Sensorless Control of Switched-Flux Permanent Magnet Machines

This thesis investigates the sensorless control strategies of permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs), with particular reference to switched-flux permanent magnet (SFPM) machines, based on high-frequency signal injection methods for low speed and standstill and the back-EMF based methods for medium and high speeds

Improved high-frequency carrier voltage measurement for position estimation of switched-flux permanent magnet machines

The conventional 12/10 stator/rotor poles switched-flux permanent magnet (SFPM) machine is usually based on all poles wound topology, each phase comprising four winding coils in series connection. However, alternate coils of the same phase have different machine saliency characteristics. Moreover, in order to measure the high-frequency (HF) carrier voltage, the mid-tapered winding wires can be utilized. Consequently, the machine saliencies can be measured separately from two parts of winding coil connections. This paper investigates the influences of machine saliencies on the sensorless rotor position estimations based on different sequence of winding coil connections, in which the primary saliency may contain some additional harmonics referring to the secondary saliency that will degrade the overall sensorless control operations. Furthermore, a simple compensation method is proposed to reduce the influence of multiple saliencies to achieve more accurate sensorless rotor position estimation. By comparing with rotor positon estimations without the proposed compensation and HF carrier current based method, the effectiveness of improved sensorless rotor position estimation has been demonstrated experimentally, as well as the application to dual 3-phase SFPM machines

High-frequency issues using rotating voltage injections intended for position self-sensing

The rotor position is required in many control schemes in electrical drives. Replacing position sensors by machine self-sensing estimators increases reliability and reduces cost. Solutions based on tracking magnetic anisotropies through the monitoring of the incremental inductance variations are efficient at low-speed and standstill operations. This inductance can be estimated by measuring the response to the injection of high-frequency signals. In general however, the selection of the optimal frequency is not addressed thoroughly. In this paper, we propose discrete-time operations based on a rotating voltage injection at frequencies up to one third of the sampling frequency used by the digital controller. The impact on the rotation-drive, the computational requirement, the robustness and the effect of the resistance on the position estimation are analyzed regarding the signal frequency

Sixth-harmonic back-EMF based sensorless control for switched-flux permanent magnet machine

In switched-flux permanent magnet (SFPM) machines, the 6th-harmonic back electromotive force (EMF) is dominant, whilst the 3rd-harmonic back-EMF is much smaller. This paper proposes several new position estimation methods for sensorless control based on the 6th-harmonic back-EMF. Firstly, by detecting the zero-crossings of the 6th-harmonic back-EMF with/without eliminating the influence of the 3rd-harmonic back EMF, the related rotor positions can be determined precisely at these zero-crossings. However, since the intermediate rotor positions need to be determined by linear interpretation between two zero-crossings, it only exhibits excellent performance under steady state. Furthermore, the continuous rotor position can be estimated from the proposed new observer by utilizing the combined signals of 6th-harmonic back-EMF and flux-linkage, together with a synchronous reference frame filter (SRFF) and harmonic elimination. Experimental validation show that (a) by eliminating the 3rd-harmonic back-EMF effect, the accuracy of the proposed 6th-harmonic back-EMF zero-crossings detection method can be improved, (b) SRFF is effective to minimize the influence of non-constant amplitudes of the 6th-harmonic backEMF and flux-linkage, (c) the comparison between the fundamental, the 3rd-harmonic back-EMF and the proposed method are presented in order to highlight the effectiveness of proposed control strategy under different operating conditions

Sensorless position estimation in fault-tolerant permanent magnet AC motor drives with redundancy.

