PEDS 2007

Torque Ripple Elimination for Doubly-Fed

Induction Motors under Unbalanced Source
Voltage
Hong-Geuk Park *, Ahmed G. Abo-Khalil *, Dong-Choon Lee*, Kwang-Myoung Son**
* Dept. of Electrical Eng. Yeungnam University, 214-1, Daedong,Gyeongsan,Gyeongbuk ,Korea
** Dept. of Electrical Eng. Dongeui University , 995 Eomgwangno Busan_Jin Gu, Busan, Korea

Abstract This paper proposes a control scheme

which can eliminate the torque ripple of the DFIM at
unbalanced source voltage. The machine torque is
expressed using the positive and negative sequence
components of the voltage and current. For suppression
of the torque ripple, the stator reactive power ripple is
controlled to be zero. The proposed torque elimination
method is verified by simulation results using
PSCAD/EMTDC.

Fig. 1. Configuration of DFIM systems

Index TermsDFIM, torque ripple elimination, unbalanced

source voltage.

I.

INTRODUCTION

As the industry is growing up more and more, about

50% of the electric power has been consumed for the
pumps and ventilation systems [1]. For this, high power
induction machines have been used, especially, DFIM
(doubly-fed induction motor) is used for the system
higher than 1 [MW] [2]-[4].
Conventional control methods for the DFIM is the
static Scherbius or Kramer methods. Thereafter, the
cyclo-converter has been used to control the DFIM drives,
however the control performance is limited [5].
Recently, the back-to-back type PWM converters have
been used to control the doubly-fed induction generators
for wind power generation [6]. The stator of the DFIM is
connected to the source directly and the rotor can be
controlled using the back-to-back converters. Since the
converter handles only the slip power, the converter
power rating is determined by the speed control range.
For full speed control ranges, the power rating of the
converter is as large as the rated power. However, the
converter power rating can be reduced if the operating
speed range is narrow near synchronous speed, which is
different from the cage-type induction motors. On the
other hand, the stator reactive power of the DFIM can be
controlled by controlling the rotor d-axis current, so
power factor can be controlled.
Fig. 1 shows the DFIM drive system fed by the backto-back PWM converters. As expected from Fig. 1, if
there exists the source voltage unbalance, it influences the

1-4244-0645-5/07/$20.002007 IEEE

DFIM operation directly, which causes the torque

pulsation. According to the NEMA and IEEE standard,
the system is required to keep operation if the variation of
the phase voltage is within 10% or the voltage
unbalance factor is less than 3% [7][8]. Even though the
source voltage condition is not exceeded, the DFIM
causes significant torque ripples due to the source voltage
unbalance. This torque pulsation results in mechanical
stresses of the drive train and acoustic noise [9].
Recently, the operation of DFIG (doubly-fed induction
generator) under unbalanced source voltage has been
investigated. In [6], the torque ripple can be reduced,
however, it is difficult to increase the bandwidth of the
control system since the controlled quantity has double
the synchronous frequency. Also, another control method
was presented which can suppress the torque pulsation of
the DFIG by eliminating the stator reactive power ripple
[10] [11].
In this paper, a torque ripple elimination method under
unbalanced source voltage is investigated in view of the
motor drives. The torque ripple can be suppressed by
eliminating the reactive power ripple components. Also, a
smooth starting of the DFIM is shown with help of the
crowbar. The proposed control method is verified by
simulation results for 2[MW] DFIM using PSCAD /
EMTDC.

II. MODELING AND CONTROL OF DFIM

For high-performance drives of the DFIM, a stator-flux
oriented vector control is usually employed [12]. In this
section, the modeling and control method of the DFIM
will be described.

1301

Rs
+

e qs

ids

Lls

Llr

sl qr

vds

ds

Lm

Rr

idr

vdr

dr

Rs
+

e ds

iqs

Llr

Lls

sl dr

vqs

qs

Lm

Rr

qr

iqr

vqr
-

Fig. 2. d-q equivalent circuits of DFIM.

