International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 1 Issue 7, September - 2012

Voltage Vectors of Matrix Converters

For Torque Ripple Reduction in Direct Torque
Control of Induction Machines
*
K.Venkatesh, #M Rama Prasad Reddy
*
Post Graduate students, #Associate Professor Department of EEE
Sri Vasavi Engineering College, Tadepalligudem. AP, India

Abstract--The matrix converter is an array of These ideal characteristics can be fulfilled by

controlled semiconductor switches that connects matrix converters, and this is the reason for the
directly the three-phase source to the three-phase tremendous interest in the topology. The matrix
load. This converter has several attractive features converter is a forced commutated converter
that have been investigated in the last two decades. which uses an array of controlled bidirectional
In the last few years, an increase in research work switches as the main power elements to create a
has been observed, bringing this topology closer to variable output voltage system with switch [1]–
the industrial application. This paper presents the [4]. With this solution, the power circuit was
state-of-the-art view in the development of this bulky and the performance was poor
converter, starting with a brief historical review. unrestricted frequency. It does not have any dc-
An important part of the paper is dedicated to a link circuit and does not need any large energy
discussion of the most important modulation and storage elements. The key element in a matrix
control strategies developed recently. Special converter is the fully controlled four-quadrant
attention is given to present modern methods bidirectional switch, which allows high-
developed to solve the commutation problem. frequency operation. The early work dedicated
Some new arrays of power bidirectional switches to unrestricted frequency changers used
integrated in a single module are also presented. thyristors with external forced commutation
Finally, this paper includes some practical issues circuits to implement the bidirectional
related to the practical application of this controlled Direct torque control (DTC) is a
technology, like overvoltage protection, use of high-dynamic and high performance control
filters, and ride-through capability. technique for induction motor drives which has
been developed in the last two decades as
Index Terms-- Direct Torque Control (DTC), possible alternative to DC servo drives. In
Matrix Converter (MC). direct torque controlled adjustable speed drives,
the motor flux and the electromagnetic torque
I. INTRODUCTION are the reference quantities which are directly
controlled by the applied inverter voltage
Among the most desirable features in power vector. The main advantages of DTC are: fast
frequency changers are the following: torque and flux responses, no need for speed or
position sensors and no requirements for
1) Simple and compact power circuit. coordinate transformation. In fact, it only needs
2) Generation of load voltage with arbitrary to know the stator resistance and terminal
amplitude and frequency. quantities (v and i) in order to perform the stator
3) Sinusoidal input and output currents. flux and torque estimations. Therefore, the DTC
4) Operation with unity power factor for schemes have attracted many researchers to
any load. study and investigate for a long time. DTC has
5) Regeneration capability. also some disadvantages: the difficulty to
control the torque and the flux at very low

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 1 Issue 7, September - 2012

