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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 54, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2007

Novel Current Error Space Phasor Based Hysteresis

Controller Using Parabolic Bands for Control of
Switching Frequency Variations
P. N. Tekwani, Student Member, IEEE, R. S. Kanchan, Student Member, IEEE, and
K. Gopakumar, Senior Member, IEEE

AbstractA current error space phasor based simple hysteresis controller is proposed in this paper to control the switching
frequency variation in two-level pulsewidth-modulation (PWM)
inverter-fed induction motor (IM) drives. A parabolic boundary
for the current error space phasor is suggested for the first time to
obtain the switching frequency spectrum for output voltage with
hysteresis controller similar to the constant switching frequency
voltage-controlled space vector PWM-based IM drive. A novel
concept of online variation of this parabolic boundary, which depends on the operating speed of motor, is presented. A generalized
technique that determines the set of unique parabolic boundaries
for a two-level inverter feeding any given induction motor is
described. The sector change logic is self-adaptive and is capable of
taking the drive up to the six-step mode if needed. Steady-state and
transient performance of proposed controller is experimentally
verified on a 3.7-kW IM drive in the entire speed range. Close
resemblance of the simulation and experimental results is shown.
Index TermsCurrent error space phasor, hysteresis controller,
parabolic boundary, switching frequency variation control.

I. I NTRODUCTION

MONG the different types of current-controlled pulsewidth modulation (PWM) techniques, hysteresis controllers offer inherent simplicity in implementation and
excellent dynamic performance [1], [2]. However, the conventional type of hysteresis controller suffers from limit cycle
oscillations, overshoot in current error, generation of subharmonic components in current, and random switching of inverter
voltage vectors [1][3]. To eliminate these basic drawbacks,
different variants of current error space phasor based hysteresis
controllers with fixed tolerance bands are reported in the literature [2], [4][12]. However, hysteresis controllers with fixed
bands suffer from wide variations in switching frequency in a
fundamental cycle [1][3], [7], [8], [12][14], which results in
increased switching losses in the inverter.
A phase-locked-loop (PLL) control-based hysteresis controller is proposed in [13] for constant switching frequency
operation of the inverter. However, the PLL proposed in [13]
might lose synchronization in case of large transients. The
adaptive hysteresis band current control technique presented
Manuscript received April 27, 2006; revised February 2, 2007.
P. N. Tekwani was with the Centre for Electronics Design and Technology,
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India. He is now with Nirma
University of Science and Technology, Ahmedabad 382 481, India.
R. S. Kanchan and K. Gopakumar are with the Centre for Electronics Design
and Technology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India (e-mail:
[email protected]).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIE.2007.899849

Fig. 1. Three-phase two-level VSI-fed IM drive. (a) Power schematic.

(b) Voltage space phasor structure.

in [14] programs the hysteresis band as a function of load

and supply parameters to optimize the PWM performance.
An improved constant-frequency hysteresis controller, which is
proposed in [16], uses a complex analog feedforward for the
prediction of the band in addition to PLL control. However,
the band control schemes presented in [13][16] are either
complex to implement, require extensive knowledge of the
system parameters, suffer from stability problems, or have
limitations in transient performance. Also, more importantly,
although efforts are made in [13][16] to control the switching
frequency in a fundamental cycle, the variation of switching
frequency over the operating speed range of the machine is not
examined. A digital hysteresis modulation technique ensuring
dynamic performance similar to an analog hysteresis controller
is proposed in [19].
In this paper, a hysteresis controller with a novel concept
of online variation of parabolic boundary for the current error
space phasor is proposed for controlling switching frequency
variation in two-level inverter-fed induction motor (IM) drives.
The switching frequency spectrum of the output voltage with
the proposed hysteresis controller is obtained similar to that of
a constant switching frequency voltage controlled space vector
PWM (VC-SVPWM) based IM drive. Steady-state and transient performance of the proposed controller is experimentally
verified on a 3.7-kW IM drive for the entire operating range
up to six-step mode of operation. The proposed scheme is
general in nature and is applicable for a two-level voltagesource inverter (VSI) feeding any given induction motor.
II. C URRENT E RROR S PACE P HASOR B ASED
H YSTERESIS C ONTROLLER
Fig. 1(a) shows the power schematic of a two-level
VSI-fed IM drive. Its voltage space phasor structure is shown

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for different operating speeds of the machine, then also the

inverter switching frequency will vary. This situation demands
for a proper mathematical derivation of boundary for i over
the entire linear operating range of the drive.
III. I NVESTIGATION OF C URRENT E RROR S PACE P HASOR
V ARIATION IN VC-SVPWM-B ASED IM D RIVE

Fig. 2. Directions of current error space phasor for the inverter vector
switchings when Vm is in Sector-1.

