Performance Assessment of SVM Modulation Techniques for Losses Reduction in Induction Motor Drives

This paper analyses the switching losses in high power level induction machine drives and investigates how to improve their efficiency using suitably chosen space vector modulation (SVM) techniques. Three different SVM strategies to control the inverter have been compared and contrasted: the two-phase modulation, the symmetrical modulation and a strategy obtained by a combination of both of the previous techniques. The losses of the inverter are estimated using a simulation model and then compared with experimental measures on a 200 kW oil cooled induction motor drive. The efficiency of the whole drive is simulated and experimentally measured in order to evaluate the overall losses and accurately assess the modulation performance in the view of a rational optimization of different system aspects.