International Journal of Soft Computing and Engineering (IJSCE)

ISSN: 2231-2307, Volume-2, Issue-3, July 2012

Calculation of Induction Motor Model

Parameters using Finite Element Method
Mayukh Bose, Anshuman Bhattacharjee, Sudha R.

 the drawbacks of the current methods and so may be

Abstract: The paper attempts to model a three phase squirrel considered as an alternative approach. [6]
cage induction motor and using Finite Element Method to
obtain the finite element field solutions. The linear time
II. MOTOR MODEL
harmonic vector field potential solution is used for the
inductance determination. The Finite Element Analysis software We first decide on a motor model to be used. The model
used is FEMM. shown in figure 1 is a simple per-phase model used for the
Index Terms: FEM, FEMM, Finite Element Method, purpose of this paper.
Induction Motor, Motor Modelling, Motor Parameters.

I. INTRODUCTION
Finite Element Methods are widely used today to correctly
compute operating properties and characteristics of electrical
machines without physically constructing a prototype, thus
saving on costs and enabling us to try out changes to
parameters so as to design a machine with the optimum
parameters. There are varied tools for finite element analysis,
Fig: 1
the more popular ones being AnsysMultiphysics, COMSOL The model represents a single phase of an induction motor
Multiphysics, ElecNet etc. at steady state i.e. constant frequency and constant speed.
The FEM methods have been successfully used in the past The symbols in the model represent the following:
to design synchronous permanentmagnet machines and Rs= Stator Resistance
synchronous generators. The two main methods used are as Ll= Inductance
follows. Rotor and stator currents are calculated using the M = Flux linking Stator to Rotor
circuit models of induction motor. This is known as the Rr= Rotor Resistance
circuit approach. [1][2] The alternative approach, involves ω=Applied electrical frequency
calculating the stator currents like the previously mentioned ωs= Difference between electrical frequency of Stator and
authors but they calculate rotor currents directly as eddy mechanical frequency of Rotor (Slipfrequency) for a motor
currents. [3] [4] which has a stator with p pole pairs, the slip frequency can be
Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages calculated as:
but by combining them it has been possible to eliminate the ωs= ω-pωr
principle disadvantage of the consideration of the actual where ωr =mechanical rotor speed.
current distribution in rotor bars. The voltage source (v) shown in the per-phase voltage and i is
The purpose of this paper is to attempt to describe a the per phase current, both in RMS.
method for the determination of the parameters of the two Now to perform the modeling of the motor, the parameters
phase induction motor model under different operating simply need to be found.
conditions. The choice of magnetic excitations will be
confirmed by the derivation of a corresponding two axis III. MOTOR EQUATIONS
equivalent circuit model in the general frame of reference
that considers saturation as well. This will make it possible to The motor impedance (Z) can be easily calculated from
determine the magnetizing inductance as well as the real figure1.
values of the stator and rotor leakage inductances which
cannot be separated arbitrarily with classic measurements.
The method is not completely new [5] but eliminates some of

Where τ is the rotor time constant (=M/Rr)

Voltage is then related to the current as
Manuscript received on July, 2012 v=Z i
Mayukh Bose, SELECT, VIT University, Vellore, India, Per phase flux linkage:
Anshuman Bhattacharjee , SELECT, VIT University, Vellore, India,
Sudha R. SELECT, VIT University, Vellore, India.

Published By:
Retrieval Number: C0671052312 /2012©BEIESP
41 Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
& Sciences Publication
 Calculation of Induction Motor Model Parameters Using Finite Element Method

One can note that the second term in the motor impedance is
linked with . This implies that this is a voltage
contribution that has to do with the variation of the flux at a
frequency . We can then imply that the flux φ, linking any
phase is:

Dividing by current, we can obtain a slip frequency

dependant inductance. Separating this into real and complex
components we have,

Since flux linkage is easily calculated with high accuracy

using FEMM, this equation will later enable us to use
calculated flux linkages at different motor slip frequencies to Fig 2: Example Induction Motor Winding configuration
identify the parameters of the motor. Performing the analysis in FEMM to get the flux linkage,
we get the following results:
IV. IDENTIFICATION OF MODEL PARAMETERS
VIA FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
The formulas developed above can be used as the basis for
a finite element identification of motor parameters. Using
FEMM, the rotor does not move, however this does not
present a problem as far as parameter identification goes as
in the zero slip case, the frequency simply degenerates to