In VC-SVPWM-based inverter-fed IM drives, the PWM

switching interval (TS ) is kept constant, and hence, the switching frequency of the inverter remains constant. For the position

) in any sector, the

of reference voltage space vector (Vm
switching times T1 and T2 for active voltage vectors and T0
for zero voltage vectors are derived as

in Fig. 1(b) [17]. At any instant of time, if iA , iB , and iC

are the current errors along A, B, and C phases of the motor,
respectively, then the current error space phasor (i) can be
written as [10], [12]
i = iA + iB ej(2/3) + iC ej(4/3)
i = i i .

(1)

di
+ Vb ,
dt

where i = i + i

(2)

where Rs is the stator resistance, L is the leakage inductance,

and Vb is the back electromotive force (EMF) vector of the
machine. In (2), Rs i can be neglected, and (2) can be further
simplified as [4], [10], [12]
Vk V m
di
=
,
dt
L

where Vm

sin(60 )
Vm
TS
Vdc
sin 60

T2 =

sin
Vm
TS
Vdc
sin 60

T0 = TS (T1 + T2 )

In (1), i is derived as a vectorial difference of the machine

current space phasor (i) and the reference current space phasor
(i ) [10], [12]. If the inverter output voltage vector is defined as
Vk (k can be any value between 1 and 8), then the voltage and
current equation for the IM drive in Fig. 1(a) is given by
Vk = Rs i + L

T1 =

di
+ Vb
= Rs i + L
dt
(3)

where Vm is the machine voltage vector. Fig. 2 shows three

different directions of i (P  Q , P  R , and P  S  ) when the
inverter voltage vectors V1 , V2 , and V0 (V7 or V8 ) are
switched for position of Vm in Sector-1 [10], [12]. A detailed
analysis of the directions of i for the switching of different
voltage vectors in any of the sectors for any given position of
Vm is provided in [10] and [12].
It can be found from (3) that the inverter switching frequency
is influenced by leakage inductance L , machine voltage vector
Vm , inverter voltage vector Vk (dc-link voltage Vdc of inverter), and current error space phasor ripple ((i)). Over
a fundamental period, the position of Vm varies, and Vk also
changes [1]. Therefore, for the given operating speed, if shape
of the fixed boundary of i is not properly selected, then the
switching frequency of inverter will vary over a fundamental
cycle. Further to this, if the same boundary of i is maintained

(4)

in degrees in that sector [17].

where is the angle of Vm
Hence, each voltage vector remains ON for a specified fixed
period irrespective of the amplitude and direction of the current
error space phasor generated by the SVPWM inverter while
switching any particular voltage vector.
Although, generally, there does not exist a concept of monitoring the current error space phasor in SVPWM inverters,
efforts are made in this paper to study the behavior of current
error space phasor with respect to the varying speed of the
IM drive. The outcome of this study provides basis for the
proposed work for deciding the variation in the boundary of
i for a current-controlled VSI-fed IM drive with switching
frequency variation control. Now, for SVPWM-based inverterfed IM drives, (3) can be rewritten as

Vk V m
di
=
dt
L

hence

V(Vk )
di(Vk )
=
dt
L

(5)

where V(Vk ) = Vk Vm
. In a given TS , considering
V(Vk ) and L as constants, integrating both sides of (5) gives



di(Vk )
dt


dt =

V(Vk )
L


dt

hence i(Vk ) =

V(Vk )
T
L

(6)

where T can be either T0 , T1 , or T2 depending upon Vk . Now,

in any of the given sector in Fig. 1(b),

for any position of Vm
the amplitude of i can be theoretically found out using (4)
and (6) during switching of different voltage vectors.
Based on Fig. 2, the movement of i (on the plane

is at the middle of Sector-1, = 30 ) for a few

when Vm
switching intervals is shown in Fig. 3(a) for 10-Hz operation
of the SVPWM-based IM drive with TS = 800 s. In Fig. 3(a)

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Fig. 3. (a) Movement of current error space phasor on the plane when
is at middle of Sector-1 ( = 30 ). (b) Approximate theoretical boundary
Vm
in
of i for SVPWM-based two-level VSI-fed IM drive for position of Vm
Sector-1 for different operating speeds in hertz.