A. DFIM modeling
Fig. 2 shows the d-q equivalent circuits of the DFIM.
Under stator flux-oriented vector control, the fluxes,
currents and voltages can be expressed as [13]

dqs = Ls idqs + Lmidqr

dqr = Lr idqr + Lm idqs
vdqs = Rs idqs + pdqs + je dqs
vdqr = Rr idqr + pdqr + jsl dqr

(4)

idqs , idqr : Stator and rotor d-q axis currents

e , sl : Source and slip angular frequencies

p : differential operator

where the stator related terms are transformed in a

synchronous reference frame using the stator flux angle,
which is calculated as

dss

(5)
(6)

where the superscript s indicates quantities in the

stationary reference frame.
On the contrary, the rotor related terms are transformed
using the slip angle sl as

sl = e r

(7)

where r is the rotor position angle.

The developed torque is given by

Te =

3 P Lm
(ds iqr qs idr )
2 2 Ls

Qs =

(3)

dqs : Stator d-q axis flux linkage

dqr : Rotor d-q axis flux linkage

qss

From (1)-(6), the stator reactive power can be

expressed as [12]

(2)

Lm : Magnetizing inductance
Ls : Stator self-inductance
Lr : Rotor self-inductance

e = tan 1

B. Control of DFIM

(1)

where

s
s
s
dqs
= (vdqs
Rs idqs
)dt

Fig. 3. Control block diagram of DFIM.

(8)

3 Lm
vqs (ims idr )
2 Ls

(9)

where ims is the magnetizing current.

The excitation current of the DFIM can be supplied
from the stator and/or the rotor. So, the stator side can be
operated at unity power factor if the excitation is supplied
completely through the d-axis rotor current ( Qs = 0 ).
The torque of the DFIM is controlled by the q-axis rotor
current of which reference comes from the speed
controller output. Fig. 3 shows the control block diagram
of the DFIM.
III. STARTING OF DFIM
In the DFIM, the rotor induced voltage is proportional
to the slip. When the rotor is connected to the source
through the PWM converter for starting, the rotor induced
voltage equal to the rated value is applied to the
converter. If the DFIM operates at a limited speed range
around the synchronous speed, for example, 0.3 [p.u.],
the voltage rating of the converter can be reduced to 0.3
[p.u.]. In case of the limited-speed drive application, the
cost of the converter is much decreased. For this reason, a
special starting circuit is required to accelerate the DFIM
speed higher than 0.7[p.u.] of the synchronous speed.
Conventionally, starting is done by inserting the
discrete resistances in the rotor circuit to achieve the
same purpose. Nevertheless, this method suffers from
several disadvantages such as (i) inclusion of mechanical
switches with their associated problems, (ii) discontinuity
of starting torque, and (iii) abrupt variation of the supply
current [14]. Other methods have been employed to startup the wound-rotor motors using
reactors or
saturators. The cost of these methods is higher than the
conventional discrete resistance starting which is also

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quite expensive due to its numerous components and

switching control circuit [15].
The liquid rheostat is the preferred method for starting
large loads, primarily because it offers step-less transition
through the acceleration period. This is an advantage,
particularly when torque pulsations are a concern. A
liquid rheostat may be used to start more than one motor.
Starting can be designed for manual or automatic
operation. A separate shorting contactor should be used
with each motor [16]
In Fig. 3, for starting, the SW1 is turned on to make the
rotor connected to the crowbar circuit while the SW2 is
turned off. At higher speed than 0.7[p.u.], the SW1 is
turned off and the SW2 is turned on, so the back-to-back
PWM converter starts to operate normally. If the motor
speed decreases or increases beyond 30% of the rated
speed, the crowbar is turned on, then the rotor winding is
short-circuited through the crowbar and the rotor current
flows through this. There are several advantages for this
method (i) no mechanical switches are used, and (ii) the
crow bar can be used for protection in case of faults.
III. CONTROL OF DFIM UNDER

UNBALANCED SOURCE

Te (t ) = Te 0 + Tec 2 cos(2et ) + Tes 2 sin(2e t )

(15)

Te 0 = 1.5Lm (iqsp idrp + iqsn idrn )

(16)

