AN984

An Introduction to AC Induction Motor Control

Using the dsPIC30F MCU

Author: Steve Bowling BACKGROUND

Microchip Technology Variable speed ACIM drives have evolved from
industrial control applications. Wound DC motors were
preferred in the past because they were easier to
INTRODUCTION control. The motor current is simply varied to adjust the
This application note demonstrates how you use the torque output and motor speed. However, these DC
dsPIC30F MCU to control an AC Induction Motor (ACIM). motors do have some disadvantages. DC motors used
The discussion is based on the dsPICDEM™ MC Motor in industrial applications need to be periodically over-
Control Development System, but you can use your own hauled to replace worn brushes and rotor windings.
hardware if you choose. The dsPICDEM MC Motor Since the rotor windings of a DC motor are inside the
Control Development System has electrical isolation and motor, it is more difficult to keep them cool.
is fully self-protected against Faults. With these features,
An ACIM has a simple rotor construction and does not
you can safely develop a motor control application and
use brushes. For these reasons, an ACIM is more
also avoid damage to hardware by software errors. durable than a DC motor. The only mechanical compo-
The code provided in this application note is a simple nents that need to be serviced are the rotor bearings.
example that provides basic variable speed control of The rotor is much more tolerant of heat because it is
an ACIM. It will help you learn about the dsPIC30F simply a steel cage with magnetic laminations. The
architecture and the basics of ACIM control durability of the ACIM makes it an attractive choice.
Variable speed control of an ACIM is conceptually very
Recommended Hardware simple. The frequency and amplitude of the drive
The code presented in this application note can be run voltage must be varied to change the motor speed.
on the following Microchip equipment: Early ACIM drives used SCR devices connected to the
• MPLAB® ICD 2 In-Circuit Debugger and Device motor as shown in Figure 1. By firing each SCR at the
appropriate time, a very crude sinusoidal voltage can
Programmer (Part# DV164005)
be generated on the motor phases. These types of
• dsPICDEM MC1 Motor Control Development
circuits are often called ‘six-step’ drives because there
Board (Part# DM300020) are six different ways that the SCR devices can be
• dsPICDEM MC1H 3-Phase High-Voltage Power energized to produce motor currents. However, the
Module (Part# DM300021) high harmonic content of the six-step drive causes high
• 3-Phase ACIM High-Voltage Motor (208/460V) heat dissipation and does not deliver good
(Part# AC300021) performance at low frequencies.
If you prefer, you can supply your own 3-phase or Semiconductor technology has drastically improved
single-phase ACIM. The recommended power range is since the days of six-step drives. SCR devices are now
1/6-1/2 HP. replaced with MOSFET or IGBT devices that can be
switched at relatively high frequencies with minimal
Documents for Further Reading power loss. These devices can be controlled using
PWM signals to generate continuously variable drive
These application notes provide useful background
voltages and currents.
information:
• AN887, “AC Induction Motor Fundamentals”
(DS00887)
• AN889, “VF Control of 3-Phase Induction Motors
Using PIC16F7X7 Microcontrollers” (DS00889)
• AN900, “Controlling 3-Phase AC Induction Motors
Using the PIC18F4431” (DS00900)
• AN908, “Using the dsPIC30F for Vector Control of
an ACIM” (DS00908)

© 2005 Microchip Technology Inc. DS00984A-page 1

AN984
FIGURE 1: SCR INVERTER CIRCUIT

SCR X6

3-Phase
ACIM
+
AC
MAINS

SINGLE-PHASE ACIM vs. In general, there are three types of split-phase motors.
The first type has two windings, a centrifugal switch
THREE-PHASE
and a single pair of input terminals. These motors are
Most motors intended for industrial applications will typically used for fans and blowers. At start-up, both
have three-phase windings. Three-phase power is windings are connected in parallel. After the motor is
widely available in an industrial environment. Residen- near full speed, the centrifugal switch disconnects the
tial environments usually only have single-phase power start winding. Once the motor is spinning with sufficient
available, which presents a problem for ACIMs. speed, the motor can run without the start winding. This
type of motor is not very efficient during starting, but a
A three-phase motor is the best type to use for variable
fan or blower will not present a large load at low speed.
speed control. The three-phase motor gives good
torque performance at all operating speeds. Single- The second kind of split-phase motor has two windings.
phase motors can also be used, but they have limited A centrifugal switch and a capacitor are placed in
performance in the low-speed range. Depending on the series with the start winding. The capacitor provides
motor, there can be significant torque pulsations when phase shift, which improves the starting torque and
a single-phase induction motor is run at low speeds. reduces the starting current. The centrifugal switch dis-
connects the start winding (and capacitor) after the
A three-phase motor can generate a true rotating
motor is near full speed. This type of motor is often
magnetic field in the stator windings when fed from a
called a ‘capacitor-start’ motor.
source of three-phase power. However, without some
modification, an ACIM with a single stator winding The third type of split-phase motor eliminates the
cannot produce a rotating magnetic field that is capable centrifugal switch, but still has a capacitor in series with
of producing torque. This rotating field problem can be the secondary winding. The secondary winding is,
handled in different ways. therefore, never disconnected. This type of split-phase
motor is often called a ‘capacitor-run’ motor and has
Shaded-pole motors have a pole structure that is
the best performance of all split-phase motor types.
formed from laminated iron pieces. A single coil is
The capacitor-run motor will have the best torque
placed on the structure. A ‘rotating’ field is produced by
performance over the operating speed range. Of all the
placing shorting rings around the laminated pole pieces
different types of single phase ACIMs, a capacitor-run
in two strategic locations. The shorting rings place off-
motor makes the best choice for variable speed control.
sets in the magnetic flux so that a rotating field can be
created.
Another way to solve the rotating field problem is to use
two electrical windings that are physically offset in the
stator. This type of motor is called a split-phase ACIM.
In most cases, one of the two windings has lower
electrical impedance and is designated as the primary
or ‘run’ winding. The second winding has higher imped-
ance and is designated as the secondary, or ‘start’
winding.

