conference paper 77

A high frequency SIMULINK model for PMSM

for a new sensorless rotor detection technique *

Ram Chandru and JG Zhu

Faculty of Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

SUMMARY: A new concept of high frequency small-signal phase inductance (Lss) of Permanent
Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) is defined in this paper. The Lss of a Soft Magnetic Composite
(SMC) motor was mapped in the experiment and the results were used to build a high frequency
SIMULINK model for the simulation of a new sensorless rotor detection scheme. A new sensorless
detection scheme is also proposed in this paper.

LIST OF SYMBOLS Sensorless rotor position detection has gained

νs Line to neutral stator terminal voltage (V)
is Stator line current (I)
λ flux linkage (Wb)
λpm flux linkage of permanent magnet (Wb)
ω rotor speed (electrical) (rads-1)
θ rotor angle (electrical) (rad)
R rotor resistance (Ω)
Ls synchronous inductance (H)
νh peak voltage of injected high frequency signal (V)
ih peak current of injected high frequency signal (I)
ωh frequency of injected high frequency signal (Hz)
1 INTRODUCTION
The permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM)
has the advantage of high efficiency, high power
density, and no wear-and-tear commutation brushes.
However, it relies on electronic commutation of the
inverter electronics to feed drive current to the correct
phase according to the rotor position. Rotor position
detection is usually by means of encoder attached to
the motor shaft. Commonly use position encoders
are Hall-effect switch, optical disc absolute encoders
and angular resolvers. These position sensors are
either very expensive and/or highly sensitive to
environment factors such as temperature, noise and
vibrations etc. The elimination of these sensors would
be highly desirable for improved system reliability
and cost reduction of the PMSM and its drive.
* Paper presented at the Australasian Universities
Power Engineering Conference (AUPEC05),
Hobart, 2005.
increasing interest and much research has been
conducted into this area over the last decade.
Many different sensorless detection techniques
have been developed and reported over the years,
a few examples are given in (Johnson et al, 1999;
Rajashekera & Kawamura, 1994; Lee & Pollock, 1992).
Of our particular interest, a rotor position sensorless
detection technique is required to allow ultra low
speed operation and startup with full torque. The
most appropriate technique so far is the use of high
frequency or pulse injection to detect the saliency of
the PMSM (Schroedl, 1996; Jang et al, 2001). Saliency
of the PMSM is mainly caused by two dominant
effects: Structural saliency such as the interior
permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM), and
magnetic saturation of the stator, which appears in
all type of PMSMs. In this paper, a new small signal
Lss is defined and a novel high frequency injection
technique is presented using the Lss principle.
2 DEFINITION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF LSS
For a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor
(PMSM), the basic electrical model can be represented
as:
dλ
vs = Ris +
dt (1)
assuming λ is linear and = Lsis+λpmcosθ, then
di
vs = Ris + Ls s − ωλ pm sin θ (2)
dt
The assumption λ is linear ignored the saturation
effect of the core material of the stator. In general,
this approximation is acceptable when dealing with
‘large-signal’ drive current when modelling the

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 78 “A high frequency SIMULINK model for PMSM for a new sensorless rotor…” – Chandru and Zhu

electrical-mechanical conversion of the motor.
When the saturation of the core material is taken
into account, λ is no longer linear. Fig. 1 shows the
B-H curve of the Somaloy 500 material. Due to its
relatively ‘soft’ B-H characteristic, the assumption
of a linear λ over the operating range becomes
inaccurate. The flux linkage λ(i,θ) is a function of the
instantaneous drive current is , and the position of
the permanent magnet of the rotor θ; both quantities
determine the magnetic bias of the operating point
of the material.
d λ (i,θ ) ∂λ di ∂λ dθ
= ⋅ + ⋅
dt ∂i dt ∂θ dt (3)
The small signal Lss is defined as the incremental
phase inductance due to the combination of
structural and magnetic saturation saliency of the
motor stator.
d λ (i,θ )
Lss (i,θ ) =
di
frequency injected sensorless rotor position detection
technique to be described later.
3 MEASUREMENT OF LSS
In order to measure Lss, a small high frequency
(500Hz) signal is superimposed onto the DC bias
phase current: Each of the phase windings were
biased with a selected DC current, with a small AC
signal injected into phase A where its inductance is
being measured. The neutral point of the test motor is
brought out and Lss is measured against rotor position
and different DC bias. The experimental setup is
shown in Fig. 2. The experiment was conducted with
different bias current levels from –4A to +4A at 1A
intervals. The associated model to represent the Lss
as a function of phase current i and rotor position θ,
is expressed in a matrix form of Fourier series and
polynomial function (Cui et al, 2001):
Lss a(i,θ) = I(ia)AP(θ) (5)
(4)
where
I=[1 ia ia2 ia3 ia4 ia5],