Now, one could either attempt to base parameter

identification on torque results analyzed by using a constant
stator current over a range of frequencies. The alternative
method and the one which we will use is to attempt to fit
against inductance results. We choose this approach because
the program obtains flux linkage by performing a volume Fig 3: Plot of Real component of A
Table 1: Inductance values at different frequencies
integral that is closely related to the computation of stored
energy, a quantity that FEMM computes with an extremely Frequency, Hz Real Inductance Imaginary Inductance

high degree of accuracy. 0.25 0.3113897 -0.078562

The approach, thus, is as follows:
 To formulate a finite element model of interest 0.5 0.2644535 -0.130207
 Apply 3 phase currents to the stators over a range of 0.75 0.2126343 -0.15379
frequencies
 For each analysis, evaluate the flux linkage of one phase 1 0.1683203 -0.158362
that is required to fit the parameters of that model 1.25 0.1342043 -0.15323
 Perform a regression analysis to get the parameter values
1.5 0.1088912 -0.144139
V. FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
1.75 0.0902097 -0.13398
The particular motor of interest is intended to be a 2 HP
2 0.076302 -0.124052
motor running of a 220 Vrms line-to-line, 50 Hz, 3-phase
supply. This motor is a 4-pole machine (i.e.p = 2), implying 2.25 0.0657982 -0.114864
that it will be running at slightly less than 1500 RPM. The
winding configuration for one pole of the machine is pictured 2.5 0.057736 -0.106568
below in Figure 2. There are a total of 36 slots on the stator
2.75 0.0514475 -0.099154
and 28 slots on the rotor. A total of 44 turns sit inside each
slot (i.e. so that a phase current of 1 A would place a total of 3 0.0464669 -0.092553
44 Amp*Turns in a slot). The rotor’s diameter is 80 mm, and
the clearance between the rotor and stator is 0.375 mm. The
length of the machine in the into-the-page direction is 100 VI: OBTAINING MOTOR PARAMETERS FROM
mm. FEM RESULTS

Published By:
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42 & Sciences Publication
 International Journal of Soft Computing and Engineering (IJSCE)
ISSN: 2231-2307, Volume-2, Issue-3, July 2012

circuits and mechanical equations,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol

27, no 6, 1991
Regression analysis is performed on the results to obtain 4. A. Arkkio, “Finite element analysis of cage induction motors fed by static
frequency converters,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 1990
the inductance. 5. D. Dolinar et al., “Calculation of two-axis induction motor model
The imaginary part of the inductance is obtained from the parameters using finite elements,” IEEE Transactions on Energy
above equation as: Conversion, 12(2):133-142, June 1997.
6. M V Chari and P Silvester, “Analysis of turboalternator magnetic fields
Taking c1=τM and c2=τ2, we get: by finite elements”, IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems
7. FEMM Documentation - http://www.femm.info/wiki/Documentation

Thus we get a linear equation with c1 and c2 as parameters.

Values of these parameters need to be obtained that fit all the
values of ωs and Li. The 12 equations are represented using
the following matrices:
m= [ωsLiωs2]
b= [-Li]
thus we get:

This is easily solved in MATLAB to get c1 and c2 using:

Thus we get c1=0.0523 and c2=0.0272 and from that we can

imply that:
τ=0.1649 sec
M=0.3171H
Similarly, we can use the real part of inductance for
calculating the leakage inductance. We already know the
values of M and τ so we simply rearrange to get the leakage
inductances and take the average.
Equation of the real part of the inductance:

Rearranged to find Ll:

The average Ll is obtained as 0.0158H from the data given

above.
Thus we successfully obtain the motor parameters as:
M = 0.3171 H
τ = 0.1649 s
Ll = 0.0158 H

VII. CONCLUSION
With the proposed magnetic field analysis based on the
finite element method, it is possible to determine the motor
parameters. The proposed method ensures the required
separation of the rotor and stator leakage inductances in both
saturated and unsaturated case. The described model of the
induction motor with the complete known set of parameters
can be used in the advanced control synthesis of the induction
motors.

REFERENCES
1. T W Nehl, F A Fouad and N A Demerdash, “Determination of saturated
values of rotating machinery incremental and apparent by an energy
perturbation model,” IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and
Systems, 1992
2. M V Chari and P Silverster, “Analysis of turboalternator magnetic fields
by finite elements,” IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems,
1971
3. E Vassent, G Meunier, A Foggia and G Reyne, “Simulation of induction
machine operation using a step by step finite element method coupled with

Published By:
Retrieval Number: C0671052312 /2012©BEIESP
43 Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
& Sciences Publication