IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, Vol. 14, No.
1, March 1999
IDENTIFICATION OF INDUCTION MOTOR EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT
PARAMETERS USING THE SINGLE-PHASE TEST
A. Gastli, Member, IEEE
Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering
College of Engineering
Sultan Qaboos University
Muscat, OMAN
Abstract: In this paper, a new method of identification of the induc-
tion motor equivalent circuit parameters is introduced and discussed.
The proposed method uses the single-phase test results as a base test
for calculating the equivalent circuit parameters of the induction
motor. The single-phase test is performed using a variable frequency
power supply (inverter). The test was conducted at various frequen-
cies while the voltage, current and power factor were measured.
Thereafter, the motor parameters are calculated. The precision of cal-
culation of the motor parameters is sensitive to the accuracy of meas-
urements which can be improved by the use of high performance
microprocessors.
Keywords: Induction Motor, Single-phase Test, Equivalent Circuit,
Parameters.
I. INTRODUCTION
The conventional technique for the identification of the
Induction Motor (IM) Equivalent Circuit Parameters (ECP) are
based on the no-load and the blocked rotor tests. The main dis-
advantage of this method is that the motor has to be locked
mechanically and tests have to be carried out by skilled opera-
tors. Moreover, most low-cost applications require an inverter
which can be quickly set up by the plant engineer and every
installation requires the tuning to different motors with differ-
ent parameters.
On the other hand, the desired parameters needed for the
control purposes, are those which are valid for the fundamental
components of voltages and c:urrents. Therefore, the attempt to
determine the motor parameters by analysing the impulse
response of the machine does not give a detailed description of
the motor regarding its fundamental components, but is only
suitable for the tuning of the current controller [l]. Several
other methods of motor parameters identification have been
proposed in the literature [l-51. Most of these methods are spe-
cific to certain control algorithms and require additional sen-
sors such as a speed sensor [2]. In addition, these methods are
PE-I 03-EC-O-10-1997 A paper recommended and approved by the
IEEE Electric Machinery Committee of the IEEE Power Engineering
Society for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Energy
Conversion. Manuscript submitted February 25, 1997; made available
for printing October 19, 1997.
0885-8969/99/$10.00 0 1997 IEEE
51
not suited to general purpose drive applications for which one
method using the single-phase test instead of the blocked-rotor
test was proposed [6][9]. However, the no-load test remains a
major problem especially when the motor cannot operate at no-
load since its shaft is permanently connected to its load.
This paper presents a new method of identification of IM-
ECP using the single-phase test only. The test is performed at
various voltage frequencies using a PWM inverter.
11. SINGLE-PHASE TEST
It is commonly known that the data needed for computing
the performance of an IM under load operation can be obtained
from the results of a no-load test, a blocked rotor test, and
measurements of the dc resistances of the stator windings. In
order to perform these tests, two difficulties are faced: i) it is
difficult to block the rotor when the motor is incorporated
inside a system, ii) the no-load test is typically hard to perform
in practice, because of fan and gear losses or simply because
the machine cannot rotate without load.
The mechanical blocking of the motor can be omitted by
substituting the three-phase blocked-rotor test by a single-
phase test. No torque is then produced and the electric behav-
iour of the machine is almost the same as in the case of three-
phase excitation [ l].When operating within the linear range
there is no severe difference related to the electric behaviour of
the machine at three- and single-phase excitation. But in the
saturation range at the three-phase excitation, the magnetizing
inductance is slightly larger than that in the case of single
phase excitation.This effect is due to third order harmonics,
which appear at three-phase excitation in the winding voltages.
These haimonics countenvork the sources of saturation and as
a consequence the effective magnetizing inductance is slightly
larger than in the case of single- phase excitation, where such
harmonics can not occur [11.
The no-load test also can be omitted and substituted with the
single-phase test. If making several single-phase tests, for van-
ous frequencies at a constant stator-flux level, the locus curve
of the stator current can be drawn. Assuming constant parame-
ters the Heyland diagram which contains the information of all
parameters, can be constructed. However, this method does not
allow an automatic computation by a microprocessor. Further-
more, the rotor parameters vary at high frequencies due to cur-
rent displacements.
 52

' .
3-Phase
PWM D
Inverter
3 0 -
Fig. I : Circuit diagram for the single-phase test. 2-(a) T-Form

To allow an easy implementation of the proposed method

using a microprocessor, the ECP should be calculated based on
a set of equations using the single-phase test results at two val-
ues of the primary frequency. In fact, the two values (fl,fi) of
the frequency should be very close in order to avoid the fact
that rotor parameters may vary as a function of frequency.
The single-phase test is performed using the circuit diagram
shown in Fig. 1 in which the relationships between three-phase
and the single-phase motor variables can be expressed as fol-
lows,

3 2-(c) Inverse-T-Form
p3p = 2 x Plp (2)
where E and P designate the voltage and the power respec- Fig. 2. IM equivalent circuit during .single-phase test.
tively.

