A PLC Based Power Factor Controller for a 3-Phase Induction Motor

A. R.ALAE*, M.M. Negm** and M. Kassas*

* EE Department, KFUPM, Box 323, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
Fax: 966-3-860-3535,Email: [email protected]
** EE Department,Ah-Shams University, Abbasia, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract- This paper proposes a Power Factor Controller One possible application is to use the PLC as a Power
(PFC) for a 3-phase Induction Motor (IM), utilizing the Factor Controller (PFC), in addition to its main job as a
Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). This work focuses on process control element. Accordingly, the authors propose a
the implementation of a laboratory model for a PLC based laboratory model for a PLC based PFC to improve the
PFC to improve the power factor of a 3-phase induction power factor of a 3-phase induction motor and keeping its
motor. In addition to keep lts voltage to frequency ratio
constant in order to maintain a maximum toque over the voltage to frequency ratio constant in order to maintain a
whole control conditions. During the on-line process a set of maximum torque over the whole control conditions.
capacitors sized in a binary ratio will be switched on or off During the on-line process a set of capacitors sized in
with the help of zero voltage static switches according to a binary ratio will be switched on or off with the help of zero
control strategy to obtain a pre-specified power factor. This voltage static switches according to a control strategy to
control strategy relies on a look-up table and an expert system. obtain a pre-specified power factor. This control strategy
The look-up table is prepared according to a measured value relies on a look-up table and an expert system. The look-up
of the phase angle between the stator phase voltage and the table is prepared according to a measured value of the
stator phase current. Implementation of a software algorithm phase angle between the stator phase voltage and the stator
incorporates measuring the power factor angle, selecting the
binary pattern according to the control strategy and sending phase current. Implementation of a software algorithm
command signals to switch the appropriate capacitors and incorporates measuring the power factor angle, selecting
protection switches. Zero voltage switching of static switches the binary pattern according to the control strategy and
is also allocated in the control algorithm to prevent the sending command signals to switch the appropriate
occurrence of the transients, pseudo oscillation and capacitors and protection switches. Zero voltage switching
harmonics. of static switches is also allocated in the control algorithm
Experimental studies have been carried-out for verifying the to prevent the occurrence of the transients, pseudo
operation performance of the proposed PFC under different oscillation and harmonics.
operating conditions. Details of the experimental setup and The described simple PFC with minimum hardware circuits
test results in addition to the recommendations are also
demonstrated. -
incomorates the following features:
Development of a simple circuit for quick
measurementof the phase angle
I. INTRODUCTION Discrete switching of the capacitors sized in a binary
ratio with the help of the zero voltage static switches to
prevent generation of harmonics and transients
Several industrial applications such as bullet trains,
Independent control of a reactive power in each phase
pumps, elevators, pulp and paper mills, electric arc
Development of a controller to keep the voltage to
fiunaces, distribution networks, petroleum and chemical
fkquency ratio of the induction motor constant over
process industries, etc., need the supply of capacitive VAR
the whole control operation conditions.
to improve the power factor [1]-[7]. Some of these are
Development of a controller which is fail-safe in
applications utilizing the induction motor as a drive element
with repetitive loads. In such application improving the operation
Provision of a synchronized operation with the line
power factor becomes essential [l]. In addition, if low
frequency so that any drift in line frequency does not
power factor is measured then penalty charges could be
cause transients or harmonics
si@ficant. Furthermore, electrical system with low power Detection and display of switch and/or capacitor failure
factor leads to increase energy cost and to reduce system
and provision of the best possible compensation even
capacity. Be.cause of these factors, power factor correction
under switch failure condition.
has become an important function in any industrial process
[1]-[lo]. The most common method of power factor
Experimental studies have been carried-out for verifymg
correction is the application of capacitors, which offset the
access inductive reactive load.
the operation performance of the proposed PFC system
under different operating conditions such as speed
Due to the recent development in the Programmable variation, load torque variation and the parameter variations
Logic Controller (PLC) technology, it has become widely of the 3-phase induction motor.
used in most industrial applications and utility plant [5]-[7].