Safety critical applications are heavily dependent on fault-tolerant motor drives being capable of continuing to operate satisfactorily under faults. This research utilizes a fault-tolerant PMAC motor drive with redundancy involving dual drives to provide parallel redundancy where each drive has electrically, magnetically, thermally and physically independent phases to improve its fault-tolerant capabilities. PMAC motor drives can offer high power and torque densities which are essential in high performance applications, for example, more-electric airplanes. In this thesis, two sensorless algorithms are proposed to estimate the rotor position in a fault-tolerant three-phase surface-mounted sinusoidal PMAC motor drive with redundancy under normal and faulted operating conditions. The key aims are to improve the reliability by eliminating the use of a position sensor which is one of major sources of failures, as well as by offering fault-tolerant position estimation. The algorithms utilize measurements of the winding currents and phase voltages, to compute flux linkage increments without integration, hence producing the predicted position values. Estimation errors due measurements are compensated for by a modified phase-locked loop technique which forces the predicted positions to track the flux linkage increments, finally generating the rotor position estimate. The fault-tolerant three-phase sensorless position estimation method utilizes the measured data from the three phase windings in each drive, consequently obtaining a total of two position estimates. However, the fault-tolerant two-phase sensorless position estimation method uses measurements from pairs of phases and produces three position estimates for each drive. Therefore, six position estimates are available in the dual drive system. In normal operation, all of these position estimates can be averaged to achieve a final rotor angle estimate in both schemes. Under faulted operating conditions, on the other hand, a final position estimate should be achieved by averaging position estimates obtained with measurements from healthy phases since unacceptable estimation errors can be created by making use of measured values from phases with failures. In order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed fault-tolerant sensorless position estimation schemes, the algorithms were tested using both simulated data and offline measured data from an experimental fault-tolerant PMAC motor drive system. In the healthy condition, both techniques presented good performance with acceptable accuracies under low and high steady-state speeds, starting from standstill and step load changes. In addition, they had robustness against parameter variations and measurement errors, as well as the ability to recover quickly from large incorrect initial position information. Under faulted operating conditions such as sensor failures, however, the two-phase sensorless method was more reliable than the threephase sensorless method since it could operate even with a faulty phase.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 201

Analysis and Application of the Direct Flux Control Sensorless Technique to Low-Power PMSMs

In the field of sensorless control of permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs), different techniques based on machine anisotropies have been studied and implemented successfully. Nevertheless, most proposed approaches extract the rotor position information from the measured machine currents, that, when applied to low-power machines, might require high-bandwidth current sensors. An interesting alternative is given by sensorless techniques that exploit the star-point voltage of PMSMs, such as the direct flux control technique. This work aims at analyzing the conditions of applicability of such technique by considering a more thorough description of the machine inductance matrix. After a comprehensive mathematical description of the technique and characterization of the machine anisotropy information that is extracted from the star-point voltage, simulation as well as experimental results conducted on a test machine are presented and discussed in order to validate the proposed theory

Advances in Rotating Electric Machines

It is difficult to imagine a modern society without rotating electric machines. Their use has been increasing not only in the traditional fields of application but also in more contemporary fields, including renewable energy conversion systems, electric aircraft, aerospace, electric vehicles, unmanned propulsion systems, robotics, etc. This has contributed to advances in the materials, design methodologies, modeling tools, and manufacturing processes of current electric machines, which are characterized by high compactness, low weight, high power density, high torque density, and high reliability. On the other hand, the growing use of electric machines and drives in more critical applications has pushed forward the research in the area of condition monitoring and fault tolerance, leading to the development of more reliable diagnostic techniques and more fault-tolerant machines. This book presents and disseminates the most recent advances related to the theory, design, modeling, application, control, and condition monitoring of all types of rotating electric machines

Sensorless Commissioning and Control of High Anisotropy Synchronous Motor Drives

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Analysis and Exploitation of the Star-Point Voltage of Synchronous Machines for Sensorless Operation

In the field of sensorless drive of synchronous machines (SMs), many techniques have been proposed that can be applied successfully in most applications. Nevertheless, these techniques rely on the measurement of the phase currents to extract the rotor position information. In the particular case of low-power machines, the application of such techniques is challenging due to the limited bandwidth of the available current sensors. An alternative is offered by those techniques that exploit the star-point voltage rather than phase currents. This work aims at providing a model of the dynamic behavior of the star-point voltage and presenting a technique for extracting the rotor electrical position needed for sensorless operation of SMs. Two different circuitries for measuring the star-point voltage are also presented and then compared. The presented mathematical analysis and the measurement methods are validated both numerically and experimentally on a test machine