Accurate information on Induction Motor (IM) speed is essential for robust operation of vector controlled IM drives. Simultaneous estimation of speed provides redundancy in motor drives and enables their operation in case of a speed sensor failure. Furthermore, speed estimation can replace its direct measurement for low-cost IM drives or drives operated in difficult environmental conditions. During torque transients when slip frequency is not controlled within the set range of values, the rotor electromagnetic time constant varies due to the rotor deep-bar effect. The model-based schemes for IM speed estimation are inherently more or less sensitive to variability of IM electromagnetic parameters. This paper presents the study on robustness improvement of the Model Reference Adaptive System (MRAS) based speed estimator to variability of IM electromagnetic parameters resulting from the rotor deep-bar effect. The proposed modification of the MRAS-based speed estimator builds on the use of the rotor flux voltage-current model as the adjustable model. The verification of the analyzed configurations of the MRAS-based speed estimator was performed in the slip frequency range corresponding to the IM load adjustment range up to 1.30 of the stator rated current. This was done for a rigorous and reliable assessment of estimators’ robustness to rotor electromagnetic parameter variability resulting from the rotor deep-bar effect. The theoretical reasoning is supported by the results of experimental tests which confirm the improved operation accuracy and reliability of the proposed speed estimator configuration under the considered working conditions in comparison to the classical MRAS-based speed estimator.

This article aims at understanding how scientific writing was evolving from the medieval to the Early Modern times through the study of two copies of the same text belonging to both periods: the Agnus Castus Herbal. This text offers the possibility of studying the fluidity of this specific type of discourse in a time of a profound technological innovation, reflecting the way the texts were not only produced but also perceived. For those making decisions on how to present this old material to new readers and through a new medium, the influence of the new humanist views and the powerful middle-class may have influenced the final resolutions. The Agnus Castus Herbal was a very popular tract in the Middle Ages, a fundamental part of medical treatments at the time, and was probably still of great interest in the early sixteenth century. Its Early Modern English counterpart – published in 1525 – is the first Herbal printed in England.

In the paper, the authors describe the method of reduction of a model of rotor system. The proposed approach makes it possible to obtain a low order model including e.g. non-proportional damping or the gyroscopic effect. This method is illustrated using an example of a rotor system. First, a model of the system is built without gyroscopic and damping effects by using the rigid finite element method. Next, this model is reduced. Finally, two identical, low order, reduced models in two perpendicular planes are coupled together by means of gyroscopic and damping interaction to form one model of the system. Thus a hybrid model is obtained. The advantage of the presented method is that the number of gyroscopic and damping interactions does not affect the model range.