DS00984A-page 2 © 2005 Microchip Technology Inc.

 AN984
THE INVERTER CIRCUIT Several different types of inverter circuits could be used
depending on the type of ACIM that you want to control.
A variable speed ACIM application needs an inverter No matter what type of inverter circuit is used, you can
circuit that performs two functions. First, the incoming think of each complementary pair of transistors across
AC mains supply is rectified and filtered to produce a the DC bus as a single entity, controlled by a single
DC bus voltage. Second, the DC bus voltage must be PWM generator, as shown in Figure 3. Each comple-
transformed back into AC currents that will power the mentary pair of transistors is connected to a motor
motor. The circuit in Figure 2 can be used to control a phase winding.
three-phase motor.
The PWM is used like a digital-to-analog converter in
You may notice that I said ‘AC current’ and not ‘AC order to produce motor currents of any desired wave-
voltage’. We will use the motor control PWM available shape. A 50% PWM duty cycle is normally used as a
on the dsPIC® MCU to control the power transistors in zero-current reference point. If all PWM duty cycles are
the inverter circuit. If you were to put a scope probe on at 50%, then all phases will have the same applied
one of the three phase connections, you would just see average voltage and there will be zero average current
a PWM signal with an amplitude approximately equal to flowing in the motor. If the PWM duty cycle is raised
the DC bus voltage. Since the motor windings are above 50%, then positive current will be generated in
inductive, the incoming voltage will be integrated to the winding. If the duty cycle is below 50%, then
produce a motor current that is proportional to the negative current will be generated in the winding.
PWM duty cycle. If the PWM duty cycle is modulated,
then AC currents of any arbitrary wave shape can be
generated.

FIGURE 2: THREE-PHASE INVERTER CIRCUIT

IGBT X6

3-Phase
ACIM
+
AC
MAINS

FIGURE 3: PWM BLOCK DIAGRAM

dsPIC® PWM Peripheral

VBUS

Dead-Time
Driver
Delay

PWM Generator LOAD

Dead-Time
Driver
Delay

© 2005 Microchip Technology Inc. DS00984A-page 3

AN984
Inverter Circuit Options for Single-Phase The split-phase motor could also be driven with an
Motors H-bridge inverter, as shown in Figure 5. This topology
requires a run capacitor, but eliminates two of the
If you wish to control a split-phase motor with a tran- inverter switches. The disadvantage of this circuit is
sistor inverter circuit, there are several different inverter that the motor direction is set by the location of the
topologies that you can use. If you want to eliminate the capacitor in the circuit. The H-bridge inverter circuit
capacitor and implement the phase shift in software, could also be used to drive a shaded-pole motor with a
the three-phase inverter circuit described above can be single winding.
used, as shown in Figure 4. With an inverter driven
Another way to drive a split-phase motor or a shaded-
secondary winding, a current with any arbitrary phase
pole motor uses a voltage doubler circuit with an H-bridge
shift and amplitude can be generated on the secondary
inverter, as shown in Figure 6. In this circuit, the switching
winding.
devices will see a higher DC bus voltage.

FIGURE 4: SPLIT-PHASE MOTOR DRIVE WITH 3-PHASE INVERTER

Secondary
Primary
+
AC
MAINS

Common

FIGURE 5: SPLIT-PHASE MOTOR DRIVE WITH H-BRIDGE INVERTER

Run Capacitor

Primary
+
AC
MAINS

Common

FIGURE 6: SPLIT-PHASE MOTOR DRIVE WITH VOLTAGE DOUBLER CIRCUIT

+
Secondary
Primary

AC
MAINS
+

Common

DS00984A-page 4 © 2005 Microchip Technology Inc.