speed, the higher current and torque ripple switch elements and cause more cost and
which imply higher machine losses and noise, complication to the whole system [6].
the inherent variable switching frequency and By combining the advantages of matrix
the lack of direct current control [1]. Recently, converters with the advantages of DTC
three phase matrix converters (MC) have schemes, it is possible to achieve fast torque and
emerged to become a good alternative to the flux responses in a wide speed range. But the
well known voltage source inverters (VSI). main drawback of the conventional DTC will
Matrix converter is a direct ac/ac converter that make more serious electromagnetic torque
allows each output phase to be connected to ripple [7].
each input phase. A 3х3 matrix converter can be
As a result, the drive system fed by the matrix
usefully implemented for connecting a 3 phase
converter doesn’t need any additional power
voltage source to a 3 phase load or machine.
switch elements and can attain the same
The matrix converter is an advanced circuit
topology capable of converting AC-AC, performance as the multi-level inverter.
providing generation of load voltage with According to the properties of a matrix
arbitrary amplitude and frequency, bidirectional converter, there are three different voltage
power flow, sinusoidal input/output waveforms, vectors on each space vector location. By
and operation with unity input power factor. suitably selecting the space vector, the current
Furthermore, since no inductive or capacitive deviations and the torque ripple of the motor can
elements are required, matrix converter allows a be effectively reduced.
very compact design [2], [3]. This paper proposes to select the most
Eupec Company has developed a new appropriate voltage vector with respect to the
technology for integrating the whole matrix error of the torque. The standard look-up table
converter power devices in a single package and for direct torque control by matrix converters is
the integrated power modules are now available improved in order to include the small, medium
commercially. This type of packaging can and large voltage vectors of Matrix Converters.
minimize the stray inductance and the size of With the new look-up table and new hysteresis
the power devices [4]. Yaskawa Company has comparator with seven levels output the system
implemented a commercial matrix converter and will differentiate between small, medium and
has shown it has many advantages. For large torque errors and consequently reduce the
example, it requires small mounting place
electromagnetic torque ripple and output current
because the braking resistance or regeneration
THD. Simulation results demonstrate the
converter is unnecessary. It has less total current
effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
harmonic distortion and higher power factor at
the input side when compared with the II. MATRIX CONVERTER THEORY
rectifier/dc-link/inverter. Moreover, it has The three-phase to three-phase matrix
longer life because no capacitor is used. The converter consists of nine bidirectional switches
cost of matrix converters will be reduced and that allow any output phase to be connected to
will compete with the traditional VSI. As a any input phase. The circuit scheme is shown in
result, one can predict that the applications of Fig. 1. The input terminals of the converter are
matrix converters will become more and more connected to a three phase voltage-fed system,
popular in the near future [5]. usually the grid, while the output terminals are
The DTC using a multi-level inverter can connected to a three phase current-fed system,
produce more sets of space vectors to control like an induction motor might be. With nine
torque and flux of a motor and gain smoother bidirectional switches, the matrix converter can
electromagnetic torque of the motor. However, theoretically assume 512 (29) different
the multi-level inverters need more power switching state combinations, but not all of them

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 1 Issue 7, September - 2012

can be usefully employed. Regardless of the voltage and input current space vectors, these
control method used, the choice of useful matrix matrix converter configurations are classified as
converter switching state combinations must “active”, “zero” and “synchronous”
comply with two basic rules: Taking into configurations.
account that the converter is supplied by a TABLE I
voltage source and usually feeds an inductive MATRIX CONVERTERS SPACE VECTORS
load, the input phases should never be short Vector ABC
circuited and the output currents should not be
interrupted. From a practical point of view, +1 abb 2/3Vab 0 2/ -π/6
these rules imply that one and only one -1 baa -2/3Vab 0 -2/ -π/6
bidirectional switch per output phase must be 2 bcc 2/3Vab 0 π/2
2/
switched on at any instant.
-2 cbb -2/3Vab 0 -2/ π/2
3 caa 2/3Vab 0 2/ 7π/6
-3 acc -2/3Vab 0 -2/ 7π/6
4 bab 2/3Vab 2π/3 2/ -π/6
-4 aba -2/3Vab 2π/3 -2/ -π/6
5 cbc 2/3Vab 2π/3 2/ π/2
-5 bcb -2/3Vab 2π/3 -2/ π/2
6 aca 2/3Vab 2π/3 2/ 7π/6
-6 cac -2/3Vab 2π/3 -2/ 7π/6
7 bba 2/3Vab 4π/3 2/ -π/6
-7 aab -2/3Vab 4π/3 -2/ -π/6
8 ccb 2/3Vab 4π/3 2/ π/2
-8 bbc -2/3Vab 4π/3 -2/ π/2
9 aac 2/3Vab 4π/3 2/ 7π/6
-9 cca -2/3Vab 4π/3 -2/ 7π/6
0 aaa 0 .. 0 ..
0 bbb 0 .. 0 ..
Under these constraints, it can be verified that 0 ccc 0 .. 0 ..
in a three-phase to three-phase matrix converter … abc X X
only 27 different switch configurations are
permitted. These 27 switch configurations are … acb X X
listed in Table I. Each configuration is identified … bac X X
by a number and by a three letter code. The … bca X X
three letters describe which output phase is
… cab X X
connected to which input phase according to the
schematic representation of Fig. 1. For instance, … cba X X
the configuration named “baa” refers to the
matrix state where output phase A is connected As it can be seen in the second column of
to input phase b, output phase B is connected to Table I, the active configurations have the
input phase a and output phase C is connected to common feature of two output phases connected
to the same input phase. There are 18 active
input phase a. configurations numbered by ±1, ±2,…,±9 in
According to the corresponding output

