A Sliding Mode Observer Design Method for Induction Motor
Control System
Yong Feng, Member, IEEE, Hongyu Shi, Xinghuo Yu, Fellow, IEEE
Abstract—This paper proposes an observer based on the
nonsingular terminal sliding mode (NTSM) method and the
high-order sliding mode (HOSM) method for estimating the
rotor speed and the rotor flux in the induction motor control
system. A terminal sliding mode observer is designed to estimate
the rotor speed and the rotor flux of the motor system with fast
convergence and better tracking precision. A high-order sliding
mode control law is utilized to guarantee the stability of the
observer and eliminate the chattering. The simulation results
show that the proposed method can converge to actual value
quickly with high precision.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HE induction motor (IM) has been widely used in
industrial applications due to its simple construction,
reliability and low cost[1]. In the high performance IM control
system, the Field-Oriented control (FOC) is a very popular
method. The accurate motor speed and position information is
required in the FOC. Mechanical sensors are utilized to
measure the speed of the induction motor in industrial
applications. However, high precision mechanical sensors are
difficult to install, increase the cost and size of IM system,
reduce the reliability and limit the applications. The sensorless
technique accomplishes to measure the speed of the IM
without the mechanical sensors, and now is paid more and
more attentions [2].
A number of methods for estimating the rotor speed of IM
have been proposed. Luenberger observer was utilized for
estimating the rotor speed in [3] and [4], the extended Kalman
filters (EKF) for simulating the rotor speed and flux are
proposed in [5] and [6], but this method is sensitive to noise
and with heavy computation burden. Model Reference
Adaptive System (MARS) was utilized to estimate the rotor
speed in [7] and [8], which is sensitive to rotor parameters.
Artificial neural network was applied to speed estimation in
[9] and [10], but they produced large computation burden.
The current harmonic spectral estimation method was applied
to estimate rotor speed in [11].
Manuscript received March 23, 2010. This paper was supported by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (60474016, 60774040).
Yong Feng is with the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC3001, Australia (phone: 61-3-99252394;
fax: 61-3-99252394; e-mail: yong.feng@rmit.edu.au).
Hongyu Shi is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Harbin
Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China (e-mail:
shihongyu1981@126.com).
Xinghuo Yu is with the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC3001, Australia (e-mail:
x.yu@rmit.edu.au).
978-1-4244-6044-1/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE 1116
Sliding mode control has attractive advantages of
robustness to disturbances, and low sensitivity to the system
parameter variations. This paper proposes a terminal sliding
mode observer for estimating the rotor flux and velocity of
IM. First, a terminal sliding mode observer is designed to
estimate stator current of the motor. The control signals of the
observer are utilized to estimate the rotor flux and velocity.
The stability of the proposed terminal sliding mode observer
is analyzed. Some simulations are carried out to validate the
proposed method.
This paper is organized as follows. In Section II, the
mathematical model of an IM system is introduced. The
sliding mode observer for the rotor speed and flux position are
described in Section III. In Section IV, the validity of the
proposed method is verified by computer simulation. This
paper is concluded in Section V.
II. MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF INDUCTION MOTOR
The mathematical model of an IM system in a stationary
frame (α-β) can be described as follows [12]:
& 1
iα s = β T φα r + βωrφβ r − k1iα s + k2 uα s
 r
& 1
iβ s = β φβ r − βωrφα r − k1iβ s + k 2 uβ s
 Tr
 (1)
φ& = − 1 φ − ω φ + Lm i
 αr Tr
αr r βr
Tr
αs

