%0 Journal Article
%T Variable Speed Drive Characterization: Review of Measurement Techniques and Future Trends
%A Edoardo Fiorucci
%A Giovanni Bucci
%A Fabrizio Ciancetta
%A Daniele Gallo
%A Carmine Landi
%A Mario Luiso
%J Advances in Power Electronics
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/968671
%X The significant advances in power electronics have permitted the implementation of sophisticated methods for control of electric motors. Each innovative electrical apparatus for industrial and automotive application must be correctly and exhaustively tested, both during the developing process and finally for the compliance test. The development of a new electrical system should be associated with a parallel design of an ad hoc measurement system, whose performance should be defined according to the features of the system under test. In recent years, the increasing interest for sensorless electric motor drives involved the development and implementation of a wide set of control techniques. This paper reviews the state and the trends of measurement techniques and instruments applied for the experimental characterization of variable speed drives. 1. Introduction The test, monitoring, and maintenance of an electrical variable speed drives (VSDs) involve the measurement of several quantities, both electrical and mechanical. In detail, the development and the application of sensorless techniques for VSD involve the setting up of measurement system during the validation phase, even by adopting mechanical transducers that will not be present in the final release of the VSD. Typical electrical quantities are the supply voltage and current and the active power. The measurement of mechanical torque and rotation speed is also required to evaluate the mechanical power produced by the motor. High accuracy measurement of resistance ( ) and inductance ( ) are needed for the correct implementation of the motors model. A wide variety of instrument and transducers are available for the measurement of these quantities. Analogue instruments were generally used in the past, even if the recent trend has been toward digital instruments, because of better performance and remote communication capabilities. Due to the fast advancement of semiconductor power switching device technology and developments in microprocessor-based control systems, actually the VSDs are widespread because of their versatility. The utilization of such control devices makes the supply electrical quantities of the electrical motors strongly deformed [1]. The characterization of a VSD, using traditional techniques and sinusoidal signals, can give incorrect or misleading results, because of the different working conditions. High performance transducers can be successfully adopted for the development of data acquisition systems based on multichannel Data Acquisition Devices (DAQ). The evaluation of the VSD
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ape/2013/968671/