Stator Inductance Identification Based on Low-Speed Tests for Three-Level NPC Inverter-Fed Induction Motor Drives

This paper proposes a stator inductance identification process for three-level neutral point clamped (NPC), inverter-fed Induction Motor (IM) drives based on a low-speed test drive. Conventionally, the stator inductance of an IM is identified by methods based on standstill or rotational tests. Since conventional standstill test-based methods have several practical problems when used with three-level inverters because of their nonlinearity, an identification method based on rotational tests is superior in such applications. However, conventional rotational tests cause unintended behavior because of the high speeds used during the test. In the proposed stator inductance identification process, the stator inductance is identified based on a low-speed test drive. In the proposed method, the stator flux is estimated using the instantaneous reactive power of the IM during low-frequency sinusoidal current excitation, and the stator inductance is then identified based upon this. Therefore, the proposed identification process is safer than conventional approaches, as it uses only a low-speed test. The accuracy and reliability of this method are verified by simulation and experiment using three motors with different rated voltage and power.