0-7803-6401-5/00/$10.00 0 2000 IEEE

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In this study the angle between the stator phase voltage and possible to detect any switch failure. The CT4 and c T 5
the stator phase current is detected and then expanded using along with their associated circuits are used to measure the
electronic conditioning circuit. Latter, the measured angle is total inductive and capacitive currents respectively. This
sent to the PLC via an input module. After detecting this independent phase sensing of the reactive current d e s the
angle and according to the control strategy a decision is controller suitable for an unbalanced power system. The
made to send-out an output triggering signals to switch the voltage transformer VT4 and its associated circuits provide
desired capacitor pattem. After correcting the power factor, zero crossing detection.
a new phase angle will be detected during a specified time
to keep the power factor in a pre-specified range. If it is not I.. 2. Phase Conditioning Circuit
in the range, a new output pattem will be established and
The electronic circuit shown in Fig.3, depicts module-A
the phase angle will be monitored again, and so on, until the
for phase-A of the electronic conditiong circuit. The complete
pre-specified power factor value is always achieved. The
electronic conditiong circuit consists of three identical
laboratory hardware model comprises a S7-PLC, a 3-phase
modules,’each one of them comprises four stages. The first
squirrel cage induction motor and an electronic
stage is the comparison stage, the second is the XOR-stage,
conditioning circuit. Figs.1-3, show the system hardware
the third is the divider stage and the last is the amplifying
layout and its implementation. Details of the experimental
stage.
setup and test results in addition to the recommendatiom
are also demonstrated.
ZI. 3. The PLC
II. SYSTEM HARDWARE ARCHITECTURE The PFC is driven by S7-300PLC which consists of
several modules: Power Supply, CPU, Digital inputs,
The PFC hardware, Fig. 1, comprises a S7-PLC, and 3- Digital Outputs, Analog-to-Digital Converter and some
phase squirrel cage induction motor coupled with a dc shunt other modules that were not utilized by this project (see
generator, and an electronic conditioning circuit In this Fig.1).
figure current transformers (CTI, CT2, CT3) and voltage The digital input module is a 24VDC, 13-30 V for “1”
transformers (VTl, VT2, VT3) are used to measure the logic and -3 to 5 V for “0” logic, 32 input points. This
instantaneous stator current (IA, In, IC) and stator voltage module is used to read the three different pulses fiom the
(VA, Vg, Vc) for the 3-phase IM. These instantaneous signal conditioning circuit which represents the phase shift
values will send to an electronic conditioning circuit, which between the voltage and current in each phase (a,, , ,
defines the phase angle for each phase of the IM (@A, OB, Oc ). Another port of the digital input module is used to
Qc). These angles represent the phase shift between the read the output of the Zero Crossing Detector (ZCD)
phase voltage and the phase current for the three phases. circuit. Such information is used to switch the
The input module of S7 PLC receives these phase shifts compensation capacitors on or off at the zero crossing time
(@A, Cpe, Qc) in addition to phase voltage (VA), phase to minimize the transient effect.
current (iA,iAL, i&, stator frequency (F), rotor speed (w), The digital output module is a 32 points, 0.5 A output
capacitor currents (& k2,&), zero crossing detector signal current, 24 VDC rated load voltage. It is used to switch the
(ZCD), and fmally the load torque (TL). capacitors that will compensate for the power factor based
According to the control strategy stated later, the PLC will on the decision made by the control strategy that is written
send out driving signals to the PFC and protection circuit. as a software in the PLC. This decision is developed
Current transformers CT, and CT, and their associated according to the measurement of the phase shift, which is
circuitry are used only for phase-A in order to measure the introduced via the input module.
presence of under current on both the sides of the PFC and The analog module is a 2-channels, 12-bit analog-to-digital
protection circuit. The PFC will start only when the current converter (ADC). Two analog signals, the stator phase
on both of the ends is between specific limits. voltage ( V d and the stator frequency (F) are introduced to
the PLC control strategy through the ADC module. Firstly,
these signals are converted to DC signals utilizing two
II. I, PFC and Protection Circuit transducers before sending them to the ADC module of the
Details of the power factor controller (PFC) and PLC.
protection circuit for phase-A is illustrated in Fig.2. Three The first one of the two transducers is an ac-to-&
capacitors for each phase sized in a binary ratio (10,20,40 transducer (Vac-to-V&) for the phase voltage while the
,uf,38OV) are connected between the line and neutral second is a frequency to voltage transducer (F-to-VDc) for
the stator fiequency. These two signals are used to maintain
through current transformers (CT6, CT7, CT8) and zero constant ratio of voltageto-frequency (VA / F) during the
voltage static triac switches (Tl, T2, T3). This gives 8
power factor correction process.
discrete steps of switching of capacitors including zero. The voltage transducer accepts an input analog signal
The CT-8 are used for lighting the corresponding rang of 01-50 VAC and gives an output of 1-5 V DC
LED’s when currents flow through the respective
capacitors. Furthermore, the output of the C T ’ s goes to
though 5Kn.On the other hand, the frequency transducer
accepts input single in the range of 55-65Hz with a voltage
make their respective port bits high.
The triac switches are energized directly by other ports.
*
of 120 VAC 10% and gives 0-5V DC through a load of
By checking the bits of these two different sets of ports, it is 5m.