⎡ 4.90259 −0.00237 −0.47703 0.00055 0.01546 0.0032 ⎤

⎢ −0.00022 −0.02395 −0.00048
⎢ 0.01087 0.00051 −0.00251 ⎥
⎥
A = ⎢ −0.01095 0.00038 0.00171 0.00013 0.00126 −0.00109 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ −0.00008 0.00069 0 0.00047 −0.00009 0.00082 ⎥
dB ⎣⎢ −0.00012 0 0.00016 0 −0.00008 0.00007 ⎦⎥

and

P=[1 cosθ cos2θ cos3θ cos4θ cos5θ]T

Lss b and Lss c are essentially identical except with θ

replace by (θ-2π/3) and (θ+2π/3).

L for blocking AC signal.

Hbias
Isignal AC
IA DC RA
dH ~ Vtest AC
DC source x 3 LA
Figure 1: B-H curve of Somaloy 500
PMSM
and the concept of Lss.
LB
LC
The combination of both the angular position of IB DC IC DC RB
the rotor magnet and the stator current creates RC
the magnetic bias Hbias that corresponds to certain
operating value of B in the stator core, as illustrated
in Fig.1. By injecting a small perturbation to Hbias
(dH) by means of a small high frequency ac current, Figure 2: Experimental step for the
the corresponding perturbation of B (dB) can be measurement of Lss.
measured in terms of an inductance value which is
defined as Lss. As seen in the figure, different Hbias Fig. 3 compares the experimental values of Lss versus
points yield different value of Lss. Therefore, each the model predictions. Equ. 5 allows the imple-
combination of instantaneous rotor position and mentation of a high frequency inductance model
current level corresponds to a unique value of Lss. of the PMSM for the purpose of high frequency
This unique property of Lss forms the basis of the high sensorless rotor detection technique.

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4 INTRODUCTION TO A NEW CONCEPT
OF SENSORLESS ROTOR DETECTION
TECHNIQUE
The proposed new sensorless rotor detection
technique makes use of a single phase high frequency
(hf) signal injected into one phase of the three phase
windings.
The hf current of both of the other two phases are
detected and the sum and difference of the return hf
current of the two phases, caused by the variation of
phase inductances Lss due to the saturation effects,
encode the position of the rotor. A simplified block
diagram of the proposed technique is shown in
Fig. 4a.
With the high frequency detection circuit decoupled
from the power circuit, the equivalent high frequency
circuit is shown on Fig. 4b. The sum and difference of

Figure 3: Comparison of measured and modelling values of Lss a at various drive current.

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 80 “A high frequency SIMULINK model for PMSM for a new sensorless rotor…” – Chandru and Zhu

filter

RA
ih b+ih c

LA
N Lss a

S LB
~ LC
vh
RB Lss b
RC Drive current
~ vh Lss c

filter filter ih c ih b

ih c ih b

Figure 4a: The simplified block diagram of the

new sensorless detection scheme. Figure 4b: The equivalent high frequency circuit.

the return high frequency current, (ihb+ihc) and

ia ib ic
(ihb-ihc), can be expressed as:
vh ( Lss c + Lss b )
ihsum = ihb + ihc =
ω h ( Lss a Lss b + Lss a Lss c + Lss b Lss c )
(6)
and
vh ( Lss c − Lss b )
ihdif = ihb − ihc =
ω h ( Lss a Lss b + Lss a Lss c + Lss b Lss c )
(7)

The high frequency model above was constructed

and used in the simulation in SIMULINK.

5 SIMULATION RESULTS
AND DISCUSSION

Simulation was carried out with the test motor

(Table 1), connected as a FOC drive, with a high
torque and low speed set up. The high frequency
model is designed as an additional module that
adds onto the existing PMSM SIMULINK model
solely for high frequency detection modelling. The
torque is setup such that the peak drive current into
the motor is approx 4A. The injected high frequency
is 500Hz with amplitude of 10Vp. Both the ihsum and
ihdif are monitored with respect to the rotor angle and
the simulation results are shown in Fig. 5. As shown Figure 5: Simulation results of stator current
in the results, both ihdif and ihsum are periodic function Lss a , ihsum and ihdif with respect to rotor
at twice the frequency of the rotor. ihdif crosses zero position.
at 0° and 180° rotor angle when ihsum is at its peak,

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 “A high frequency SIMULINK model for PMSM for a new sensorless rotor…” – Chandru and Zhu 81

and at 90° and 270° rotor angle when ihsum is at its
minimum. Each pair value of ihdif and ihsum corresponds
to a rotor angle, with a 180° uncertainty that has to
be addressed at startup. Various initial rotor position
detection techniques have been presented and could
be integrated at a later stage (Parasiliti et al, 2000;
Tanaka et al, 2001; Chung et al, 1999).
REFERENCES
Chung, DW, Kang, J K & Sul, S K, Initial Rotor
Position Detection of PMSM at Standstill Without
Rotational Transducer, International Conference on
Electric Machines and Drives IEMD’99, pp. 785 to
787, May 1999.