φ& = − 1 φ + ω φ + Lm i
 βr Tr
βr r αr
Tr
βs

where σ = 1 − L2m /( Ls Lm ) , Tr = Lr / Rr , k2 = 1/(σLs ) , β = k2 Lm / Lr ,
k1 = k 2 ( Rs + L2m /( LrTr )) , iαs and iβs are α-β axes stator currents
respectively; uαs and uβs are α-β axes stator voltages
respectively; φαr and φβr are α-β axes rotor flux respectively;
ωr is the rotor speed; Rr ,and Rs are rotor resistance and stator
resistance respectively; Lr ,Ls and Lm are rotor inductance,
stator inductance and mutual inductance, respectively; Tr is
the rotor time constant.
III. SLIDING MODE OBSERVER FOR ROTOR SPEED AND FLUX
According to the Eq.(1), the mathematical model of an IM
can also be rewritten as the following the current equations
and the flux equations respectively [12]:
 A. Current Observer Design
i& = βΡ − k1i + k2 u (2) The current observer is utilized to observe the stator current
based on the measurements of the stator currents and voltages.
From Eq.(1), the current sliding mode observer can be
Lm
φ& = −Ρ + i (3) designed as follows:
Tr
T T
where i = iα s , iβ s  u = uα s , u β s  φ = φα s , φβ s  and
T
i&ˆ = ξ − k iˆ + k u
 αs αs 1 αs 2 αs
& (4)
ˆ ˆ
iβ s = ξ β s − k1iβ s + k2 uβ s
 1 ωr 
 φα r 
Ρ =  Tr 1   
 −ω T   φβ r  where iˆα s and iˆβ s are the estimations of iαs and iβs
 r r . respectively; ξα s and ξ β s are the control signals of the
observer.
The constant matrix P establishes the relationship between
The stator current error equations of the motor can be
the stator current equation and the rotor flux equation of the
obtained by subtracting Eq.(4) from Eq.(1):
motor. The rotor flux estimation can be calculated by using
Eq.(3) if P is known. Then the rotor velocity can be estimated
from P. & 1
 iα s = ξα s − β ( T φα r + ωrφβ r ) − k1 iα s
The structure of a sliding mode observer based IM vector  r
control system is shown in Fig.1. The observer is used to  (5)
1
 i& = ξ − β ( φ − ω φ ) − k i
estimate the rotor speed and the rotor flux.  β s βs βr r αr 1 βs
Tr
V dc
ω*
Iqs*
* where iβ s = iˆβ s − iβ s and iα s = iˆα s − iα s are two stator current
d,q iabc
abc errors of the motor respectively.
I ds*
The stator current error equation (5) can be rewritten as
follows:
iq d,q iα β α, β iabc

θ θ
α, β a,b,c i& = ξ - ∆ − k1 i (6)
θˆ
φˆr uα β α, β uabc T T
a,b,c where i =  iα s , iβ s  , ξ = ξα s , ξ β s  , and
ωˆ r

1
Fig. 1.Induction motor vector control system based on the sliding mode  φα r φβ r   
observer ∆=  T
 φβ r −φα r   r 
The mechanical speed sensor of the motor can be replaced ωr 
.
by the sliding mode observer. The stator currents and voltages
of the motor are measured and used to estimate the rotor According to high order sliding mode properties [13], the
velocity and the rotor flux. A hybrid sliding mode technique is second-order sliding mode can eliminate the chattering
applied to the observer to guarantee its robustness to phenomenon in the variable structure system. And in order to
disturbances and low sensitivity to the system parameter achieve fast convergence, high tracking precision and
variations. And the nonsingular terminal sliding mode (NTSM) chattering free control, this paper utilizes a NTSM manifold to
manifold is utilized to realize convergence of the observer in realize the second-order sliding mode control of the motor.
finite time. A high-order sliding mode (HOSM) control law is According to [14], an NTSM manifolds can be designed as
designed to guarantee the system stability. The HOSM follows:
method can eliminate the chattering phenomenon by using
continuous signals instead of switching signals. According to
s = i + γ i& p / q (7)
the equivalent control method, the control signals of the
observer are utilized to estimate the flux of the motor directly.
At last, the rotor velocity is obtained by the equivalent control where γ, p and q are design parameters, s = [sαs, sβs]T; γ =
values and estimated flux. diag(γαs, γβs), γαs > 0, γβs > 0; p, q are all odds, and 1<p/q<2,

1117
defining the i& p / q as follows:
Since two design parameters p and q are all odds and
T 1<p/q<2, it can be seen that i&j p / q −1 ≥ 0 for i&j ≠ 0 , and
i& p/q =  i&α ps / q, i&β s p / q  (8)
 
i&j p / q −1 = 0 only for i&j = 0 , j=αs, βs.
A suitable design of the control for the observer can make s For the latter case, that is, i&j = 0 but ij ≠ 0, the point
reach zero in finite time. Then the system will stay in the
second-order sliding mode, i.e. ( i&j = 0 , ij ≠ 0) is not stable, the state variables of the system

will cross the axis i&j = 0 in the phase plane 0− ij i&j [14].
i = i& = 0 For the former case, it can be obtained:

Theorem 1: For stator current error system (5), the system

can converge to zero in finite time if the sliding mode j j
j =α ,β
( 10 )
ˆ ) min γ i& p / q−1 (η || s || +η || s ||2 ) < 0 for || s ||≠ 0
V& ≤ − p /(Lq 11

manifold is chosen as (7), and the control law is designed as

follows ： Ref. [14] proved that state variables of the system could
reach the NTSM manifold s=0 within a finite time. Define that
ξ = ξ eq + ξ n (9) tr is the time when s reaches zero from s (0) ≠ 0, that is s(t)=0,
∀t ≥ tr. Once s reaches zero, it will stay at zero, and from
with Eq.(7) i and i& will converge to zero within finite time. The
total time from s(0) ≠ 0 to i (ts)=0 can be calculated as
ξ eq = k1 i (10) follows[14, 15]:

p −q
q p
t
ξ n = − ∫ [ γ −1 i& 2 − p / q + η10 sgn( s ) + k ' sgn( s ) + η11 s ]dτ (11) ts = tr + max (γ qj / p ij (tr ) p ) (12)
0 p ( p − q ) j =α s , β s

