Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 16 (12): 1807-1812, 2013

ISSN 1990-9233
© IDOSI Publications, 2013
DOI: 10.5829/idosi.mejsr.2013.16.12.114076

Speed Control of Single Phase Induction Motor Using V/F Technique

Anitha Sampathkumar

Bharath University, Chennai-73, India

Abstract: The paper describes about the control technique that can be used for controlling the speed of the
single phase induction motor using v/f technique. The proposed control technique is simulated and compared
with the conventional control methods and results for both the conventional and the proposed control
technique is presented in this paper. The microcontroller is used for controlling the speed as well as the
direction of rotation of the Single phase induction motor.

Key words: Single phase induction Conventional and the proposed Proposed control technique

INTRODUCTION transformer. Large motors and permanently mounted

motors that drive loads at fairly constant speed are
Single-phase induction motors are extensively used often induction motors. The stator consists of the
in appliances and industrial controls. Its simple, rugged main winding and a starting winding (auxiliary). The
construction costs relatively little to manufacture. An starting winding is connected in parallel with the
induction motor runs around its rated speed when it is main winding and is placed physically at right angles
connected directly to the main supply. However, many to it. The induction rotor is made of a laminated
applications need variable speed operations, which cylinder with slots in its surface. The windings in
results in cost effectiveness and efficiency. In these slots are one of two types. The most common
applications like the induction motor-based centrifugal is the squirrel-cage winding. This entire winding is
pump, a speed reduction of 20% results in an energy made up of heavy copper bars connected together at
savings of approximately 50%. Driving and controlling the each end by a metal ring made of copper or brass. No
induction motor efficiently are prime concerns in today’s insulation is required between the core and the bars.
energy conscious world. With the advancement in the This is because of the very low voltages generated in
semiconductor fabrication technology, both the size and the rotor bars. The other type of winding contains
the price of semiconductors have gone down drastically. actual coils placed in the rotor slots. The rotor is then
This means that the motor user can replace an energy called a wound rotor. Regardless of the type of rotor
inefficient mechanical motor drive and control system with used, the basic principle is the same.
this kind of motor control drive. In addition, it can reduce Torque--If we take a stator with a single winding
the system’s average energy consumption. and apply a single phase voltage to it, we will have
an alternating current flowing and thereby an
Single-Phase Induction Motors: alternating magnetic field at each pole. Unfortunately,
this does not result in a rotating magnetic field; rather
Construction--The induction motor has a rotor that is it results in two equal rotating fields, one in the
not connected to an external source of voltage. The forward direction and one in the reverse direction. If
induction motor derives its name from the fact that ac we have a short circuited rotor within the stator, it
voltages are induced in the rotor circuit by the will carry rotor current induced by the stator field, but
rotating magnetic field of the stator. In many ways, there will be two equal and counter rotating torque
induction in this motor is similar to the induction fields. This will cause the rotor to vibrate but not to
between the primary and secondary windings of a rotate.

Corresponding Author: Anitha Sampathkumar, Bharath University, Chennai-73, India .

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Torque development--In order to rotate, there must

be a resultant torque field rotating in one direction
only. If we now add a second stator winding,
physically displaced from the first winding and apply
a voltage equally displaced in phase, we will provide
a second set of counter rotating magnetic fields and
the net result is a single rotating field in one
direction. If we reverse the phase shift of the voltage
applied to the second winding, the resultant magnetic
field will rotate in the reverse direction. The
Permanent Split Capacitor (PSC) single-phase Fig. 1: Schematic representation of a 2-phase induction
induction motor is the simplest and most widely used motor
motor of this type. By design, PSC motors are
unidirectional, which means they are designed to Voltage control [1] --- The amplitude of
rotate in one direction. It has a starting and running voltage supplied to B phase winding may be
winding and a capacitor connected permanently in reduced from 100[%] to 0 [%] while the voltage
order to produce a 90° electrical phase shift between supplied to A phase winding is maintained
the two windings. Since capacitor is a frequency constant and phase difference angle is fixed
dependent component, changing the frequency of at 90°.
the input supply affects the electrical degree of 90°
produced by it. If this degree changes, the torque In their method, torque is controlled by unbalanced
developed also changes. As the input voltage and voltages between the two phases. By this technique the
frequency are fixed irrespective of different operating speed of the Induction motor alone can be controlled,
conditions, the resultant drive performance may also where as the direction of rotation remain unchanged. With
be degraded. Mechanical methods of changing the this control method mentioned above, speed cannot be
speed 372 uses gear arrangement causes for a power varied much.
wastage in the machine. These methods normally do
not achieve continuous and instant control of motor Phase-difference control--The phase-difference angle
speed. between voltages supplied to two phase windings
may be altered from 90° t o -90°, while its voltage
The method proposed in this paper deals with a amplitude remains constant.
technique of controlling such a single phase induction
motor with the help of microcontroller which enables to This method [1, 2] can be applied to a Permanent
control speed of the single phase induction motor as well Split Capacitor (PSC) single phase induction motor
as its direction of rotation and also the amount of power when it is made to operate as a two phase motor [3]
consumed. By this the starting capacitor can be removed Fig. 1 shows the schematic representation of two
which gives the advantage of employing v/f rule in phase induction motor. The Permanent Split
single phase induction drive system. The starting torque Capacitor (PSC) single- phase induction motor is the
can also be increased which gives faster acceleration. simplest and most widely used motor of this type. The
The Pulse Width Modulation technique (PWM) is used inverter provides two independent voltages to the main
to vary the speed of the Induction motor by varying the and auxiliary windings of an induction motor. These
supply voltage as well as frequency. This PWM voltages have some phase difference (-90° to 90°)
technique maintains a constant v/f ratio. The direction of between them.
rotation is controlled by the switching sequence of the This phase difference angle is selected as a
devices connecting the starting and the main winding to control variable for controlling the speed as well as the
the input supply. direction of rotation. But the efficiency reduces as the
phase angle difference is reduced in order to decrease the
Control of Single Phase Induction Motor-Conventional speed of the induction motor. But phase-difference
Methods: The possible methods of controlling the speed control has not been applied, owing to difficulty of
of Single Phase induction motors are as follows: control technique.

