Electric Power Systems Research, 8 (1984/85) 41 - 51 41

A Comparison between Star and Delta Connected Induction Motors when

Supplied by Current Source Inverters

P. PILLAY, R. G. HARLEY and E. J. ODENDAL

Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Natal, King George V Avenue, Durban 4001 (South Africa)
(Received April 9,1984)

SUMMAR Y cy. The DC link between rectifier and inverter

can be operated with the link voltage held
This paper analyses whether any differ- constant, or with the link current held con-
ences in behaviour arise due to an induction stant; the latter method is illustrated in Fig. 1
motor being star or delta connected when and is usually referred to as a current source
supplied by a current source inverter. Two inverter (CSI).
comparisons are considered. The first is that Sinusoidal currents cannot be applied to
of a delta connected motor compared to a the motor from a CSI inverter; instead quasi-
star connected motor of the same power and square blocks [1] of current are applied
voltage ratings; the star connected motor in which adversely affect the motor operation
this case is then mathematically the delta [1 - 3]. Some investigations [2,3] have con-
connected motor's equivalent star connection. sidered star connected induction motor
The second case considered is that of a delta stators while others [4,5] have evaluated
connected mo tor rewired as a star connected delta connections. A comparison of the
motor. behaviour due to either a star or delta
connected stator has not been presented.
The purpose of this paper is therefore to
1. INTRODUCTION investigate whether any differences in behav-
ior arise due to the method of stator connec-
The induction motor is robust and cheap tion of a CSI-fed motor with special reference
and with the advent of power semiconductors to the torque harmonics. The paper firstly
is being used widely in variable speed applica- evaluates the behaviour of. the motor with
tions. Frequency conversion usually takes phases A, Band c..c..Qllnected in delta, and
place by first rectifying the fixed AC mains uses the current waveforms as shown in Fig.
and then inverting to a new variable frequen- 2. It then evaluates th~ performance of this

w "

.
CONTROL CONTROL

C I RCU!TRY C I RCU!TRY

Fig. 1. Current source inverter-fed induction motor drive.

0378-7796/84/$3.00 @ Elsevier Sequoia/Printed in The Netherlands

'i~

; .
'U-
~-_.
111:.
I".. nd amenta!
!-sII

ias 0
-",
-1II
- ..-..
-3-:31,

-. .-- .- - ..-

I,
II
.- .-- .. -_u. -- -0 -0
- fundamental
.-,

i 0
cs

. _. --.
- ~'311

I
I,
fundamental

. --- - _n_- --_.

iAL 0

--u_-_u- .-- ---. - , . -

-I,r

I 1 1 1 1 1 1 L. --. ---
DC 600 L2o 1800 2400 3000 3600 4200

Fig. 2, Line and phase current waveforms in a delta connected induction motor.

same delta connected motor, but mathemat- compared to the 4-step current waveform of
ically represents the delta by its star equiv- Fig. 2.
alent as shown in Fig. 3. The benefit of using The paper then continues to analyse the
an equivalent star for simulation purposes is same motor, but with the three stator phases
the simpler 3-step current waveform of Fig. 3 physically reconnected into star as shown in
 43

iAL

iSL
. I
. B

..
lCL

iAL t
i
as

.-iSL
ibs
iCL
i cs

u_- -----
h
fundamental

iAL
i 0
as
--- -- - --

--- - -- - --- - -- - -- -- __bO- --- ----

.. - h ,
.- ----
-12
I
j
~ t 1 .L.- 1 -1
00 6~ ltoo 180 2400 3000 3600 420.

Fig. 3. Line and phase current waveforms in a star connected induction motor.