＞0, η ＞0 are
Therefore, the stator current error system (5) can converge
where sgn(s) = [sgn(sds), sgn(sqs)]T; k ' > 0 ,η10 11 to zero in finite time ts . This completes the proof.
designed parameters, and k ' >|| ∆& || .
B. Rotor Flux and Velocity Estimation
Proof: Considering the following Lyapunov function:
When the system reaches the second-order sliding mode,
&
the dynamics of the system satisfy i = i = 0 . According to
V = 0.5s T s
the equivalent control principle [16], it can be obtained from
Differentiating V with respect to time, it can be obtained as Eq.(5):
follows:
 1
ξα s = β ( T φα r + ωrφβ r )
V& = s T s& = s T [ i& + ( p / q) γdiag( i& p / q −1 )&&
i]  r
 (13)
& p / q −1 && 1
ξ = β ( φ − ω φ )
T
= ( p / q) s γdiag( i )[ i + (q / p) γ −1 i& 2 − p / q ] .
 β s Tr
βr r αr

From the control law (10)-(12) and Eq.(5), it can be obtained

from the above equation: From Eqs. (1) and (13), the estimation of the rotor flux can
be obtained as follows:

V& = ( p / q) s T γdiag( i& p / q−1 )[ξ& n − ∆& + (q / p)γ −1i& 2− p / q ]

 &ˆ 1 Lm ˆ
= ( p / q) s T γdiag( i& p / q−1 )[− ∆& − k ′ sgn( s) − η10 sgn( s) − η11 s]. φα r = − β ξα s + T iα s
 r
 (14)
& 1
φˆ = − ξ + m iˆ L
& || , it can be obtained:
Since the gain k ' >|| ∆  β r β β s Tr β s

V& ≤ −( p / q ) s T γdiag( i& p / q −1 )(η10 sgn( s ) + η11 s ) After obtaining the estimation of the rotor flux of the motor,
rearrange Eq.(13) gives the velocity estimation of the motor as
j =α s , β s
( j j )
≤ −( p / q ) min γ i& p / q −1 ( η || s || + η || s ||2 ) ≤ 0 .
10 11 follows:

1118
 3
1
ωˆ r = (φˆβ r ξα r − φˆα r ξ β r ) (15)

axis currents (A)

β | φˆ |2 2

where | φˆ |2 = φˆα2r + φˆβ2r . 1

α
0

Actual and estimated

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
-1
In order to validate the proposed sliding mode observer,
some simulations are conducted. -2
The parameters of the IM are:
PN=1.5kW, UN=380V, Rr=3.2Ω, Rs=6.1Ω, Lr=0.478H, -3
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
Ls=0.478H, Lm=0.472H, ψf=0.8Wb, J=0.033kg·m2. time (sec.)
According to Theorem 1, an observer is designed. The
parameters of the observer are chosen as follows: p=13, q=11, Fig.3 Actual and estimated α axis currents
γαs=γβs=0.001, η10 =50, η11 =500000.
The simulation results of the proposed method are shown in 0.1

Figs.2~7. The actual rotor velocity of the motor and its 0.08
estimation are depleted in Fig.2. It can be seen that the 0.06
estimated velocity converges to the actual velocity with high
precision. Fig.3 displays the actual current in α axis and its iα (A)
Estimation error of
0.04

0.02
estimation. The error between the actual and the estimated
current in α axis is shown in Fig.4. It can be seen that the 0

sliding mode observer can track the stator current of the -0.02
motor. The actual rotor flux of the motor in α axis and its -0.04
estimation are displayed in Fig.5 respectively. The actual and
-0.06
its estimation of the rotor flux is shown in Fig.6. The error of
-0.08
the flux estimation is depleted in Fig.7. It can be seen that the
estimation of the flux converge to the actual flux precisely. -0.1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
The simulation results validate the effeteness of the proposed time (sec.)
method in the paper.
Fig.4 The error of the estimated α axis current

0.8
250
Actual and estimated rotot velocity (rpm)

axis flux (Wb)

200 0.6

150
0.4
100
0.2
50
Acutal and estimaed

0
0

-50 -0.2

-100
-0.4
-150
-0.6
-200

-250 -0.8
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
time (sec.)
time (sec.)

Fig.5 The actual and estimated flux in α axis

Fig.2 Actual and estimated rotor velocity

1119
 0.8

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Actual and estimated flux (Wb)

0.75
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This paper has proposed a high-order terminal sliding mode
observer for estimating the rotor velocity and the flux to
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