Sensorless Control of a Novel IPMSM Based on High-Frequency Injection WANG Xiaocan

Sensorless Control of a Novel IPMSM Based on

High-Frequency Injection
Xiaocan Wang*,Wei Xie**, Ralph Kennel*, Dieter Gerling**

Institute for Electrical Drive Systems and Power Electronics,Technical University of Munich∗
Arcisstr.21, D-80333
Munich, Germany
Electrical Drives and Actuators, University of Federal Defense Munich ∗∗
Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39,D-85577
Neubiberg, Germany
Phone: +49 (89) 289-28545
Fax: +49 (89) 289-28336
Email: xiaocan.wang@tum.de
URL: http://www.eal.ei.tum.de/index.php?id=146

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Chair of Electrical Drives and Actuators in University of Federal
Defense Munich for providing the laboratory facilities to carry out the experimental work.

Keywords
<<Permanent magnet motor >>,<<Synchronous motor>>, <<Self-sensing control>>, <<Energy
efficiency>>, <<Test bench >>

Abstract
Due to the challenge for sensorless control of concentrated windings (CW) interior permanent magnet
synchronous machines (IPMSMs) , this paper presents the analysis of a novel stator IPMSM for sen-
sorless control based on high-frequency rotating voltage signal injection method. The topology of the
machine is introduced and the new IPMSM has the advantage of less space harmonics. The sensorless
control scheme is developed, and the cross saturation is taken into account to improve the accuracy of
position estimation. To support this, the high-frequency inductances of the machine are analyzed by
finite-element analysis (FEA) method. Both of the steady and dynamic state experimental results verify
the effectiveness of the drive system.

Introduction
Interior permanent magnet synchronous machines (IPMSMs) have highlight due to the structure saliency
especially for the sensorless control based on high-frequency (HF) injection method. IPMSMs using
concentrated windings (CW) offer the advantages of short and less complex end-winding, high slot filling
factor, low cogging torque, greater fault tolerance, and low manufacturing costs. The stator coils may
be wound either on all the teeth (double-layer winding) or only on alternate teeth (single-layer winding)
and the manufacturing of these windings may be much cheaper because they contains simple coils that
can be wounded automatically than distributed windings(DW). However CW IPMSMs also have more
space harmonics. The novel IPMSM [1-2] used in the paper has new stator structure can decrease the
disadvantage which can be seen in Fig.1 and Fig.2.
Concerning sensorless control strategies, back electromotive force (back EMF) estimation-based meth-
ods have been analyzed and developed in order to determine the rotor position and speed of PMSM
without position sensors [3-6]. However, since the amplitude of back EMF is proportional to the rotor

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Sensorless Control of a Novel IPMSM Based on High-Frequency Injection WANG Xiaocan

speed, it fails in the low-speed region. The small or zero back-EMF voltage will have serious effects on
the accuracy of the estimated rotor position. Further researchers have found that the machine anisotropic
properties provide additional information on the field angle or the position of the rotor. This inherent
property makes it possible to use transient excitations by injecting signals with other frequencies than
the fundamental [7-10]. High-frequency (HF) injection sensorless control method shows good rotor
position estimation results at low speed even or zero speed.
Of course, the magnetic and mechanical design of the synchronous machines has impact on the per-
formance of sensorless control with HF injection. The standard design of servo motors with distributed
windings(DW) is extremely qualified to be controlled without an encoder. Unfortunately modern designs
of synchronous machines especially when not based on the fundamental wave inside do not support sen-
sorless control very well. This indicates more research to be done to investigate in sensorless control of
these new designs [11]. Sensorless control of CW IPMSMs is still a challenge. The magnetic field of
these CW has more space harmonics, including sub-harmonics, which lead to undesirable effects. In this
paper, the novel IPMSM was used for sensorless control based on HF injection method, and the exper-
iment results show the good performance. It proved the new IPMSM has the advantage of less space
harmonics. The cross saturation of the IPMSM is also taken into account. When using the decoupling
method, the error of the rotor position estimation will be decreased.

Model of the novel IPMSM

The novel machine is a 12-teeth/10-poles concentrated winding interior permanent magnet synchronous
machine (IPMSM). Its prototype is shown in Fig.1. The new stator structure of the IPMSM is using
different slot depth, and the coil-sides in the corresponding slots can be shift away from the slot-opening
region to reduce proximity effect in the winding conductors which is presently mostly near the slot
opening [1].

Figure 1: Cross section of the IPMSM Figure 2: Power losses of the IPMSM

Due to its special double-layer concentrated winding and notable topology, the IPMSM has the following
advantages:
∙ Low cost (simple manufacturing)
∙ High efficiency (e.g. short end winding, low copper loss, low cogging torque and low torque
ripple) see Fig.2
∙ High energy density (compact design)
The stator flux linkage vector equation of IPMSM can be expressed as

ψs = Ls is + ψ f (1)
Subscript s denotes the stationary reference frame. The stator voltage vector equation can be expressed
as
dψs
us = R s is + (2)
dt

Sensorless Control of the IPMSM

A high frequency component is superposed to the current control output signal resulting in a high fre-
quency current response, which can be used for detecting the orientation of the rotor. The position
dependent high frequency currents can be measured with the standard current sensors available in in-
dustrial drives anyway. There is no need for any a additional hardware being not available in standard
industrial drives.