Fig. 4 in order to establish whether the actual 2. THEORY

connection has any effect on the motor per-
formance. 2.1. Analysis of the current waveforms
In these comparisons particular attention is Table 1 shows a list of motor parameters in
paid to torque harmonics. terms of the original delta winding, the equiv-
44

TABLE 1
Motor parameters

Motor A Motor B Motor C

Delta Equivalent star Star

Line voltage (V) 380 380 658 1

Phase voltage (V) 380 220 380
Line current (A) 43.20 43.20 24.94
Phase current (A) 24.94 43.20 24.94
Base voltage (phase) (V) 380 220 380
Base current (phase) (A) 24.94 43.20 24.94
Base power (3Vphlph) (kV A) 28.43 28.43 28.43
Base impedance (Vphllph) (it) 15.24 5.08 15.24
Stator resistance (it) 0.333 0.111 0.333
Rotor resistance (it) 0.897 0.299 0.897
Stator leakage reactance (it) 0.762 0.254 0.762
Rotor leakage reactance (it) 2.052 0.684 2.052
Magnetizing reactance (it) 47.4 15.8 47.4
Stator resistance (p.u.) 0.021 0.021 0.021
Rotor resistance (p.u.) 0.057 0.057 0.057
Stator leakage reactance (p.u.) 0.049 0.049 0.049
Rotor leakage reactance (p.u.) 0.132 0.132 0.132
Magnetizing reactance (p.u.) 3.038 3.038 3.038

is responsible for running the machine up to

speed is due to interaction between the
fundamental air gap flux and fundamental
rotor current; the harmonic rotor currents do
not affect this torque, they merely produce
pulsating torques that have average values of
zero.
Fig. 4. Delta winding reconnected in star.
The phase current in Fig. 2 has the follow-
ing Fourier series:
ias = (3j1T)II[sin(nwt) + sin(5wt)j5
alent star (or in other words a star connected
motor of the same power and voltage ratings) + sin(7wt)j7 + . . .] (1)
and the motor reconnected in a star connec- where n is the harmonic number. The currents
tion; for convenience they are referred to as in the other two phases of the motor, ibs(wt)
motors A, Band C respectively. An important and ics(wt) are described by similar expres-
result from Table 1 is that the per unit im- sions except that the sin(nwt) in eqn. (1) is
pedances are equal for all three motors [6]. replaced by sin(hwt - A) and sin(nwt + A) res-
The characteristic current waveform of pectively.
each winding (Figs. 2 - 4) is applied to each The phase current in Fig. 3 on the other
motor to determine such quantities as run-up hand has the. following Fourier series:
time, terminal voltage, speed and torque. The
currents in Figs. 2 - 4 can be described in ias = (2V3j1T)I2[sin(nwt) - sin(5wt)j5
terms of their Fourier series, and in each case - sin(7wt)j7 + . . .] (2)
the peak value of the fundamental is chosen Equations (1) and (2) have the same harmonic
as 1 p.u. This ensures that all three motors are components except for 1800 phase shifts in
able to supply the same output power. Also it the 5th, 7th, 17th, 19th, etc. harmonics. The
is known [5, 7] that the magnitude of the fundamental components of the two phase
fundamental component of current deter- currents are drawn in Figs. 2 - 4; in the delta
mines the average response of the induction case the magnitude of the fundamental com-
motor (for example run-up time), with the ponent is (3j1T)II= 0.955 II, whereas in the
harmonic currents having only parasitic star case the magnitude of the fundamental
effects. For example, the average torque that component is (2V3j1T)I2 = 1.103 12; that is,
 45

