2014 Sixth Annual IEEE Green Technologies Conference
Improved Estimation of Induction Motor Circuit
Parameters with Published Motor Performance Data
Gang Wang
University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL
Abstract— The motor equivalent circuit method provides an
effective method to estimate motor efficiency. However, the
circuit parameters normally have to be determined through field
tests, which are impossible to conduct when systems are in
service. Because motor efficiency and power factor data at four
load levels under the rated frequency are always published, an
iterative method is proposed to identify the circuit parameters
using these published data. In this paper, the mathematical
relations between the published data and circuit parameters are
first formularized, and then the least squares method is utilized
to identify the circuit parameters, finally, the motor performance
is simulated with the identified circuit parameters and compared
with the published data. The results show that the simulated
motor performance matches well with the published data.
Keywords— Induction motor, Efficiency, Equivalent circuit
I. INTRODUCTION
A penny saved is a penny earned. By increasing the
efficiency of electric motors, we can save electricity, which in
turn can reduce carbon emissions and slow the green house
effect. By estimating induction motor circuit parameters, we
can evaluate motor efficiency under different operation
conditions and consequently develop energy efficient measures
for in-service induction motors in conjunction with variable
frequency drives (VFDs).
An estimate of total electricity use for electric motors is
7,200 TWh per year, which represents 46% of all global
electricity consumption in 2006 [1]. Alternating current three-
phase induction motors are used widely to continuously
operate pumps, fans, and compressors in commercial buildings
and industrial applications because of their effectiveness and
low cost [2]. Motor efficiency is essential to estimate motor
electricity consumption and subsequently develop energy
efficiency controls. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers Standard 112 is the standard used for testing
induction motors in the United States [3]. The U.S. Department
of Energy’s Industrial Technologies Program also developed
the MotorMaster+ motor system management software, which
can access motor efficiency under the rated frequency for
nearly 30,000 industrial electric motors [2].
Because of the reduced cost and the compact size, VFDs
are used widely to match motor speed and power to system
mechanical load requirements. Therefore, the induction motors
often operate under variable frequencies. Since VFDs adjust
both the power frequency and voltage to induction motors, it is
impossible for the motor manufacturers to publish the
efficiency data. The motor equivalent circuit method provides
an effective method to estimate induction motor efficiency
under variable frequencies. Hughes [4] recommended that the
978-1-4799-3934-3/14 $31.00 © 2014 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/GREENTECH.2014.18
Sung-Won Park
Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX
equivalent circuit be applicable except under low frequencies,
about 10 Hz for 60 Hz motors. However, the circuit parameters
of an induction motor are usually not available and have to be
determined from test, published or statistical data.
IEEE 112 Method F1 uses a reduced load, reduced voltage
impedance test and a complete no load variable voltage test to
directly calculate these parameters [3]. A method called
ORMEL96 uses the motor’s nameplate data as well as
statistical data to compute these parameters without field
measurements [5]. Direct testing methods such as IEEE 112
Method F1 are not practical for these in-service motors, while
statistical methods such as ORMEL96 cannot guarantee
accuracy over the full load range. Wang et al. [6] proposed a
method to estimate these parameters with assumptions of load-
invariant winding resistances and combined stray loss in the
stator, rotor, and core loss resistances. In addition to the
published nameplate data, such as the rated load, voltage and
speed, the published motor efficiencies and power factors at
four load levels were adopted.
In reality, the winding resistances actually vary with
winding temperature, thus they are load-variant. Meanwhile,
the stray loss has different characteristics with the stator, rotor
and core losses [3]. In order to obtain accurate results, the
stator and rotor resistances are adjusted from their rated value
based on the load-related winding temperature and the stray
loss is modeled separately in this paper.
II. EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT AND LINEARIZATION
A three-phase induction motor normally has three identical
primary windings and three identical secondary windings.
Because of the perfect symmetry, a single primary winding and
a single secondary winding can be considered in analyzing the
behavior of the motor. Fig. 1 shows the schematics of an
equivalent circuit.
Stator Air-gap Rotor
R1 X1 X2 R2
I1 I2 R2 (1-s)
V1 Rc Vm Xm V2
s
Fig. 1. Equivalent circuit with the parameters referred to the primary side.
The six circuit parameters include stator winding resistance
(R1), rotor winding resistance (R2), stator leakage reactance
(X1), rotor leakage reactance (X2), magnetizing reactance (Xm),
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and core loss resistance (Rc). The losses of stator and rotor
winding resistances correspond to the copper losses while the
loss of core loss resistance corresponds to the core or iron loss.
The stator or input current (I1), the rotor or load current (I2),
the rotor or load voltage (V2), and the magnetizing or air gap
voltage (Vm) can be calculated based on the input voltage (V1)
and the slip (s) for given six circuit parameters using electric
circuit theories.
Now the rotor power can be expressed as
Wmotor
PF (7)
2
Wmotor  Q2
According to electric circuit theories, the stator or input
current, the rotor or load current, the rotor voltage, and the
magnetizing or air gap voltage are nonlinear functions of the
six circuit parameters. In order to linearize (4) and (6), three
iterative factors are first defined: the load voltage factor (), the
magnetizing voltage factor () and the load current factor ().

