IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO.

9, SEPTEMBER 2011 3723

Computational Algorithms for Induction-Motor

Equivalent Circuit Parameter Determination—Part I:
Resistances and Leakage Reactances
Aldo Boglietti, Senior Member, IEEE, Andrea Cavagnino, Senior Member, IEEE, and Mario Lazzari

Abstract—This paper deals with methods and algorithms for

the estimation of induction-motor equivalent circuit parameters
starting from the geometrical and electrical data generally avail-
able after an electromagnetic design. The main aim of this paper
is to help the readers pass from the theoretical analysis to the
numerical code suitable to be included in its own design soft-
ware. For this reason, the step-by-step algorithms are included
in this paper. Some of the methods are based on well-known
approaches while the other ones are original. For the latter ones,
a complete discussion of the theoretical analysis is reported and
discussed. The first part deals with the stator- and rotor-resistance Fig. 1. Induction-motor single-phase equivalent circuit.
computations and the determination of the leakage inductances
based on an original flux classification. Finally, the skewing slot
effects on the machine parameters are provided. The comparison eral proposed procedures are original and, as a consequence, the
between computed and measured values confirms the accuracy of detailed theoretical considerations are included too. In addition,
the proposed computational algorithms. in order to help the readers to include the proposed algorithms
Index Terms—Electromagnetic design, equivalent circuit pa- in numerical codes, some step-by-step procedures are reported.
rameters, induction motor. Even if the procedures and algorithms have been developed
for induction machines, some of them can be used, or oppor-
I. I NTRODUCTION tunely adapted, for synchronous machines with nonfractional

O NE OF THE main problems to be solved after an

induction-motor electromagnetic design is the determi-
nation of the motor behavior in terms of torque and current
characteristics. The fastest and viable approach is the use of
the equivalent circuit, but the passage from the geometrical
and electromagnetic data obtained from the lamination and
winding design to the equivalent circuit is not an easy task. A
geometrical approach to the induction-motor electromagnetic
design was proposed by the authors in [1]. This paper has to be
considered the natural and necessary continuation of that one, in
order to provide algorithms for the equivalent circuit parameter
determination. Even if a lot of information on the equiva-
lent circuit parameter computation can be found in literature
[2]–[13], it is not so easy to find a complete collection of the
required equations and of the related algorithms. The authors
have done their best to present, in a unitary fashion, a collection
of these analytical methods.
For this reason, the main target of this paper is to provide a
complete collection of these numerical procedures to potential
induction-motor designers. It is important to underline that sev-
Manuscript received January 22, 2010; revised July 13, 2010; accepted
September 7, 2010. Date of publication October 7, 2010; date of current version
August 12, 2011.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Politec-
nico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy (e-mail: aldo.boglietti@polito.it; andrea.
cavagnino@polito.it; mario.lazzari@polito.it).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIE.2010.2084974
0278-0046/$26.00 © 2010 IEEE
slot stator windings, such as permanent-magnet (PM) and inte-
rior PM brushless motors [14]–[17].
It is important to highlight that this paper deals with a three-
phase induction motor with symmetric windings and squirrel-
cage rotor. Even if the theoretical analysis is developed in a
general way, the slot skewing is applied on the rotor slots only.
This paper is focused on the stator- and rotor-resistance
calculation and the determination of the leakage inductances,
introducing an original flux classification. The skewing slot
effects on the machine parameters are considered and discussed
too. The proposed computational algorithms have been verified
by comparing the computed parameter values with the mea-
sured ones. Finally, in Appendix, the definition of the harmonic
and average Carter coefficients is reported.
II. N ONLINEAR I NDUCTION -M OTOR
E QUIVALENT C IRCUIT
As is well known, the induction-machine steady-state per-
formances can be easily computed using the single-phase
equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 1 [3]. In this circuit, all the
parameters have to be considered as phase components. It is
important to highlight that the magnetizing inductance, the ro-
tor leakage inductance, and the rotor resistance are not constant
components and that they have to be determined by taking into
account the lamination magnetic saturation and the skin effect
in the rotor bars, respectively. When the motor parameters are
known, including the previously mentioned nonlinearity, any
3724 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2011