the fundamental component of current is [Vz] = [VdZ,vqzF

smaller than the peak value of the delta wave-
form but larger than the peak value of the star [iz] = [idZ, iqzF (8)
waveform. Hence to ensure a 1 p.u. funda- [id = [idl, iqlF
mental component in the delta case (motor
A), II is chosen equal to 1.047 p.u., while to The other matrices in eqn. (7) appear in
ensure a 1 p.u. fundamental component in the Appendix C. In a short-circuited rotor VdZand
star cases (B and C), Iz is chosen equal to 0.91 VqZare zero, in which case eqn. (8) can be re-
p.u. arranged to yield the following differential
Since all the harmonics have amplitudes equations for the rotor currents in state space
that are inversely proportional to their order, form:
the amplitudes of the corresponding harmon-
ics of the delta and star waveforms are equal p[iz] = -[B]{[Rz] + sWi[Gz][iz]
if their fundamental components are equal. + SWi[Gd [id + [Lm]P [id} (9)
where [B] = [Lzr1. Equation (9) is nonlinear
2.2. Two-axis analysis of the CSI-fed and is integrated numerically step by step to
induction motor yield values for idz and iqz, and together with
The analysis of the CSI-fed induction idl and iql these are used to compute the elec-
motor, summarized below, is based on the trical torque Te from
well-known [8] two-axis theory. An idealized
symmetric motor is assumed with a balanced
Te = LmWb(idZiql - iqzidd/3 (10)
sinusoidal airgap mmf and a linear magnetic The mechanical motion is described by
circuit. Iron and mechanical losses, stray load = (Te - Td/J
PWr (11)
losses and mechanical damping are all neg-
lected. All motor resistances and inductances For a sinusoidal line current to the motor idl
are independent of frequency, which limits and iql are constant quantities in a synchro-
the usefulness of these models to wound rotor nously rotating reference frame. However, in
and single cage rotors with shallow bars. the case of an inverter-fed motor, where the
The two-axis voltage equations of a voltage- line current consists of a series of harmonics
fed induction motor can be summarized as (eqns.(l) and (2, idl and iql are functions of
follows in terms of a reference frame rotating time and are defined by the Park transform
in synchronism with the fundamental com- operating on each harmonic component and
ponent of the stator current: summing the result. Expressions for pidl> piql
[v] = [R][i] + [L]p[i] + Wi[F][i] +swi[G][i] are required in eqn. (9) and are found by dif-
ferentiating the summed series expressions for
(3)
idl and iql , as shown in Appendix D.
where
A computer program was developed to
[v] = [Vd\> Vq\> VdZ, lIqZ]T (4) predict the dynamic behaviour of the CSI-fed
induction motor drive. The independent
[i] = [idl> iq\> idz, iqzF (5) variables are idl> iq\>pidl and piql, and their
s = (Wi - Wr)/Wi (6) accuracy depends on the number n of
harmonics used in the Fourier series. The
The other matrices in eqn. (3) appear in value of n has to be infinity in order to rep-
Appendix C. Moreover, in the case of a cur- resent the waves in Figs. 2(b) and 3(b) exact-
rent source inverter, idl and iql are indepen- ly. However, it was shown elsewhere [4] that
dent predefined variables (obtained from thirty-one (n = 31) current harmonics yield
Park's transform of ias, ibs and ics) and differ- sufficient accuracy with the advantage of
ential equations are only required for the keeping computation time down.
rotor or secondary currents idz and iqz such The program starts by finding the mag-
that [4] nitude of each of the thirty-one harmonic
[vz] = [Rz] [iz] + [Lz]p[iz] + [Lm]p[id components. It then calculates idl, iql> pidl
and piql. From this it calculates idz, iqz, Te
+ Wi[Gd [id + swJ Gz] [iz] (7) and wr as stated above at each step of the
where integration process.
46