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Fig. 2: The 2-phase inverter-fed induction motor control Fig. 6: Timing Diagram

In the speed control by 2-step driving system, the

drive becomes simpler but the amplitude of the output
voltage of an inverter cannot be controlled. The speed of
the two-phase induction motor driven by two-step
inverter is controlled by the frequency only.
Therefore, as the frequency is lowered, the magnetic
flux in the core becomes saturated, which results in poor
efficiency and weak speed control capability. In addition,
the square voltage waveform has significant harmonics of
low order. Therefore the control range of a speed is limited
tightly. Further more the low order harmonics in the
output voltage cause the losses and the vibration of the
Fig. 3: The 2-phase Full bridge inverter-fed induction drive system. Also the input supply has to be twice than
motor control the rating of the system for its proper working, hence the
rating of the device used increases the cost of the system.
Single Phase induction motor can not be controlled
by v/f technique as it in the case of three phase drive Two Phase Full Bridge Inverter Drive System: Two
system the speed of the induction because of the Phase Full Bridge inverter Drive systems [4] is an
capacitors used for starting and maintaining the rotation improved version of the H-Bridge inverter drive system.
of the induction motor. When the frequency is changed, The output voltage of this drive system is improved and
the capacitive reactance of the induction motor also the voltage at the input side is reduced to Vdc. One full
changes. cycle of two-phase voltages is divided into four sectors
each of 90° as shown and this makes the drive system to
Drive Description work at a speed lower than the rated speed even when the
H-Bridge Driving System: The configuration of the 2- rated supply is given at the input of the drive system.
phase inverter-fed induction motor inverter controlled by
a microprocessor is shown Fig.2. It consists of 2 phase Two Phase Full Bridge Inverter Drive System (Proposed
induction motor, a half bridge type inverter composed of System): The Construction of the Power circuit [5] is
4 power MOSFET's, driving circuit, micro-processor similar to that used in the Two Phase Full Bridge inverter
system and DC voltage source. The capacitance C1 and fed Two Phase Drive system, only the pulse sequence is
C2 ensure that the point C at the junction of two phase different. This paper deals with the control technique for
windings has zero potential. In a H-Bridge Driving System the Single phase induction which uses the power circuit
[2] reported before, square voltage waveforms whose as shown in fig:6. Each device is made to conduct for
phase-difference angle is 90°, were supplied to the two around 180°. Among the two windings Phase A is
phase windings by switching Tr1 - Tr4. connected to the first leg of the inverter and the Phase B

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Fig. 7: Two Phase Full Bridge inverter drive system

Fig. 8: Phase Voltages Fig. 9: Voltages across main and starting windings

is connected with to the second leg of the inverter PWM output.. A three leg inverter (similar to a three
system while the third leg remains common for both phase inverter bridge) is used and the gating sequence is
the phases. At a time only one device in each leg modified so that it can feed the two windings (phase A
conducts and a suitable delay time is given and phase B) of the single phase induction motor. At a
between turning off and turning on of the devices in time two or three devices will be conducting. The devices
the same leg in order to avoid the short circuit. in the first two legs will be conducting for 90° and the
The timing diagram is shown in fig:6. The Phase voltage devices in the third leg for almost 180°. The starting
sequence is shown in fig: 8 and the phase voltage torque is achieved by providing some time delay in
between the main and the starting windings are shown in switching the devices of phase A winding and the phase
fig:9. Both the forward rotation and the reverse direction B winding.
of the rotor is obtained b y changing the pulse sequence
of two legs alone while for the other leg the pulse remains Two Phase Full Bridge Inverter Drive System (Proposed
the same. System)
Working: For easy understanding the entire cycle is
Circuit Description: The Bi-directional v/f control for divided into four divisions.
single phase induction motor has three main divisions. (0° -10°)--- The phase A winding is connected
They are the rectifier section, the inverter section and the with the supply. The current flows through the DC
controller section. positive terminal, SA+, ST-A, ST-AA, SN- and DC
In the rectifier section the input single phase AC negative terminal in the phase A winding. Consider this
supply voltage is converted into DC with the help of direction of current flow to be forward in phase A
diode rectifiers. Then the DC is converted back to AC winding. Phase B remains short circuited through SB-, ST-
with the help of the inverter. The inverter produces a B, ST-BB and SN.

