Model Predictive Control for Industrial Drive Applications

Over the last two decades, model predictive control (MPC) has gained popularity in the published research on power electronics. It is argued in the literature that MPC is well-suited for industrial variable speed drive (VSD) applications, due to its flexible and multi-objective nature. However, the adoption of MPC by industry has been slow. This paper reviews the VSD control strategies currently accepted by industry. It formulates expectations and determines the existing barriers for using MPC in VSD applications. Following that, the paper proposes a number of novel modifications to enhance the MPC performance and to offer new benefits to industry, compared to the existing solutions. The results of the paper are supported by simulations and validated by experiment.