IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 48, NO.

3, JUNE 2001 609

Speed-Sensorless Vector Control of an Induction

Motor Using Neural Network Speed Estimation
Seong-Hwan Kim, Associate Member, IEEE, Tae-Sik Park, Ji-Yoon Yoo, Member, IEEE, and
Gwi-Tae Park, Member, IEEE

Abstract—In this paper, a novel speed estimation method of an tions to any desired degree of accuracy. Moreover, they have
induction motor using neural networks (NNs) is presented. The NN the advantages of extremely fast parallel computation, immu-
speed estimator is trained online by using the error backpropaga- nity from input harmonic ripples, and fault tolerance character-
tion algorithm, and the training starts simultaneously with the in-
duction motor working. The estimated speed is then fed back in istics. Since 1990, there have been some investigations into the
the speed control loop, and the speed-sensorless vector drive is re- application of NNs to power electronics and ac drives, including
alized. The proposed NN speed estimator has shown good perfor- speed estimation [10]–[13]. In [12], three-layer NN was used
mance in the transient and steady states, and also at either vari- with offline training (before the motor is working). This tech-
able-speed operation or load variation. The validity and the useful- nique gives a fairly good estimate of the speed and is robust
ness of the proposed algorithm are thoroughly verified with exper-
iments on fully digitalized 2.2-kW induction motor drive systems. to parameter variation. However, the neural network speed esti-
mator should be trained sufficiently with various patterns to get
Index Terms—Induction motor, neural networks, speed estima- good performance. In [13], a two-layer NN was used to estimate
tion, speed-sensorless vector control.
induction motor speed with online training, but this lies more
in the realm of adaptive control than NNs. The speed value is
I. INTRODUCTION not obtained at the output, but at one of the weights. Moreover,
only one weight is adjusted in the training. Therefore, it would
A CCURATE speed information is necessary to realize high-
performance and high-precision speed control of an induc-
tion motor. The speed is achieved by using mechanical sensors
be very sensitive to parameter variations and system noises.
In this paper, a new speed estimation method of an induction
such as resolvers or pulse encoders. However, these sensors are motor is proposed. In the new approach, a multilayer NN with
usually expensive and bulky. Therefore, the cost and size of the one hidden layer is used. The speed value is obtained at the NN
drive systems are increased [1]–[6]. output and the feedback is connected between the output and
Since the late 1980s, speed-sensorless control methods of in- the input node. The multilayer and recurrent structure makes it
duction motors using the estimated speed instead of the mea- robust to parameter variations and system noises. The weights
sured speed have been studied. They have estimated the speed of the neurons are continuously modified by backpropagation
from the instantaneous values of stator voltages and currents during the speed-sensorless drive with online training. There-
using the induction motor model. Recently, other approaches fore, no offline training and training patterns are needed.
such as model reference adaptive system (MRAS) methods, ex- This paper is structured as follows. In Section II, the struc-
tended Kalman filter algorithms, etc., have been implemented to ture of the NN speed estimator and the training method are
achieve more accurate and robust speed estimation performance discussed. In Section III, speed-sensorless vector drives are de-
[3]–[6]. However, an induction motor is a highly coupled, non- scribed. In Section IV, the experimental system and conditions
linear dynamic plant, and its parameters vary with time and op- are described. Sections V and VI provide the experimental re-
erating conditions. Therefore, it is very difficult to obtain good sults and conclusions, respectively.
performance for an entire speed range and transient states using
previous methods. II. SPEED ESTIMATION USING NN
Recently, the use of neural networks (NNs) to identify and
control nonlinear dynamic systems has been proposed [7]–[13] Two well-known different flux models are necessary to esti-
because they can approximate a wide range of nonlinear func- mate the speed of an induction motor using an NN. They are
voltage and current models. Since the induction motor voltages
and currents are measured in the stationary reference frame, it
Manuscript received September 29, 1999; revised August 10, 2000. Abstract
published on the Internet February 15, 2001.
is convenient to express these equations in the stationary frame,
S.-H. Kim is with the School of Electrical and Control Instrumentation and they are expressed in (1) and (2) as follows:
Engineering, Mokpo National University, Chonnam 534-729, Korea (e-mail:
[email protected]).
T.-S. Park was with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea Univer-
sity, Seoul, Korea. He is now with the MEMS Laboratory, Samsung Advanced
Institute of Technology, Suwon, Korea ( e-mail: [email protected]).
J.-Y. Yoo and G.-T. Park are with the Department of Electrical Engi-
neering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea (e-mail: {[email protected];
[email protected]).
Publisher Item Identifier S 0278-0046(01)03373-1. (1)
0278–0046/01$10.00 © 2001 IEEE
610 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 48, NO. 3, JUNE 2001

Fig. 1. Structure of the speed estimator using NN.