 AN984
GENERATING A SINUSOIDAL Sine Table Pointer
WAVEFORM Once the sine table size has been selected, the size of
The easiest way to generate a sinusoidal waveform is the sine table pointer variable can be chosen. Let’s
to use a look-up table. You could also calculate the sine assume that a 256 value table is used for the sine
value on the fly, but it’s just not worth spending the CPU values. At first glance, you might assume that an 8-bit
time to do this. A look-up table is used that contains all pointer value would be sufficient. However, you will
the points of a sine wave. The sine values are read want the pointer value to be larger so that it will be easy
from the table at periodic intervals, scaled to match the to produce very low modulation frequencies.
allowable range of duty cycles, and then written to the For the code examples in this application note, a 16-bit
duty cycle registers. sine table pointer is used. The pointer represents a full
A sine pointer variable is maintained in software that 360 degrees of angle, where 0x0000 = 0 degrees and
defines the present location in the table. This pointer 0xFFFF = 359.9 degrees. Each time a new value is
has to be adjusted at periodic intervals, usually at the needed from the look-up table, the upper 8 bits of the
beginning of each PWM period. If a constant adjust- pointer variable are used as the pointer index. The
ment value is added to the pointer at each interval, the lower 8 bits of the pointer variable can be viewed as
software will move through the table at a fixed fractional bits.
frequency. The look-up table length is usually set to an You will want to know the resolution of the modulation
even power of 2, such as 64, 128 or 256. This way, the frequency. To find this resolution, you need to know
software does not have to check the pointer value how frequently the sine table pointer will be adjusted.
every time it is adjusted. The pointer can simply be For now, assume that this adjustment occurs every
allowed to roll over and reset to 0. PWM period. Assuming a 16-kHz PWM frequency, the
modulation frequency resolution would be:
How Many Points in the Table?
EQUATION 2:
This is a question often asked when creating a look-up
table. There is not a specific answer to this question. Mod Frequency Resolution = fPWM/216
Too few points in the table will cause a ‘staircase’ effect = 0.244 Hz/bit
in the motor current waveform. The staircase effect will
cause excessive motor current distortion, which So, this choice of angle resolution and PWM carrier
causes higher heat dissipation. Too many points will frequency allows the modulation frequency to be
use up valuable memory in the MCU. A good ‘rule of adjusted in 0.244 Hz steps. Our variable speed applica-
thumb’ is to divide the maximum desired modulation tion runs the motor at full speed with a modulation
frequency into the PWM carrier frequency. A PWM frequency of 60 Hz. To find the table pointer delta value
carrier frequency, just outside the audible range, is that will provide a 60 Hz modulation frequency, use this
usually chosen. formula:
Assume that a 16-kHz PWM carrier is selected and the
maximum modulation frequency is 60 Hz for a typical EQUATION 3:
ACIM:
fMOD/0.244 = 60/0.244
EQUATION 1: = 246 bits
Number of Table Values = fPWM/fMODMAX
If the value, 246, is added to the sine table pointer at
= 16,000/60 each PWM interrupt, then we will get a 60-Hz modulation
= 267 frequency.

For this example, a 256 value sine table would be suf-

ficient. In practice, the code provided in this application
note has 64 entry tables and provides good results.

© 2005 Microchip Technology Inc. DS00984A-page 5

AN984
How to Create Multiple Sine Outputs with Scaling the Sine Table Pointer
Phase Offsets To obtain index values to perform table look-ups from the
We will want to create multiple outputs with different sine data, the 16-bit sine pointers are right shifted to
phases to drive the ACIM. A phase offset can be discard the ‘fractional’ bits described in the “Sine Table
established for a particular output by adding a constant Pointer” section. If a 256-entry table is used, then you
offset value to the pointer. will only need the upper 8 bits to use as a look-up table
index.
THREE-PHASE OUTPUTS
Binary numbering works well for three-phase systems. Scaling the Sine Table Look-up Value
Assuming a 16-bit pointer size is used, a value of Once look-up values are obtained from the table, they
0x5555 provides a 120-degree offset and a value of are multiplied by scaling values to determine the actual
0xAAAA gives a 240-degree offset. The offset values amplitude of the modulation output. More scaling details
are added to the sine table pointer at each PWM are provided in the “PWM Modulation” section.
interrupt to provide two additional pointers for the 2nd
and 3rd phase. Since 16-bit arithmetic is used, the sine
table pointer just wraps around if an overflow occurs as
a result of the offset addition.

SINGLE-PHASE OUTPUTS
If you want to drive a single motor winding using an
H-bridge inverter configuration, then you can modulate
one side of the bridge with a 0-degree phase offset and
the other side with a 180-degree offset. An offset value
of 0x8000 gives the 180-degree offset using a 16-bit
sine table pointer. An offset of 90 degrees may be
required to drive the auxiliary winding of a split-phase
motor. In this case, just use a sine pointer offset value
of 0x4000.

DS00984A-page 6 © 2005 Microchip Technology Inc.

 AN984
ACIM SLIP vs. TORQUE Figure 7 below shows how the motor torque and slip
relate to each other. When energy is first applied to the
An ACIM must have slip in order to operate. Slip is the motor, the rotor will be at rest. At this instant, slip will be
difference in mechanical rotor speed compared to the at maximum value. The motor will have a finite start-up
speed of the rotating magnetic field generated by the torque at this time. If the load on the motor does not
stator. Slip can be expressed either as a ratio or as a exceed the available start-up torque, the motor begins
frequency difference. to accelerate to a speed near the synchronous speed.
To demonstrate slip, assume a two-pole ACIM is The motor will then be operating at a point on the right
energized with a 60-Hz AC input voltage. If the rotor side of the torque profile. When operating in this region,
turned synchronously with the applied input frequency, the motor has the ability to self-regulate its own speed
the rotor would spin at 60 revolutions per second, or within a limited range. When additional load is placed
3600 RPM. Due to the slip, however, the rotor turns on the motor shaft, the motor speed naturally
slightly slower than the synchronous speed of decreases. This decrease in speed causes the slip to
3600 RPM. The slip is usually accounted for in the increase, which increases the torque. As greater load
motor specifications. A two-pole motor with a synchro- is placed on the motor, the operating point moves to the
nous speed of 3600 RPM might specify 3450 RPM as left on the torque profile until the stall torque is reached.
the nominal motor speed. At this point, the rotor stalls.

