Voltage-Oriented Vector Control of Induction Motor: Principle and

Dynamic Performance Improvement

Yongdong Li , Juanjuan Sun
Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University,
Beijing, China. 100084
Tel.: +86 / (10) 62785481
Fax: +86 / (10) 62772450
E-Mail: liyd@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
URL: http://www.eea.tsinghua.edu.cn/

Keywords
Motor Control , Voltage-Oriented Vector Control , Stator Flux Estimator

Abstract
This paper deals with the performance improvement of the Voltage-Oriented Vector Control(VOC) of
induction motor which presents the merits of constant stator flux control, simple calculation and easy
implementation. In this method, the d-axis of synchronous reference frame is oriented in the direction
of the stator voltage vector, and then a control strategy specific for the induction motor is obtained.
Based on the previous work, much progress has been made recently to get better dynamic performance,
including the improved system structure and a novel stator flux estimator. Simulation and
experimental results show that by knowing only a few parameters of the induction motor such as Rs
and J, the flux and torque can be controlled independently, and a simple as well as high-performance
speed control can be achieved while avoiding the complex coordinate transformation in traditional
vector control methods.

Introduction
The modern area of the high performance AC drives dates back to the early 1970s with the invention
of the vector control technique. The core idea of vector control is to decouple the control of induction
motors flux and torque by coordinate transformations, and to control not only the amplitudes of
current and flux but also their phase angle. For high performance applications, the method of
field-oriented vector control (FOC) is widely used nowadays [1,2]. In this method, by orienting the daxis of reference frame in the direction of rotor or stator flux, independent control of the flux and
torque is achievable. However, the field-oriented vector control becomes more and more complicated
in order to get higher performance by parameter identification, sensorless drives, etc[3,4]
The voltage-oriented vector control has been proposed by Yongdong Li first in 1985 [5,6], it is
relatively simple as compared to FOC. Recently, some important performance improvement has been
accomplished. In the following section, the principle of VOC will be recalled first.

I. The principle of voltage-oriented vector control

For simplicity of analysis and control of induction motor, the following assumptions are
conventionally admitted:
-1-

1) Symmetrical armatures
2) Constant air-gap
3) Sinusoidal induction repartition
4) Saturation, hysterisis and eddy effects negligible.
Then, we have the following Park equations under the synchronous rotating reference coordinate:

Vsd = Rs I sd + sd ' s sq

(1)

Vsq = R s I sq + sq '+ s sd

(2)

0 = Rr I rd + rd ' rq

(3)

0 = Rr I rq + rq '+ rd

(4)

Tem = P ( I sq sd I sd sq )

(5)

Where, s and are the synchronous and slip angular speed respectively; Vsd Vsq I sd

I sq sd sq are the d-axis and q-axis values of stator voltagecurrent and flux; I rd I rq rd

rq are the d-axis and q-axis values of rotor current and flux; Tem is the electromagnetic torque, and
P is the number of pole pairs; Rs Rr are the resistance of stator and rotor respectively.
In the field-oriented control method, the d-axis of the synchronous rotating frame is oriented in
the direction of flux, while in the proposed control the reference frame is fixed to the direction of
stator voltage vector as shown in Fig.1. In this condition, the stator voltage can be described as:
Vsd = 3Vs , V sq = 0 , Vs represents the RMS value of the stator voltage.
Sb

Vs

Sa

Sc

Fig.1 Voltage orientation

As we know, to have good control of motors, it is essential to keep the flux constant, which can
be expressed as

sd 2 + sq 2 = const
The idea is to make use of the time derival of this expression: sd ' sd + sq ' sq = 0 ; By
introducing this relation in equation (1) and equation (2), we obtain:
-2-

Isd sd + Isq sq =Vsd sd / Rs

(6)

Furthermore, by making use of rd ' rd + rq ' rq = 0 , the same process applied to rotor
equations (3) and (4) gives us:

I rd rd + I rd rq = 0

(7)

By substituting all rotor variables with stator variables in (7), then we obtain:
2

I sd sd + I sq sq =

3( sref + Ls I s )
Ls (1 + )

By introducing the above relation in (6), the following equation is obtained:

2

Vsd = 3Vs =

3Rs ( sref + Ls I s )

(8)

Ls (1 + ) sd

Where = 1 Lm 2 / Ls Lr , sref is the RMS value of the stator flux reference, I s is the RMS
2

value of stator phase current, which can be given by: 3I s = I sd + I sq .