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(10° -90°)----- The phase B winding is connected with

the supply. The current flows through the DC negative
terminal, SB-, ST-BB, ST-B, SN+ and DC positive
terminal in the phase B winding. Consider this direction of
current flow to be reverse in phase B winding. Phase A
remains short circuited through SA+, ST-A, ST-AA and
SN+.

(90° -190°)--- The phase A winding is connected with

the supply. The current flows through the DC negative
terminal, SA-, ST-AA, ST-A, SN+ and DC positive
terminal in the phase A winding. Consider this direction
of current flow to be reverse in phase A winding. Phase B Fig. 10: Speed curve for forward rotation
remains short circuited through SB+, ST-B, ST-BB and
SN+.

(190° -270°)---The phase B winding is connected with

the supply. The current flows through the DC positive
terminal, SB+, ST-B, ST-BB, SN- and DC negative terminal
in the phase B winding. Consider this direction of current
flow to be forward in phase B winding. Phase A remains
short circuited through SA-, ST-A, ST-AA and SN-.

(270° -370°)--- The phase A winding is connected

with the supply. The current flows through the DC
positive terminal, SA+, ST-A, ST-AA, SN- and DC Fig. 10: Speed curve for reverse rotation
negative terminal in the phase A winding. Consider this
direction of current flow to be forward in phase A winding to the supply first and then switching the device
winding. Phase B remains short circuited through SB-, ST- connecting the starting winding to the supply.
B, ST-BB and SN-. Simulation is performed with the control technique
described above and the speed curve shown in fig:10
The speed of the induction motor can be controlled and fig:11 are obtained for both forward and reverse
by varying the supply voltage as well as the frequency. direction.
This gives a constant v/f control. For obtaining a
constant v/f ratio, PWM technique is used. The SPWM Control Circuit Description: The microcontroller
technique helps in reducing the harmonic content and (89C51) is used as the controller for producing the
also improves the power factor. necessary control signals. The controller is given a
Figure 8 show that the three phase voltages. speed reference as an input parameter. The three
The direction of rotation can be changed by ports of the microcontroller has been utilized for
swapping any two phases keeping the other providing the output signal. The output signal is
unchanged. In this the starting winding is considered to then conditioned using a DAC and the required
be the reference. The motor rotates in forward direction sinusoidal control signal is generated. This sinusoidal
when starting winding voltage leads the main winding signal is then further conditioned to obtain the SPWM
voltage. This is achieved by switching the device signal which is given at the gate terminal of the power
connecting the starting winding to the supply first and electronic switches. In order to vary the speed the set
then switching the device connecting the main winding to reference is varied which changes the frequency of the
the supply. sinusoidal signal it generates through DAC. This
The motor rotates in reverse direction when main variation varies the duty cycle of the devices. Therefore
winding voltage leads the starting winding voltage. This the voltage also gets varied and a constant v/f ratio is
is achieved by switching device connecting the main obtained.

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Advantages: and frequency can be varied very easily by changing the

value of the given parameters in the control program to
The advantages are the increasing motor reliability obtain variation in the output voltage of the inverter with
due to the elimination of mechanical devices, maintaining constant V/Hz ratio.
increasing system efficiency and better dynamic
performance due to variable-speed operation [6]. REFERENCES
The microprocessor-based controller, which presents
many advantages including high accuracy at 1. Do-Hyun Jang and Jong-Soo Won, 1994.
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be reduced. pp: 94.
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PDA control technique [2,5,7]. 2-Phase Inverter-Fed Induction Motor IEEE
Elimination of starting capacitor. Transactions on Industrial Electronics.
Drive rotation can be controlled in both the 3. Naser Abdel-Rahim and Adel Shaltout, 2002.
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the system easy to implement and have control over the 6. Young, C.M., C.C. Liu and C.H. Liu, 1999.
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a 3- phase inverter bridge gives flexibility and efficiency two phase induction motor IEE Proc-Electr. Power
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sinusoidal pulse width modulation for two-phase full Control through a PIC Controlled Sinusoidal PWM
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DC source and six power transistors, 80-90% of the Conditions IEEE Porto Power Tech Conference
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