(2)

where and are the stator and rotor self-inductances, re-

spectively, is the mutual inductance, is the stator resis-
tance, is the rotor time constant, is the rotor electrical
angular velocity, is the motor leakage coefficient, is ,
and are the rotor flux, stator voltage, and stator current,
respectively.
Fig. 1 illustrates the structure of the proposed speed estimator
of an induction motor using NNs. In Fig. 1, the voltage equations Fig. 2. Internal structure of the NN.
and the current equations are defined as (1) and (2), respectively.
We construct two independent flux observers and define the tions are used at the hidden layer and the linear function is used
voltage equations that do not involve as the reference model at the output layer.
and the current equations involving as the adjustable model. Fig. 2 shows the internal structure of the NN.
The output of the NNs is defined as the estimated speed , In Fig. 2, the NN has the partially recurrent structure of
which is subsequently used as the input of the adjustable model. Jordan’s sequential network, and it can be trained by conven-
If the estimated speed deviates from the real speed, an error oc- tional backpropagation algorithms [14]. To make the output of
curs between the flux from the adjustable model ( ) and the flux the NN follow the real speed, an error and its energy function
from the reference model ( ). Then, the error is backpropagated is defined as
to the NN and the weights of the NN are adjusted online to reduce
the error. Finally, the output of the NN follows the real speed.
The structure of the proposed speed estimation scheme is sim-
ilar to that of the NN direct adaptive control scheme. Usually, (3)
the outputs of the reference model and the inputs and outputs
of the adjustable model are used as the inputs of the NNs in the From the generalized delta rule, the weight correction
direct adaptive control scheme. Therefore, , , and connecting neuron to neuron is calculated by the
the delay term of can be used as the inputs of the NN following equation [7]–[9]:
of the speed estimator. Because is the vector notations
of and , five nodes are needed at the input layer, (4)
such as , , , , and to train
the NN. The computation time of the NN increases dramatically where is the learning rate, is the local gradient of neuron
with the numbers of the nodes. However, the speed estimation , is the output signal of neuron , and is the momentum
algorithm is restricted to be executed inside the current control constant.
period, which is usually 100 150 s. If and The local gradient of the output layer can be calculated
are used, which also have the information of , , from the error energy function by using the chain rule
, and , the number of the inputs can be reduced,
and it is possible to reduce the computation time. The NN con-
(5)
sists of three layers with one hidden layer. The sigmoid func-
KIM et al.: SPEED-SENSORLESS VECTOR CONTROL OF AN INDUCTION MOTOR 611

Fig. 3. Block diagram of speed-sensorless controller using NN.

where , , and is the linear The training algorithm of the NN speed estimator is as fol-
activation function. lows.
From (5),
1st step: initially randomize the weights
(6) from 0.5 to 0.5.
2nd step: obtain the reference flux
indicates the Jacobian of the current model and it from the voltage model.
cannot be calculated exactly. Therefore, the following equation 3rd step: obtain the adjustable flux
is used instead of the Jacobian, proposed by Psaltis [9]: from the current model.
4th step: calculate the error between
and .
5th step: adjust the weights of the NN.
(7) 6th step: calculate the output of the NN
.
7th step: repeat 2nd step.

Finally, of the output layer is expressed in the following

III. SPEED-SENSORLESS VECTOR CONTROL
equation:
Deadtime which should be inserted in pulsewidth modula-
tion (PWM) patterns deteriorates the control performance of an
induction machine, especially in the low-speed region. There-
(8) fore, a deadtime compensator is added to the vector controller
to reduce the deadtime effects, which are very crucial in the
speed-sensorless drive [15].
An integral–proportional (IP) speed controller is adapted in
The local gradient of the hidden layer is calculated by the the speed control loop which is frequently used in speed-sen-
following equation from the generalized delta rule: sorless drive systems to increase the stability of the speed loop
[16].
(9) Fig. 3 shows the overall block diagram of the speed-sensor-
less drive system of an induction motor using an NN speed es-
612 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 48, NO. 3, JUNE 2001

Fig. 4. Block diagram of experimental system.