type of circuit solution can be used for predicting the motor

performances (i.e., torque, adsorbed currents, loss components,
etc.). It is important to remember that the electrical circuit
shown in Fig. 1 does not take into account the electromagnetic
phenomena linked to the additional losses. As discussed by the
authors in [18] and [19], referring to the sinusoidal supply case,
it is possible to include in the equivalent circuit an equivalent
resistance able to include the additional losses in the machine
power balance, but this is beyond the spirit of this paper.
The equivalent circuit parameters can be determined starting Fig. 2. Winding average-turn-length determination.
from the following geometrical and electrical data:
1) geometrical data
a) stator and rotor diameters (inner and outer);
b) axial core length;
c) stator- and rotor-slot number;
d) stator- and rotor-slot geometrical shapes;
2) electrical data
a) pole number;
b) number of conductors in series per phase (phase active
conductor number);
c) winding pitch;
d) conductor section areas;
e) cage short-circuit ring section;
f) skewing pitch of the rotor slots.
As usual, these data are available from the electromagnetic
Fig. 3. Rotor cage and related bar and ring currents.
design of the machine [1]. As shown in Fig. 1, the actual rotor
resistance RR and rotor leakage reactance XLR have to be turn length, and Awire is the cross-sectional area of the equiva-
referred to the stator using lent wire previously defined

(Zph /2) · Lave_turn
RR = KRS · RR (1) Rs = ρ . (4)
Awire


XLR = KRS · XLR . (2)
Equation (4) is quite simple itself, but some care has to be
The coefficient KRS for referring these rotor parameters to adopted to define the average turn length. As shown in Fig. 2,
the stator side is shown in (3), where Zph is the number of this length is the addition of two contributions: the turn part
stator conductors in series per phase, kw,1 is the stator-winding embedded in the slot (Lcore ) and the endwinding (Lew )
coefficient (for the airgap fundamental spatial harmonic), and
Lave_turn = 2(Lcore + Lew ) (5)
Nbars is the bar number of the rotor squirrel cage
Lew = Kew τw (6)
3

KRS = (Zph · Kw,1 )2 . (3) nr Npole π
Nbars τw = 1 − (Dis + hs ). (7)
Nss Npole
It is important to remark that any stator phase-winding
structure can be always described by Zph conductors in series Kew is the endwinding shape coefficient. Its value is usually
per phase with an equivalent wire section (Awire ) suitable to close to π/2 for wire windings, assuming a semicircumference
carry the phase current. This means that only Zph and Awire are endwinding shape with a diameter equal to τw (see Fig. 2).
requested for the equivalent circuit parameter computation even Typically, Kew is in the range 1.5–1.6, depending on the actual
if some parallel paths are used for the phase-winding realization endwinding length. In (7), nr is the pitch shortening defined in
(i.e., single-wire parallels or bobbin parallels). number of slots, Npole is the pole number (defined by the airgap
fundamental spatial harmonic), and Nss is number of the stator
slots.
III. S TATOR AND ROTOR R ESISTANCES
In this section, the relation to be used for the computation of B. Rotor-Winding Resistance
the stator and rotor resistances is reported.
By assuming that the phase rotor number is equal to the bar
number, the phase resistance of the cage is referred to one bar
A. Stator-Winding Resistance
and to two adjacent ring sectors, as shown in Fig. 3.
The stator-winding resistance can be evaluated by (4), where The resistance contribution of a single bar can be computed
ρ is the conductor material resistivity, Lave_turn is the average by (8), while the resistance contribution of one end ring can be
BOGLIETTI et al.: ALGORITHMS FOR INDUCTION-MOTOR EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT PARAMETER DETERMINATION I 3725

Fig. 4. Ring- and bar-current phasor relation (p = Npole /2).

Fig. 5. Machine flux-path definition.

computed by (9). In these two equations, KR is the skin-effect
coefficient for bar resistance (no skin effect is supposed to be
present in the rings), Abar is the bar cross-sectional area, Lbar
is the bar length, Aa is the cage-ring cross-sectional area, and
Da is cage-ring average diameter. More information about the
end-ring skin effect can be found in [20]
IV. M AGNETIC F LUX C LASSIFICATIONS
In order to discuss the computation of the inductive parame-
ters, it is important to classify the magnetic fluxes through the
machine. Fig. 5 is used as reference base for this classification.

