The development of an integrated induction motor drive system using a network of transputers

The inherent advantages of the induction motor in variable speed drive applications can now be realized in a cost-effective manner as a result of the recent advances in both power electronics and microelectronics. The emphasis on AC variable speed drive system design has recently shifted from achieving efficient and reliable power conversion to improving the dynamic response of the drive. It has been envisaged that, with the emergence of more powerful processors, integrated drive systems comprising such features as simulation study, real time control, monitoring and diagnostics can be developed and engineered cost-effectively in the near future. One key approach to realise such drives is by means of parallel processing. It is however important to identify different parallel structures within the drive system and to allocate a carefully balanced load to each processor (load balancing), if the benefits of parallel processing are to be reaped. Parallel processing application in induction motor drive systems has only been considered recently and very limited literature is available. Whereas research activities in applying parallel processing in other fields (e.g. image processing) are very active, the search, rather than research, in this area must therefore be sustained. This paper describes the initial development of an integrated induction motor drive system by means of parallel processing