[using (4) and (6)], P Q is the direction of i when V7 is

switched for T0 /2 duration in a TS period of SVPWM control.
Similarly, when V1 is switched for T1 duration, i moves
along QR, and so on. To get an idea about the shape of the
boundary of i, the movement (trajectory) of i is studied for
switching off different voltage vectors for different positions

(for various speeds of machine) throughout Sector-1.

of Vm
Then, the extreme points (envelope) of these trajectories are
joined (interpolated) with a curve. As an example, a theoretical

in Sector-1 is shown in
boundary of i for positions of Vm
Fig. 3(b) for different operating speeds.
The drive system is simulated for constant switching
frequency VC-SVPWM operation (TS = 800 s, Vdc =
350 VDC, and L = 0.0465 H), and the trajectory of i in
a sector for different speeds of operation is shown in Fig. 4(a).
The trajectory of i for a fundamental cycle of operation is
shown in Fig. 4(b) for various operating speeds. The motor
phase voltage and phase current waveforms and the normalized
harmonic spectrum (fast Fourier transform, FFT) of phase voltage for 10- and 41-Hz operation are shown in Fig. 4(c) and (d),
respectively. From Fig. 4(a) and (b), the envelope (boundary
limit) of i can be deduced for the proposed hysteresis controller. It can be seen from Figs. 3(b) and 4(a) and (b) that for a
given operating speed, the shape of the boundary for i is the
same for all sectors, but the orientation will change. Also, as
shown in Fig. 4(a), the orientation of the boundary for i is the
same for opposite sectors of the voltage space phasor structure,
such as Sector-2 and Sector-5 [Fig. 1(b)]. It can be observed that
the theoretically computed boundary of i [Fig. 3(b)] matches
in shape and size with the boundary obtained in simulation
studies [Fig. 4(a)].
IV. E STABLISHING V ARIABLE B OUNDARY FOR C URRENT
E RROR S PACE P HASOR IN P ROPOSED
H YSTERESIS C ONTROLLER
A careful look at Figs. 3(b) and 4(a) shows that the boundary
of i in any sector can be approximately considered to be

Fig. 4. (a) Trajectories of i on the plane in a sector (Sector-2 or

Sector-5) for SVPWM-based two-level VSI-fed IM drive for different operating speeds (simulation results). (b) Trajectories of i on the plane
in a fundamental cycle of operation for SVPWM-based two-level VSI-fed
IM drive for different operating speeds (simulation results). (c) Simulation
results using SVPWM for 10-Hz operation: machine phase voltage (vAN )
and machine phase current (iA ) [Y -axis; upper trace: 1 div. = 100 V, lower
trace: 1 div. = 1 A, X-axis: 1 div. = 0.02 s], normalized harmonic spectrum
(FFT) of vAN [Y -axis: normalized amplitude 1 div. = 0.2, X-axis: order
of harmonic 1 div. = 50]. (d) Simulation results using SVPWM for 40-Hz
operation: machine phase voltage (vAN ) and machine phase current (iA )
[Y -axis; upper trace: 1 div. = 200 V, lower trace: 1 div. = 1 A, X-axis:
1 div. = 0.005 s], and normalized harmonic spectrum (FFT) of vAN [Y -axis:
normalized amplitude 1 div. = 0.2, X-axis: order of harmonic 1 div. = 10].

formed by a set of four unique parabolas. As an example, for

10-Hz operation [Fig. 3(b)], the boundary of i is formed by
parabola-1 between points E and F, parabola-2 between F and
G, parabola-3 between G and H, and parabola-4 between H
and E. A general equation for a vertical parabola defined with
respect to XY axes is
(x h)2 = 4p(y k)

(7)

where (h, k) is the vertex, and p is the distance between vertex

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found using the law of parallelogram for both of these angular

positions Vm , i.e.,

V(V1 ) =

V(V2 ) =

(Vm )2 + (Vdc )2 2(Vm )(Vdc ) cos

(Vm )2 + (Vdc )2 2(Vm )(Vdc ) (cos(60 ))

V(V0 ) = (Vm ).