Lbar A. First Flux Classification With Reference to the Flux Path

R b = KR · ρ (8)
Abar The total linked flux Λtot with a phase winding can be
π · Da considered as the addition of the following two contributions.
Ra = ρ . (9) 1) Λmain , which is the main linked flux due to the magnetic
Aa
field lines, which cross the airgap. This flux is simultane-
By assuming that KR is equal to one in (8), the dc bar ously produced by the stator and rotor currents.
resistance can be computed. In an ac supply condition, KR has 2) Λlocal , which is the local linked flux due to the following
to be computed by taking into account the motor working slip. two terms:
The Abar and Lbar values for skewed rotor slots are defined in a) the field lines close to the conductors in the slot and
Section VI, while the evaluation of the skin effect is discussed the two adjacent teeth (Λsl );
in [2] and [21]. b) the field lines around the endwindings (Λhl ).
By using (8) and (9), it is possible to compute the equivalent
rotor-phase resistance. As is well known, the calculation of
B. Second Flux Classification With Reference to
this equivalent resistance is based on the total rotor-cage joule
the Energy Conversion
losses. Let us define Ib as the bar current and Ia as the ring
current, and taking into account the phasor diagram shown With respect to this classification, the total linked flux to a
in Fig. 4, it is possible to obtain the current ring-bar current winding Λtot can be considered as the addition of the following
relation (10). The Ib current is calculated during the motor two contributions:
electromagnetic design [1] 1) Λuseful , which is the linked flux due to the fundamental
distribution of the airgap flux density. This is a component
1
I¯a =   · I¯b . (10) of the main flux.
Npole
2 · sin 2 · βr
2 2) Λleakage , which denotes the linked fluxes that do not give
appreciable contributions to energy conversion.
As a consequence, the total joule loss dissipated in the rotor On the base of the previous two classifications, it is possible
cage is defined by to write the following for the total linked flux with the winding:
  Λtot = Λmain + Λlocal = Λmain + Λsl + Λhl
2R
Pjr = Nbars Rb + a   Ib2 . (11) Λtot = Λuseful + Λleakage .
4sen β2r
2

As a consequence, the winding leakage flux can be defined as

Since each rotor bar can be considered as a phase of a
Λleakage = (Λmain − Λuseful ) + Λsl + Λhl . (13)
multiphase winding, the equivalent rotor-phase resistance is
defined by the following: Because the actual speed is mainly imposed by the first
2Ra harmonic flux, only the fundamental flux component is con-
Rr = Rb +  . (12) ventionally considered useful in the electromechanical energy
βr
4Nbars sen2 2 conversion. Flux components of higher order are considered
as leakage components. As a consequence, with reference to
The obtained resistance is the actual rotor-cage resistance; its (13), the authors define the quantity (Λmain − Λuseful ) as the
value has to be moved to the stator side using (3). “airgap leakage flux.” This definition of the airgap leakage flux
3726 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2011

an equivalent slot opening has to be considered. Unfortunately,

the selection of the slot opening width value is not a simple
task and it can be done on the base of the actual shape of the
slot closing zone. Generally, some “try-and-error” steps based
on the designer experience are requested in order to obtain
reasonable results.
Hereafter, the methods for the leakage slot coefficient com-
putation are described both for stator and rotor slots.
1) Stator-Slot Leakage Inductance: Full Pitch Winding: For
a full pitch winding with Npole poles and q slots/poles/phases,
the total stored energy in the slots for the whole winding phase
Fig. 6. Magnetic-field distribution in the slot. and the slot current are defined by


allows easier computation of the related inductance, as shown 1
Ew,phase = Npole · q · λslot · Lslot · Islot
2
(19)
in Section V-C, with respect to other methods [3]. 2
Zph
Islot = Iphase . (20)
V. L EAKAGE -I NDUCTANCE C OMPUTATION Npole · q
A. Slot Leakage Inductance The phase slot leakage inductance can be obtained by
2
As is well known, the slot leakage inductance (both for Zph
the stator and the rotor) can be evaluated on the basis of the Lslot_leakage = · λslot · Lslot . (21)
Npole · q
magnetic energy stored in the slot defined by
2) Stator-Slot Leakage Inductance: Double-Layer Short-
1
Ew = λslot · Lslot · Islot
2
(14) ened Pitch Winding: When a double-layer shortened pitch
2
winding is used, conductors of different phases are present in
with λslot (in henries per meter) as the slot leakage coefficient, some slots. Let us define q as the number of slots/poles/phases
Lslot as the length of the winding part inside the slot, and Islot and nr as the number of slots used for the winding shortening,
as the total current in the slot. Obviously, this currents depends as shown in Fig. 7.
on the phase current (IPhase ) and on the phase-winding type. In this case, three parameters are necessary to define the
In the following, Lslot is used as general symbol: It is equal magnetic energy in the slot as the addition of the contributions
to Lcore for the stator winding and Lbar for the rotor cage. due to the self-inductances and the mutual inductance between
Assuming infinite iron permeability and magnetic field lines the two layers (Fig. 8).
parallel into the slot and with reference to Fig. 6, the magnetic The magnetic energy stored in a slot can be computed by the
energy stored in the slot can be calculated by general relation
h h
1 1
Ew = µ0 · Lslot H(x)2 · w(x) · dx. (15) Ew = µ0 · Lslot (H1 (x) + H2 (x))2 · w(x) · dx. (22)
2 2
0
0
The magnetic field at the x-coordinate and the slot current In (22), H1 (x) is the magnetic field produced by the layer 1
can be computed by current and H2 (x) is the magnetic field produced by the layer