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 1

PLC: Power Supply, CPU,Inputs, Outputs, and ADC module

c
ConditioningCircuit F-to-Vm V,-tO-Vm

VA iA vg iB vc ic

Fig.1. A compxhensive laboratory model.

11.4. The Control Strategy The rule-based technique comprises some facts, rules and
comparison sets. The inputs to this technique are the
The control strategy of the PFC relies on a lookup table measured currents (iA.. iAL , iAc , ic, , icz,ic3 ) voltage (V,,),
stator frequency (F) and the zero crossing detector signal
and an expert system depends on a rule-based technique.
(ZCD). According to the rule-based technique, protection
Referring to Fig.4, which illustrates the appropriate
signals will be send-out to alarm and switch some tripping
equivalent circuit per phase of a 3-phase IM (phase-A),
coils connected with the PF and protection circuit. This is
during correction of the pf using the phase capacitor C.
The equivalent motor reactance per phase is X, and the
to keep voltage to frequency ratio constant and switching
the capacitors with the help of the zcro voltage static
equivalent motor resistance per phase is req= 5 r; / S , + switches. In addition to control the reactive power in each
phase independently and to develop controller that is fail-
where s is the rotor slip, while rl and r, are the stator and safe in operation. Finally, to provide a synchronized
rotor resistances per phase for IM.Table-I, indicates the operation with the line frequency as well as to detect and
look-up table of the control strategy which illustrates the display of switch and/or capacitor failure and to provide the
,
output control pattern (s,~,s~",s~~;...,s~=), to select the best possible compensation even under switch failure
phase capacitor (C), the power factor (cos a),the power condition.
factor angle (0~) and the measured input time (a in msec).
From table-I, the power factor can be improved from III. LABORATORY IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING
0.9100 lagging to 0.991 lagging by switching the
appropriate output control pattern ( S ~ ~ , S ~ ~ , S ~ A ; . , . , S ~ ~to) , A prototype was designed and implemcnted in the
laboratory using the following devices and equipments:
drive the phase capacitor (C) from 70pF to OpF,
respectively.

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 f

LM324
ZCD
vr4 outpul

Alarm
to the
(PW

Fig. 2. (a) The PFC and protection circuit, (b) the trim switch.

"A

i,
-
- - -
Comparison
Stage
XOR-
Stage
MODULE A

Divider
Stage --+
Amplifying
Stage
Q1A

Fig. 3. The electronic conditioning circuit for phase A.

