International Conference on Intelligent and Advanced Systems 2007

PLC-based Fuzzy Logic Controller for

Induction-motor Drive with Constant V/Hz Ratio
Muhammad ArrofiqI , Nordin Saad2
1,2 Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS,
Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia
Imuhammad_arrofiq@utp.edu.my
2 nord iss@petronas.com.my

Abstract- This paper presents the design and implementation
of a PLC-based fuzzy logic controller for an induction motor
speed control at constant V1Hz ratio. The PLC has arithmetic
and logic operations instructions set that was utilized in the
implementation of the fuzzy control of induction motor speed
control [9]-[12]. Fuzzy logic algorithm applies rules obtained
from human expert of a system. The input signals to Fuzzy
controller are the linguistic variable of speed error and change
of speed error, while the output signal is frequency of PWM
inverter. The supply voltage to the induction motor is
ascertained from frequency output requirement using constant
V1Hz ratio. The objective of the controller is to provide stability
in responds to disturbance and sudden changes in reference
speed. Results of the proposed system show satisfactory
performance.
Keywords: Fuzzy logic, Induction-motor drive, Fuzzy-PLC,
speed control.
I. INTRODUCTION
Induction motors are widely used in industry due to their
ruggedness, price and reliable [1 ]-[3], [6]. However,
induction motors possess non-linear and time-varying
dynamic interactions [3], [4], [8]. In many applications
conventional control design that is based on mathematical
model of the controlled plant or system have been utilized.
Usually the mathematical model is quite complex or not easy
to be determined [7]. Furthermore, the conventional controls
are only effective at a certain operating point [13]. On the
other hand, the intelligent control that is based on artificial
intelligent can emulate the human thinking process. In the
knowledge of expert that expressed in rule, fuzzy logic
present a slightly superior dynamic performance when
compare with a more conventional scheme [3], [8], and that
the controller design does not require explicit knowledge of
motor/load dynamic [7]. Interestingly, the fuzzy logic
controller posses the same characteristic as the traditional PI
controller which means it reduces steady-state error but yields
penalized rise time and settling time. In this study, the PLC-
based fuzzy controller is developed to monitor and control
the motor speed of an induction motor. The system hardware
consists of the fuzzy-PLC, dynamometer, inverter, and a
touch screen panel.
II. PI-TYPE Fuzzy LOGIC CONTROL
The block diagram of the switching PI-type fuzzy
controller is shown in Fig. 1. In this work, the PLC is
programmed to mimic a fuzzy logic controller, based on the
concept as outlines in Fig. 1.
Figure 2 illustrates the devices used and connection
between each device. Analog module is used to interface the
PLC with an inverter and a dynamometer. The dynamometer
provides value of the actual speed in terms of analog voltage.
It also provides terminals to specify load applied to the motor.
The inverter interfaces the PLC and the motor and converts
the corresponding input DC voltage to the required output
frequency and voltage. The control signal to the inverter is
analog signal representing the desired inverter output
frequency. The touch screen panel functions as human-
machine-interface (HMI) to provide interactive com-
munication between the systems and operator. The
communication between PLC and HMI is established by
serial communication. The reference speed and amount of
motor load are simply applied to the system via the touch
screen. It also used to set the membership functions point of
input and output while the system is in the run mode.

1-----------------------------
I PLC :
Ref1 + Error I
I ~
I e(n). e(n-1) I
I Z I I
I Actual
--------------------- 1

