Design and Modelling of the Control of the Induction Motor Drive for High-Power Industrial Applications

Abstract

Induction motors are the most used machines in industrial settings because they are tough, easy to maintain, and relatively cheap compared to other machine types [1]. They are found across many industries including mining, manufacturing, and water treatment [1], [2]. The problem, however, is that most of these high-power systems are still being run using old control methods like direct-on-line starting or V/f control [3]. These approaches lead to very high starting currents, unsteady speed performance under changing loads, and general energy waste [3], [4]. In this work, a 50 kW, 50 Hz induction motor drive was designed and tested using field-oriented control (FOC), which works by modelling the machine in the rotating d-q reference frame [5]–[7]. This allows the torque and the flux of the motor to be controlled separately, which gives much better performance [6], [7]. The drive uses a voltage source inverter (VSI) and space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) to supply the motor [8], [9]. Everything was built and tested in MATLAB/Simulink [10]. The results showed clear improvements in how the motor tracks speed references, how fast it responds to sudden load changes, how smooth the torque is, and the overall efficiency of the drive