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 1 Issue 7, September - 2012

Table I. They determine six fixed positions of switching table given in Table II, in order to
the output voltage space vector which are not maintain the estimated torque and stator flux
dependent on the input voltage space vector within the limits of two hysteresis bands. More
phase angle and six prefixed positions of the precisely, the vector is chosen according to the
input current space vector which are not position of the stator flux vector and the
dependent on the output current space vector instantaneous errors in torque and stator flux
phase angle. The magnitude of the space vectors magnitude.
and is variable and depends on the Looking at Fig. 3, it is worth noting that due
instantaneous values of the input line voltages to the fixed direction of the inverter voltage
and output line currents respectively. The vectors and also the rotating motion of the stator
representation of the output voltage space flux vector in the d-q stator frame, for each
vectors and input current space vectors is shown inverter voltage vector, the amplitude of its
in Fig. 2. radial and tangential components will be
There are 3 zero configurations which are variable within a sector.
numbered 0 in Table I. In zero configurations,
the three output lines are connected to the same IV. THE USE OF MATRIX CONVERTER
input phase, so that they determine zero output IN DTC
voltage and input current space vectors.
There are 6 synchronous configurations not Among the 27 voltage and current vectors,
numbered in Table I. These configurations only the active and null vectors will be
determine those output space vectors which considered in DTC. As it can be seen in Fig. 2,
have a phase angle that is dependent on the the direction of the active voltage vectors is
input voltage space vector phase angle. constant. However, their magnitude depends on
Likewise, the input current space vector has a the input voltages. It should be noted that the
phase angle which is related to the output direction of the active voltage vectors of a MC
current space vector phase angle. The is similar to the direction of the active voltage
magnitude of the space vectors and is
constant and equal to the magnitude of the input
phase voltage and output line current space
vectors respectively.

Fig. 2. (a) Output Phase Voltage Space Vectors (b)

Input Current Space Vectors

III. PRINCIPLE OF DIRECT TORQUE vectors generated by a conventional VSI.

CONTROL BY VSI Fig. 3. VSI output line-to-neutral voltage vectors and
corresponding stator flux variations
In direct torque controlled adjustable speed
drives, the motor flux and the electromagnetic Once the classical DTC control scheme has
torque are the reference quantities which are selected the optimum vector to be applied to the
directly controlled by the applied inverter machine, it is a matter of determining the
voltage vector. corresponding matrix converter switching
At each cycle period, the proper inverter configuration. For example, if the VSI output
voltage vector is selected according to the vector has been chosen, looking at Table

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 1 Issue 7, September - 2012