Here is a key control strategy of induction motor which was called voltage-oriented vector control.
Simulation results show that when applying this method, decoupling control of flux and torque has
been realized, and the flux can be maintained constant in transient processes such as suddenly loaded
or speed reversal as well as in steady state (Fig.4).

II.

System configuration

Fig.2 shows the configuration of the former control system in [7,8], where the dynamic flux
control represents the equation (8). We can see that its structure is much simpler than the traditional
vector control systems, and only some commonly used variables such as stator currents, rotor speed
, voltage and current of DC bus need to be measured. Without any complex coordinate
transformations, a closed-loop control of speed is realized. However, former simulation and
experimental results showed that this system is a little bit slow at dynamic processes because the slip
frequency is obtained by the steady state torque equation Tem = K . Fig.3 shows an improved
system configuration, in which the closed torque control loop is added to improve the speed of
dynamic response. The torque is estimated by:

Tem = P ( sd I sq sq I sd )

(9)

As we know, in dynamic state, the relationship between electromagnetic torque and slip speed are
very complex, thus to give the reference value of via a PI regulator is reasonable as shown in
Fig.3. Since Tem should be obtained through flux estimation, which is also a key factor in the
dynamic flux control of the system, in next section of this paper, a stator flux estimator will be
introduced.

-3-

Ic

PWM

Uc

IM

I NVERTER
u

PWM CONTROL

FLUX
ESTI MATO
R

Vs

sd

DYNAMI C FLUX
CONTROL

sref

Is

Fig.2 Block diagram of the former system

Ic

PWM

IM

Uc

I NVERTER

PWM CONTROL
s

Vs

FLUX and
TORQUE
ESTI MATOR

sd

Tem

DYNAMI C FLUX
CONTROL

sref

Tem*

Is

Fig.3 Block diagram of the improved system

III.

Stator flux estimator

In a practical control system described in previous figures, the stator current and voltage can be
easily measured, thus a novel and simple stator flux estimator without coordinate transformations is
developed.
By considering only fundamental component, the output voltage of PWM inverter Vs will be
proportional to DC bus voltage U c :

Vsd = 3Vs = 3kU c = k1U c

(10)

Where k is a constant related to PWM mode, for example, in the case of SPWM, the expression
is k =

2 2

, k1 =

6 / 4 , and is the modulation depth of PWM.

And if the losses in the PWM inverter are assumed negligible, the invariance of power gives us:

Uc Ic = Vsd Isd + VsqIsq = Vsd Isd

(11)

I sd = U c I c / Vsd = I c / k1

Is

(12)

In which, I c represents the current of DC bus, shown in Fig.2 and Fig.3.

Suppose i s 2 and i s 3 are two phases currents measured, the RMS value of stator phase current
can be described as:
-4-

Is =

Then,

1
[(i s 2 + i s 3 ) 2 + (i s 2 i s 3 ) 2 ] 2
3
2

I sq = 3I s I sd

(13)

(14)

From (1), (2), (10), (12), we get the stator flux estimator below:

sd ' = k1U c Rs I c / k1 + s sq

(15)

sq ' = R s I sq s sd

(16)

This estimator is very simple to be implemented; Furthermore, it is accurate enough in the whole
speed range operation of the voltage-oriented control system, which was already proved by the
simulation and experimental results. On the other hand, the only parameter used in the estimator is the
resistance of stator. Rotor parameters which are easily affected by temperature variation are
completely avoided.

IV.