111. IM EQUIVALENT CIRCUITS DURING THE SINGLE- IV. ECP CALCULATION

PHASE TEST A. T-Form Circuit
The most commonly used IM models in motor drives and According to Fig. 2-(a), the equivalent impedance is calcu-
control applications are the: lated as follows.
T-form circuit shown in Fig. 2-(a) jX,(R2 +JX2)
Z,, = R , + j X , + = Req+jXeq (9)
r-foim circuit shown in Fig. 2-(b) R2 +.U, +X,)
Considering that the stator leakage inductance I , is equal to
Inverse-T-form circuit shown in Fig. 2-(c)
Note that, during the single-phase test, the slip is s = l . the rotor leakage inductance l,, the equivalent circuit imped-
Because of its complexity, the T-form circuit is usually ance can be expressed as
transfoimed into r-form or Inverse-T-form (IT-form) circuits Vl
without loss of parameters information and accuracy [9]. Z,, = - = R e q + j X e q (10)
11
The parameters of the r- and the IT-form circuits can be
expressed in terms of the T-form circuit parameters as follows.
M I = L2 = 1 , + M (3)
R e , = -IVlI
COS$
I11I
= R
1
+ , R,X:
R2 + ( X , + X , ) 2
(1 1)

(5) where cos4 = -3' ,

3 VI I1
and sin4 = Jg
.

(6) Considering R Z e q = R e , - R , , X , = wl, , X , = wM and

L, = 1, + M i and assuming that, for two angular frequencies
(7) 01 and w2 (in the same order) the motor parameters remain
unchanged, the motor parameters at any angular frequency can

R', = (z)2 x R, (8)

be expressed as follows:
 53

IVlI . R”;X”,
X e , = -sin$ = X’, + (25)
14 I R“ 2
Considering X’, = wl’, and C“,,, = oM‘, and assuming
that, for two angular frequencies w1 and w2 (in the same order),
the motor parameters remain unchanged, the motor parameters
at any frequency can be expressed as follows.

R”, = ~ 2 e q ( w 2 )x ~ z e q ( w 1x) (UT - ai) (26)

~2eq(w2x
) UT - ~ 2 e q ( w 1 )x d

B. T-Form Circuit:
According to Fig. 2-(b), the equivalent circuit impedance
takes the following expression:
V ALGORITHM FOR ECP IDENTIFICATION
The procedure followed to implement the algorithm for the
calculation of ECP is similar to that presented in [6] and [8].
The same controller and inverter were used.
IVlI Rf2Xi
Req= -COS$ = Rl+ (18) The stator resistance R I is measured using the inverter as a
I11 I RfZ2+ (X‘,,, + Xf2)’ chopper [6] and the remaining parameters are determined
based on the results of the single-phase test.
X’,R‘i + X’,X’,(X’, + X’2) Fig. 3 shows the flowchart of the algorithm for computing
-sin$.
X e q = IVII = (19)
111I R’i + (X’,,, + X’,)’ motor parameters for the three equivalent circuits described
above. The single-phase test is performed at two different
Considering X’, = wlf2, X’, = OM’ and angular frequencies o1and o2of the voltage supply. For each
L’, = l’, + M‘ , and assuming that, for two angular frequen- frequency, the rms values of the voltage VI(@) and the current
cies w1 and 02 (in the same order), the motor parameters Il(w) as well as the sine and cosine values (cos@,sin@)of their
remain unchanged, the motor parameters at any frequency can phase angle @ are calculated using the Fourier Series Expan-
be expressed as follows. sion (FSE) method [6]. The real part and the imaginary part of
the equivalent impedance are then calculated. Finally, the
equivalent circuit parameters of all three models are calculated
using the set of equations given in section (8).
The same procedure can be repeated for different sets of
angular frequencies w1 and w2 which makes it possible to
determine their effect on motor parameters.
This routine along with the FSE routine are incorporated in
the Vlf PWM control program in the same way as the one
described in [7]. The advantages of using such a PWM control
algorithm are its simplicity and the easy implementation of the
FSE method for the calculation of the voltage and current fun-
damental components.
C. Inverse-T-Form Circuit:
According to Fig. 2-(c), the equivalent circuit impedance VI. EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
takes the following expression: The proposed algorithm was implemented in the DSP
TMS320C25. The experimental system configuration which
was originally used for flux-controlled Vlf PWM inverter con-
trol with voltage auto-boost capabilities [7], is shown in Fig. 4.
During the single-phase test, one phase of the motor is dis-
IVlI R”,X”;
Req= -COS@ = Rl+ (24) connected automatically from the inverter so that the motor
I
111 R“,’ + X”; connection is performed according to Fig. 1. The current is
54

