Track: Master Thesis Competition

Abstract

Induction motor is one of the most common motors in industrial applications because of its advantages related to its durability and low cost compared to other motors. In order to design a drive system for the induction motor, either scalar or vector methods are used. The vector control has a high dynamic performance in terms of response time and overcoming external disturbances. In this paper, a comparative study was presented between two control methods for regulating motor speed based on the vector control concept. The paper focuses on the importance of regulating both components of the magnetic flux vector, in order to avoid the magnetic saturation that can occur when the system parameters change.  The simulation results in Matlab-Simulink show that the backstepping controller has a robust performance compared to the PI regulator, where it achieves lower settling time and greater ability in overcoming external disturbances despite the change of system parameters. Both control systems were tested for the presence of a change in values of the stator and rotor resistances, the simulation results show that a magnetic saturation has occurred in the machine in order to use PI regulator, but for the backstepping controller, this problem has been eliminated.