Fig. 5. Finding parameters of boundary defining parabolas with respect to the

new reference axis (B and jB ) for Sector-1.

and focus of the parabola. Similarly, a horizontal parabola can

be defined as
(y k)2 = 4p(x h).

(8)

It is to be noted from Figs. 3(b) and 4(a) that for any given
sector, the shape and the amplitude of the boundary of i
vary based on the speed of the machine. Also, the parabolas
have different values of vertex and focus for different machines
(having different L ). So, for the proper functioning of the
proposed hysteresis controller, it is required, first of all, to
properly define the boundaries for i for the given operating
conditions.
The parabolic boundaries are detected by sensing i along
A, B, and C, and jA , jB , and jC axes as proposed in [9], [10],
and [12]. Fig. 5 shows the boundary for i in Sector-1 at
10-Hz operation for the proposed drive on a multiple-axis
plane. The complete boundary is divided into four parabolas,
as shown in Fig. 5. These four parabolas are intersecting each
other at different points. A generalized technique is developed
in the proposed work to realize these four parabolas uniquely
(to find the focus) from the exact information on (x1, y1),
(x2, y2), (x3, y3), (x4, y4) and (h1, k1), (h2, k2), (h3, k3),
(h4, k4). The parameters of the parabolas for different speeds
are computed using values of the dc-link voltage Vdc of the
inverter, base speed of the machine, stator leakage inductance
L of the machine, and switching interval TS . Simple techniques are available in the literature to find L from terminal
measurements [18] for any given induction motor.
The values of the input parameters to generalized technique
are Vdc = 350 VDC, base frequency = 50 Hz, L = 0.0465 H
(Appendix), and TS = 800 s. For online variation of the
boundary of i from 1 to 45 Hz (end of the linear range [17]),
a resolution of 1 Hz is taken in the proposed technique. The
amplitude of the machine voltage vector (Vm ) is found for
all the operating frequencies in the linear range using the V /f
ratio [17]. Then, the switching times T1 , T2 , and T0 are found
using (4) for two different angular positions of Vm ( = 0
and = 30 ) in a sector. Now, the amplitudes of V(Vk ) are

(9)

Then, the amplitudes of i during switching of V1 , V2 ,

and V0 are calculated using (6) for = 0 and = 30 for
operating frequencies from 1 to 45 Hz.
In Fig. 5, parabola-1 and parabola-3 are symmetric around
the B-axis, and parabola-2 and parabola-4 are symmetric
around the jB -axis. Therefore, B-axis is considered as X-axis,
and jB -axis is considered as Y -axis [for the parabola definition
based on (7) and (8)] for i in Sector-1. In Fig. 5, the distance
from the center of the plane to point (x1, y1) is the amplitude
of i (i.e., i(V0 ) /2) when Vm is just at the start of Sector-1
( = 0 ) and V0 (V7 or V8 ) is switched for the period T0 /2
of the switching interval TS . Therefore, the point (x1_new,
y1_new) with respect to the new reference axis (B and jB ) is
calculated using


x1_new = i(V0 ) /2 =0 sin 30
=



  
V(V0 ) /L T0 /2 =0 sin 30

(10)



y1_new = i(V0 ) /2 =0 cos 30
=



  
V(V0 ) /L T0 /2 =0 cos 30

(11)

as shown in Fig. 5. In Fig. 5, the distance from the center

of the plane to point (x2, y2) is the amplitude of i (i.e.,
i(V0 ) /2) when Vm is just at the end of Sector-1 ( = 60 )
and V0 (V7 or V8 ) is switched for the period T0 /2. Hence,
from the symmetry in Fig. 5, it can be noted that x2_new =
x3_new = (x1_new), and x4_new = x1_new. In a similar way, the new y coordinates are y2_new = y1_new, and
y3_new = y4_new = (y1_new).
Now, with the B and jB axes as the new X and Y axes,
respectively, it is obvious that the vertex of parabola-1 will be
(h1_new, 0). Similarly, the vertex of parabola-2, parabola-3,
and parabola-4 will be at (0, k2_new), (h3_new, 0), and
(0, k4_new), respectively. In Fig. 5, the distance from the center
of the plane to point (h2, k2) is the amplitude of i when Vm
is just at the center of Sector-1 ( = 30 ) and V0 (V7 or V8 )
is switched for the period T0 /2. Therefore, the point k2_new is
directly calculated using


k2_new = i(V0 ) /2 =30
  

=
V(V0 ) /L T0 /2 =30 .