3. RESULTS are the same for the delta and star connected
motors when expressed in p.u. The line cur-
This section uses the above techniques to rent needed (this specifies the link current in-
evaluate the response of the delta connected directly) is 43.2 A rms for both the delta
motor A (which has a 4-step waveform) and connected motor A and the star connected
of the star connected motors Band C (which motor B of the same power and voltage rat-
have 3-step waveforms). Note that a simula- ings. Hence, a given current source inverter
tion done for motor B is also true for motor C able to supply current to motor A would also
if the analysis is carried out in p.u. form, be- be able to supply it to motor B. The only dif-
cause the current waveform is the same and ference in operation between these two
they have the sanle p.u. impedances; however, motors is the presence of a different number
the physical magnitudes of the different of voltage spikes per cycle. However, motor C
variables will be different because they have only requires 24.94 A in its line in order to
different voltage and current base values. The supply full power. This means that the
significance of this will be explained later. current ratings of its current source inverter
Figure 5 shows the no-load start-up results can be less. Nevertheless, its terminal voltage
when the motor is supplied from the 10 Hz, (when it draws 24.94 A) is 658 rms, and in
4-step current waveform of Fig. 2, while Fig. any practical system this voltage gets reflected
6 shows the corresponding waveforms when back to the input voltages of the rectifier
the motor is started up from the 3-step which must now be rated at 658 V rms.
current waveform of Figs. 3 and 4. These Hence the induction motor winding cannot be
results show that the run-up time and torque changed from delta to star when driven by a
pulsations in p.u. are exactly the same for all current source inverter without changing the
three motors. Howeyer, since all three ma- ratings of the current source inverter itself
chines have the same power and frequency (Le. a reduction of its current rating by .J3
bases, the physical magnitudes of the motor and an increase of its voltage rating by .J31.
torque pulsations are also equal. The mag- These results also show that, as far as the
nitude of the terminal voltages are equal, but dynamics of the motor are concerned, a delta
the 3-step current waveform with four current connected motor can be analysed in terms of
transitions per cycle produces four voltage its equivalent star connection.
spikes per cycle, while the 4-step current
waveform produces six voltage spikes per
cycle. Since these voltage spikes stress the 4. CONCLUSIONS
motor insulation, the star connected motor
which produces the lower number of voltage This paper has compared the differences in
spikes may be preferable. behaviour between a delta connected motor,
Figure 7 shows the FFTs of the phase cur- its star equivalent of the same power and
rents for the star (3-step) and delta (4-step) voltage ratings and the original delta recon-
waveforms. The FFT of the star waveform in nected into star. Simulations have been
Fig. 7(a) shows that the fundamental com- carried out with the .motors represented by
ponent of the current is 2 p.u. peak-to-peak their two-axis equations and their current
(the magnitude of the fundamental compo- waveforms by Fourier: series. The magnitudes
nent of current was chosen as 1 p.u. peak); of the fundamental components of the phase
the magnitude of the fundamental component currents for all three eases were chosen to be
of the delta waveform in Fig. 7(b) is also 2 equal to 1 p.u. The following conclusions can
p.u. peak-to-peak, and the magnitudes of all be drawn:
the relative current harmonics in Fig. 7(b) are (a) The harmonic' current components
equal to those in Fig. 7(a). The FFTs of present in the phase ~urrent of a delta con-
torque in Figs. 7(c) and (d) show that the nected inductionmobor fed from a CSI are
individual torque harmonics which add up to the same as those present in a star connected
produce the torque pulsations in Figs. 5(c) motor.
and 6(c) are also equal. (b) Provided the magnitudes of the funda-
These results show that the run-up time mental components of these currents are
and the magnitude of the torque pulsations specified as equal in p.u., the delta connected
 1.
PHASE CURRENT 2.'"
TORQUE

:i :i
n: n:

".

I-
Z III
III ::>
0:: CJ
0:: -1." 0::
::> 0
u I-

-1.5 -1. "

iii."" .25 .5" .15 1."" 1.25 1.5" Jii."" .25 .50
TIME (a) SEC TIME (b)

PHASE VOLTAGE 250.-- SPEED

2. (1)>/1>>.)

:i
n: 1.

".

III
U -1.
<
I- iii 50. ",
J III
0 a.
> U)

-2." ".",
iii."" .25 .5" .15 1."" 1.25 1.5" iii."" . 25 .5" .15 1."" 1.25 1.50
TIME (c) SEC TIME (d) SEC

Fig. 5. Predicted start-up of a delta connected CSI.fed induction motor.