I and Fig. 2(a) and Fig. 3, it can be seen that voltage vector lies. Depending on whether the
matrix converter can generate the same vector power factor control needs Cψ , one of the two
by means of the switching configurations columns +1,-1 is selected.
±1,±2,±3. But not all of them can be usefully TABLE III
employed to provide vector . In fact, at MATRIX CONVERTER SWITCHING TABLE FOR DTC
any instant, the magnitude and the direction of
their corresponding output voltage vectors
depends on the position of the input phase
voltage vector .
TABLE II
BASIC DTC BY VSI CONFIGURATION
SELECTION
Stator flux sector 1 2 3 4 5 6
C =1 V V V V V V
T 2-vsi 3-vsi 4-vsi 5-vsi 6-vsi 1-vsi
Cφ=+1 C =0 V V V V V V
T 7-vsi 0-vsi 7-vsi 0-vsi 7-vsi 0-vsi
C =-1 V V V V V V
T 6-vsi 1-vsi 2-vsi 3-vsi 4-vsi 5-vsi
C =1 V V V V V V
Cφ =-1
T
C =0 V
3-vsi
V
4-vsi
V
5-vsi
V
6-vsi
V
1-vsi
V
2-vsi V. IMPROVEMENT OF DTC USING
T
C =-1 V
0-vsi
V
7-vsi
V
0-vsi
V
7-vsi
V
0-vsi
V
7-vsi ALL VECTORS OF MATRIX
T 5-vsi 6-vsi 1-vsi 2-vsi 3-vsi 4-vsi
CONVERTER
Among the 6 vectors, only those having the By dividing the input voltage vector path into
same direction of and the maximum twelve sectors, according to Fig. 4 and using the
magnitude are considered. For example, looking new MC switching table for DTC presented in
at Fig. 4 and Table I it can be seen that, if vector Table IV, the DTC algorithm will be able to
is in sector 1 or 2, the switching distinguish between small, medium and large
configurations to be used are +1 and –3. It has vectors. In order to reduce the torque ripple, in
been verified that, whatever is the sector which addition to the large vectors of MC, the medium
the vector is in, the matrix converter has and small vectors can also be used. Thus the
always two switching configurations for each DTC scheme must be modified resulting in a
VSI output vector chosen by the classical DTC new torque hysteresis comparator that will
scheme. provide seven different levels instead of three
Such redundancy can be benefited to levels to distinguish between small, medium and
control a third variable in addition to the stator large positive and negative torque errors. The
flux and the electromagnetic torque. The new seven- level hysteresis comparator is shown
average value of the sine of the displacement in Fig. 5. If the ideal value of Cψ for power
angle ψi between the input current vector and the factor hysteresis comparator, can’t be found in
corresponding input phase voltage vector has one input voltage sector, then the other vector in
been chosen as the third variable. This variable the same sector can be selected from Table IV
will be indicated by sin ψi . If the constraint to to control the unit input power factor.
comply with is a unity input power factor, such As it is shown in Fig. 5, when the
aim can be achieved by keeping the value of sin absolute value of torque error ETe is equal to or
ψi equal greater than 0.2, and less than 0.6, the value of
to zero. The variable sin ψi is directly controlled the is ±1, the small voltage vector table is
by the hysteresis comparator. selected and ETe will decrease until the absolute
The switching table based on these value of ETe is equal to
principles is shown in Table III [7]. In the first 0.1.
column, the voltage vectors selected by the When the absolute value of torque error
conventional DTC are present. The top row ETe is equal to or greater than 0.6, and less than
contains the sector in which the input phase 1, the value of HTe is ±2, the medium voltage

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 1 Issue 7, September - 2012

vector table is selected and ETe will decrease

until the absolute value of ETe is equal to 0.2
When the absolute value of torque error ETe is
equal or greater than 1, the value of HTe is ±3,
the large voltage vector table is selected and ETe TABLE IV
will decrease until the absolute value of ETe is LOOK UP TABLE FOR THE USE OF ALL MC
equal to 0.6. VOLTAGE VECTORS

SMALL VECTORS
VI. SIMULATION RESULTS Sector 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Hψ - + - + - + - + - + - +
In order to validate the proposed method
V1-vsi -2 2 1 -1 -3 3 2 -2 -1 1 3 -3
and compare it with the classical DTC using
MC, some simulations have been carried V2-vsi 8 -8 -7 7 9 -9 -8 8 7 -7 -9 9

out. The test machine is a standard 7.5 kW V3-vsi -5 5 4 -4 -6 6 5 -5 -4 4 6 -6

four-pole 400V 50Hz cage induction motor V4-vsi 2 -2 -1 1 3 -3 -2 2 1 -1 -3 3
and has the following parameters: V5-vsi -8 8 7 -7 -9 9 8 -8 -7 7 9 -9
V6-vsi 5 -5 -4 4 6 -6 -5 5 4 -4 -6 6
Rs=0.7384 Ω Rr=0.742 Ω
Lm=0.1241 H Lls=3.045 mH Llr=3.045 mH MEDIUM VECTORS
Sector 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Hψ - + - + - + - + - + - +
V1-vsi -3 1 2 -3 -1 2 3 -1 -2 3 1 -2
V2-vsi 9 -7 -8 9 7 -8 -9 7 8 -9 -7 8
V3-vsi -6 4 5 -6 -4 5 6 -4 -5 6 4 -5
V4-vsi 3 -1 -2 3 1 -2 -3 1 2 -3 -1 2
V5-vsi -9 7 8 -9 -7 8 9 -7 -8 9 7 -8
V6-vsi 6 -4 -5 6 4 -5 -6 4 5 -6 -4 5