(12)

From the symmetry, it is considered that k4_new =

(k2_new). Now, based on Fig. 3(a), the distance between

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TABLE I
EQUIVALENT X-AXIS AND Y -AXIS FOR BOUNDARY DEFINING
PARABOLAS IN DIFFERENT SECTORS

Fig. 6. Plots of parameters of boundary defining parabolas obtained from the

generalized technique to find the boundary for i. (a) p1, (b) p2, (c) h1,
(d) k2, and (e) shape and size of the parabolic boundary of i in Sector-2 (or
Sector-5) for different operating frequencies [conventional Y -axis and X-axis:
1 div. = 0.5 A].

(h2, k2) and (h3, k3) in Fig. 5 is the amplitude of i when

Vm is just at the center of Sector-1 ( = 30 ) and V1 is
switched for the period T1 of a sampling interval TS . Hence,
using geometry, as shown in Fig. 5, the coordinate h3_new is
calculated in the proposed technique as
h3_new =



i(V1 )


=30

2 
2

i(V0 ) /2 =30 .
(13)

For a given operating speed, with = 30 , from (4), it can

be shown that T1 = T2 , and hence using (6), it is found that
(i(V1 ) )=30 = (i(V2 ) )=30 . Therefore, it is considered
that h1_new = (h3_new).
To define the boundary of i for any operating speed, it is
required to know the focus of all the four parabolas (Fig. 5). In
this paper, the values of p (distance between vertex and focus)
for parabola-1 to parabola-4 can be determined using (7) and
(8) from the available information on the values of x, y, h, and
k [(10)(13)] based on the new X- and Y -axes (B and jB,
respectively, Fig. 5).
Graphical plots of parameters of the boundary defining
parabolas are shown in Fig. 6(a)(d) for parabola-1 and

parabola-2. In Fig. 6(a), the value of p1 for parabola-1 is always

negative, because parabola-1 is always toward the center of the
plane for different operating frequencies [Fig. 3(b)]. Fig. 6(b)
shows the change in polarity of p2 for parabola-2 at the 25-Hz
operation. This is also seen in Fig. 3(b), where parabola-2 is
toward the center of the plane for 10- and 20-Hz operations,
whereas it is outward the plane for 30- and 40-Hz operations.
The coordinate h1 of the vertex of parabola-1 has the linear
change with respect to the operating frequency, as shown in
Fig. 6(c). The variation in k2 of parabola-2 with operating
frequency is shown in Fig. 6(d). The parameters of the parabolas derived based on Sector-1 (Fig. 5) are also applicable for
parabolas for other sectors with a change in the reference axes
(Table I). The outputs of the generalized technique are used to
form the lookup tables for DSP (for practical implementation
of the proposed scheme) for online variation of the boundary
of i (in 1-Hz step) from 1- to 45-Hz operation of any given
machine. For overmodulation mode of operation (above 45 Hz),
the boundary of i is maintained the same as that used for
45-Hz operation, as the switching frequency of the inverter is
not a significant concern in the overmodulation mode of operation (leading to the six-step mode) [9]. Fig. 6(e) shows the plot
of parabolic boundaries generated for Sector-2 (and Sector-5)
using the output of the developed generalized technique.
V. A DJACENT I NVERTER V OLTAGE V ECTOR S ELECTION
AND S ECTOR C HANGE D ETECTION IN P ROPOSED
H YSTERESIS C ONTROLLER
In the proposed hysteresis controller, the amplitude of i is
monitored along the set of A, B, and C, and jA , jB , and jC
axes [9], [10], [12]. The controller considers different sets of
reference X and Y axes for the boundary defining parabolas, as
shown in Table I, for different sectors. Different conditions are
set for selecting the proper adjacent inverter voltage vector to
keep i within the specified parabolic boundary (for a particular speed), as shown in Table II for Sector-1 [9], [10]. For example, for any given speed and for position of Vm in Sector-1,
if i is within the axis C and A of Fig. 5 (checked by
the condition ijC < 0 and ijA 0 in column II of Table II),
and simultaneously if i goes outside parabola-1 [checked
by the condition (y 2 4(p1(x h1))) 0 in column II of
Table II, based on (8)], then the controller will switch the
voltage vector V1 , which will again bring back i within
the parabolic boundary. In this check, the values of y and x
are the online sensed values of the component of i on axes
jB and B, respectively (Table I for Sector-1), while p1 and
h1 are the values of the focus and vertex of the particular
boundary parabola provided by the proposed generalized technique [Fig. 6(a) and (c)] for that speed. It can be seen from

