Improvement of adjustable speed drive system efficiency is important not only from the viewpoints of energy saving and cooling system operation, but also from the broad perspective of environmental pollution. The paper describes a fuzzy logic based on-line efficiency optimization control of a drive that uses an indirect vector controlled induction motor speed control system in the inner loop. At steady-state light-load condition, a fuzzy controller adaptively decrements the excitation current on the basis of measured input power such that, for a given load torque and speed, the drive settles down to the minimum input power, i.e., operates at maximum efficiency. The low-frequency pulsating torque due to decrementation of rotor flux is compensated in a feedforward manner. If the load torque or speed command changes, the efficiency search algorithm is abandoned and the rated flux is established to get the best transient response. The drive system with the proposed efficiency optimization controller has been simulated with lossy models of the converter and machine, and its performance has been thoroughly investigated. An experimental drive system with the proposed controller implemented on a TMS320C25 digital signal processor, has been tested in the laboratory to validate the theoretical development. >