LARGE VECTORS
Sector 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Hψ - + - + - + - + - + - +
V1-vsi 1 -3 -3 2 2 -1 -1 3 3 -2 -2 1
V2-vsi -7 9 9 -8 -8 7 7 -9 -9 8 8 -7
V3-vsi 4 -6 -6 5 5 -4 -4 6 6 -5 -5 4
V4-vsi -1 3 3 -2 -2 1 1 -3 -3 2 2 -1
V5-vsi 7 -9 -9 8 8 -7 -7 9 9 -8 -8 7
V6-vsi -4 6 6 -5 -5 4 4 -6 -6 5 5 -4

The simulation model of this novel DTC-

MC adjustable speed system is set up with
MATLAB/SIMULINK power system toolbox.
The sampling period used is 20μs and the matrix
converter model has been developed using
Fig. 4. Small, medium and large voltage vectors of
matrix converter and 12 sector of input line voltage IGBT switches.

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 1 Issue 7, September - 2012

Fig. 6. Electromagnetic torque at 1000 rpm in

(a) Classical method (b) Proposed method

Fig. 5. New torque hysteresis comparator with seven

output levels
(a)
A. High-Speed Results:

These results are obtained with both the

classical method and the proposed method at
speed 1000 rpm and torque 25 N.m. The
electromagnetic torque, and the output
current THD, are shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7
respectively. It can be seen that in the
proposed method, torque ripple and output
current THD are significantly reduced.
(b)
Fig. 7. Output Current THD at 25 N.m and 1000 rpm
in (a) Classical method (b) Proposed method

B. Low-Speed Results:
The performance of the proposed drive
system has also been tested at low speed. The
torque reference is 6.5 N.m and the rotor speed
is 500 rpm. Fig. 8 and 9 show the obtained
results. As can be seen, even at low speed, the
(a) toque ripple and output current THD are
significantly reduced. This confirms validity of
the proposed scheme.

VII. CONCLUSION

This paper introduces a novel Direct Torque

Control with matrix converters which uses not
only the largest output voltage vectors, but also
the medium and small ones to reduce the
electromagnetic torque ripple and output current
THD. The new look up table for DTC-MC is
(b)

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 1 Issue 7, September - 2012

designed for the small, medium and large matrix (a)

converter output voltage vectors. Furthermore,
the torque error hysteresis comparator is
modified in order to distinguish between small,
medium and large positive and negative torque
errors. Simulation results show that by using all
the voltage space vectors of the matrix
converter, the torque ripple and output current
THD are significantly reduced.

(b)
Fig. 9. Output Current THD at 6.5 N.m and 500
rpm in (a) Classical method (b) Proposed method

VIII. REFERENCES

(a) 1. D. Casadei, F. Profumo, G. Serra, A. Tani,

“FOC and DTC: Two Viable Schemes for
Induction Motors Torque Control,” IEEE Trans.
On Industrial Electronics, vol. 17, no. 5, pp.779-
787, Sep. 2002.
2. P. W. Wheeler, J. Rodriguez, J. C. Chars, L.
Empringham, A. Weinstein, “Matrix converters:
a technology review,” IEEE Trans. on Industrial
Electronics, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 276-288, Apr.
2002.
3. C. Ortega, A. Arias, J.L. Romeral, E. Aldabas,
“Direct torque control for induction motors
using matrix converters,” IEEE Compatibility in
(b) Power Electronics, pp. 53- 60, CPE 2005.
Fig. 8. Electromagnetic torque at 500 rpm in 4. C. Klumpner, P. Nielsen, I. Boldea, F.
(a) Classical method (b) Proposed method Blaabjerg, “New solutions for a low-cost power
electronic building block for matrix converters,”
IEEE Trans. on Industrial Electronics, vol. 49,
no. 2, pp. 336-342, Apr. 2002.
5. Der-Fa Chen, Chin-Wen Liao, Kai-Chao Yao,
“Direct Torque Control for a Matrix Converter
Based on Induction Motor Drive Systems,”
IEEE Second International Conference on
Innovative Computing, Information and Control,
pp. 101-104, ICICIC 2007.

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