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TABLE II
VECTOR SELECTION FOR SECTOR-1 FOR FORWARD AND REVERSE ROTATION (BASED ON INNER PARABOLIC BANDS)

Table II that for parabola-2 and parabola-4, two different checks

are provided, out of which the controller will select the one
based on the operating speed of the machine. This is because
of the fact that parabola-2 and parabola-4 change orientation
from 25 Hz onwards operation [p2, Fig. 6(b)]. Similar checks
are carried out for all the other sectors to keep i within the
parabolic boundary by optimum switching of adjacent inverter
voltage vectors. The vector selection logic shown in Table II is
applicable for forward and reverse rotation of the machine.
To facilitate the identification of sector change, an outer
parallel hysteresis band is proposed, which is similar to [10]
and [12]. Sector detection is done by the logic explained in
Table III, which uses the outer parabolic bands for detecting the
change in the sector. As an example, for forward rotation of the
machine, sector change from Sector-1 to Sector-2 is uniquely
detected along the jC -axis [10], [12], which is checked by the
appropriate conditions mentioned in column III of Table III.
The sector change logic is self-adaptive and can lead the
inverter up to six-step mode of operation if needed. The sector
change logic shown in Table III is for the forward rotation of
the machine (anticlockwise movement of Vm ). A similar logic
can also be developed for the reverse rotation of the machine.
VI. S IMULATION R ESULTS OF P ROPOSED
H YSTERESIS C ONTROLLER
Detailed simulation studies of the proposed hysteresis controller scheme are first carried out using Simulink. The parameters of IM used in the proposed simulation studies are given
in Appendix. The results of the simulation studies are shown
in Fig. 7(a)(c) for different operating speeds, which is up
to the six-step mode of operation. Comparing Fig. 7(a) with
Fig. 4(a) and (b) shows that the proposed hysteresis controller
keeps i within the predefined parabolic boundaries similar
to the SVPWM-based inverter. Fig. 7(b) and (c) shows the
machine phase voltage (vAN ), phase current (iA ), and normalized harmonic spectrum of vAN at 10- and 40-Hz operation,
respectively. The voltage and current waveforms in Fig. 7(b)
and (c) are similar to the waveforms shown in Fig. 4(c) and (d),
respectively, of the SVPWM scheme. The spectrum in Fig. 7(b)
and (c) shows a very close resemblance with the spectrums in
Fig. 4(c) and (d) (for same frequency of operation of SVPWM
scheme). In the proposed scheme, during sector change detection, i is allowed to come out of the parabolic boundary
(six times in a cycle of operation), and this can cause slight
spreading of the sidebands at higher speeds of operation due

Fig. 7. (a) Simulation results of the proposed hysteresis controller. Current

error space phasor (i) in a sector and for one cycle of operation, and
machine current space phasor (i) on the plane. (b) Simulation results for
the proposed hysteresis controller for 10-Hz operation: machine phase voltage
(vAN ) and machine phase current (iA ) [Y -axis; upper trace: 1 div. = 100 V,
lower trace: 1 div. = 1 A, X-axis: 1 div. = 0.02 s], and normalized harmonic
spectrum (FFT) of vAN [Y -axis: normalized amplitude 1 div. = 0.2, X-axis:
order of harmonic 1 div. = 20]. (c) Simulation results for the proposed
hysteresis controller for 40-Hz operation: machine phase voltage (vAN ) and
machine phase current (iA ) [Y -axis; upper trace: 1 div. = 100 V, lower trace:
1 div. = 1 A, X-axis: 1 div. = 0.005 s], and normalized harmonic spectrum
(FFT) of vAN [Y -axis: normalized amplitude 1 div. = 0.2, X-axis: order of
harmonic 1 div. = 10].

to the 5th and 7th harmonics of the fundamental [Fig. 7(b) and
(c)]. However, the boundary i of the proposed hysteresis controller [Fig. 7(a)] is shape wise and size wise quite similar to the
boundary shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b) with SVPWM control. This
proves the concept of switching frequency variation control in
the proposed hysteresis controller.