Where

p
qs
p
qs

n
dr
n
qr

n
qs
n
qs

p
dr
p
qr

Tec 2 = 1.5Lm (i i + i i )

(17)

Tes 2 = 1.5 Lm (i i i i )

(18)

where Te 0 is the average torque, Tec 2 and Tes 2 are

the magnitude of the torque ripples.
These torque ripple components can be suppressed by
controlling the negative sequence components of the d-q
axis rotor currents. However, they can also be eliminated
through the reactive power control, which will be
described below.
B. DFIM power
Under unbalanced source voltage, the stator apparent
power of the DFIM can be expressed in terms of the
positive and negative sequence components as [10], [17]
s
s*
S s = 1.5(Vdqs
I dqs
)

VOLTAGE

s
p
n
vdqs
= e jet vdqs
+ e j ( e )t vdqs

The control scheme of doubly-fed induction generators

at unbalanced source voltage has been presented in [10].
The same derivation is developed below.

s
p
n
idqs
= e jet idqs
+ e j ( e )t idqs
.

A. DFIM torque
Under unbalance source voltage, dynamic equations of
the DFIM in (1)-(4) are expressed with the superscripts of
p for the positive sequence component. For the
negative sequence component, they are modified with the
negative source angular frequency ( e ) and the
superscripts of n such as
n
n
n
dqs
= Ls I dqs
+ Lm I dqr

(10)

n
n
n
dqr
= Lr I dqr
+ Lm I dqs

(11)

d n
n
dqs + j ( e )dqs
dt
d n
n
+ dqr
+ j (e r )dqr
dt

n
n
Vdqs
= Rs I dqs
+

(12)

n
n
Vdqr
= Rr I dqr

(13)

From (19), the instantaneous active power ps (t ) and

reactive power qs (t ) can be expressed as

ps (t ) = Ps 0 + Psc 2 cos(2et ) + Pss 2 sin(2et )

(20)

qs (t ) = Qs 0 + Qsc2 cos(2et ) + Qss 2 sin(2et )

(21)

where

Ps 0 = 1.5(vdsp idsp + vqsp iqsp + vdsn idsn + vqsn iqsn )

Psc 2 = 1.5(vdsp idsn + vqsp iqsn + vdsn idsp + vqsn iqsp )
Pss 2 = 1.5(vqsn idsp vdsn iqsp vqsp idsn + vdsp iqsn )
Qs 0 = 1.5(vqsp idsp vdsp iqsp + vqsn idsn vdsn iqsn )
Qsc 2 = 1.5( vqsp idsn vdsp iqsn + vqsn idsp vdsn iqsp )
Qss 2 = 1.5(vdsp idsn + vqsp iqsn vdsn idsp vqsn iqsp )
In stator flux-oriented vector control, the positive and
negative sequence components of the stator d-axis
voltage are zeros. Hence, the coefficients of the active
and reactive power ripple components are reduced to

The total apparent power flowing into the DFIM can be

expressed as
s
s*
s
s*
ST = 1.5(Vdqs
I dqs
+ Vdqr
I dqr
)

(14)

where
s
dqr

V
I

s
dqr

=e

j ( e r ) t

p
dqr

=e

j ( e r ) t

p
dqr

V
I

+e

j ( e r ) t

+e

j ( e r ) t

n
dqr

n
dqr

where r is the rotor speed.

Taking the real part of (14) and dividing it by the
mechanical speed, the instantaneous torque is obtained as
[13]

(19)

where

Psc 2 = 1.5(vqsp iqsn + vqsn iqsp )

(22)

Pss 2 = 1.5(vqsn idsp vqsp idsn )

(23)

Qsc 2 = 1.5( vqsp idsn + vqsn idsp )

(24)

Qss 2 = 1.5(vqsp iqsn vqsn iqsp )

(25)

On the other hand, substituting (1)-(4) with the

superscripts of p and (10)-(13) in (22)-(25) and
neglecting the differential terms of the current in steady
state,

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Fig. 4. Control block diagram of DFIM under unbalanced source voltage.