FIGURE 7: ACIM TORQUE vs. SLIP PROFILE

T
Stall Torque
Starting Torque
Braking
Region Operating Point

Motor Synchronous Speed

Region
RPM
Generator
Region

SLIP
1.5 1.0 0.5 0 -0.5 -1.0

© 2005 Microchip Technology Inc. DS00984A-page 7

AN984
THE VOLTS-HERTZ PROFILE A linear relationship between voltage and frequency is
most often used. The VF relationship required for a
ACIMs are usually designed with a fixed operating particular motor can be determined from the motor
voltage and frequency in mind. The torque profile that nameplate parameters. For example, assume that you
was discussed in the prior section is applicable to one have a motor designed to be operated at 230 VAC,
frequency.However, the self-regulation ability of the 60 Hz. If you want to drive the motor at half the rated
ACIM can be used to implement basic variable speed speed, then you should use half the input frequency
control. If the input frequency to the motor is changed, AND half the input voltage. In this example, 115 VAC
the synchronous speed of the motor also changes and 30 Hz would be approximate input values.
accordingly. The frequency change has the effect of
In practice, the VF profile can take any shape. The
moving the torque profile curve to the left or right. If the
drive voltage can be boosted at certain operating
motor input frequency is continuously adjustable, a
frequencies to provide more torque at those speeds.
family of torque profile curves will be created, as shown
For example, most VF profiles have a low-frequency
in Figure 8. Since the motor is an inductive load, the
boost region to help the motor start from zero speed. In
reactance of the motor will decrease with a decrease in
this boost region, the voltage is limited to a minimum
drive frequency. Therefore, if an adjustment in drive
value. A typical VF profile is shown in Figure 9.
frequency is made, then the voltage should also be
adjusted by a proportional amount. The relationship
between frequency and voltage for a variable speed FIGURE 9: VF PROFILE EXAMPLE
ACIM is called the Volts-Hertz, or VF profile.

FIGURE 8: TORQUE PROFILES FOR 120

VARIABLE FREQUENCY 100
Volts RMS
Boost High
OPERATION Region Amplitude
80
Limit
z

z
H
z

60
H

H
0

0
/3
15

/6

Constant V/F
/4
0V
V/

0V
0V

40
50

10

Region
20
15

20
Low-Frequency Cutoff
Torque

20 40 60
Frequency (Hz)

Speed

DS00984A-page 8 © 2005 Microchip Technology Inc.

 AN984
SOFTWARE OPERATION The Modulation subroutine is called each PWM
period to calculate the duty cycle for each of three
The source code supplied with this application note is motor phases. This subroutine is written to save and
a very basic assembly code example that allows you to restore all working registers so that it can be reused in
get started with ACIM variable speed control. other applications.
The function first loads pointers to the sine look-up
ADC Sampling and VF Profile table and various variables and constants associated
The ADC is enabled to scan inputs AN7 and AN12, with the modulation routine. Although it is not an issue
which are both connected to potentiometers on the for this application, the sine table is stored in the
dsPICDEM MC1 board. ADC conversions are triggered program memory space to conserve RAM.
from the PWM module every 16 PWM cycles and the The old modulation angle, Phase, is added to the
ADC interrupts the CPU after two sample/convert Frequency variable to get an adjusted modulation
sequences. With this configuration, the ADC effectively angle value. The 120-degree offset value, 0x5555, is
samples AN7 and AN12 at a frequency of 500 Hz. The added to the adjusted angle value to get modulation
ReadADC subroutine is called at each ADC interrupt to angles for the 2nd and 3rd phase outputs. If you wish
read the conversion values and calculate the VF to drive a single-phase motor, these offset values could
profile. be modified. An offset value of 0x4000 would give a
The potentiometer connected to AN7 sets the drive phase shift of 90 degrees. An offset of 0x8000 will
frequency. The 10-bit ADC result is right shifted by 2 provide a 180-degree phase shift.
and written to the Frequency variable.The frequency After the three modulation angles are created, they are
resolution is 0.244 Hz/bit, so the potentiometer can shifted to the right to discard all but the upper 6 bits.
adjust the drive frequency up to 62 Hz with this scaling. This is done because the sine table has 64 entries and
The AN12 potentiometer is used to set the voltage-to- only 6 bits are needed to form a pointer value. If you
frequency ratio, which determines the slope of the VF use a different size sine table, then the amount of shift-
profile. The VF profile has maximum slope with the ing will need to be adjusted. After the right shift, the sine
potentiometer set to full value. The ADC results for AN7 table pointers are left shifted by one to create a byte
and AN12 are left shifted to convert them to fractional pointer. The table contains word values, so the pointer
values, which simplifies the mathematics. In fractional needs to be multiplied by 2.
mathematics, 0x7FFF = 0.999. The two fractional val- The code that follows is repeated three times to get a
ues are multiplied using the fractional MPY instruction. duty cycle for each phase. Each of the three sine table
The result of the multiply is a fractional value that can pointers is added to the base program memory address
be used to scale the modulation voltage between 0 and of the sine table to form the actual table look-up
100%. This value is stored in the Amplitude variable. address. A table read instruction is used to get a sine
Together, the Frequency and Amplitude values value from the table. Two multiplies and one addition
specify the input parameters for the sine wave genera- are performed to calculate each duty cycle. The first
tion.The value of Amplitude is limited, so that multiply scales the sine look-up value for the desired
overmodulation will not occur in the PWM modulation modulation amplitude. The second multiply scales the
routine. sine look-up value to the allowable range of the PWM
duty cycle values, which is based on the choice of
In this application, the ADC and VF processing occurs PWM period. The PWM scaling factor is a value that
at a 500-Hz rate to generate new voltage and represents 50% duty cycle. The scaling factor is then
frequency values. It should be noted that the VF pro- added to this result to provide a 50% duty cycle offset.
cessing only needs to be executed when the motor
speed needs to be changed. This will be application
dependent.
Sine Look-up Table
The sine wave data table values were calculated using
PWM Modulation a spreadsheet. The data are in 16-bit signed integer
format, where 0x7FFF represents +0.999 and 0x8000
The PWM is configured for a 16 KHz carrier frequency, represents -1.0. If desired, the data could be pre-scaled
complementary outputs and 2 μsec of dead time. The to the maximum PWM duty cycle to avoid one of the
required amount of dead time depends on the power multiplication steps in the Modulation function.
circuit that is used to drive the motor. A 64-entry sine
wave look-up table is used to drive the motor.