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TABLE III
SECTOR CHANGE LOGIC (BASED ON OUTER PARABOLIC BANDS) FOR FORWARD ROTATION OF MACHINE

VII. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS

The proposed hysteresis controller is implemented on a
3.7-kW IM (Appendix) drive fed with a two-level VSI using
vector control [12]. The machine currents are sensed on two
phases only. The proposed hysteresis controller is completely
implemented on a TMS320LF2407A DSP controller platform.
The boundary of i is implemented using the parameters of
boundary defining parabolas provided by the generalized technique described in Section IV [Fig. 6(a)(d)]. Vector selection
and sector detection are achieved using lookup tables (Tables II
and III) inside the DSP.
Figs. 811 show the experimental results of the proposed
hysteresis-controller-fed IM drive in steady-state operations up
to the six-step mode. Because of the sector change detection
using outer parabola boundaries, multiples of the 5th and 7th
harmonics are also present with small amplitudes in the spectrums shown in Figs. 810. These harmonics can be further
reduced by selecting the outer band (for sector change detection) very close to the main band and by using faster DSPs. To
prove the performance of the proposed scheme, experimental
waveforms of the components of i along the -axis and
-axis are captured using storage scope and shown in
Figs. 811 for various steady-state speeds of operation. It can
be seen from these plots that the proposed hysteresis controller
keeps i within the predefined parabolic boundaries. All the
steady-state experimental plots of the boundary of i are in
agreement with the simulation results.
Experimental results demonstrating transient performance of
the proposed controller are shown in Fig. 12. Fig. 12(a) shows
smooth transition to the six-step mode [9], [10]. Fig. 12(b)
shows transient performance of the proposed controller during
speed reversal, where the actual current follows the reference
current. This current control is achieved by online variation of
the parabolic boundary with different speeds and with resolution of 1 Hz. All the experimental results demonstrate smooth
steady-state and dynamic performance, and excellent tracking
of machine phase current with the reference phase current
throughout the transitions with switching frequency variation
control. The present parabolic boundary approach can also be
used for front-end active rectifiers with constant fundamental
frequency for input current shaping [20]. The present scheme
for two-level inverters can also be extended to PWM control of multilevel inverters, where the conventional SVPWM
technique [21] is complex to implement, with switching time
computations in various sectors, as the number of levels
increases.

Fig. 8. Ten-hertz operation. (a) Machine phase voltage (vAN ) and machine
phase current (iA ) [Y -axis; upper trace: 1 div. = 130 V, lower trace: 1 div. =
1.3 A, X-axis: 1 div. = 20 ms]. (b) FFT of vAN [Y -axis: normalized amplitude 1 div. = 0.2, X-axis: order of harmonic 1 div. = 20]. (c) i in Sector-2,
(d) i for all the six sectors [Y -axis and X-axis: 1 div. = 0.2 A].

Fig. 9. Thirty-hertz operation. (a) Machine phase voltage (vAN ) and machine
phase current (iA ) [Y -axis; upper trace: 1 div. = 135 V, lower trace: 1 div. =
1.3 A, X-axis: 1 div. = 5 ms]. (b) FFT of vAN [Y -axis: normalized amplitude
1 div. = 0.2, X-axis: order of harmonic 1 div. = 10]. (c) and (d) i in
Sector-3 and for all the six sectors, respectively [Y -axis and X-axis: 1 div. =
0.45 A].

VIII. C ONCLUSION
A novel concept of online variation of the parabolic boundary for current error space phasor is proposed to minimize

TEKWANI et al.: NOVEL CURRENT ERROR SPACE PHASOR BASED HYSTERESIS CONTROLLER

2655

that determines the set of unique parabolic boundaries for a

two-level inverter feeding any given induction motor is developed. Sector change logic is self-adaptive and is capable of
taking the drive up to six-step mode if needed. Simple lookup
tables are only needed for the proposed controller. Steadystate and transient performance of the proposed controller is
experimentally verified on a 3.7-kW IM drive for the entire
operating range up to six-step mode. The experimental results
are in good agreement with the simulation results. All other
inherent advantages of space phasor based hysteresis current
controller such as adjacent voltage vector switching, no need
of machine back EMF calculation, and fast dynamic response
are retained in the proposed scheme in addition to switching
frequency variation control and optimum PWM switching.

