Efficiency improvement with intelligent control of induction motor drives R. Mecke   2019/07/15

Abstract

The energy saving potential of induction motor drives is investigated. Two new aspects are identified, a multilevel frequency inverter and the speed control with variable rotor flux. Multilevel inverters with new wide-bandgap semiconductors for low voltage electrical drives (<1000 V)
reduce power semiconductor losses, voltage transients at the motor windings and harmonic losses in the cables. The power semiconductor losses of a two-level and a three-level inverter are
compared. At 20 kHz switching frequency the losses of the threelevel inverter are 38 % lower compared to the two-level inverter. Another efficiency improvement potential is the speed control
with variable rotor flux instead of commonly used constant flux. The rotor flux for maximum efficiency depends on the actual load and speed of the motor. The optimal rotor flux for maximum motor efficiency can be pre-calculated for each load and speed and implemented as reference value for rotor flux control in the frequency inverter. The maximum efficiency improvement with an 11 kW induction motor at small load reaches 35 % in motor and 45 % in generator operation mode. An increase in efficiency can be reached below 2/3 of rated torque in the whole speed range from 10 to 100 Hz.

Authors and affiliations

R. Mecke
Department of Automation and Computer Sciences. Harz University of Applied Sciences. Wernigerode (Germany)

Key words

Energy efficiency, multilevel inverter, variable speed drive, vector control, rotor flux

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