© 2005 Microchip Technology Inc. DS00984A-page 9

AN984
SYSTEM SETUP How to Connect a Split-Phase AC
Induction Motor to the Power Module
This section of the application note describes how to
hook up the motor and dsPICDEM Motor Control Devel- Split-phase ACIMs are designed with a primary winding
opment System. The following discussion assumes and a secondary winding. Small split-phase ACIMs
you have the hardware listed in the “Recommended typically have power wires that are already installed. A
Hardware” section of this document. split-phase ACIM will usually have three power wires:
the primary winding, the secondary winding and a
dsPICDEM MC Board Setup common wire that is connected to the other side of both
windings.
You will need to connect VR1 on your demo board. You
can do this by borrowing the jumper on LK8 or LK9 from You can figure out the function of each power wire
the CAN or RS-485 ports. Place the jumper on using an ohmmeter. The secondary winding has a
prototyping header J6, connecting VR1 to AN12. much higher resistance than the primary winding.
When the ohmmeter is placed across the primary and
secondary wires, you will measure the sum of the two
How to Connect a 3-Phase AC Induction winding resistances.
Motor to the Power Module
Once you have figured out what each wire does, label
If you ordered your motor directly from a distributor, you them ‘PRIMARY’, ‘SECONDARY’ and ‘COMMON’.
will probably need to connect power wires to the motor. Split-phase motors are designed to be driven with a
You will need four equal lengths of 12-16 AWG capacitor inserted in series with the secondary winding,
stranded wire and four wire nuts. It is best to keep the as shown in Figure 5. The capacitor inserts a phase
wire lengths less than 3 feet. Most three-phase ACIMs shift in the secondary winding current so a rotating
can be wired for two different operating voltages. There magnetic flux can be established from a single-phase
is usually a plate that can be removed from the back or voltage source. The capacitor specifications are pro-
side of the motor to access the wiring connections. vided by the motor manufacturer. If a capacitor is used,
Follow the wiring diagram on the motor faceplate to the motor can be connected to the power module, as
install wires for the three power phases and the motor shown in Figure 5. A split-phase ACIM can be driven by
frame ground connection. Follow the faceplate wiring the power module without the secondary winding
diagram for 208V operation. Strip and tin the ends of capacitor, if desired. The connection details for this
the wires that will attach to the power module. configuration are shown in Figure 4.

Note: ALWAYS INSTALL A GROUND WIRE TO

THE MOTOR FRAME TO AVOID THE
RISK OF ELECTRICAL SHOCK.
Connect the three power wires from the motor to the R,
Y and B terminals on the right side of the power
module. It does not matter which power wires are
connected to which power terminals, unless you need
a specific direction of rotation. Be sure to connect the
motor frame ground wire to the ground terminal on the
right side of the power module.

DS00984A-page 10 © 2005 Microchip Technology Inc.

 AN984
Connection Steps Input Voltage Considerations
1. Connect an AC line cord to the terminals on the Depending on your location, your source of AC power
left side of the power module. You will need a may vary in voltage. The power module can be
cable that has an AC power plug on one end and supplied with any voltage up to 230 VAC. In some
stripped ends on the other. Use the following cases, you may have a mismatch between the AC line
connections. Make sure the connections are voltage and the design operating voltage for the motor.
secure. Many three-phase ACIMs are designed to operate with
- Connect the green wire (ground) to the a 208-230 VAC input. You may only have a 120 VAC
ground terminal source of power available. The motor would still
- Connect the white wire to the N (neutral) operate properly in this case, but with limited torque
terminal output. This will be no problem for the experiments
described in subsequent sections. It simply means that
- Connect the black wire to the L (line)
for a given drive frequency, the drive voltage will be half
terminal
the required value.
Note: You may have an AC power cord with a
One way to solve the voltage mismatch problem is to
green wire, blue wire and a brown wire. If
limit the drive frequency range based on the limited
so, the green wire connects to the ground
voltage available. The Frequency variable that is
terminal, the blue wire connects to the
calculated in the ReadADC subroutine can be divided
N terminal and the brown wire connects to
by 2, which limits the frequency range to 31 Hz and
the L terminal.
thus, decreases the motor speed range by half. But, the
2. Plug the dsPICDEM MC1 demo board into the motor will produce the proper amount of torque in that
power module. The board and power module speed range.
mate using a 37-pin D-type connector. No cable
should be used in between the board and power
module.
3. Apply a source of 9 VDC power to the demo
board.
4. Now, plug in the AC power cord to the HV power
module. Look through the ventilation holes in the
top of the power module. On the right side of the
PCB, near the output terminals, there is a red
LED that indicates high voltage is present on the
DC bus. If you ever need to change the connec-
tions to the module, disconnect the power
source and wait for this LED to extinguish.
5. Build the application note source code file,
acim_vhz.s and program the dsPIC device.
The device can be programmed using the
MPLAB ICD 2 In-Circuit Debugger. Connect the
ICD 2 communication cable to connector J4 on
the left side of the dsPICDEM MC1 board. Make
sure switch S2 on the board is placed in the
‘ICD’ position during device programming.
6. Before running the source code, ensure that
VR1 and VR2 are turned to the minimum
settings.