START

I
I
I

I
Apply FSE
to voltage
Single-phase

I -U
This operation iF
repeated twice at
two frequencies
0,and w2

to current
I
I
I
t
I I
I I
I I airgap flux
I Controller

I I I
I
I
I Fig. 4: Experimental .sy.rtemconfiguration.
I
J
Table 1: ECP measured from no-load and blocked-rotor tests

5.546 89.111

The ECP identification program was run and the IM was

L - - - - J
T-Form
Fig. 3: Algorithm for computing motor parametera.
measured using a current censor and the voltage IS determmed
from the transistor switching patterns taking into account the
voltage distortion due to the dead-time [7] and the fluctuations
of the dc link voltage VdC.The V/f control algorithm consists of
selecting the appropriate voltage patteins which make the
motor airgap flux space vector follow a circular locus with a
constant radius 171.
The induction motor used for the experiments has the fol-
lowing ratings: 2.2kW, 200V, 60Hz, 4-pole, 8.5A, 1710rpm,
1.25kgf.
VII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Before testing the proposed ECP identification algorithm,
the ECP were calculated from the results of the conventional
no-load and blocked-rotor tests. First, the parameters of the T-
foim circuit were calculated, then the parameters of the T-and
the IT-foIm circuits were calculated using eqns. (3-8). The
results are summarized in Table 1.
tested automatically by the programmed controller. The experi-
mental results are shown in Fig. 5.
Fig. 5-(a) shows plots of the rotor resistance as a function of
frequency for the three circuit models. It can be seen that the
calculated resistances for both cases of the T- and r-form cir-
cuits vary randomly with the frequency implying the inaccu-
racy of the results. This can be explained by the fact that eqns.
(13) and (2 1) have denominators with values nearly equal to
zero making them highly sensitive to measurement errors.
However, the case is different for the IT-form circuit for which
the calculated rotor resistance is more stable where it increases
slightly with the increase of frequency caused by the skin
effect.
Fig. 5-(b) shows plots of the mutual inductance as a function
of frequency for the three models. It can be seen that the calcu-
lated mutual inductances vary excessively with the frequency
implying the inaccuracy of the results. The calculated values of
the mutual inductance are veiy small at high frequencies. This
is because at high frequencies the mutual reactance branch, in
the equivalent circuit, is high and does not have an affect on the
current variation with the frequency. Thus, the information
about this branch does not appear in the current waveform.
This makes it difficult to identify the exact values of the mutual
inductance using (1 5), (20) and (27).
 55

START
T-Form
,.. ... 4-T-Form
-4. Inverse-T-Form Average Values
.. .. ..

.. .. . , . . . .
.. .. ... .
..
.
..
.
..
.
..
.
..
.
ID 15 20 25 so I S 40 & 50 55 (10

Frequency [Hz]
I I

5-(a) Rotor Resistance

M”+f”+AM”
ueqlcal(31)

j / /
..
. .. ... ..... . . . . ... . . . .
.. .. ..
.. .. ..
... ..
...
..
...
.., . .

Fig. 6:Algorithm for the improved calculation ofM”

inductance. However, the case is different for the IT-form cir-
cuit for which the calculated leakage inductance is more stable
Frequency [Hz] because (28) is slightly dependent on the mutual inductance.

VIII. SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENT

5-(b) Mutual Inductance
Considering that the rotor parameters of the IF-form circuit
are accurate, it is possible to calculate the mutual inductance
with better accuracy using the following method
Fig. 6 shows the flow-chart of the proposed improvement’s
. . .. .. .. algorithm. The average values of R”,, Z’, andM” are calculated
from the results obtained in Fig. 5. Xeqlcalis then calculated
using these average values of the parameters and the IT-form
equivalent circuit.

Based on the results of the single phase test, Xeqltestis calcu-

-.IO
,

15
.

20
.
,
,
25
..
50 35
Frequency [Hz]
...
40
..
,

45
...
60
.
55
,

60
lated at low frequency as follows.

