Dual three-phase induction motor drive with digital current control in the stationary reference frame

Vector control of a dual three-phase induction machine, with two sets of three-phase stator windings spatially shifted by 30 electrical degrees, is elaborated in the paper. The stator windings are fed from a current-controlled PWM six-phase IGBT voltage source inverter (VSI). The main problem in realisation of such a drive is an adequate current control algorithm, which has to cope with the inherent asymmetries of the drive. Furthermore, the digital implementation has to ensure zero steady state current error for the whole frequency range of the drive. After reviewing the existing solutions, the paper proposes a current control scheme that is based on four digital current controllers in the stationary reference frame. A design procedure for the current controllers is presented and current controllers are implemented in a laboratory test rig, in conjunction with a previously developed PWM scheme that provides operation with low values of low-order output voltage harmonics. Experimental tests are conducted and the results are given for a direct rotor field oriented control (DRFOC) of a 10 kW dual three-phase induction motor drive prototype. The results confirm the validity of the control scheme.