timator. The system consists of an IP speed controller, a current of neurons is increased, the current control period should be in-
controller, PWM generator, deadtime compensator, and a speed creased, and this results in reduced performance of the overall
estimator. system.
The learning rate is 0.8, momentum constant is 0.3, and
IV. EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM the slope of the sigmoid function is 0.8 in 500 in revolutions per
minute speed. It has been determined by trial and error which
The experimental system consists of a 2.2-kW induction
show the best results. These parameters should be changed de-
motor, voltage-source inverter with an intelligent power module
pending on the speed to achieve good performance. It would be
(IPM), a dynamo system for load test, and a digital signal
better to change each parameter depending on the speed. How-
processor (DSP) (TMS320C31) main control board. Fig. 4
ever, it is a very complicated task to determine the parameters at
shows the block diagram of the experimental system.
every speed. Therefore, is fixed at 0.3 and only learning rate
The ratings and parameters of the induction motor are shown
is changed. is 1.0 at 10 r/min, 0.9 at 100 r/min, and 0.8 at 500
in the Table I.
and 1000 r/min. is increased at low speed because the changes
The vector control algorithm and the speed estimation algo-
of the input variables of the NN are small.
rithm were executed by the main controller with a DSP. The
The current control period and the speed control period were
phase currents and the dc voltage were sampled using 12-bit
150 s and 1 ms, respectively. The speed of the motor was esti-
high-precision A/D converters. The real speed of an induction
mated at every current control period.
motor is measured by the M pulse and T pulse (M/T) method
using the pulse encoder which has 2048 pulses per revolution.
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The M/T counter for the speed measurement and the gate pulse
generator for the space-vector modulation are made by using the Experiments were carried out on the various operating con-
erasable programmable logic device (EPLD) to increase the re- ditions to verify the performance of the proposed algorithm.
liability and to simplify the hardware. Figs. 5–8 show the experimental results.
The structure of the NN is the same as that in Fig. 2. It con- Fig. 5 shows the speed and current control performance in
sists of three layers (three nodes in the input layer, five nodes in the low-speed operation region (10 r/min) of the speed-sensor-
the hidden layer, and one node in the output layer). Increasing less drive. From Fig. 5, it is shown that the proposed algorithm
the number of nodes may improve the estimation performance. has good speed estimation and high-performance vector control
However, three–five–one structure is the limit to perform current characteristics at low-speed operation. Fig. 6 shows the results
control within 150 s in the experimental system. If the number of the speed-sensorless control at 1000 r/min reference speed.
KIM et al.: SPEED-SENSORLESS VECTOR CONTROL OF AN INDUCTION MOTOR 613

TABLE I
RATINGS AND PARAMETERS OF INDUCTION MOTOR

6
Fig. 7. Speed and current response of speed-sensorless control ( 500 r/min).

Fig. 5. Speed and current response of speed-sensorless control (10 r/min).

Fig. 8. Speed-sensorless control characteristics with load applied.

TABLE II
SPEED CONTROL PERFORMANCE AT STEADY STATES OF SPEED-SENSORLESS
DRIVE

Fig. 6. Speed and current response of speed-sensorless control (1000 r/min).

Similarly, as in the low-speed region, it has high performance at using the reduced-order torque observer [17]. The estimated
the rated speed region. Fig. 7 shows the variable-speed control speed coincides with the real speed exactly also at the load.
performance at 500 r/min reference speed. The result shows Table II shows the reference speed, measured speed, estimated
that it has stable and good variable-speed control performance. speed, and the average speed control error at the steady states
Fig. 8 shows the speed-sensorless control performance where of the speed sensorless drives. From the results, it is shown that
the load was applied at 5 s by using the dynamo system at 500 the proposed speed-sensorless control algorithm has good per-
r/min speed. The load torque was compensated feedforwardly formance from low speed to the entire speed range.
614 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 48, NO. 3, JUNE 2001

VI. CONCLUSION [17] M. Iwasaki and N. Matsui, “Robust speed control of IM with torque
feedforward control,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 40, pp. 553–560,
In this paper, a new speed estimation algorithm of an induc- Dec. 1993.
tion motor to increase the speed-sensorless drive performance
was proposed. The proposed algorithm is easy to realize due
to its online training of an NN. From the experimental results
using a 2.2-kW Induction motor drive system, it is shown that Seong-Hwan Kim (S’96–A’98) received the B.S.,
the proposed algorithm estimate the speed exactly over the en- M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering
tire speed range from low to full speed. Also, it has robust speed from Korea University, Seoul, Korea, in 1991, 1995,
and 1998, respectively.
estimation performance even at load variation or variable-speed He is an Instructor in the Department of Control
operation. Finally, it is confirmed that the proposed speed-sen- and Instrumentation Engineering, Mokpo National
sorless vector control algorithm has good dynamic performance University, Chonnam, Korea. His main research
interests are the application of intelligent control to
and stability. ac motor drives and power electronics.

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Apr. 1999. terest is the application of intelligent techniques to image processing.