x 2 current. Obviously, the total magnetic energy in the slot can
J(ζ) · w(ζ) · dζ
0
also be written as
H(x) = (16)
w(x) Ew = Ew1 + Ew2 + Ew12 (23)
h
Islot = J(x) · w(x) · dx. (17) where the three contributions are
0 1
Ew1 = λslot,1 · Lslot · Ilayer,1
2

As a consequence, the slot leakage coefficient results 2

1
Ew2 = λslot,2 · Lslot · Ilayer,2
2

h 2
µ0 H(x)2 · w(x) · dx Ew12 = λslot,12 · Lslot · Ilayer,1 · Ilayer,2 .
0
λslot = 2 . (18)
Islot For instantaneous values of the three-phase symmetrical
current system, the following relationships can be written:
For skewed rotor slots, the bar cross section Abar and the
length Lbar have to be computed as shown in Section VI. IL,R + iL,S + iL,T = 0
 
Since the iron permeability is considered infinite, (18) cannot IL,R iL,S +iL,S iL,T +iL,T iL,R = − 1/2 i2L,R +i2L,S +i2L,T .
be applied to closed rotor slots because the λslot coefficient
should be infinite too. In this case, taking into account the For each phase, there are Npole × (q − nr ) slots with the
inevitable heavy saturation of the slot closing magnetic wedge, same phase current in the two layers, while there are Npole × nr
BOGLIETTI et al.: ALGORITHMS FOR INDUCTION-MOTOR EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT PARAMETER DETERMINATION I 3727

Fig. 7. Double-layer shortened pitch winding.

3) Rotor-Slot Leakage Inductance: For a rotor slot, since the

rotor phase corresponds to a single bar of the squirrel cage,
the phase leakage inductance can be easily evaluated by (26).
The related skin effect is discussed in [2] and [11]

Lslot_leakage = λslot · Lcore . (26)

The calculation of the λslot coefficients is quite simple for

elementary slot shapes (i.e., rectangular, trapezoidal, round,
Fig. 8. Stator slot with two-layer winding. etc.), and in these cases, the equations for these coefficients
can be found in many text books [2], [3]. Hereafter, the authors
slots with different currents in the two layers. On the basis of propose a simple numeric algorithm to compute the self- and
the previous considerations, the total magnetic energy stored in mutual-slot leakage coefficients for any open-slot shape.
the slots can be defined by Algorithm 1: Self- and mutual-slot leakage coefficients

1 (double-layer shortened pitch winding)
Eslot,tot = Lslot Npole (q − nr )(λslot,1 +λslot,2 +2λslot,12 ) With reference to Fig. 8, the slot has to be subdivided into
2
  N elementary thin layers with thickness dx = h/N , with h
× i2L,R +i2L,S +i2L,T
1   as the slot height. The layers have to be numbered with an
+ Npole nr λslot,1 i2L,R + i2L,S + i2L,T index i which changes from 1 to N starting from the bottom
2
1   up to the top of the slot. Let us define xi and wi as the
+ Npole nr λslot,2 i2L,R + i2L,S + i2L,T height and the width of the ith layer, respectively. Let us define
2
1 h1 and h2 as the height reached by the two winding layers
+ − Npole nr 2λslot,12 in the slot and A1 and A2 as the filled slot areas for each
2 
layer.
× (iL,S iL,R + iL,R iL,T + iL,T iL,S ) .
Step 1) Preliminarily, the following two functions p1 (x) and
p2 (x) are defined:
The previous relation can be rewritten as

 
1 nr 0 < x < h1 ⇒ p1 (x) = 1 p2 (x) = 0
Eslot,tot = Npole qLslot λslot,1 +λslot,2 + 2− λslot,12
2 q
  h1 < x < h2 ⇒ p1 (x) = 0 p2 (x) = 1
× i2L,R + i2L,S + i2L,T .

