Acoustic Noise of Induction Motor Drive with Voltage-Source Inverter by Random Space Vector PWM: Simulation and Experimentation Analysis

The discrete tonal bands generated by an electric machine stator current spectrum for the fixed Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM) control have side effects on the acoustic noise and vibration. Thus, reducing the magnitude of dominant harmonics and spreading the harmonic spectrum provide a remedy for this problem. A well-established concept has involved the application of the randomized Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) strategy in power converters to spread the power spectrum of the stator current to minimize its amplitude. Therefore, Random SVPWM (RSVPWM) is a new switching method applied for power converters. For the control of the three-phase inverter, three different RSVPWM approaches are suggested: Random Switching Frequency (RSF), Random Zero Vector (RZV) and Random Pulse Position (RPP). This paper investigates the effect of the fixed and random SVPWM strategies on acoustic noise emitted by an Induction Machine (IM) fed by a three-phase inverter. Simulation results exhibit the validity and efficiency of the RSF_SVPWM strategy to reduce sideband harmonics at different modulation indexes. The proposed PWM strategies evaluate the results of the equivalent experiments on an IM fed by a two-level voltage source inverter. The experimental results of the harmonic current and acoustic noise spectra demonstrate also that the acoustic noise is attenuated and dispersed totally for the proposed RSF_SVPWM compared to the RZV_SVPWM and, RPP_SVPWM strategies and the random PWM modulation.