1 s D V12 /V22 (8)

Wrotor 3I 22 R2 (1)
s

The friction and windage losses (WF&W) and the stray load E Vm2 / V12 (9)
loss (WSL) are estimated separately from the equivalent circuit
calculations by exclusion from the rotor power [3]. So the
motor mechanical output (shaft) power can be expressed as
J I12 / I 22 (10)
Wshaft Wrotor  WF &W  WSL (2)
Meanwhile in order to obtain the load related stray loss
using (3), the rotor current factor () is also defined.
The estimated mechanical loss (WF&W) under the rated
frequency remains constant regardless of the motor loads,
about 5% to 15% of the total loss under the rated power and \ I 22 / I 22,d (11)
frequency [2]. The estimated stray load loss (WSL,d) under the
rated power is about 0.9% to 1.8% of the motor rated power
and the stray load loss under any load can be calculated from The rotor load factor (), which is a function of the rotor
the rated stray loss using the square of the ratio of the rotor current factor, is finally designed to simplify the conversion
current under any load to the rated rotor current (I2/I2,d) [3]. between the equivalent-circuit-related rotor power and the
motor-efficiency-related shaft power.

WSL I 2 / I 2,d  ˜ WSL,d

2
(3)
Wrotor WF &W WSL ,d ˜\
P (\ ) 1  (12)
Wshaft Wshaft Wshaft
The motor input power is balanced with the rotor power as
well as the core loss (Rc), the rotor loss (R2) and the stator loss
(R1). The load-variant winding resistances are adjusted based on
actual winding temperature, which is the total temperature
including the reference ambient temperature (tamb).
3Vm2
Wmotor  3I12 R1  3I 22 R2  Wrotor (4)
Rc Rn Rn,d ˜ O , n 1,2 (13)

The motor efficiency is defined as the ratio of the shaft

k  't  tamb
power to the motor input power. Where O
k  'td  tamb

K Wshaft / Wmotor (5) The winding temperature rise (td) under the rated load is
determined by the insulation class type and is 90°C for
insulation class F while k is 234.5 for 100% IACS conductivity
The motor reactive power includes the reactive power in copper. The winding temperature rise (t) at any load can be
the magnetizing reactance, the rotor leakage reactance, and the derived from the rated temperature rise with the ratio squared
stator reactance. of the motor input current to the rated input current [3]. The
motor input current under any load can be calculated from the
shaft power as well as the motor efficiency and power factor.
3Vm2
Q  3I12 ˜ X 1  3I 22 ˜ X 2 (6)
Xm
2
I § Wshaft PFd ˜K d ·
The power factor (PF) can be calculated by the motor input 't 't d ( 1 ) 2 't d ¨ ˜ ¸ (14)
I1,d ¨ Wshaft ,d PF ˜ K ¸
power and reactive power. © ¹