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Sensorless Control of a Novel IPMSM Based on High-Frequency Injection WANG Xiaocan

High-frequency injection method

High-frequency injection of PMSM sensorless control is based on the magnetic saliency phenomenon. In
this method, a high frequency voltage or current vector signal is superimposed on machine fundamental
excitation. The corresponding high frequency current signal contains rotor position information, and is
analyzed to track spatial saliencies and to estimate the rotor or flux position.
The sensorless control scheme of the IPMSM with high-frequency rotating voltage signal injection is
shown in Fig.3.

Figure 3: The sensorless control scheme of the IPMSM

If inject three-phase high frequency sine voltage signal to the PMSM, rotating space voltage vector
with constant amplitude and high speed in the machine will be achieved. The injection voltage can be
described as

usc = ∣uc ∣(cosωct + jsinωct) = ∣uc ∣e jωct (3)

Where
ωc is the frequency, and ∣uc ∣ is the amplitude of the injected rotating voltage vector. Subscript c means
the injected (carrier) signals. The voltage vector usc can be transformed to the rotational d-q reference
frame.

udc q = ∣uc ∣e jωct e− jωet = ∣uc ∣e j(ωc −ωe )t (4)

The stator voltage vector in the rotational d-q reference frame is known as

did q
ud q = Ld q (5)
dt
Where

[ ]
Ld 0
L dq
= (6)
0 Lq

The superimposed stator current vector isc can be calculated from the equation above

isc = ∣i p ∣e jωct + ∣in ∣e j(−ωct+2ωr t) (7)

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Sensorless Control of a Novel IPMSM Based on High-Frequency Injection WANG Xiaocan

Where

ΣL = 1/2(Ld + Lq ) ΔL = 1/2(Lq − Ld ) (8)

ΣL − j∣uc ∣
∣i p ∣ = (9)
ΣL2 − ΔL2 ωc

ΔL − j∣uc ∣
∣in ∣ = (10)
ΣL2 − ΔL2 ωc
Equation (7) describes that the superimposed stator current vector can be departed into two components:
one vector i p is rotating in positive direction according to the injection angular speed ωc ; the other one
vector in is rotating in negative direction according to the angular speed ωc + 2ωr , and the rotational
speed information ωr only is included in the vector in .
In order to get the estimated rotor position information, at first use (7) to multiply e jωct

isc × e jωct = ∣i p ∣e j2ωct + ∣in ∣e2ωr t (11)

The first step of sensorless control method in Fig.3 uses only the second term on the right-hand side of
(7), because only this part includes the speed information.
The second step is using a low-pass filter (LPF) in order to extract ωr from the high frequency current
signals.
The third step is using the phase-locked loop (PLL) block to estimate the speed and the rotor position
information.

Analysis of the inductances of the IPMSM

It is important to point out that the inductance Ld and Lq of the IPMSM is changed with the high-
frequency injection, and even the saturation is also changed with injection. Cross-saturation is resulting
from the cross coupling between d and q-axis, and the mutual inductance Ldq need to be measured.
Under the saturation effect, the Ld , Lq and Ldq inductances depend non-linearly on the stator currents
and load angle.
When the cross coupling between d and q-axis is considered in the IPMSM, it is also can be said the
mutual inductance Ldq = Lqd is considered. (6) is changed like this

[ ]
Ld Ldq
Ld q = (12)
Lqd Lq

Based on 2-D finite element method (FEM), the characteristics of non-linear machine parameters are
investigated and analyzed. The fixed d and q-axis stator current sources are used to excite the FEM model
of the IPMSM, then the HF current signals are injected into the three phases of the stator separately.
Using transient solution type, the total self-inductance and mutual inductance can be achieved at each
simulation point.Fig.4 and Fig.5 show the results of inductances based on different d and q-axis stator
currents.