dL

Psc 2 = 1.5 2( Rs + s )iqsp iqsn e Lm (iqsp idrn iqsn idrp ) (26)

dt

p n
p n
n p
(27)
Pss 2 = 1.5{2e Ls iqs iqs + e Lm (iqs iqr + iqs iqr )}

Qsc 2 = 1.5e Lm (iqsp iqrn iqsn iqrp )

(28)

Qss 2 = 1.5e Lm (iqsp idrn + iqsn idrp )

(29)

It is important to note that the reactive power ripples in

(28) and (29) have the same components as in the torque
ripples (18) and (17), respectively. Therefore, if the
reactive power ripples can be controlled to be zero, the
machine torque ripples will be eliminated.
Fig. 4 shows the control block diagram of the DFIM
under source voltage unbalance. For the reactive power
ripple elimination, Qcs 2 and Qss 2 controllers are added
with inner control loops of the negative sequence
components of the rotor current.
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
Simulation is carried out to show the validity of the
proposed control algorithm, where PSCAD software is
used. The parameters of the DFIM used for the
simulation is given in Table I in Appendix.
The switching frequency of the power converter is
2[kHz], DC-link voltage is 1,200[V], and the drop of a
phase voltage is -10%.
Fig. 5 shows the starting performance of the DFIM.
The connection of the crowbar is controlled for starting
and disconnected at 0.5[sec] and the converter is
connected to the DFIM rotor. From the top in the figure,
the motor speed, the motor torque, three-phase rotor
voltages, the dq-axis rotor currents, the dq-axis stator
currents, and the stator active and reactive power are
shown. At 0.5[sec], the stator reactive power control is
activated, so the d-axis rotor current is supplied to excite
the motor instead of the stator.

Fig. 5. DFIM performance during starting.

(a) rotating speed
(b) torque
(c) rotor-phase voltage
(d) dq-axis rotor currents
(e) dq-axis stator currents
(f) stator active and reactive power

Fig. 6 shows the DFIM performance at source voltage

unbalance. (a) the high torque pulsation appears during
the period of the source voltage unbalance between
2.5[sec] and 3.2[sec], of which magnitude is 3% of the
rated torque. (b) the dq-axis rotor positive currents, (b)
the dq-axis rotor negative currents, (c) the motor speed,
(d) the stator active power, and (e) the stator reactive
power are shown. Due to the unbalance, the rotor
negative currents occur, which cause the power and
torque pulsations.
Fig. 7 shows the DFIM performance with the torque
ripple elimination control, which corresponds to Fig. 6.
the torque in which the ripple components have been
almost eliminated by the control. The reactive power
ripples have been eliminated in (e), however, the active
power ripples are remained.

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Fig. 6. DFIM performance under unbalanced source voltage.

(a) dq-axis rotor positive currents
(b) dq-axis rotor negative currents
(c) rotating speed
(d) stator active power
(e) stator reactive power

VI. Conclusions.

Fig. 7. DFIM performance under unbalanced source voltage.

(a) dq-axis rotor positive currents
(b) dq-axis rotor negative currents
(c) rotating speed
(d) stator active power
(e) stator reactive power

The parameters of the 2[MW] DFIM used for the

simulation are listed in Table I.

In this paper, a control scheme of the DFIM has been

proposed at source voltage unbalance. To eliminate the
torque ripples of the DFIM under source voltage
unbalance, the reactive power components at double the
source voltage frequency are cancelled by controlling the
negative sequence current component. For applications
of narrow speed operating range of high power DFIM
drives, a starting method using the crowbar system has
been used to reduce the power rating of the converter.
The proposed control algorithm has been validated with
simulation results for 2[MW] DFIM systems using
PSCAD/EMTDC.

Table I. Parameters of DFIM

Parameters
Value

APPENDIX

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Rated power

2[MW]

Rated line voltage

690[V]

Stator resistance

0.00488 [p.u.]

Rotor resistance

0.00549 [p.u.]

Equivalent iron loss resistance

0.018 [p.u.]

Stator leakage inductance

0.09241 [p.u.]

Rotor leakage inductance

0.09955 [p.u.]

Mutual inductance

3.95279 [p.u.]

Number of poles

Rated frequency

60[Hz]

Moment of inertia

4800 kg.m2

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