Fig. 1. System block diagram

1-4244-1355-9/07/$25.00 @2007 IEEE -- 93

 International Conference on Intelligent and Advanced Systems 2007

Inverter I---
Induction
Motor ~ Dynamometer

Programmable Logic Controller

I----.....J Control Signal

CPU
Analog
Module ~
~
--=-
Feedback Signal -J
Load Signal

1
Human Machine Interface

Communication Signal
Touch Panel

Fig. 2. Block diagram of test rig

Fuzzy Logic Operation in PLe 0, forx<a

The speed of the induction motor is available for controller x-a
design. From the speed, the speed error and the change in for a~x<b
b-a'
speed error (CoE) are derived. The performance of Fuzzy f.1F = c-x
(1)
controller is determined by the set of linguistic rules based on forb~x~c
c-b'
knowledge [8]. To construct a rule base, the speed error and
0, forx>c
change of speed error are partitioned into seven primary
fuzzy sets labelled as {NB, NM, NS, ZE. PS, PM, PB}. The (2)
rule is expressed in the form IF (antecedent) THEN
(consequence). The PI-type fuzzy logic controller, constitute
~f more than one activated rule, e.g. Rule p and Rule q,
rules of the form: aSSIgn the same output, then the strength of the rule will
IF (x is AI) AND (y is B I) THEN (z is C I )
follow (3).
where,
JlCp&q(z) = max { min [JlAI(x), JlB1(y)],
Al is one of the fuzzy set of the fuzzy X (i.e. speed error)
B I is one of the fuzzy set of the fuzzy Y (i.e. change of min [JlA2(x), JlB 2(y)] } (3)
speed error)
C I is one of the fuzzy set of the fuzzy Z (i.e. output of The overall operation under PLC is depicted in Fig. 5. The
controller to inverter). fu~zy logic operation is developed based on ladder diagram,
usmg the arithmetic and logic instruction set. Note that no
fuzzy logic module unit was used in this work.
The triangle membership function for fuzzy input is
chosen as illustrated in Fig. 3. The degree of membership
Fuzzy Logic Design
follows (1). Evaluation of degree of membership function is
. The fuzzy logic used is a Mamdani model. The graphical
simply done in PLC using division and subtraction instruction.
Illustrations of Mamdani inference system for two crisp input
For a given pair of crisp input values x and y the
x and y, an output z is show in Fig. 4, [8]. The membership
antecedents are the degrees of membership obtained during
function of input and output are depicted in Figure 6 and
the fuzzification: JlAI(x) and JlBt(y). The strength of the Rule
Figure 7, respectively. The fuzzy rule is shown in Table 1.
is the weakest component, as in (2).
The singleton form in the output membership function is
chosen due to its simplicity in solving the crisp output during
the defuzzification. Centroid method is used in the
defuzzification process for the fact that previous researchers
reported that Centroid can provide superior control
performance [5], [14].
abc Universe of Discourse (X)

Fig. 3. Triangle membership function

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 International Conference on Intelligent and Advanced Systems 2007

U
mtn
f..l ).l

W
B1 <':1 1 NM NS ZE PS PM PB
1

y
C'1

Z
~75O -0150 '{)030 0 003 0150
1--+
0750 Del!aFrflQ(Hl;

).l
C2 Fig. 7. Output membership function
TABLE 1. Fuzzy RULE BASE

Inverter
The input signal to the inverter is a rx::: voltage that would
z
Fig. 4. Mamdani Fuzzy inference using min and max then be processed to determine the output frequency and the
output voltage. The inverter output voltage in relations to the
LPi(Zj)Zj output frequency has a certain pattern know as constant V/Hz
CO =_1_' _ (4) ratio, which is illustrated in Fig. 8. At frequency higher than
LPi(Zj) 50Hz, the output voltage would be kept constant. At this
i
stage a nominal voltage is supplied to the motor. The voltage
applied to the motor cannot be increased further since it could
damage the motor. As a consequence, the motor torque will
decreased, but the speed increased.
N
Induction Motor
A three-phase four-pole squirrel cage induction motor
200W, 415V, 0.46A is used in this study. As displayed in
Figure 2, the motor receives its electrical power from the
inverter. The motor speed in relation to the frequency at
various loads is depicted in Fig. 9.

III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Direct-on-line
Direct-on-line control is to determine the rise time and for
the speed to reach the set-point via open loop method. This
result would be important to decide the rise time during the
closed loop operation. It is implemented during the PWM
inverter power up the motor at 400V 50Hz. During this time,
no load is applied to motor. The motor response is shown in
Fig. 10. Throughout the operation the PI-fuzzy operation is
repeated for every sampling time of Ts == 10- 1 s. This
sampling time is based on the program execution, and takes
Fig. 5. Sequence operation in PLC
into account the total I/O operations, conversions and fuzzy
operation execution times. The Fuzzy algorithm takes 30ms

~ I
while each I/O operation takes 1 ms.