© 2005 Microchip Technology Inc. DS00984A-page 11

AN984
EXPERIMENTS TO TRY CONCLUSION
This section has some experiments that you can try. This application note has presented a simple code
These experiments will give you a good understanding example that you can use to implement variable speed
of how an ACIM responds to different voltages and control of an ACIM. For the details of an advanced
frequencies in a variable speed application. ACIM application, please see AN908, “Using the
dsPIC30F for Vector Control of an ACIM” (DS00908).
Experiment 1
In this experiment, you will observe the response of the
motor to speed changes as a function of the VF profile
slope.
1. Adjust VR1 to a moderate setting, between 25%
and 50%, which sets the VF profile slope to a
relatively low value.
2. Try changing the speed of the motor using VR2.
You may notice that the motor speed changes
are sluggish.
3. Now, try changing the value of VR1 and then
changing the motor speed. You should find that
motor speed changes occur much faster when
the slope of the VF profile is increased.
You may discover that an overcurrent condition occurs
if VR1 is set too high. A red LED will be lit on the power
module to indicate this condition. If the overcurrent trip
occurs, you can clear it by resetting the software. Pin
RE9 is pulsed at start-up to provide a Fault Reset signal
to the power module.

Experiment 2
In this experiment, you will observe how the motor
torque changes when the frequency is held constant,
but the amplitude is changed.
1. Start by setting VR2 to a very low value, less
than 25%. This will set the modulation frequency
to a relatively low value, which will run the motor
at a low speed.
2. Initially set VR1 to zero and then slowly increase
the setting while stopping the motor shaft with
your hand. You should be able to feel the torque
of the motor increase as VR1 is increased.
In this scenario, the motor is used in a variable torque
mode. The frequency is held constant while the
amplitude is changed.

DS00984A-page 12 © 2005 Microchip Technology Inc.

 AN984
SOURCE CODE LISTING

Software License Agreement

The software supplied herewith by Microchip Technology Incorporated (the “Company”) is intended and supplied to you, the
Company’s customer, for use solely and exclusively with products manufactured by the Company.
The software is owned by the Company and/or its supplier, and is protected under applicable copyright laws. All rights are reserved.
Any use in violation of the foregoing restrictions may subject the user to criminal sanctions under applicable laws, as well as to civil
liability for the breach of the terms and conditions of this license.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED IN AN “AS IS” CONDITION. NO WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATU-
TORY, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICU-
LAR PURPOSE APPLY TO THIS SOFTWARE. THE COMPANY SHALL NOT, IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, BE LIABLE FOR
SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER.

;******************************************************************************
; *
; Filename : acim_vhz.s *
; *
;******************************************************************************
; Notes: *
; ====== *
; The A/D is enabled to sample two pots on the dsPICDEM-MC1 demo board *
; connected to AN7 and AN12. VR1 is used to vary the V/Hz ratio of the *
; modulation. VR2 is used to vary the modulation frequency. By *
; experimenting with the two pot settings, you can find an optimal V/Hz *
; ratio to drive the motor. *
;******************************************************************************

.equ __30F6010, 1
.include "C:\pic30_tools\support\inc\p30f6010.inc"

.global__reset

;..............................................................................
;Configuration bits:
;..............................................................................

config __FOSC, CSW_FSCM_OFF & XT_PLL4 ;Turn off clock switching and
;fail-safe clock monitoring and
;use the XT osc and 4x PLL as
;system clock

config __FWDT, WDT_OFF ;Turn off Watchdog Timer

config __FBORPOR, PBOR_ON & BORV_27 & PWRT_16 & MCLR_EN

;Set Brown-out Reset voltage and
;and set Power-up Timer to 16msecs

config __FGS, CODE_PROT_OFF ;Set Code Protection Off for the

;General Segment

;..............................................................................
;Uninitialized variables in Near data memory (Lower 8Kb of RAM)
;..............................................................................

.section .nbss, "b"

; This variable is added to the 16-bit sine wave table pointer at each
; PWM period. A value of 246 will provide 60 Hz modulation frequency
; with 16 KHz PWM
Frequency:.space 2

; This variable is used to set the modulation amplitude and scales the
; value retrieved from the sine wave table. Valid values range from 0
; to 32767

© 2005 Microchip Technology Inc. DS00984A-page 13

AN984
Amplitude:.space 2

; This variable is the pointer to the sinewave table. It is incremented

; by the value of the Frequency variable at each PWM interrupt.
Phase: .space 2

;..............................................................................
;Constants stored in Program space
;..............................................................................