0.08

0.094
0.06
L [mH]

L [mH]
d

0.04 0.092
q

0.02
45 0.09
40 45
35 40 45 40
30 35 35 40 45
25 30 30 35
20 20 25 25 30
15 15 20 25
Id [A] 10 10 15 15 20
5 5 Iq [A] 10 10
Id [A] 5 5 Iq [A]

Figure 4: The inductance Ld without HF Figure 5: The inductance Lq without HF

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Sensorless Control of a Novel IPMSM Based on High-Frequency Injection WANG Xiaocan

−5 −6
x 10 x 10
8 5
10A
50A
4 100A
6 200A
Lq − Ld(H)

Ldq(H)
4
2
10A
2 50A 1
100A
200A
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
rotor position(deg) rotor position(deg)

Figure 6: The inductance value Lq − Ld without HF Figure 7: The mutual inductance Ldq without HF
−5 −6
x 10 x 10
8 5
2A
4A
4 6A
6 8A
Lq − Ld(H)

Ldq(H)
4
2
2A
2 4A
6A 1
8A
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
rotor position(deg) rotor position(deg)

Figure 8: The inductance value Lq − Ld with HF Figure 9: The mutual inductance Ldq with HF

Fig.6 shows the stator current impedance characterizes of the IPMSM obtained by FE simulations under
various stator current of d-axis. The magnitude of the d-axis current has been set to 10, 50, 100 and
200A without out the HF signal injection, the inductance value Lq − Ld is changing with the current and
rotor position. Fig.7 shows the mutual inductance Ldq is changing with the current and rotor position.
Fig.8 shows the high-frequency (HF) current injection impedance characterizes of the IPMSM obtained
by FE (finite-element) simulations under various HF currents, and the fundamental stator current is set as
50A. The magnitude of the HF current has been set to 2, 4, 6 and 8A,and the rotating currents are injected
directly to the stator of the IPMSM. The inductance value Lq − Ld is changing with the current and rotor
position. Fig.9 shows the mutual inductance Ldq is changing with the current and rotor position.
The voltage vector usc will get the rotating flux field in the IPMSM, and the speed ωc is much higher than
ωr the speed of the rotating rotor. The flux field will be modulated by the saliency of the rotor, and the
results of modulation will be seen from the current. If the cross coupling is considered, the current which
is changed with the rotating high-frequency voltage signal injection can be described as

isc = ∣i p ∣e jωct + ∣in ∣e j(−ωct+2ωr t+Φ) (13)

Where
Ldq
Φ = sin−1 ( ) (14)
ΔL

ΣL − j∣uc ∣
∣i p ∣ = (15)
ΣL2 − ΔL2 − Ldq
2 ωc

ΔL − j∣uc ∣
∣in ∣ = (16)
ΣL2 − ΔL2 − Ldq
2 ωc

Fig.10 shows the cross-saturation effects of the IPMSM calculated using (14),and the mutual inductance
and the value Lq − Ld are obtained by FE simulations under various HF currents, and the fundamental
stator current is set as 50A.

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Sensorless Control of a Novel IPMSM Based on High-Frequency Injection WANG Xiaocan

0.14
2A

cross−saturation effects (rad)

0.12 4A
6A
0.1 8A

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
rotor position(deg)

Figure 10: The cross-saturation effects with HF

Table I: Technical data of the IPMSM )

Characteristics Parameters
Rated speed 1800r/min
Rated torque 2Nm
Rated current 50A
Rated voltage 8.5A
Pole pair 5
d/q-axis inductance 0.05/0.095mH

Experimental Results
The parameters of IPMSM are shown in Table I. A carrier voltage usc was injected with a rotating high
frequency fc of 1 kHz and an amplitude of 2V. The resulting high frequency current ic obtained an
amplitude of 10A. The experimental results present here with the IPMSM running under the mechanical
load of half rated torque.

Figure 11: The test bench of the IPMSM

Based on the analysis of the inductance characteristics of the IPMSM, experiments on sensorless opera-
tion have been performed using the control scheme of Fig.3. The test bench of the IPMSM can be seen
in Fig.11. Because the IPMSM have the advantage of low cost, the LC motor is referred to the novel
IPMSM.
During the experiments,the speed of the LC motor is very low from 0 rpm to 60 rpm in Fig.12, and the
estimated position can follow the actual position which can be got from the rotor position encode. In
Fig.13, when the speed suddenly changes from positive 120 rpm to negative -120 rpm , the estimated
position can also follow the actual position.

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Sensorless Control of a Novel IPMSM Based on High-Frequency Injection WANG Xiaocan

5 Actual

position [rad]
Estimated
4

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
time (s) x 10
−3

Figure 12: The actual and estimated position of the IPMSM at start-up

6
position [rad]

0
Actual
Estimated
−2
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
time (s) x 10
−3

Figure 13: The actual and estimated position of the IPMSM at inverse

Conclusions
For the novel IPMSM, the high-frequency injection method has not been presented before. In this paper
the high-frequency rotating voltage signal injection method was presented. The experimental results of
the position estimation show the satisfactory performance of this method at low speed and the correct
inductances analysis of the machine. Based on the application of the machine and sensorless control
strategy, the system cost realizes the maximum reduction. Both of the steady state and dynamic state
experimental results verify the effectiveness of the drive system.

References
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Sensorless Control of a Novel IPMSM Based on High-Frequency Injection WANG Xiaocan

[10] Xiaocan Wang, R. M. Kennel: Analysis of permanent-magnet machine for sensorless control based on
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