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 With four factors, , ,  and , the rotor winding resistance ª 3E i jV12 1
2
n
1º
under the rated power can be derived from (1). SKj ¦ « j 1
 aij  Pij  »
Ki »¼ 
(21)
 « Wshaft ,i Rc
i 1 ¬

3V12
D i j Pi j  Wshaft ,i
2
R2,d (15)
1  sd where ai j
Oi (J i j R1j,d1  R2j,d1 )
D d ˜ P d (\ d ) ˜ Wshaft ,d 3V12
sd

Then the motor efficiency can be derived from (4). 2

n ª 3E j ˜ V 2 W 1  PFi 2 º
S j
PF ¦ «bi j  i j 1 1  shaft ,i
i 1 « Ki PFi » 
» (22)
1 3EV12 1 DP (\ )Wshaft
2
 ¬
Xm
¼
 O (JR1,d  R2,d )  P (\ ) (16)
K Wshaft Rc 3V12

where bi j D ij ˜
P W
i
j
shadt ,i 
2

(J i jT  1) X 2j 1
Since the stator and rotor leakage reactances (X1 and X2) are 2
3V
slightly dependent, it is difficult to identify accurate X1 and X2 1

separately. IEEE standard 112 specifies that the stator and rotor The linear least squares method can be used to identify four
leakage reactances have a specific ratio for a certain NEMA parameters, the core loss resistance (Rc), the stator resistance
design [4]. (R1,d), the magnetizing reactance (Xm), and the rotor leakage
reactance (X2) for a new iteration of j+1 using (21) and (22)
T X1 / X 2 (17) Finally, the stator leakage reactance (X1) is identified from
the rotor leakage reactance (X2) with the ratio ( T ).
The value for the ratio (X1/X2) is 1.0 for Design A, Design
D, and wound rotor motors, 0.67 for Design B motors, or 0.43
for Design C motors. Thus the power factor coupled with the X 1j 1 T ˜ X 2j 1 (23)
motor efficiency can be derived from (6) where the ratio
(X1/X2) is used to eliminate X1. In order to update , ,  and  based on the updated circuit
parameters, the slips ( sij 1 ) need to be updated first under
different loads (i=2, 3 and 4) rather than the rated load (i=1 or
Wshaft 1  PF 2 1 P 2 (\ ) ˜ Wshaft
2
 3EV12 D (JT  1) X 2 (18) d), where the slip always keeps constant based on the rated
K PF Xm 3V12 motor speed.

III. IDENTIFICATION OF CIRCUIT PARAMETERS Wshaft , i ˜ Pi j ˜ D i j ˜ R2j,d1 ˜ Oi

sij 1 (24)
The residuals between the value on the right side of (16) Wshaft ,i ˜ Pi j ˜ D i j ˜ R2j,d1 ˜ Oi  3V12
and (18), which is calculated from published data, and the
value on the left side, which is determined by the circuit The iterative procedure can be done as follows:
parameters, can be easily obtained. For each iteration (j starting 1. Initialize (0), (0), (0) and (0) to be one (j=0).
at 0) with four constant iterative factors, , ,  and , under 2. Use (19) to calculate (0).
four different load levels (i=1~4 where i=1 or d for the rated 3. Use (20) to calculate R2,d, in each iteration (j+1)
load), the rotor load factor is updated from the shaft power and 4. Use the least squares method to calculate R1,d, Rc, Xm,
rotor current factor, and X2 in each iteration (j+1) with (21) and (22).
5. Calculate X1 in each iteration (j+1) with (23).
6. Calculate the slips for the current iteration (j+1) for all
WF &W WSL ,d ˜\ i
j
Pi j 1   (19) loads (i=2, 3, 4) rather than the rated load (i=1 or d)
Wshaft ,i Wshaft ,i with (24).
7. Update , ,   and  in each iteration (j+1) based on
Then the rotor resistance (R2,d) for a new iteration of j+1 is obtained circuit parameters in steps 3 to 5.
8. Repeat steps 3 to 7 until , ,  and  converge.
IV. APPLICATION
3V12
 R2j,d1 (20) The identification and estimation procedure is applied on
1  sd
D dj ˜ P dj ˜ Wshaft ,d one induction motor. The published motor data are obtained
sd from the MotorMaster+ software [2] and listed in Table 1. It
should be noticed that the voltage in Table 1 is the line voltage
The sum of the squares of these residuals related to the rather than the phase voltage, which is adopted in all equations
motor efficiency and power factor can be expressed as in the paper.