.section .sine_table, "x"

.align256
; This is a 64 entry sinewave table covering 360 degrees of the
; sine function. These values were calculated using Microsoft
; Excel and pasted into this program.

SineTable:
.hword 0,3212,6393,9512,12539,15446,18204,20787,23170,25329
.hword 27245,28898,30273,31356,32137,32609,32767,32609,32137,31356,30273,28898
.hword 27245,25329,23170,20787,18204,15446,12539,9512,6393,3212,0,-3212,-6393
.hword -9512,-12539,-15446,-18204,-20787,-23170,-25329,-27245,-28898,-30273
.hword -31356,-32137,-32609,-32767,-32609,-32137,-31356,-30273,-28898,-27245
.hword -25329,-23170,-20787,-18204,-15446,-12539,-9512,-6393,-3212

;..............................................................................
; Constants for this application
;..............................................................................

; This constant is used to scale the sine lookup value to the valid range
; of PWM duty cycles. This is based on the value written to PTPER. We will
; PTPER = 230 for this application, which allows duty cycles between 0 and
; 460. The sine table data is signed, so we will multiply the table data
; by 230, then add a constant offset to scale the lookup data to positive
; values

.equ PWM_Scaling, 230

; The pointer to the sign wave table is 16 bits. Adding 0x5555 to the
; pointer will provide a 120 degree offset and 0xAAAA will give a 240
; degree offset. These offsets are used to get the lookup values for
; phase 2 and phase 3 of the PWM outputs.

.equ Offset_120, 0x5555

;..............................................................................
;Code Section in Program Memory
;..............................................................................

.text ;Start of Code section

__reset:
MOV #__SP_init, W15 ;Initalize the Stack Pointer
MOV #__SPLIM_init, W0 ;Initialize the Stack Pointer Limit Register
MOV W0, SPLIM
NOP ;Add NOP to follow SPLIM initialization

CALL _wreg_init ;Call _wreg_init subroutine

;Optionally use RCALL instead of CALL

call Setup ; Call the routine to setup I/O and PWM

;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
; Variable initialization
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------

clr Frequency
clr Amplitude

DS00984A-page 14 © 2005 Microchip Technology Inc.

 AN984
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
; Main loop code
; The PWM interrupt flag is polled in the main loop
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Loop: btss IFS2,#PWMIF ; poll the PWM interrupt flag

bra CheckADC ; if it is set, continue

call Modulation ; call the sinewave modulation routine

bclr IFS2, #PWMIF ; Clear the PWM interrupt flag

CheckADC:
btss IFS0,#ADIF
bra Loop

call ReadADC

bra Loop

;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
; ADC processing subroutine
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ReadADC:

push.d W0
push.d W4

mov ADCBUF0,W0 ; Read the ADC results into W0

mov ADCBUF1,W1 ; and W1.

asr W0,#2,W4 ; Right shift by 2 bits to get the

mov W4,Frequency ; modulation frequency.

sl W1,#5,W4 ; Left shift AN7 and AN12 values to get

sl W0,#5,W5 ; 1.15 fractional data.
mpy W4*W5,A ; multiply frequency by V/Hz gain to get
sac A,W0 ; mod. amplitude. Store result in W0
mov #28000,W1 ; Limit modulation amplitude to avoid
cp W1,W0 ; dead-time induced distortion in PWM
bra GE,NoLimit ; modulation.
mov W1,W0
NoLimit:
mov W0,Amplitude

pop.d W4
pop.d W0

return

;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
; PWM sine wave modulation subroutine
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modulation:
push.d W0 ; Save off working registers
push.d W2
push.d W4
push.d W6
push.d W8
push.d W10

; The next three instructions initialize the TBLPAG and pointer register
; for access to the sinewave data in program memory using table reads.

mov #tblpage(SineTable),W0
mov W0,TBLPAG

© 2005 Microchip Technology Inc. DS00984A-page 15

AN984
mov #tbloffset(SineTable),W0

; The next block of instructions loads various constants and variables

; used in the sinewave modulation routine.

mov Phase,W1 ; Load the sinewave table pointer

mov #Offset_120,W4 ; This is the value for a 120 degree offset
mov Amplitude,W6 ; Load the Amplitude scaling factor
mov #PWM_Scaling,W7 ; Load the PWM scaling value
mov Frequency,W8 ; Load the Frequency constant that will
; be added to the table pointer at each
; interrupt.

; This is the pointer adjustment code. The Frequency value is added

; to the sine pointer to move through the sine table. Then, offsets
; are added to this pointer to get the phase 2 and phase 2 pointers.
; Note: If different phase offsets are desired, other constant values
; can be used here. Add 0x4000 to get a 90 degree offset, 0x8000 will
; provide a 180 degree offset. Here, 0x5555 has been loaded to W4
; to provide 120 degrees.

add W8,W1,W1 ; Add the Frequency value to the sine pointer

add W1,W4,W2 ; Add 120 degree offset value for phase 2
add W2,W4,W3 ; Add another 120 degree offset for phase 3

; The sine table has 64 entries, so the pointers are right shifted
; to get a 6-bit pointer value.