A PPENDIX
Fig. 10. Forty-hertz operation. (a) Machine phase voltage (vAN ) and machine phase current (iA ) [Y -axis; upper trace: 1 div. = 130 V, lower trace:
1 div. = 1.3 A, X-axis: 1 div. = 5 ms]. (b) FFT of vAN [Y -axis: normalized amplitude 1 div. = 0.2, X-axis: order of harmonic 1 div. = 5]. (c) and
(d) i in Sector-1 and for all the six sectors, respectively [Y -axis and X-axis:
1 div. = 0.6 A].

Induction motor parameters: 3.7 kW, three phases, rated

voltage: 415 V, 50 Hz, rated speed: 1445 r/min, four poles,
Rs = 4.8 , Rr = 3.8 , Ls = 0.5632 H, Lr = 0.577 H, and
M = 0.546 H.
R EFERENCES

Fig. 11. Fifty-hertz (six-step) operation. (a) Machine phase voltage (vAN )
and machine phase current (iA ) [Y -axis; upper trace: 1 div. = 130 V, lower
trace: 1 div. = 1.3 A, X-axis: 1 div. = 5 ms]. (b) i for one fundamental
cycle [Y -axis and X-axis: 1 div. = 0.65 A]. (c) Machine current space phasor
(i) for one fundamental cycle [Y -axis and X-axis: 1 div. = 1.4 A].

Fig. 12. Transient performance. (a) Machine phase voltage and machine
phase current during transition from 45- to 50-Hz operation: top trace [Y -axis;
upper trace: 1 div. = 130 V, lower trace: 1 div. = 1.5 A, X-axis: 1 div. =
50 ms], zoomed bottom trace [Y -axis; upper trace: 1 div. = 130 V, lower
trace: 1 div. = 1.5 A, X-axis: 1 div. = 20 ms]. (b) speed reversal operation;
upper trace: reference machine phase current (iA ), and lower trace: machine
phase current (iA ) [Y -axis; upper and lower traces: 1 div. = 1.35 A, X-axis:
1 div. = 500 ms].

switching frequency variation in hysteresis-controller-based

two-level VSI-fed IM drives. The proposed hysteresis controller obtains a switching frequency spectrum of the output voltage that is similar to that of the constant switching
frequency SVPWM-based IM drive. A generalized technique

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P. N. Tekwani (S04) received the B.E. degree

in power electronics from Saurashtra University,
Morbi, India, in 1995, the M.E. degree in electrical
engineering from M.S. University, Vadodara, India,
in 2000, and the Ph.D. degree from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
From 1995 to 1996, he was with Amtech Electronics, Gandhinagar, India. From 1996 to 2001, he
was with the Electrical Research and Development
Association, Vadodara. From 2001 to 2006, he was
a Member of the faculty at the Nirma University
of Science and Technology, Ahmedabad, India. He is currently with Nirma
University of Science and Technology, Ahmedabad, India.

R. S. Kanchan (S04) received the B.E. degree

in electrical engineering from Walchand College of
Engineering, Sangali, India, in 1998, the M.Tech.
degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India, in 2000, and
the Ph.D. degree from the Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore, India, in 2005.
From 2000 to 2002, he was with Tata Steel Company, Jamshedpur, India. He is currently a Research
Associate at the Centre for Electronics Design and
Technology (CEDT), Indian Institute of Science.

K. Gopakumar (M94SM96) received the B.E.,

M.Sc. (Eng.), and Ph.D. degrees from the Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, in 1980, 1984,
and 1994, respectively.
From 1984 to 1987, he was with the Indian Space
Research Organization. He is currently an Associate
Professor at the Centre for Electronics Design and
Technology (CEDT), Indian Institute of Science. His
fields of interest are power converters, PWM techniques, and ac drives.
Dr. Gopakumar is a Fellow of the Institution
of Electrical and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE), India. He is currently an Associate Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL
ELECTRONICS.