As is well known, this total magnetic energy can be defined h2 < x < h ⇒ p1 (x) = 0 p2 (x) = 0.
as a function of the phase leakage inductance and of the phase
currents, as shown in The previous functions describe the “presence
  of conductors” in the elementary layer of the x-
1
Eslot,tot = Lslot_leakage · i2R + i2S + i2T . (24) coordinate.
2 Step 2) For each value of the layer index i (from 1 to N ), the
As a consequence, if the two layers have the same number following calculations have to be done:
of conductors per slot, (25) can be used to evaluate the phase

leakage inductance 1
xi = i− ∆x
2
Zph 2
Lslot_leakage =
Npole · q 
i 
i
λslot,1 + λslot,2 + (2 − (nr /q)) λslot,12 A1i = ∆x p1 (xk )w(xk ) A2i = ∆x p2 (xk )w(xk ).
· · Lslot . (25)
4 k=1 k=1
3728 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2011

Fig. 10. Sketch of a single endwinding layout.

Fig. 9. Endwinding geometry of a single bobbin.

Step 3) The following sums have to be computed:

N
A21i
1 = dx
i=1
w(xi )
N
A22i
2 = dx
i=1
w(xi )

N
A1i A2i
12 = dx.
i=1
w(xi )

Step 4) The self- and mutual-inductance coefficients for the

two-wire layers in the slot can be obtained as
1 2 12
λslot,1 = µ0 λslot,2 = µ0 λ12 = µ0 .
A21 A22 A1 · A2 Fig. 11. Endwinding layout for a double-layer three-phase winding.

B. Endwinding Leakage Inductance

Due to the complex stator endwinding geometry, the
endwinding-leakage-inductance calculation is not a simple task
because the endwindings are close to magnetic and conductor
materials. With reference to Fig. 9, the linked flux with the
endwinding of a single bobbin can be computed using the Fig. 12. Example of double-layer shortened pitch winding.
following approximated relation [22]. This equation represents
the starting point for the evaluation of the linked flux with the ings, taking into account the coupling with other phases. For
whole endwinding the considered winding type shown in Figs. 10 and 11, this

 inductance results into
∼ Ih Lh 2

ΦH = µ0 log · Lh . (27) µ0 Zph Lh 4
2π ph Lphase_endwinding = log Lh . (29)
2π 2Npole ph 3
In (27), Ih is the endwinding current, Lh is the endwinding In the proposed approach, the rotor ring leakage inductance is
length, and ph is the half-perimeter of the endwinding cross neglected. A formulation of this inductance can be found in [2].
section (see Fig. 9).
For a double-layer shortened pitch winding, the total linked
C. Airgap Leakage Inductance
flux computation with the endwinding and the related leakage
inductance is more complex. In the following, the proposed In this section, the airgap-leakage-inductance calculation is
approach is reported. discussed, both for the stator and rotor. It is important to remark
Let us define the following quantities: ZL = (Zph /(2q · that the slot skew has no influence on these parameters.
Npole )) is the number of layer conductors in series, and Zh = 1) Stator Airgap Leakage Inductance: When the stator
q · ZL is the number of endwinding conductors in series. winding is supplied by a three-phase symmetrical system of
The inductance of a single endwinding (constituted by q sinusoidal currents of amplitude Imax , it generates a distribu-
bobbins) can be obtained by (28), where ph is the half-perimeter tion of magnetomotive force (m.m.f.) which rotates along the
of the endwinding, as shown in Fig. 10 airgap. For the considered regular three-phase winding shown

 in Fig. 12, the harmonics decomposition of the airgap m.m.f.
2
µ0 Zph Lh wave is given by
Lsingle_endwinding = 2 log Lh . (28)
2π 4Npole ph
3  Zph · Kw,h
A3 (α, t) = · Imax · sin(hpα − ω · t)
The total endwinding phase leakage inductance has to be 2 h · π · Npole /2
h=6k+1
computed by summing the contributions of all the phase head- (30)
BOGLIETTI et al.: ALGORITHMS FOR INDUCTION-MOTOR EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT PARAMETER DETERMINATION I 3729