5-(c) Leakage inductance

Note that the frequency used for the calculation of Xes in
(29) and (30) should be in the medium frequency range (e.g.
Fig. 5: Experimental Results.
20Hz) in order to improve the accuracy of the computation.
Fig, 5-(c) shows plots of the leakage inductance as a func- The difference AXeqbetween the experimental value and the
tion of frequency for the three models. It can be seen that the calculated value of Xes is calculated as follows.
calculated leakage inductances for both cases of the T- and T-
form circuits vary randomly with the frequency implying the Xeqlresr - Xeqlcal
inaccuracy of the results. This can be explained by the fact that AXeq = x 100 (3 1)
Xeqltesr
(15 ) and (22) are stronelv deDendent on the value of the mutual
56
R “2 1’1 M’
IT-Form 0.694(n) 5.5 15(mH) 89.489(mH)
Error (from Table 1) 0.6(%) O.6(%) 0.4(%)
It can be seen that the Ir-form circuit parameters in Table 2
are nearly equal to those in Table 1.
IX. CONCLUSIONS
The equivalent circuit parameters of an induction motor can
be measured by injecting a single-phase ac current and measur-
ing the voltage, current and power absorbed by the motor. This
method is closely related to the blocked rotor test and provides
results that relate to secondary resistance and to leakage
inductance.
When varying the frequency of the injected current, the
mutual inductance can be also measured from the results of the
single-phase test. However, because of measurement and com-
putational errors, the mutual inductance could not be deter-
mined accurately. Therefore, a recursive method was used to
determine an accurate value of the mutual inductance.
The advantages of using the proposed method are threefold:
i) the tests can be performed any time before starting the drive
system, ii) there are no restriction regarding the mechanical
mounting of the motor inside the drive system, and iii) the
measurements include the motor parameters as well as the
impedance of the motor connecting cables.
The proposed method is particularly suitable for multi-motor
general purpose drives.
X. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to express his sincerest gratitude to
Prof. N. Matsui of the Nagoya Institute of Technology for his
valuable help, discussions and encouragement throughout this
work.
XI. REFERENCES
[l] M. Denbrok and N.R. Klaes, “Determination of Induc-
tion Machine Parameters and their Dependency on Sat-
uration”, Conference Record of 1989 IEEE Ind. Appl.
Society, Annual Meeting, Part I, pp. 17-22.
[2] C.C. Chan an H. Huang, “An Effective Method for
Rotor Resistance Identification for High-Perfoimance
Induction Motor Vector Control”, IEEE Trans. Indus-
trial Electronics Society, vol. 37, No. 6, 1990.
C. Wang, D. W. Novetny and T. Lipo, “An Automated
Rotor Resistance Measurement System for Indirect
Field-Oriented Drives”, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 24,
No. 1, 1988.
T. Irsa et al., “Novel approach on parameter Self-Tun-
ing Method in AC Servo System”, in Proc. IPEC Tokyo
Conf., pp. 696-707, 1983.
T. Matsuo and T. Lipo, “A Rotor Parameter Identifica-
tion Scheme for Vector Controlled Induction Motor
Drives”, in Proc. IEEE Ind. Apl. Society Ann. Mtg., pp.
538-545, 1984.
A. Gastli, M. Takeshita, N. Matsui, “An Automated
Equivalent Circuit Parameter Measurements of an
Induction Motor Using a V/f PWM Inverter”, Proceed-
ings of the 1990 International Power Electronics Con-
ference, Japan, April 2-6 1990, vol-2, pp. 659-666
A. Gastli, N. Matsui, “V/f PWM Inverter with Motor
Parameter Identification and Voltage Auto-Boost Capa-
bilities”, Proceedings of the 16th Annual Conference of
the IEEE Ind. Electronics Society, Pacific Grove, Cali-
fornia, USA, Nov. 27-30, 1990, vol. 2, pp. 659-666.
A. Gastli, N. Matsui, “Stator-Flux Controlled V/f PWM
Inverter with Identification of IM Parameters”, Trans.
IEEE Ind. Electronics Society, vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 334-
340, Aug. 1992
Gordon R. Selmon, “Modeling of Induction Machines
for Electric Drives”, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 25,
No. 6,pp. 1126-1131,Nov.Dec. 1989.
X. BIOGRAPHY
Adel Gastli was born in Nabeul,
Tunisia, in 1960. He received his B.Sc.
in Electrical Engineering from the Ecole
Nationale des Ingenieurs de Tunis,
Tunisia in 1985. He received his M.Sc.
and his Ph.D. from Nagoya Institute of
Technology, Japan in 1990 and 1993
respectively. Dr. Gastli was with
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation from
April 1993 to Aug. 1995 and is presently with the Sultan
Qaboos University, Muscat, OMAN. His areas of interest
include electrical machines, power electronics, drives, and
control.