Methods and apparatus for estimating rotor slots

1. A computer implemented method of determining a quantity of rotor slots in an induction motor through analysis of voltage and current signals, comprising:

calculating, via one or more processors, an approximate slip according to an approximate slip function that is independent of a rotor slots quantity;

calculating, via one or more of the processors, a fundamental frequency from a representation of the voltage signal;

calculating, via one or more of the processors, a saliency frequency from a representation of the current signal;

for each rotor slots index in a set of rotor slots indices:

calculating, via one or more of the processors, a slip estimate according to a slip estimation function that includes the saliency frequency, a saliency order, the fundamental frequency, a rotor slots index in the set of rotor slots indices, and a quantity of poles of the motor, such that the slip estimate is evaluated at respective ones of the set rotor slots indices,

calculating, via one or more of the processors, a slip estimation error signal according to a slip estimation error function that includes a difference between the approximate slip and respective ones of the slip estimates, and

calculating, via one or more of the processors, a rotor slots performance surface representative of an aggregate of the slip estimation error signals evaluated over the set of the rotor slots indices;

defining a rotor slots quantity equal to the rotor slots index corresponding to a minimum of the rotor slots performance surface over at least a portion of the set of the rotor slots indices; and

storing the rotor slots quantity.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the representation of the voltage signal is complex, and the representation of the current signal is complex.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the approximate slip function includes:

calculating a normalized real input power according to an input power function that includes the representation of the voltage signal, the representation of the current signal, a rated fundamental frequency associated with the motor, and a rated input power associated with the motor;

calculating a rated slip associated with the motor according to a function that includes a rated speed associated with the motor and the quantity of poles; and

multiplying the normalized real input power and the rated slip associated with the motor.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the input power function includes:

extracting, from a complex voltage of the representation of the voltage signal, a complex fundamental voltage such that a fundamental frequency component of the complex voltage is retained;

extracting, from a complex current of the representation of the current signal, a complex fundamental current such that a fundamental frequency component of the complex current is retained; and

multiplying the complex fundamental voltage with the conjugate of the complex fundamental current.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising temperature compensating the approximate slip according to a function that includes multiplying the approximate slip by a coefficient that is related to the temperature of the motor.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the approximate slip function includes extracting an estimate of an eccentricity frequency associated with an eccentricity harmonic, wherein the calculating the approximate slip is carried out according to a function that includes the eccentricity frequency, an eccentricity order, and a quantity of poles.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aggregate of the slip estimation error signals associated with a specific rotor slots index is determined by calculating the mean of one of the slip estimation error signals, evaluated over a contiguous period of observation.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising terminating the calculating of the rotor slots performance surface responsive to a local minimum of the rotor slots performance surface persisting over at least a part of the predetermined range of the rotor slots index.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the defining the rotor slots quantity is carried out by determining a minimum of the rotor slots performance surface over at least part of the predetermined range of the rotor slots index.