with k = . . . − 2, −1, 0, 1, 2, . . . and expressions can be achieved for the main and the fundamental
Kr,h = cos(h · nr (π/6q)) shortening coefficient; magnetizing inductance. Anyway, (36) still has its validity with
Kd,h = (sin(hπ/6)/q sin(hπ/6q)) distribution coefficient; this approximation too
Kw,h = Kr,h · Kd,h winding coefficient for    
the hth m.m.f. spatial
2
Zph 20q 3 + 2q 2 − 3n2r + nr n2r − 1
Lm,main = 2 ·
harmonics. Npole /4 144q 3
Neglecting the iron influence, the whole m.m.f. distribution µ0 · π · Rairgap · Lslot
× (37)
drops along the airgap and the m.m.f amplitude for the hth- KC,aveSR · hairgap
order harmonic results in
2
3 Zph · Kw,1 µ0 · π · Rairgap · Lslot
Lm,fund = . (38)
3 Zph · Kw,h 2 π · Npole /2 KC,aveSR · hairgap
Ah = Imax . (31)
2 h · π · Npole /2
The previous two equations are valid for slots with negligible
Consequently, the flux density amplitude for the hth-order opening. From the numerical approach, an alternative to (37)
harmonic is for generic winding structures is the following general
algorithm.
3 Zph · Kw,h 1
Bh (α, t) = Imax Algorithm 2: Main magnetizing inductance calculation
2 h · π · Npole /2 KCS ,h · KC,aveR · hairgap Let us define the following quantities.
(32)
1) Z1c (j) is the wire number in series in slot j for phase 1.
where hairgap is the airgap thickness, KCS ,h is the harmonic 2) Z2c (j) is the wire number in series in slot j for phase 2.
Carter coefficient for the stator hth field harmonic, and KC,aveR 3) Z3c (j) is the wire number in series in slot j for phase 3.
is the average Carter coefficient for the rotor. The meaning and The wire number is positive or negative, depending on the
the equations for the calculation of these Carter coefficients are position in the coil (going or back coil side).
reported in Appendix.
Step 1) For each phase, the following Nss additions have to
Since all the harmonics rotate at speed inversely proportional
be computed, with i = 1, 2, . . . , NSS :
to their pole number, they induce in the stator winding an
electromotive force (e.m.f.) at the same frequency. The main 
i
flux linked with the stator winding is obtained by the sum of all N1
(i) = Z1c (j)
the harmonic contributions, as shown in (33) and (34), where j=1
Rairgap is the airgap radius 
i

 N2
(i) = Z2c (j)

Λmain = Λh (33) j=1
h=1,5,7,... 
i

2 N3
(i) = Z3c (j).
3 Zph · Kw,h µ0 · π · Rairgap · Lslot j=1
Λh = Imax .
2 h · π · Npole /2 KCS ,h · KC,aveR hairgap
Step 2) The previous values Nk
(k = 1, 2, 3) have to be
(34)
cleaned by their average values
In the same way, the main magnetizing inductance results
1 
Nss
from the sum of all harmonic inductances Nk (i) = Nk
(i) − N
(i).
Nss i=1 k
 3
Zph ·Kw,h 2 µ0 ·π·Rairgap ·Lslot
Lm,main = .
2 h·π·Npole /2 KCS ,h ·KC,aveR ·hairgap The distributions Nk (i) are the airgap m.m.f.
h
(35) produced by each phase (slot by slot) for a unitary
current.
As previously reported, only the fundamental flux wave Step 3) For the considered symmetric winding, the follow-
rotates at the correct speed and only this flux component ing sum has to be computed:
has to be considered useful in the electromechanical energy
conversion. As a consequence, flux components of higher order 
Nss
 
are conventionally considered as leakage components. In terms ΣN = N12 (i) − N1 (i)N2 (i) .
i=1
of inductances, this fact brings about the following expression
for the airgap leakage inductance, where Lm,fund is the funda- Step 4) The phase total magnetizing inductance, due to the
mental magnetizing inductance (calculated using (35) limited main flux, is
to h = 1):
π 2Rairgap · Lslot
Lm,main = µ0 · ΣN · .
Lleakage_airgap = Lm,main − Lm,fund . (36) Nss Kc,avesr hairgap

If the harmonic Carter coefficient is approximated through 2) Rotor Airgap Leakage Inductance: For the rotor cage, the
the average Carter coefficient KCS ,h · KC,aveR ≈ KC,aveSR phase airgap leakage inductance is defined as the difference
(i.e., as in the case of negligible slot openings), the following between the main and fundamental magnetizing inductances.
3730 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2011

The main magnetizing inductance of the cage is defined as

the ratio between the e.m.f induced in a bar (by the induction
distribution produced by the whole bar current system) and the
time derivative of the bar current
Ebar
Lm,main = . (39)
dIbar /dt
The main magnetizing cage inductance is


Nbars Rairgap · Lslot  1 1
Lm,main = µ0
2π hairgap h2 KC,aveS · KCR ,h
h
(40)
with h = k Nbars + Npole /2 and k = . . . , −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, . . ..
In (40), the Carter coefficients KC,aveS (average) and KCR ,h
(harmonic) have to be evaluated as shown in Appendix, refer-
ring the equation symbols at the case under study. Fig. 13. Geometrical effect of the skewing.
The fundamental magnetizing cage inductance is
Nbars Rairgap · Lslot
Lm,fund = µ0 . (41)
2π KC,aveS · KCR ,1 · hairgap
The rotor-cage airgap leakage inductance can be evaluated by

