Voltage components reduced with q-priority.

At first, acceleration from 100 r/min to maximum speed was

investigated. In Fig. 8(a), the reference and the actual values
of the speed n M and the torque generating current component
isq are shown. In Fig. 8(b), the corresponding flux values can
be seen. Notice, that the flux is increased when the drive is
no longer accelerating because maximum torque is no longer
required. In this way, efficiency is improved as discussed in
Section III. During the transient a slight oscillation is caused
by the flux model in which saturation is not considered.
The improvement achieved by the new method of limiting
the voltage components is demonstrated in Fig. 9. Here the
step response of the q-current control is shown, which appears
when the motor starts braking. An overshoot of the current is
observed when the voltage limitation is performed by reducing
both voltage components by the same ratio (see Fig. 9(a)). The
overshoot is avoided, as visible in Fig. 9(b), when priority is
given to the q-component.
Finally, the effectiveness of limiting the voltage error is
demonstrated in Fig. 10. If no limitation is implemented, a
strong ringing of the voltage control happens which can be
observed from the reference value and the actual value of the
flux (see Fig. lO(a)). No ringing appears when the voltage
error is limited to an amount of 5 V (see Fig. 10(b)).
VI. CONCLUSION
When the torque capability of an induction motor drive
having a wide range of flux weakening is investigated, satisfactory results cannot be achieved without considering the
magnetic saturation and without distinguishing three speed
regions in which the maximum torque is determined by
different quantities. The same aspects have to be considered
during the design of a control scheme which achieves the

GROTSTOLLEN AND WIESING: TORQUE CAPABILITY AND CONTROL OF A SATURATED INDUCTION MOTOR

[4]
[5]

[6]
0.0
012

006

018

0.24

03

Time (s)

[7]

(a)
[8]
[9]
[lo]

0 07

00
006

012

018

Time (s)

024

03

[ll]
[ 121

(b)
Fig. 10. Dynamic response of voltage control at acceleration started from
n~ = 100 r/min. (a) Voltage error not limited. (b) Voltage error limited to
5 v.

maximum obtainable torque. Therefore a closed loop flux

control, the reference of which is set by a closed loop voltage
control is a good choice. This control scheme which was
introduced in [7] for the lower flux weakening region ensures
utilization of the maximum torque and optimization of the
efficiency at partial load automatically. It is also robust against
parameter variations which can, for example, be caused by
saturation. Special handling of the limiting quantities makes it
possible to adapt the control strategy to the particularities of
all speed regions without changing the basic control scheme
and to suppress overshoot and ringing of the control under
all operating conditions. When the drive is in the braking
mode, only two speed regions exist but this does not require
a change of the control strategy. The new control strategies
were tested experimentally on a spindle drive employing a
DSP-based digital control.
REFERENCES

[ l ] R. D. Lorenz and D. W. Novotny, Saturation effects in field oriented

induction machines, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicar., vol. 26, no. 2, pp.
283-289, 1990.
[2] 0. Ojo and V. Madhani, Steady state performance evaluation of
saturated field oriented induction motors, in Proc. 1990 IEEE Ind.
Applicat. Soc. Annu. Meeting, pp. 55-60.
[3] F. Khater, R. D. Lorenz, D. W. Novotny, and K. Tang, Selection of
flux in field-oriented induction machine controllers with consideration

[ 131

381

of magnetic saturation effects, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. IA-23,

pp. 276282, 1987.
P. Vas and M. Alakula, Field oriented control of saturated induction
machines, IEEE Trans. Energy Conversion, vol. 5 , no. 1, pp. 218-224,
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J. Fetz and K. Obayashi, High efficiency induction motor drive with
good dynamic performance for electric vehicles, in Proc. I993 Power
Electron. Specialists Con$, pp. 92 1-927.
R. Gabriel, W. Leonhard, and C. Nordby, Regelung der stromrichtergespeisten Asynchronmaschine mit einem Mikrorechner, Regelungstechnik, vol. 27, no. 12, pp. 397-386, 1979.
H. Schierling, Selbsteinstellendes und selbstanpassendes Antriebsregelsystem fr die Asynchronmaschine mit Pulswechselrichter, Doctors
thesis, Technische Hocbschule Darmstadt, 1987.
Y.-T Kao and C.-H. Liu, Analysis and design of microprocessor-based
vector-controlled induction motor drives, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron.,
vol. 39, no. 1 Feb. 1992.
S.-H. Kim, S.-K. Sul, and M.-H. Park, Maximum torque control of an
induction machine in the field weakening region, in Proc. 1993 IEEE
Ind. Applicat. Soc. Annu. Meeting, vol. 1, pp. 57C577.
0. Ojo, I. Bhat, and G. Sugita, Steady-state optimization of induction
motor drives operating in the field weakening region, in Proc. 2993
Power Electron. Specialists Con$ , pp. 979-985.
J. Wiesing and H. Grotstollen, Field oriented control of an asynchronous motor with a very wide region of flux weakening, in Proc.
IEEE Int. Symp. Ind. Electron., vol. 2, pp. 606-610, 1992.
J. Wiesing, Betrieb der feldorientiert geregelten Asynchronmaschine
im Bereich oberhalb der Nenndrehzahl, Doctors thesis, University of
Paderborn, 1994.
W. Leonhard, Control of Electrical Drives. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
1985.

Horst Grotstolen (M95) received the 1ng.grad. from Staatliche Ingenieurschule, Duisburg,
Germany, in 1960, the Dip1.-Ing. from RheinischWestfaelische Technische Hochschule, Aachen,
Germany, in 1965, and the doctorate degrees
in electrical engineering from the Technische
Universitaet, Berlin, Germany, in 1972.
He habilitated at the Universitaet ErlangenNuemberg, Germany, in 1982. From 1965 to 1970,
he joined AEG, where he developed electrical
servo drives in the Frankfurt Research Center, and
investigated drive problems in the Department of Industrial Equipment in
1970. From 1973 to 1981, he was the Chair for Electrical Drives and Chief
Engineer, University of Erlangen-Nuemberg, where he was teaching the
subjects of electrical machines and power electronics. His area of research
was servo drives with permanent magnet synchronous motors. Since 1981, he
has been a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, University
of Paderborn, Germany. His current research interests are in the digital control
of ac drives and in switch mode power supplies.

Josef Wiesing was born in 1959 in Delbrueck,

Germany. He received the Dip1.- Ing. and Dr.-Ing. in
electrical engineering from the University of Paderbom, Germany, in 1986 and 1995, respectively.
Since 1991, be has been employed by LUST
Antriebstechnik, Lahnau, Germany, a drive systems
manufacturer.