High efficient low cost induction motor drive for residential applications

Poor performance and low efficiency of conventional residential drives make it necessary to develop new methods for residential systems. In this paper a single-phase powered three-phase induction motor drive is considered for residential applications specifically washing machines. The drive consists of a buck-boost power factor correction (P.F.C.) circuit, an inverter with selective harmonic elimination (S.H.E.), and a three-phase induction motor. Using buck-boost power factor correction scheme, which was proposed in this paper, allows controlling the DC bus voltage of inverter in a wide range. Controlling inverter output voltage by changing DC bus voltage reduces the inverter complexity and cost while performance of the system remains unchanged. The paper discusses about design and fabrication stages of the drive system. Also it contains experimental test results of the fabricated system. The results showed that the new drive system efficiency is more than 2.5 times higher than efficiency of conventional washing machine single-phase induction motor. In addition, the P.F.C. circuit used in this system reduces the input harmonics so that the proposed system completely complies with IEEE 519 standard. Regarding the proposed system advantages and low cost, the proposed system can be a suitable choice for future household appliances