Parameter Identification of Induction Motors for Railway Traction Applications

Induction motors are widely used in railway traction applications. However, the motor parameters vary with the temperature, skin effect, and magnetic saturation. Moreover, these effects lead to parameter mismatches and motor performance degradation. Therefore, it is important to estimate and identify motor parameters in real-time to enable high-performance control and operation of traction motors. In this paper, a step-by-step procedure is thus introduced to identify the parameters of induction motors. Initial motor parameters are firstly estimated with experimental tests. Then, parameter variation mechanisms are analyzed. This enables an online parameter correction and compensation for the estimated parameters, being a promising identification method for railway traction applications. Experimental tests are provided in this paper to demonstrate the parameter identification method.