 H>-
1.1!J
PHASE CURRENT
---+--- TORQUL--+--- -f-- -+ 00

::i ::i
n: n:

I- W
Z ::J
W
0: 0
0: 0:
::J Q
U I-
-1.1!J I I I I
9.1!J1!J .25 .51!J .75 1. I!JI!J 1.25 1.51/1 .25 .51!J .75 1.1!J1!J 1. 25 1. 51!J
TIME (a) SEC TIME (b) SEC

SPEED (w/ws)
1.5 PHASE . VOLTAGE -..
~ -+-- 251!J.1!J:

::i
n:

-1. 5 I!J.I!J,
9.1!J1!J .25 .51!J .75 1.01!J 1.25 1.51!J 9.1!J1!J .25 .51!J .75 1.1/10 1.25 1. 50
TIME (c) SEC TIME (d) SEC

Fig. 6. Predicted start-up of a star connected CSI-fed induction motor.

 FFT OF CURR-STAR FFT OF CURR-DELTA
+ f f-- t--
I 1
::J ::J
n: n:

1.0

l1J l1J
0 0
::J ::J
I- .5 I-
5 III 5
...J ...J
IL IL
< 29 31 35 37 < 11 1 LJ LJ 29 31 35 37
0.0 0.0aILl 1\1\ ;A-A 1\ 1\, /\/\ /\,/\ 1\ 1\
0.00 100.00 30"- 00 400.00 "- 00 100.00 200.00 300.00 400.00
FREO. HZ. FREO. (b) HZ.

FFT OF TORO-STAR FFT OF TORO-DELTA

-----+
1000. 1111 ,6th
::J ::J
n: I rh

12th
-1
18th
12th

18th
l1J
24,th '''_h "_I. I E 400.0i II 1 24th
0
::J
I-
...J
IL
...J
IL
< <
]' 0.00
IL-J,L-JL!
100.00 200.00 300.00 4Q10.1/!1/!
-200.
0.01/! 11/!0.1/!0 201/!.1/!0 300.1/!0 400.00
FREO. (c) HZ. FREO. (d) HZ.