Cui, P, Zhu, J G, Ha, Q P, Hunter, G P & Ramsden,

Table 1: Parameters of the SMC test motor. V S, Simulation of Non-linear Switched Reluctance
Motor Drives with PSIM, ICEMS, vol. 2, pp. 1061-
Core material Somaloy 500 1064, Aug 2001.

Jang, J H, Ha, J I & Sul, S K, Vector Control of Surface

Permanent Magnet NdFeB Mounted Permanent Magnet Motor without any
Rotational Transducer, 16th Annual IEEE Applied
Magnet flux (Wb) 0.0367 Power Electronics Conference and Exposition APEC
2001, vol. 2, pp. 845 to 849, 4-8 Mar 2001.
No. of pole pair 10
Johnson, J P, Ehsani, M & Guzelgunler, Y, Review
Rated power (W) 500 of Sensorless Methods for Brushless DC, Industry
Applications Conference, Thirty-Fourth IAS Annual
Rated line to neutral voltage (V) 64 Meeting. Conference Record of the 1999 IEEE, vol.
1, pp. 143 to 150, 3-7 Oct 1999.
Rated frequency (Hz) 300
Lee, P W & Pollock, C, Sensorless Commutation
Techniques for Brushless Permanent-Magnet and
Ld (mH) 8.85
Reluctance Motor Drives, IEE Colloquium on
Variable Speed Drives and Motion Control, pp. 8/1
Lq (mH) 10.80
to 8/6, 4 Nov 1992.

R (Ω) 0.29 Parasiliti, F, Petrella, R & Tursini, M, Initial Rotor

Position Estimation Method for PM Motors,
J (Kgm2) 0.8x10–3 IEEE Conference Record of Industry Application
Conference 2000, vol. 2, pp. 1190 to 1197, 8-12 Oct
F(Nms) 0.1 2000.

Rajashekara, K & Kawamura, A, Sensorless Control

of Permanent Magnet AC Motors, 20th International
6 CONCLUSION Conference on Industrial Electronics, Control and
Instrumentation. IECON ’94, vol. 3, pp. 1589 to 1594,
A new concept of small signal stator inductance Lss is 5-9 Sept 1994.
introduced in this paper. This inductance is detected
with a superimposed high frequency measuring Schroedl, M, “Sensorless Control of AC Machines at
signal. The inductance varies with rotor angle and Low Speed and Standstill Based on the “INFORM”
the instantaneous drive current and a formula was Method,” 31st Conference Record of IEEE Industry
derived to express Lss. Applications Conference, IAS 1996., vol. 1, pp. 270
to 277, 6-10 Oct 1996.
A new concept of sensorless rotor detection is also
introduced in this paper. The concept is to detect
Tanaka, K, Yuzawa, T, Moriyama, R & Miki, I, Initial
the sum and different of the current of the high
Rotor Position Estimation for Surface Permanent
frequency injected signal off two motor phases.
Magnet Synchronous Motor, 36th Conference Record
With the derived formula for Lss , a high frequency
of Industry Applications Conference IAS’01, vol. 4,
saliency dependent inductance model was built as an
pp. 2592 to 2597, 30Sep - 4Oct 2001.
additional module to SIMULINK. Simulations were
carried out to study the feasibility of the proposed
new sensorless detection scheme. It is shown from
simulation that the new scheme is feasible and further
experimental work to be carried out to develop this
new scheme.

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 82 “A high frequency SIMULINK model for PMSM for a new sensorless rotor…” – Chandru and Zhu

RAM CHANDRU

Ram Chandru received his BSc and MSc degrees in UK from

University College London in 1984, and Bristol University in 1987
respectively. He has been working in the electronic industry in
Analogue Instrumentation and Switchmode Power Supplies. In 2003,
he returned to University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia
to pursue his PhD degree in the area of intelligent motor drive
inverters.

JIAN GUO ZHU

Jian Guo Zhu received his B.E and M.E. degrees in China from
Jiangsu Institute of Technology in 1982 and Shanghai University of
Technology in 1987, respectively, and the PhD degree from University
of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia, in 1995. Currently, he is the
Professor of Electrical Engineering at UTS. His research interests are
electromagnetics and electrical machines and drives.

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