318

ADAPTIVE VARIABLE STRUCTURE ROTOR FLUX OBSERVER FOR AN INDUCTION MOTOR

G. Garcia Soto, E. Mendes, A. Razek

Laboratoire de GCnie Electrique de Paris - CNRS - SUPELEC - UniversitCs Paris XI et Paris VI, France.

Abstract.- This paper deals with robust flux parameters adaptation laws to eliminate the influence
observation of an induction motor using non-linear of the stator resistance uncertainties. The sliding-mode
observer based on sliding mode technique. The non- techniques offer an interesting solution because of their
linear observer is developed and is used to perform the robustness to parameter uncertainties and of their fast
direct field oriented control of an induction machine. By response [SI. Some papers have presented the
employing Lyapunov’s theorem, resistance adaptation application of the sliding-mode method to the
schemes are designed to increase the observer process observation process in vector controlled induction
accuracy. Computer simulations and experimental tests motor [9]-[13]. However, the parameter sensitivity is
have been carried out. not completely eliminated.
This paper presents a sliding-mode observer with
List of symbols resistance adaptation schemes. The main contribution of
this work can be divided into two parts. In the first part,
(a,P) stator fixed frame axes a non-linear sliding mode rotor flux observer is studied
vmP stator voltage vector and implemented. The main feature lies in its fast
isae stator current vector convergence rate. The second part deals with resistance
+mp rotor flux vector adaptation mechanisms in order to improve the rotor
electrical rotor frequency flux estimation accuracy. The main property of this
R,, R, stator and rotor resistances per phase ~
adaptive flux observer is its robustness against thermal
Td motor drive torque variations (insensitive to stator and rotor resistances
p number of pole pairs variations). Computer simulations and experimental
CT total leakage factor tests are presented to highlight the effectiveness of the
L, stator self inductance. proposed observer.
Lm=(1-o)L,magnetising inductance
* denotes estimated values INDUCTION MOTOR MODEL

The electromagnetic model of a three phases squirrel

cage induction motor in the stator reference frame can
The direct field oriented control (DFOC) is often used be expressed as [l] :
in high performance induction motor drives [I]. Such
control method needs the knowledge of the rotor flux.
In order to avoid expensive sensors, the rotor flux is not
measured but estimated. Unfortunately, the estimation
approach is very sensitive to the motor parameter
variations.
Many works have been concemed with rotor flux (3)
estimation for vector controlled induction motors. A
first kind of estimators is based on the linear Considering the shaft speed dynamics very slower than
observation theory. The observer structure and its gains the electromagnetic ones, we can express the linear
allow to achieve reduced sensitivity to rotor resistance time-variant motor model as :
variations as is shown in [2]. However, they are i ( t ) = A ( o , ) x ( t ) + Bu(t) (4)
sensitive to stator resistance variations, which cause
with
steady state and dynamic errors. A second kind of
observers is based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF)
[3][4]. These solutions are very complex and the
estimation accuracy depends also on the stator
resistance knowledge. Several works (see for example
[5]-[7]) have shown a promising solution using the
Luenberger observer theory and Lyapunov’s technique.
The Lyapunov’s analysis is used to design the

Power Electronics and Variable Speed Drives, 21-23 September 1998, Conference Publicafion No. 456 0 IEE 1998
 31 9

v = si {fi - 61sign(sl))+ s2 I f 2 - a2sign(s2))< 0

The resulted conditions to ensure the attractiveness of S
(convergence to zero) can be resumed as :
6, >Ifiland 62 > I f 2 1 (7)

SLIDING-MODE ROTOR FLUX OBSERVER

The full order observer with switching corrector gains is
defined as [l 11:
Determination of rotor corrector gains A,
The determination of the rotor corrector gains A, can be
achieved using the equivalent control method [ 101.
Since the stator current dynamics are much more greater
than the rotor flux ones, the system is locally stable
when S = 0, S = 0 . In these conditions we obtain :

where
The equivalent expression of the switching functions is
given by :

Assuming that the model is a perfect image of the

system, the estimation error equation is :

Then, substituting (8) in the rotor flux dynamic error

equation, we obtain the following expression :

The rotor corrector gains A, are easily obtained by

with imposing the dynamics of the reduced order model as :

Determination of stator corrector gains A,

where p=["l

0
"1
92
with q1> O and q2 > O

The resulting rotor corrector gains Ar are

The stator corrector gains Asare determined in order to
ensure the convergence of the estimated stator currents
to real ones (convergence of S to zero) by applying the
Lyapunov's method [9]. The Lyapunov candidate
function Vis defined as :
1
v = -9s
2
Forcing the time derivative of V to be strictly negative,
we ensure that the estimated variable converge to the The switching function
real one. Then we can determine the stator corrector
gains As.Letting : To avoid high switching frequency of the switching
function (to decrease the chattering effect) a suitable
hysteresis band A has been introduced as in figure 1.
,sign(s)
1-L
-__-
I
Lr-:A
__
T -1
Figure 1 : the switching function