Lleakage_airgap = Lm,main − Lm,fund . (42)

Also, in this case, if the harmonic Carter coefficient is

approximated through the average Carter coefficient KC,aveS ·
KCR ,h ≈ KC,aveSR , the closed form (43) for the main magne-
tizing cage inductance can be obtained
Nbars Rairgap · Lslot
Lm,main = µ0
2π KC,aveSR · hairgap
 2
π
×   . (43) Fig. 14. Skewing effect on the e.m.f. induced along the bar.
Npole π
Nbars sin 2 Nbars
B. Stator- and Rotor-Leakage-Inductance Effect
If the rotor bars are skewed with respect to the stator winding
VI. S LOT S KEWING E FFECT
with a skewing pitch τi , only a portion χi of the fundamental
The skewing can be indifferently applied both to the stator induction distribution (generated by the stator windings) con-
and rotor slots. In the following, a skewed rotor will be con- tributes to the total induced bar e.m.f. while the residual part
sidered for the analytical development, which has a general (1 − χi ) contributes to the leakage stator flux only. Based on
validity. Fig. 14, the χi coefficient can be calculated as
The slot skewing has two different effects: a geometrical


effect (i.e., bar cross-sectional reduction and increase of the Npole δi Npole δi τi
χi = sin / , δi = . (44)
bar length) and an increase of the stator and rotor leakage 4 4 Rairgap
inductances. Conversely, a χi portion of the fundamental rotor flux origi-
nates an analogous leakage inductance on the rotor side.
A. Geometrical Effect The values of the leakage inductances due to the slot incli-
nation can be calculated by (45) for the stator and (46) for the
For skewed rotor slots, the effective bar cross-sectional area
rotor
and bar length have to be expressed as a function of the rotor-
slot area and of the core length, according to the following Lleakage,inclS = (1−χi )Lm,fundS
equations (see Fig. 13), where Kfill is the slot fill factor and
2
3 Zph ·Kw,1 µ0 ·π·Rairgap ·Lslot
Asr is the rotor-slot area in the lamination plane = (1−χi )
2 π·Npole /2 KC,aveSR ·hairgap
tan γi = (τi /Lcore ) skewing angle (45)
Lleakage,inclR = (1 − χi )Lm,fundR
Abar = Kfill · Asr · cos γi bar cross-sectional area Nbars µ0 π · Rairgap · Lslot
= (1 − χi ) . (46)
Lbar = (Lcore / cos γi ) bar length. 2π 2 KC,aveSR · hairgap
BOGLIETTI et al.: ALGORITHMS FOR INDUCTION-MOTOR EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT PARAMETER DETERMINATION I
Fig. 15. Equivalent circuit including the leakage inductances due to the slot
skewing.
TABLE I
PARAMETER-ESTIMATION PERCENTAGE ERRORS (IN PERCENTAGE)
It is interesting to highlight that, when the rotor skewing
leakage inductance is reported to its equivalent stator value by
(3), the following identity is verified:
Nbars µ0 π·Rairgap ·Lslot
L
leakage,inclR = KRS ·(1−χi )
2π 2 KC,aveSR ·hairgap