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 1. Three Phase Induction Motor: 3kW, 1110 rpm, 60 Hz, and an expert system has been described and its
12.8 A, 208 line voltage A-connected 3-phase performance has been assessed. Features like a)
squirrel cage coupled with 4 kW, 1720 rpm, 16.7 A, interlocking, i.e., disabling the controller until it detects
240 V dc generator. currents, voltage, frequency, and power factor angles. b)
2. S7-300PLC as described in Section-11. switch failure detection, alarm and display, c) monitoring
3. Signal conditioning circuit to supply the phase shift voltage to frequency ratio constant during correcting the pf,
and the zero crossing detector. d) independent control of reactive currents in each phase
4.Voltage and frequency transducers to supply the and maximum compensation even when switch failure
voltage and frequency to be used to monitor the V/F occurs, have all been incorporated in the s o h a r e program.
ratio. The software strategy adopted will be particularly helpful in
5. Solid-state relays and three capacitors per phase for visualizing the various problems involved in power factor
power factor correction compensation (eight control. By using zero voltage heavy-duty thyristor
different combinations). switches, the PFC system can be easily applied for any
The software algorithm of the control strategy was industrial process.
implemented using a ladder diagram technique (see the The experiments are clearly demonstrated the following
Appendix). The flowchart indicated in Fig.5, shows how items:
the control strategy is simply implemented. Different 1) the utility of a PLC in the design of a PFC, 2) the control
operatiug conditions are carried out in the laboratory and strategy associated with PFC, 3) the physical visualization
their experimental test results are collected and indicated in of the power factor improvement with the use of PFC, and
Figs.6-10. Figs.6-7, are taken under no load conditions, 4) monitoring the voltage to frequency ratio constant and
while Figs.8-9, are obtained under balanced load using a PFC as a reactive power compensator.
conditions. The unbalanced load condition is indicated in Advantages of the proposed PFC compared with other
Fig.10. These figures depict the stator phase voltage (VJ, controllers are:
and the stator phase current (i”). The control strategy may be adopted for power factor
Table-2, indicates the measurements of the voltage, and protection control.
currents, power, motor speed and the power factor angle with Such controller will not introduce any harmonics in the
different capacitor values for the given figures. system. This might pose a serious challenge to the fixed
capacitor thyristor controller reactor type of compensator,
TABLE 1 No drastic change in hardware circuitry is envisaged
to cope with different VAR ratings, only the rating of the
Look-up table for PFC static switches and the capacitors need to be changed.
There will be no change in the software strategy.

0 0 0 0 0.9991 2.431 0.1125

0 0 1 10 0.9949 5.793 0.2682
0 1 0 20 0.9874 9.116 0.4221
0 1 1 30 0.9768 12.379 0.5731
1 0 0 40 0.9633 15.562 0.7204
1 0 1 50 0.9475 18.649 0.8634
1 1 0 60 0.9296 21.626 1.0013
1 1 1 70 0.9100 24.489 1.338
~~~ ~~

IV.RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

A power factor controller is implemented in this paper

using a programmable logic controller to improve the pf of
a 3-phase IM over different operating conditions. The PLC
has been used to energize capacitors in each phase, Fig. 4 (a) Equivalent circuit of IM under control.
allocated in a binary ratio with the help of zero voltage triac @) Phasor representation.
switches. The control strategy comprises a look-up table

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 Scales for Figs. 6-10 are.:
forcumts 2AiDiv.
for voltages 100 V/Div.

.f
Calculate the power factor

h The desired PF ?

Send the corrected switching

Fig.5. Flowchart for power factor controller Fig. 8. Motor with load and zero capacitors.

Fig.10. Motor with unblance load and 70 pF capacitor

Fig.7. Motor with load and m capacitors. added.

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 Diagnostic self-checking routines may be incorporated The PFC could be cost effective since a PLC may be
where most hardware failures may be detected and the PLC used as a PFC besides its main job as a process control
could be stopped. element.

TABLE 2
Laboratov Test Measurements

VA N @A i~ iB ic ~AC ~BL in ~AC iec ~CC Fig.

(P)(V) (W (Vm) (msec) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) ?Y

0 195 420 1192 2.8 2.22 2.22 2.22 2.22 2.22 2.22 0.0 0.0 0.0 6

40 195 70 1192 1.0 0.77 0.77 0.77 2.19 2.19 2.19 1.8 1.8 1.8 7

0 195 1580 1139 1.6 5 5 5 5 5 5 0 0 0 8

40 195 1560 1135 0.6 4.45 4.45 4.45 5 5 5 1.75 1.75 1.75 9

70 195 1860 1134 0.0 4.21 5.23 5.43 5.26 5.31 5.4 3.08 0.0 0.0 10

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
[6] A. Cali, A. Irrera, N. Leotta, N. Messina, U. Vagliasindi.
The authors would like to thank King Fahd University of “Management of reactive power on a radial M.V. network using
Petroleum & Minerals for the received support. an expert system”, MELECON’96, Elcctro-technical
ConfWCe.vol. 3-.. . 0 ~ .1603-1606.19%.
[7] S.R Shilling, “A practical- approach to automting
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