Simulation study
To study the behaviour of the sliding mode observer,
simulations have been carried out.
Response time of the observer. The first simulation,
figure 2, shows the behaviour of the rotor flux dynamic
error for different values of the parameter q,=q2=q. At
the beginning of this simulation the states values of the
motor are set to : (b,,=0.5 Wb, $,,=O.O Wb, i,,=0.07 A
and i,,=O A while all observer states initial values are
set to zero.
[SI
Figure 2 : simulated rotor flux error response
The rotor time constant of the used induction motor is
L,&= 0.1 s. Then, with q=10, the response time of the
observer (0.3 s) is almost the same of the one obtained
with an open loop estimator (3L,/RJ. On the other hand
with q=70, the response time is much more smaller and
the dynamic behaviour is very satisfactory. This feature
is the main advantage of the sliding mode observer.
Robustness to rotor resistance variations. In order to
show the sensitivity of the non-linear observer to the
rotor resistance variations, simulations have been
carried out for different values of parameter q of the
E 5
s
E
.s5 4
-0
g61 3
2
1 time$] 4 5
(a) motor and estimated torque responses
Figure 3 : simulation study of the observer robustness to the rotor resistance variations for different values of q.
320
observer. For this, a speed control has been simulated
using the field oriented control (FOC) method and the
studied observer for the rotor flux estimation. As
mentioned before, the FOC needs the accurate
knowledge of the modulus and phase of the rotor flux
vector. Then, the observer has to reconstruct precisely
not only the rotor flux modulus but also its phase to
obtain an accurate estimated motor torque.
Figure 3 shows the simulation study of the observer
robustness, the motor speed reference is taken 30 rpm
and the load torque is set to 50% of the motor rated
value. At the beginning of these simulations, the motor
and observer rotor resistances are set to their nominal
values (4 ohms). At time t=1.5 s, the motor rotor
resistance is changed to 2 ohms, and at time t=3 s, the
motor rotor resistance is again changed to 6 ohms.
Figures 3a and 3b show the motor and estimated rotor
flux magnitudes, and the motor and estimated
electromagnetic torque respectively for different values
of parameter q of the observer.
The conclusion of the presented simulations below is
that we can not obtain simultaneously a good estimation
of both rotor flux magnitude and motor electromagnetic
torque. For example, with q=15, the estimation of the
rotor flux magnitude is almost insensitive to the rotor
resistance variations, while the estimation of the motor
torque is not satisfactory. Moreover, if fast convergence
rate of the observer is desired (high q value), the
observer is very sensitive to the rotor resistance
variations. This is why a rotor resistance adaptation
scheme is needed. Although, the observer is robust to
stator resistance variations in the medium and high
speeds ranges, it is interesting to adapt this parameter
for the very low speed region operation.
1 timed 4 5
(b) motor and estimated rotor flux magnitude responses
 321

ROTOR AND STATOR RESISTANCES one in the motor, we can see that it converges to the real
ADAPTATION MECHANISMS motor value in about 8 s. At time a = 10 s., the estimated
stator resistance is forced to 13 ohms (+45% of the real
Taking into account the uncertainties on the resistances, value in the motor), then it returns to the real value in
the resulting system error becomes : the motor in about 3 s, while the rotor flux magnitude is
not much affected by the transients of the estimated
resistances. To verify the efficiency of the proposed
method the same tests as those shown on figures 4a and
4b have been done experimentally (figures 5a and 5b).
For details of experimental system see appendix. A very
good correlation between simulated and experimental
results is obtained.
real value

with

The time derivative of V becomes :

0 4 8 12 16 20
V = q(h - 61sign(s,)} + %(f2 - 82sign(s2)} time [SI

1.2 -
-- "

To ensure, for stability, that stays always strictly E:::;

3 0.6 - -m
negative, the perturbation terms : w
0.4 - - ___ esthrated
.
0.2 -
s'- ( ' s - i s ) . 's and ~----(i~-k)
['r-k)
0.0 " " " '
04 OLS
are compensated using adaptive resistance schemes. For
this, the candidate Lyapunov's function V, is chosen as :
Figures 4 : Simulated rotor flux sliding-mode observer
with stator and rotor resistances adaptation schemes.
16 ,
where h , , ~are
, positive constants.
Then, the time derivative of v, becomes :

2h
' 0 4 8 12 16 20
time [SI
(a) experimental :rotor and stator resistances adaptation
The resulting resistances adaptation mechanisms are :

These adaptation mechanisms have been simulated and

implemented experimentally. The speed reference is 0.2
50 rpm, the load torque is set to 20% of the rated motor
value, and the gain of the observer is q = 70. 4 8 12 16 20
time [SI
Figures 4a and 4b show the simulated behaviour of the
(b) experimental : estimated rotor flux magnitude
resistances adaptation mechanisms and estimated rotor
flux magnitude. At time t=2 s, the estimated rotor Figures 5 : Experimental rotor flux sliding-mode observer
resistance is forced to a value 200% greater than the real with stator and rotor resistances adaptation schemes.