Experiment 1: Step Response

200 -100 -20 0 20 100 200 Error (rpm)
The first part of Experiment 1 is to study the system
a. Error membership function responses at reference speed of 1000 rpm. No load is applied
to the motor. Plot of the motor speed in response to a step

~t---",,-xx~Z
change in speed's requirement is illustrated in Figure 11. The
---+
system response when load applied is also recorded. Its
control characteristic is summarized in Table 2. The tolerance
-50 0 50 CoE (J) band is specified at 5%.
b. Change of error membership function
Fig. 6. Input membership function

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 International Conference on Intelligent and Advanced Systems 2007

450 , - - - y - - - y - - - y - - - y - - - y - - - y - - - - - - - ,
System responses for other reference speed are also
400
recorded. Figure 12 and 13 the display for the system
response at 500 rpm and 1500 rpm, respectively. As
350
illustrated in Fig. 11, 12 and 13, the controller action is to
300
bring the motor to its new speed when there is a step change
250
in the speed requirement. Table 3 and 4 summarize the
200 control characteristics for Figures 12 and 13, respectively. In
150 Tables 2,3 and 4 are given the different load torque applied to
100 the motor and the corresponding performance measures. If
50 the load applied is increased, the delay time, rise time and
settling time are also increased. This demonstrates the action
10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Frequency (Hz) of the controller to regulate the speed, i.e., as the load is
increased higher frequency is needed to achieve the certain
Fig. 8. Constant V/Hz on Inverter
speed, and these results tally with the plots of Figure 9.
Spd 'IS Fequency
Experiment 1 so far has been limited to analizing the effect
2oo0~---------------_______, of changing the motor speed's requirement on the systems'
HllO characteristics behaviour. The following experiments will
1600 address several issues such as the ability of the system to
1400 adjust to more complex disturbance signals.
- 1200

I: HIlO
! 000
Reference
600

400 Actual

200 400

O+-----r---,...----"""""'T"""'-"-~----r---____r_-______i
o 10 20 3J 40 60 70
Frequency tHz)

I-+-NOLOCI:J _3JO'nNm -.-50O'nNm ....... 70O'nNm I 200

Fig. 9. Change of speed with frequency 100

10 12 14 16 18 20
TIme(s)

Fig. 12. Unloaded System response at 500 rpm

1(0)

E 1800
g
Ql
16CXJ
(f)

1400 Reference
500 Actual
1200

1000

800
10 12 14 16 18 20
TIme(s) 600

400
Fig. 10. Response to a step in the reference at open loop
200

1200 0
0 10 12 14 16 18 20
Actual TIme(s)
Reference
1000
Fig. 13. Unloaded system response at 1500 rpm
800
TABLE 2. CONTROL PAR-\METER AT 1000 RPM
600 'ii' \ '0 ~ f,,"# ~'$~
9d7;!j if~~' :/'" , / g ~ k!;i~/ ':>, ",#y .'" \iI'.
400
Delay time (s) 3.2 3.32 3.84 3.82
200 Rise time (s) 4.44 4.46 4.46 4.62
Peak time (s) 6.72 6.82 7.18 7.3
00 10 12 14 16 18 20 Settling time (s) 8.32 8.48 8.68 9
TIme(s)
Overshoot (0A.) 12.3 12 10.1 13.6
Fig. II. Unloaded System response at 1000 rpm

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 International Conference on Intelligent and Advanced Systems 2007