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 TABLE I. PUBLISHED MOTOR PERFORMANCE DATA Then motor efficiency is simulated using identified circuit
Manufacturer US Motors parameters and compared with the published data. The
Model T650 comparison shows that the calculated efficiency obtained using
Motor type NEMA Design B the identified circuit parameters under the rated frequency
Size (HP) 30 matches the published motor performance data very well. The
Speed (RPM) 1800 estimated circuit parameters can be applied to evaluate the
Full load speed 1775 motor efficiency under different operation conditions.
Voltage (V) 460
Load (%) 100% 75% 50% 25%
Efficiency (%) 92.4 93.4 92.9 89.3
Power factor (%) 85.7 83.3 73.3 57.1

It is assumed that the mechanical losses are 10% of the total

rated loss and the stray loss is 1.8% of the rated shaft power
under the rated power and frequency. The aforementioned
iterative method is employed until the four iterative ratios
converge. The calculated circuit parameters under the rated
power are listed in Table 2. The circuit parameters with an
assumption of constant winding resistances [6] are also
estimated and listed in Table 3. The estimated stator resistance
with variable winding resistances has significant drop, 38%.
Meanwhile, other five circuit parameters are slightly different.
Since the residuals related to the motor efficiency and
Fig. 2. Motor efficiency comparison.
power factor under the rated frequency are minimized, the
simulated motor performance under the rated frequency should
be match with the published data in both cases. However, the
motor performance under variable frequency will be different
with different stator resistance.

TABLE II. CALCULATED EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT PARAMETERS

Parameter (ohm) Variable Constant
Resistance Resistance
R1d 0.1602 0.2656
X1 1.202 1.229
Rc 646.9 611.7
Xm 22.42 22.11
R2d 0.1024 0.1008
X2 0.8053 0.8236

With the calculated circuit parameters, the motor
performance can be simulated. The simulated motor efficiency
versus the motor output power is compared with the published
efficiency under four different loads. Fig. 2 compares the
simulated and published efficiency and Fig. 3 compares the
simulated and published power factor. The comparison shows
that the simulated motor performance data with the estimated
circuit parameters match very well with the published data. In
other words, the comparison validates that the induction motor
with these identified circuit parameters shows identical
performance to the published performance data under the rated
frequency.
V. CONCLUSION
An improved iterative least squares method is developed to
determine motor equivalent circuit parameters using published
motor data, including motor efficiency and power factor at four
load levels under rated power frequency with consideration of
load-variant winding resistances and a separate stray loss,
which is consistent with IEEE Standard 112-2004 .
Fig. 3. Motor power factor comparison.
REFERENCES
[1] P. Waide, and C. U. Brunner. 2011. Energy-efficiency policy
opportunities for electric motor-driven systems. International Energy
Agency, Paris, France
[2] DOE. 2008. A sourcebook for industry: improving motor and drive
system performance. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Washington, DC
[3] IEEE. 2004. IEEE Standard 112-2004, IEEE standard test procedure for
polyphase induction motors and generators. New York: IEEE Power
Engineering Society
[4] A. Hughes. 2006. Electric motors and drives fundamentals, types and
applications, 3rd edition. Burlington: Elsevier Ltd..
[5] J. D. Kueck, M. Olszewski, D. A. Casada, J. Hsu, P. J. Otaduy, and L.
M. Tolbert. 1996. Assessment of methods for estimating motor
efficiency and load under field conditions. ORNL/TM-13165, Oak
Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN.
[6] G. Wang, L. Song, and S. Park. 2013. Estimation of Induction Motor
Circuit Parameters and Efficiency under Variable Frequencies.
ASHRAE Transactions. Volume 119, Part 2

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