lsr W1,#10,W9 ; Shift the phase 1 pointer right to get the upper 6 bits
sl W9,#1,W9 ; Left shift by one to convert to byte address
lsr W2,#10,W10 ; Shift the phase 2 pointer right to get the upper 6 bits
sl W10,#1,W10 ; Left shift by one to convert to byte address
lsr W3,#10,W11 ; Shift the phase 3 pointer right to get the upper 6 bits
sl W11,#1,W11 ; Left shift by one to convert to byte address

; Now, the pointer for each phase is added to the base table pointer
; to get the absolute table address for the lookup value. The lookup
; value is then scaled for the correct amplitude and for the range
; of valid duty cycles. The next block of instructions calculates
; the duty cycle for phase 1. The phase 2 and phase 3 code is the same.

add W0,W9,W9 ; Form the table address for phase 1

tblrdl [W9],W5 ; Read the lookup value for phase 1
mpy W5*W6,A ; Multiply by the amplitude scaling
sac A,W5 ; Store the scaled result
mpy W5*W7,A ; Multiply by the PWM scaling factor
sac A,W8 ; Store the scaled result
add W7,W8,W8 ; Add the PWM scaling factor to produce 50% offset
mov W8,PDC1 ; Write the PWM duty cycle

; The next block of code calculates the duty cycle for phase 2.

add W0,W10,W10 ; Form the table address for phase 2

tblrdl [W10],W5 ; Read the lookup value for phase 2
mpy W5*W6,A ; Multiply by the amplitude scaling
sac A,W5 ; Store the scaled result
mpy W5*W7,A ; Multiply by the PWM scaling factor
sac A,W8 ; Store the scaled result
add W7,W8,W8 ; Add the PWM scaling factor to produce 50% offset
mov W8,PDC2 ; Write the PWM duty cycle

; The next block of code calculates the duty cycle for phase 3.

add W0,W11,W11 ; Form the table address for phase 3

tblrdl [W11],W5 ; Read the lookup value for phase 3

DS00984A-page 16 © 2005 Microchip Technology Inc.

 AN984
mpy W5*W6,A ; Multiply by the amplitude scaling
sac A,W5 ; Store the scaled result
mpy W5*W7,A ; Multiply by the PWM scaling factor
sac A,W8 ; Store the scaled result
add W7,W8,W8 ; Add the PWM scaling factor to produce 50% offset
mov W8,PDC3 ; Write the PWM duty cycle

; Now, save off the adjusted sinewave table pointer so it can be

; used during the next iteration of this code.

mov W1,Phase

pop.d W10 ; restore working registers

pop.d W8
pop.d W6
pop.d W4
pop.d W2
pop.d W0

return ; return from the subroutine

;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
; PWM and ADC setup code
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Setup:

; The first thing we need to do before enabling the PWM is to

; configure the I/O and reset the power module. The control board
; has a driver IC that buffers the PWM control lines. The active
; low output enable for this buffer is on port RD11.
; The power module has an active high reset line which is connected
; to port RE9.

clr PORTD
clr PORTE
mov #0xF7FF,W0 ; Make RD11 an output to drive PWM buffer
mov W0,TRISD ; output enable.
mov #0xFDFF,W0;
mov W0,TRISE ; Make RE9 an output for power module reset

; Now, ensure the power module is reset by driving the reset line for
; a few usec.

bset PORTE,#9
repeat #39
nop
bclr PORTE,#9

; Setup the ADC

mov #0x0404,W0 ; scan inputs

mov W0,ADCON2 ; 2 sample/converts per interrupt
mov #0x0003,W0;
mov W0,ADCON3 ; Tad is 2*Tcy
clr ADCHS ;
clr ADPCFG ; all A/D pins Analog mode
clr ADCSSL ;
bset ADCSSL,#7 ; enable scan of AN7
bset ADCSSL,#12 ; enable scan of AN12
mov #0x8066,W0 ; enable A/D, PWM trigger, auto sample
mov W0,ADCON1 ;
bclr IFS0,#ADIF ; clear A/D interrupt flag

© 2005 Microchip Technology Inc. DS00984A-page 17

AN984
; Now, setup the PWM registers

mov #0x0077,W0 ; complementary mode, #1, #2, and #3

mov W0,PWMCON1 ; pairs are enabled
mov #0x000F,W0 ; 2usec deadtime at 7.38 MIPS
mov W0,DTCON1
mov #PWM_Scaling, W0 ; set period for 16KHz PWM at 7.38 MIPS
mov W0,PTPER
mov #0x0001,W0 ;
mov W0,SEVTCMP ; setup the special event trigger for the ADC
mov #0x0F00,W0 ; set the special event postscaler to 1:16
mov W0,PWMCON2 ;
mov #0x8002,W0 ; PWM timebase enabled, center aligned mode
mov W0,PTCON

return ; return from the Setup routine

;..............................................................................
;Subroutine: Initialization of W registers to 0x0000
;..............................................................................

_wreg_init:
CLR W0
MOV W0, W14
REPEAT #12
MOV W0, [++W14]
CLR W14
RETURN

;--------End of All Code Sections ---------------------------------------------

.end ;End of program code in this file

DS00984A-page 18 © 2005 Microchip Technology Inc.

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• Microchip believes that its family of products is one of the most secure families of its kind on the market today, when used in the
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• There are dishonest and possibly illegal methods used to breach the code protection feature. All of these methods, to our
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© 2005 Microchip Technology Inc. DS00984A-page 19

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DS00984A-page 20 © 2005 Microchip Technology Inc.