FIELD WEAKENING RANGE OPERATION
Tests have also been done in the field weakening range.
With the used experimental system (see appendix), the
field weakening range is reached for speeds greater than
400 rpm. Then, the speed reference has been chosen to
vary between 100 rpm and 500 rpm. Figures 6a and 6b
show the corresponding simulation test. We can see the
excellent behaviour of the rotor flux reconstruction. The
same test has been carried out experimentally (figures
7a and 7b). Again, the behaviour of the rotor flux is
very satisfactory.
o'oO 5 IO 15 20
time [SI
(a) rotor flux magnitude
tine [SI
(b) shaft speed
Figure 6 : Simulated speed and flux responses.
time [SI
(a) rotor flux magnitude
0 5 10 15
time [SI
(b) shaft speed
Figure 7 : Experimental speed and flux responses.
322
COMPARISON OF THE PROPOSED OBSERVER
WITH OTHER TECHNIQUES
The proposed Sliding Mode Observer (SMO) has been
compared with other solutions :
0 an Extended Kalman Filter such in [3];
0 an adaptive Luenberger observer (ALO) such in [5].
For the comparisons, the observers gains were
determined to obtain the best steady-state and dynamic
performances accounting to observation noise level and
stability of the algorithms.
Execution time
Table 1 shows the needed execution time of each
observer, when they were implemented on the
experimental DSP-card.
Table1 -Execution time of the observer algorithms
SMO 24 ps
ALO [ 5 ] 26 ps
EKF [3] 40 ps
Rotor flux error response
The first advantage of an observer with respect to an
estimator (which does not use corrector gains) is that
one can set the observers corrector gains to permit more
fast convergence. In our case, a flux estimator has a
response time of 300 ms. (in our case the rotor time
constant is approximately 0.1 s). Table 2 and figure 8
give a comparison of the rotor flux error response of the
three compared observers. For this, the initial state
conditions of the motor model were set as:
+,=0.5 [Wb], +lp=-O.l [Wb], isa=1.7 [A] and isp=O [A].
All initial observer state conditions were set to zero.
Table 2 -Rotor flux error response
SMO 45 ms
EKF [3] 130 ms
ALO [5] 200 ms
-g -20
=g' -40
0,O 0,l 42 0,3 0,4 0,5
20 tinr:Is1
Figure 8 : Simulated rotor flux error response
 323
APPENDIX :EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM
The used induction machine is a 1.1 kW, 2201380 V,
50 Hz, 1500 rpm, 3.4 A, 7 Nm, closed rotor cage slots.
The nominal values of its parameters (at 25OC) are
Rs = 8 ohms, Rr = 4 ohms, Ls = 0.47 H and CT = 0.12.
The induction motor load is a powder-brake, and the
inertia of the entire drive is J = 0.06 kg.m2. The
induction machine is fed through a 300 V, 10 A,
13 kHz, MOSFET inverter controlled by the Pulse
Width Modulation (PWM) method. Since the rated
induction machine flux is (@)rated = 1.22 Wb and the
DC link voltage of the inverter is only 300 V, the base
motor speed is 400 r.p.m (before the field weakening
operation). The entire machine control, including the
PWM, is implemented on a Digital Signal Processor
(DSP) card using the DSP32C RISC-microprocessor
from AT&T. The use of this card allows the processing
of the control with the following sampling time periods:
currents control Ti = 76.6 ps, flux observation and
control To= 153 ps, and speed control T, = 10 ms. The
induction machine stator voltages are not measured.
They are estimated using the inverter duty cycles, the
DC link voltage and the average values model of the
inverter. The numerical simulations are carried out
using exactly the same control programs written in C
language. The simulation of the induction machine
takes into account the magnetic non-linearities [14]. The
equations of the system have been discretised by the
Euler method (first order).
CONCLUSIONS
The different obtained results show that the developed
adaptive non-linear rotor flux observer used with the
direct field-oriented control method gives very good
results for the induction machine control. The
advantages of the proposed adaptive observer may be
resumed as follows : high convergence rate of the rotor
flux components estimation, insensitivity to resistances
variations due to an adaptation mechanism of both
stator and rotor resistances and low computational time.
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