Fig. 7. FFTs of current and torque for the star and delta connected induction motors.
motor, its star equivalent and the reconnected Wb nominal frequency at which p.u.
star have the same run-up time. This also torque = p.u. power
means that any delta connected motor can be Wi fundamental frequency of inverter
analysed in terms of its star equivalent for Wr rotor speed
dynamic studies.
(c) The torque pulsations produced in all
three motors are the same because they all REFERENCES
have the same power and frequency base
values. Individual torque harmonics which 1 J. M. D. Murphy, Thyristor Control of AC
add up to make the torque pulsations are also Motors, Pergamon Press, 1973, ISBN
0080169430.
equal in magnitude for all three motors. 2 T. A. Lipo, Analysis and control of torque pulsa-
(d) The only difference in response be- tions in current fed induction motor drives, IEEE
tween a star connected and a delta connected IAS Annual Meeting, 1978, Paper No. CH 1337-
motor supplied from a current source inverter 5/78.
is the reduction in voltage spikes in the case 3 W. Farrer and T. D. Miskin, Quasi-sinewave fully
of the star connections. regenerative inverter, Proc. Inst. Electr. Eng., 120
(1973) 969 - 976.
4 R. G. Harley, P. Pillay and E. J. Odendal, Analys-
ing the dynamic behaviour of an induction motor
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS fed from a current source inverter, Trans. S. Afr.
Inst. Electr. Eng., 75 (3) (Nov./Dec.) (1984).
5 V. Subrahmanyam, S. Yuvarajan and B. Raamas-
The authors acknowledge the assistance of wami, Analysis of commutation of a current
D.C. Levy, R.C.S. Peplow and H.L. Nattrass inverter feeding an induction motor load, IEEE
in the Digital Processes Laboratory of the Trans., IA-16 (1980) 332 - 341.
Department of Electronic Engineering, 6 B. M. Weedy, Electric Power Systems, Wiley,
Chichester, U.K_, 1979, ISBN 0471 27584 O.
University of Natal. They are also grateful for 7 M. L. Macdonald and P. C. Sen, Control loop
financial support received from the CSIR and study of induction motor drives using DQ model,
the University of Natal. Trans. IEEE, IECI-26 (Nov.) (1979) 237 - 243.
8 B. Adkins and R. G. Harley, The General Theory
of Alternating Current Machines: Application to
NOMENCLATURE Practical Problems, Chapman and Hall, London,
1975, ISBN 0412155605.
9 L. P. Heulsman, Basic Circuit Theory with Digital
CSI current source inverter Computations, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs,
ias phase A stator current NJ, 1972, ISBN 0131574309.
iall line current corresponding to phase A
II peak value of ias for the delta con-
nected motor APPENDIX A
12 peak value of ias for the star con-
nected motor Derivation of the Fourier series of line current
idl> Vdl stator d-axis current and voltage The stator phase current waveform ias
id2, Vd2 rotor d-axis current and voltage applied to the star connected motor is shown
iql> Vql stator q-axis current and voltage in Fig. 3. This waveform is symmetrical about
iq2, Vq2rotor q-axis current and voltage the wt axis and f(wt) = -f(-wt). Hence ias
J inertia of motor can be represented as a Fourier series [9]
L11 stator self inductance such that
L22 rotor self inductance
Lm mutual inductance
ias = B1 sin(wt) + B2 sin(2wt) + ...
p derivative operator d/dt + Bn sin(nwt) (A-I)
R 1, R 2 stator and rotor phase resistances where
s slip
Te electrical torque
Bn = [cos(nrr/6) - cos(n5rr/6)]2Idnrr (A-2)
TL load torque Hence
A 2rr/3
() arbitrary angle = wt ias = ~ Bn sin(nwt) (A-3)
w arbitrary frequency n=1
 51

ibs= L
n=l
Bn sin(nwt - A) APPENDIX C

(A-3 ) Definition of Park's orthogonal transforma-

tion matrix
ies = L Bn sin(nwt
n=l
+ A)
[FOdqd = [PO][Fabed (C-l)
This analysis is similar for the phase current
where
waveform in Fig. 2.
yTf2 yT72 yT72
APPENDIXB [Po] =v'213 cos () cos() - A) cos() + A)

Elements of matrices
[sin () sin()- A) sin()+ A) l
0
(C-2)
Rl 0 0
0 Rl 0 0 [F abed = [Por1[Fodqd (C-3)
[R] = I0 0 R2 0
In the synchronously rotating reference
0 0 0 R2 - frame where the frame rotates at speed w, the
angle () = wt.
-
LlI 0 Lm 0
;
L11 0 Lm
[L] = 10
Lm 0 L22 0
APPENDIX D
0 Lm 0 L22
Derivatives of the stator currents
From Park's orthogonal transform
0 LlI 0 Lm (Appendix C),
0 -Lm 0
[F] = I-Lll
0 idl = v'213[iAL COS () + iBL cos() - A)
0 0 0
0 0 0 0 + iCL cos() + A)] (D-l)
Hence

0 0 0 0 pidl = v'213[PiAL COS() + piBL cos() - A)

0 0 0 0 + piCL cos() + A) - iALW sin ()
[G] = I
0 Lm 0 L22 - iBLW sin() - A) - iCLW sin() + A)]
-Lm 0 -L22 0 -
L
(D-2)

' iql = v'213[iAL sin () + iBLsin() - A)

[R2]= [R'
0 ,] [G,] -L22
[0 + iCL sin() + A)] (D-3)
Hence

[G,] 0 piql = v'213[piAL sin () + piBL sin() - A)

-Lm l [Lm] [m J + piCL sin() + A) + iALW cos ()

+ iBLW cos() - A) + iCLW cos() + A)]

[L,] [" 2J (D-4 )