SCALAR CONTROL

By
B.Sakthisudhursun
B.V.S.Raghava
Ch.Balakishan

7)
1) Scalar Control Definition
2) Speed control techniques of Induction
Motor
3) Operating regions of VVVF Drive
4) Open loop V/f Control
5) Closed loop V/f Control
6) Current Fed Inverter control
7) Energy Savings with Variable
Frequency Drives
8) Application, Advantages & Limitation
9) References
VVVF-Variable voltage and Variable frequency

1) Scalar Control- An
Introduction
Dictionary Definition:
Quantity which only has magnitude and no direction
A physical quantity that is not changed by rotation or translation
A variable quantity that cant be resolved into components

Scalar control means controlling the speed of the motor by

varying only magnitude of the control variables.
The torque and flux parameter are not decoupled here
By contrast vector control involves the variation of both the
magnitude and phase of the control variables.

Control Variables available in

Induction Motor
Stator:
voltage
Current
Frequency
Rotor:
voltage
Current
Frequency
*SQIM-Squirrel cage Induction motor
*SRIM-Slip Ring Induction motor

Both in SQIM &

SRIM

Only in SRIM

Typical Load & Motor Torque

Te
Pull out
Torque
(Tmax)

Intersection point
(Te=TL)
determines the
steady state
TL speed

Te

Trated

sm

ratedrotor

r
s

2) Speed control techniques of

SQIM
Given a load T characteristic, the steady-state
speed can be changed by altering the T of the
motor:
Pole changing
Synchronous speed
change with no. of poles
Discrete step change in
speed

Variable voltage (amplitude),

variable frequency
Using power electronics
converter
Operated at low slip
frequency
Variable voltage (amplitude),
frequency fixed
E.g. using transformer or
triac
Slip becomes high as voltage
reduced low efficiency

Variable voltage, fixed frequency

600

Decreasing
V

500

Torque

400

300

200

100

20

Motor Torque
Load Torque

40

60

80
w (rad/s)

100

120

140

Maximum
Torque Reduced
Machine rating
is also reduced
160

A way to implement Variable

voltage and fixed frequency

Limitations:
1)Distorted line current
2)More Current for same torque hence result in
high copper Losses
3)Poor power factor at low speed

Variable voltage, variable

frequency
Constant V/f

900
800

50Hz

700
30Hz

Torque

600
500

10Hz

400

Maximum Torque
same
Universally
adopted for
variable speed
drive

300
200
100
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

3) Operating Regions of VVVF

Drives
Two option of variation V & f possible:
1) Below the rated
Constant Torque operation
2) Above the rated
Voltage cant than its rated voltage
Constant Power region

VVVF open-loop
Block Diagram:
Rectifier

3-phase
supply

VSI

IM

f
Ramp

s*

Pulse
Width
Modulator

rate limiter is needed to ensure

the slip change within allowable
range (e.g. rated value)

Soft starting using VVVF drive

The drives steady state performance for a
fan or pump-type load (TL=Kr2) is shown
below:

Limitation of Open Loop

At low speed, voltage drop across stator impedance is

significant compared to airgap voltage - poor torque capability
at low speed
Solution:
Boost voltage at low speed
Maintain Im constant constant ag

Cont
A better solution : maintain ag constant. How?
ag, constant Eag/f , constant Im, constant (rated)

Rs

Is

Controlled to maintain Im at rated

Lls
Llr
Ir

+
Lm

Vs

Eag

maintain at rated

Im

Rr/s

VVVF with Voltage boost at Low

frequency
Characteristics with voltage boost to compensate Stator
Impedance Drop:
Vrated

Linear offset

Boost

Non-linear offset varies with Is

frated
With out
compensation

Effect of Maintaining E/f

Constant
500
450
400

With voltage
boost of
Irated*Rs

350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Limitation of Open Loop Cont..

Problems with open-loop constant V/f

Poor
speed
regulation
Poor
speed
regulation

Solution:

Compesate slip
Closed-loop control

5) Closed Loop VVVF Drive

Block Diagram of Closed Loop VVVF Drive:

Require speed encoder

Increase complexity due to addition of controllers

Closed Loop VVVF Drive Cont

Functions of different components:
Error Detector:
To find the error between set and actual speed
Speed controller:
Normal PI controller
Slip limiter:
To limit the slip below the critical slip at which motor
goes to unstable at given torque

Closed Loop VVVF Drive Cont

V/f Function Generator:
To generate the reference voltage for inverter by
considering saturation effect and to limit the control

Operation:
With the help of speed controller , slip limiter and
actual speed the reference synchronous speed is
determined.
Above is given as frequency input command for
the inverter
The voltage input command for the inverter
obtained from V/f function generator

Effect of load and voltage disturbance on

closed loop

Torque increased from TL

to TL
Speed tend to fall to 2
but speed controller will
increase the frequency
input & Correct the speed

Voltage variation input

causes operating point
will shift from 1 to 2
But speed controller will
increase the frequency
input & correct the speed

6) Current Fed Inverter Control

The simplest implementation of a closed loop
control system for a current-fed inverter, allowing
independent control of dc link current Id and slip
sl, is shown below.
Current-fed inverter cannot be operated open loop

Current Fed Inverter Control Cont

In this implementation, the fed back rotor
speed r and command slip sl* are added to
give the command frequency e*. The dc link
current Id is controlled by a feedback loop that
controls the output voltage of the rectifier, V d.
With +ve slip, acceleration occurs; with -ve
slip, Vd and VI both become -ve and power is fed
back to the source.
The torque can be controlled either by I d or
sl. However, no flux control is possible with this
control scheme.

7) Energy Savings with Variable

Frequency Drives
Typically in an industry almost 2/5 loads are used for
applications like compressed air , fluid flow.
This motors will be operated in light load condition in most
of the times, hence it operated at low efficiency.
By having Variable speed drive an increased in efficiency
about 25-35% can be achieved

8) Applications, Advantages & Limitation

of
Scalar Control
Applications:
Compressors
Blowers
Pump
Fan
Advantages:
Simple
Easy to implement as number of components is
less
Low cost
Limitations:
Poor dynamic response compared to vector
control

9) References
1)Modern Power Electronics and AC Drives by
Bimal K.Bose
2)Electric Drives Concepts & Applications by
Vedam Subramanium
3)AN 887, article on Induction motor
Fundamentals by Microchip
4)Project report of Analysis and comparison of
Scalar & Vector control techniques for variable
speed drives
5)Project report of Scalar control of Voltage Fed
Induction Machine