Design and construction of a low cost single-phase induction motor test bench

Single-phase squirrel cage induction motors are vastly used in a wide variety of domestic and industrial applications. As a consequence of market globalization, motor manufacturers are facing an increasingly competitive environment that mandates the adoption of design strategies yielding better performance at lower costs. This fact highlights the importance of having innovative experimental testing means and setups within manufacturers R&D divisions. This paper presents the details of a low cost PC-controlled test bench that was designed and constructed for fractional horse power (FHP) single-phase induction motors. Inference of the various motor parameters and performance is carried out by utilizing the evolutionary particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to solve an inverse problem involving a limited set of multi-speed loading measurements. Full details of the test bench as well as parameter inference evolutionary approach are given in paper.