TABLE 3. CONTROL PARAMETER AT 500 RPM for (a) is depicted in Figure 16. The speed drop when load is
~:\,t~y:~ ';\~fi;, ':. '__," ' ->f; 'i!/4 Jf1~f~; increased and overshoot when reaching the reference speed
~;A " "/ ~;(, i' ,,~(.~ !*' it ~ "I
are explained in Table 7.
Delay time (s) 1.94 1.96 2.26 2.28
It is noted that the actual speed experiences a drop when
Rise time (s) 1.96 2.3 2.44 2.66
load is increased and the reference speed is increased. The
explanation for this is that the motor response is faster than
Peak time (s) No No No 4.42
controller response due to the fact that updating of the fuzzy
Settling time (s) 3.06 3.46 3.44 4.84
logic output is done every 10- I s while the motor speed
Overshoot (%) - - - 5.2
drop/rise is approximately equal to 1.8 x 10- 1s.
The system response for (b) is depicted in Fig. 17. It is
TABLE 4. CONTROL PARAMETER AT 1500 RPM noted that no speed drop is observed when the load is
': '~7:t;":,, ' , i~'''' '~P'l~ r ,,7: decreased. Normally, the actual speed is increasing when load
~f ~t:. " . .~: V'0"
'77 is decreased. Since the reference speed is increased, it
Delay time (s) 4.56 4.94 4.98 5.2 supports the controller to reach the final value. The overshoot
Rise time (s) 6.44 6.62 6.6 6.42 and undershoot have been reduced when the actual value
Peak time (s) 9.88 10.14 10.36 10.5 reaches the reference value. Here, the basic fuzzy logic
Settling time (s) 12.33 11.36 11.46 11.6
operations give good response due to disturbance and sudden
Overshoot (%) 10.86 11.3 10.46 8.66
changes in reference speed.

IV. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

Experiment 2:
Varying speed reference at constant load
The work presented in this paper has contributed to an
improved understanding of the procedure for configuring and
To demonstrate the system performance of the PI-fuzzy
controller, sudden change of reference speed at constant load implementing a PLC-based fuzzy controlled of an induction
is introduced. System response at no load applied due to motor. The work presented here offers some promising tools
sudden change of reference speed is illustrated in Fig. 14. in terms of hardware and software handling of a PLC system
Initially, the reference speed is 500 rpm, then increased to and provides avenues for other research scope to address
1000 rpm, 1500 rpm and then reduced to 1000 rpm and
different aspects of issues pertaining to drives control via
finally to 500 rpm. PLC-based fuzzy controller. Further work is being done to
It is noted that when the reference speed is increased and is improve the system response by optimizing input/output
decreased, the overshoots and undershoots are still in the membership function.
tolerance band. Similar performances are also noted for the
motor load of225 mNm, 450 mNm and 700 mNm. 1400

1200
Experiment 3:
Varying the motor load at constant speed reference 100)

The step is an example of a change in requirement that are

significantly higher or lower than the current situation. The
disturbance could have originated from a change in motor 400
load requirement. Fig. 15 shows the system response when
load applied and released during a constant motor speed of 200

1000 rpm. The load variations are 225 mNm, 450 mNm and O~~10::----=20--30..L..--4L-O
----lSO------I....- - - -70
60
l

700 mNm. Table 5 and 6 summarize the speed drop and Time(s)

speed rise when load is increased or decreased, respectively. Fig. 14. No load sudden change of speed reference
It is noted that when the load is increased, the actual speed
would decreased. Since the speed drop is in the range of PS 2400

or NS, the PI-fuzzy controller is able to keep the % overshoot 2200

small. Similarly, this also happened when the load is released. 2(0)

100J

16llJ
Experiment 4: 1400

Varying reference speed and load simultaneously 6llJ 1200

It is assumed that the reference speed and the motor load is 100J

changing at the same time when this disturbance is present. In 400 OOJ

600
this study two cases will be considered: (a) the disturbance 200 400
arises due to two requirements, i.e., for an increased in speed 200

and for an increased of motor load, and (b) the disturbance 10 20 30 40 so 60 70

that arises due to two requirements, i.e., for an increased in Time(s)

speed and for a decreased of motor load. The system response Fig. 15. Sudden change of load at 1000 rpm

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 International Conference on Intelligent and Advanced Systems 2007

TABLE 5. SPEED DROP WHEN LOAD INCREASED ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors gratefully acknowledge the supports of
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, through the award of
STIRF 06/06.

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Speed rise time (s) 0.14 0.14
Undershoot (rpm) 34 28

1600 r----r----~--.--~-_.__---r-__,

1400 2800

1200 2400

1lDJ 2000

1600

1200

400 800
1-+-------,

200 400

10 20 :J) 40 50 60 70
Time(s)

Fig. 17. System response for increasing reference speed and decreasing load
and vice versa

98 ---