Conformable fractional order controller design and optimization for sensorless control of induction motor

Abstract

Purpose In recent years, use of sensorless control methods for electrical motor-based variable speed drive systems has been increasing rapidly to compensate the increasing costs in industrial systems. Also, use of induction motors is popular for a long time to decrease the cost of these industrial systems. This study aims to design an effective controller to improve the sensorless speed control performance of induction motor. To achieve this, a conformable fractional order proportional integral (CFOPI) controller is designed. Design/methodology/approach The system is modeled based on small signal analysis by using the input–output data, experimentally. To do this, system identification toolbox of Matlab is used. The proposed controller is established on conformable fractional integral approach proposed by Khalil et al. (2014). CFOPI controller coefficients are optimized using particle swarm optimization method on the created small signal-based simulation model of the system to minimize the integral time absolute error. To prove the success of the proposed method, a traditional fractional order proportional integral (TFOPI) controller is tested under the same experimental system with the CFOPI controller. Findings TFOPI and CFOPI controllers are tested with the optimum parameters. Reference and actual speed trends are obtained for both methods. In induction motor start-up test, settling-times are measured as 8.73 and 8.44 s and steady-state oscillations are 2.66% and 0% (almost) for TFOPI and CFOPI controllers, respectively. In variable referenced speed tracking test, CFOPI performs well at all speed levels, while TFOPI fails to reach the reference speed at most speed levels. Practical implications Proposed CFOPI control method can be easily implemented in industrial systems, thanks to its simple algorithm. digital signal peripheral interface controller (dsPIC) based driver circuit with designed CFOPI controller used in this study can be applied directly to industrial systems such as elevators, conveyors, cranes and drills. Moreover, it can improve the performance of induction motor-based variable speed drive systems. Originality/value The proposed method provides robust performance for induction motor used in control systems. Additionally, it does this by using less complex algorithm written on the processors according to the traditional fractional order controllers.