2
3 Zph ·Kw,1 µ0 π·Rairgap ·Lslot
= (1−χi )
2 π KC,aveSR ·hairgap
= Lleakage,inclS .
This means that just the stator leakage inductance due to the
skewing effect has to be determined. From the equivalent circuit
point of view, the discussed skewing effect leads to the circuit
modification shown in Fig. 15. It is important to remark that
these leakage inductances represent a leakage phenomenon due
to the fundamental flux component and not an airgap leakage
contribution.
VII. C OMPARISON B ETWEEN C OMPUTED
AND M EASURED PARAMETERS
The proposed algorithms have been included in a software
tool used to determine the resistances and leakage inductances
of five industrial induction motors. In Table I, the percentage
errors (47) between the predicted and measured values are
reported. All the considered induction motors are 220-V (phase
rated voltage) 50-Hz motors with four poles with the rated
power shown in Table I
computed value − measured value
Error% = · 100.
measured value
The machine parameters have been measured by the locked
rotor test, following the International Standard [23], and the
calculated values have been estimated in the same conditions.
In particular, the skin-effect phenomenon is considered for the
rotor parameters [13].
In Table II, the average percentage errors for the considered
machine parameters are shown too. This table highlights that
the proposed algorithms allow one to predict, with good accu-
racy, the stator resistance, such as the locked rotor inductances
(around 10%). It is important to underline that all the motors
3731
TABLE II
AVERAGE PERCENTAGE ERRORS (IN PERCENTAGE)
reported in Table I have closed rotor slots. As a consequence, it
is probable that the main part of these errors is coming from the
rotor inductance computation.
Greater errors are obtained for the locked rotor resistance
(around 18%). Since the errors on the stator resistance are
negligible, also in this case, the error on the rotor locked
resistance is mainly due to the rotor resistance.
It is important to underline that the measured locked rotor
resistance takes into account several dissipative phenomena
which are present in the locked rotor test and not only the
Joule losses in the stator and rotor resistances (i.e., stator and
rotor iron losses, interbar currents, and additional losses due to
spatial harmonics). On the other hand, the computed stator and
rotor resistances take into account only the stator winding and
rotor-cage ohm effect. As a consequence, the authors’ opinion
is that the actual accuracy on the rotor resistance prediction is
similar to the other parameters.
VIII. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, the methodologies for the computation of
the induction-motor equivalent circuit longitudinal parame-
ters (phase resistances and leakage inductances) have been
presented and deeply analyzed, taking into account the slot
skewing effects. The proposed methods and algorithms require
the geometrical and electrical data, generally available after an
electromagnetic design. A complete theoretical analysis plus
the step-by-step algorithms to develop a numerical code have
been included in this paper, in order to help the designers
interested on the induction-motor equivalent circuit parameter
computation.
A PPENDIX
H ARMONIC AND AVERAGE C ARTER C OEFFICIENTS
As is well known, the airgap magnetic field generated by
an m.m.f. distribution acting along the airgap results weakened
in correspondence to the stator- and rotor-slot openings [24].
This effect was initially addressed by Carter through a fictitious
increase of the airgap geometrical thickness [25].
(47)
It is important to remark that the number of the spatial m.m.f.
harmonics present in the airgap does not depend on the slot
opening width, but on the slot number only. Conversely, the
amplitude of the corresponding flux density harmonics depends
on the slot opening width. Considering only a slotted surface
(stator or rotor), this phenomenon can be studied, considering
the following two theoretical reference cases:
1) unilateral infinitely deep rectangular slot with teeth at the
same potential;
2) unilateral infinitely deep rectangular slot with teeth at the
opposite potentials.
3732 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2011

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BOGLIETTI et al.: ALGORITHMS FOR INDUCTION-MOTOR EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT PARAMETER DETERMINATION I 3733

Aldo Boglietti (M’04–SM’06) was born in Rome, Mario Lazzari was born in Lucca, Italy, in 1945. He
Italy, in 1957. He received the Laurea degree in received the Laurea degree in electrical engineering
electrical engineering from Politecnico di Torino, from Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy, in 1969.
Torino, Italy, in 1981. In 1970, he joined the Department of Electrical
In 1984, he joined the Department of Electrical Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, where he is cur-
Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, as a Researcher rently a Full Professor of Electrical Machines and
in electrical machines. He became an Associate Pro- Electrical Drives. From 1991 to 1993, he was the
fessor of electrical machines in 1992 and has been a Chairman of the Laurea Course of Electrical Engi-
Full Professor since November 2000. He is currently neering. His research interests include the dynamics
the Head of the Department of Electrical Engineer- of electrical machines and electromechanical design,
ing. He is the author of about 120 papers. His re- particularly in regard to energetic problems. He is the
search interests include energetic problems in electrical machines and drives, author of several technical papers on these topics.
high-efficiency industrial motors, magnetic materials, and their applications in
electrical machines, electrical machine and drive models, and thermal problems
in electrical machines.
Prof. Boglietti is an Associate Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, the Technical Chair of the Electrical Machine
Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS), and the Chair of
the Electrical Machines Committee of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society.
He was the recipient of the Best Paper Award (first prize) from the IEEE IAS
Electric Machines Committee in 2008.

Andrea Cavagnino (M’04–SM’10) was born in

Asti, Italy, in 1970. He received the M.Sc. and Ph.D.
degrees in electrical engineering from Politecnico di
Torino, Torino, Italy, in 1995 and 1999, respectively.
Since 1997, he has been with the Electrical Ma-
chines Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engi-
neering, Politecnico di Torino, where he is currently
an Assistant Professor. His research interests in-
clude electromagnetic design, thermal design, and
energetic behaviors of electric machines. He is the
author of more than 80 papers published in technical
journals and conference proceedings.
Dr. Cavagnino is an Associate Editor for the Electric Machines Committee
(EMC) of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS. He was
the recipient of the Best Paper Award (first prize) from IEEE IAS EMC in 2008.