Simulations and experimental results

The simulation in Fig.4 shows that the proposed control strategy can keep the stator flux constant
during the transient processes of speed reversal. The dotted line is corresponding to the system shown
in Fig.2, and the real line is for the improved system shown in Fig.3.

the former system

the improved system

1000

speed (rpm)

500

-500

-1000

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

time (s)

arotor speed
0.7

stator flux (wb)

0.6
0.5
0.4

the improved system

the former system

0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

time (s)

bRMS value of stator flux s

-5-

0.6

rotor flux (wb)

0.5
0.4
0.3

the improved system

the former system

0.2
0.1
0.0
0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

time (s)

cRMS value of rotor flux r

d-axis stator flux (wb)

1.2

the improved system

the former system

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

time (s)

dd-axis value of stator flux sd

1.5

q-axis stator flux (wb)

1.0

0.5

0.0

-0.5

the improved system

the former system

-1.0

-1.5
0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

time (s)

eq-axis value of stator flux sq

-6-

10

the improved system

the former system

torque (N*m)

-5

-10

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

time (s)

(f) electromagnetic torque Tem

Fig.4
Simulation of the voltage-oriented vector control method
The waveforms above show that the stator and rotor fluxes can reach their reference values very
quickly and always keep constant. At the same time, it is proved that the added torque loop is helpful
to the systems dynamic performance, which can be seen during the speed reversal of the system.
On the basis of simulations, experiments are implemented on a flexible control system of
induction motor (IM). The core of the dual-CPU control system consists of a personal computer and a
TMS320C32 DSP (Digital Signal Processor) developing board. The motor starts up unloaded and then
a reverse speed reference is given. The waveforms of real speed, electromagnetic torque,stator
phase-current and stator flux ( and its d-axis and q-axis values ) are shown in Fig.5.

300

speed (rpm)

200
100
0
-100
-200
-300
0

5000

10000

15000

time (ms)

(a) rotor speed

6

torque (N*m)

4
2
0
-2
-4
-6
-8
0

5000

10000

15000

time (ms)

(b) electromagnetic torque Tem

-7-

Isa (A)

-2

-4

-6
0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

time (ms)

(c) one phase of stator current

is 2

0.9
0.8

stator flux (wb)

0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
0

5000

10000

15000

time (ms)

(d) RMS value of stator flux s

1.4

d-axis stator flux (wb)

1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
0

5000

10000

time (ms)

(e) d-axis value of stator flux sd

-8-

15000

1.5

q-axis stator flux (wb)

1.0

0.5

0.0

-0.5

-1.0

-1.5
0

5000

10000

15000

time (ms)

(f) q-axis value of stator flux sq

Fig.5

Experimental waveforms of voltage-oriented vector control system

when starting unloaded and then reverse speed

From the figures above, it can be seen that this method can give very satisfactory performance of
flux, torque and speed control. Experiments show a more quick speed regulation than the initial
system without torque loop. And as expected in theoretical derivation, the stator flux almost doesnt
change in transient process even when the motor is suddenly loaded or during speed reversal, thus we
obtained a very high performance IM control system.

V.

Conclusion

A dynamic flux control strategy of PWM-fed induction motor has been presented and the
dynamic performance improved. And a novel flux estimator for this method is presented and proved
very robust. The whole control strategy is implemented on the experimental platform based on DSP;
the experimental results are in agreement with the theoretical studies and simulation, confirming the
validity of this control method of IM and the proposed improvement.

References
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2002.
[2]F.Z.Peng; Speed and flux sensorless field oriented control of induction motors for electric vehicles in Proc.
IEEE APEC00 Conf. vol. 1, pp.133 139, Feb. 2000.
[3]Mouna, B.H.; Lassaad, S. Direct Stator Field Oriented Control of Speed Sensorless Induction Motor in Proc.
IEEE ICIT06 Conf. vol.1 pp. 961 966, Dec. 2006.
[4] M. Comanescu and L. Xu, "An improved flux observer based on PLL frequency estimator for sensorless
vector control of induction motors"

IEEE Trans. Industrial Electronics, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 50- 56, Feb. 2006.

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-9-

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