ISA Transactions xxx (xxxx) xxx

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ISA Transactions
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/isatrans

Research article

Disturbance rejection control for PMSM using integral sliding mode

based composite nonlinear feedback control with load observer
∗
En Lu a,b , Wei Li b , , Shibo Wang b , Wuguo Zhang c , Chengming Luo d
a
School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, No. 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang 212013, China
b
School of Mechatronic Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, No. 1 Daxue Road, Xuzhou 221116, China
c
Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Mianyang Polytechnic, No. 32 Xianren Road, Mianyang, China
d
School of Electronic and Information, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, No. 2 Mengxi Road, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212003, China

article info a b s t r a c t

Article history: The low-speed high-torque permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive system is a kind
Received 27 November 2018 of typical nonlinear, strong-coupling and easy-parameter perturbation electromechanical coupling
Received in revised form 5 January 2021 system. The control system is uncertainties and subject to unknown external interferences as well. In
Accepted 5 January 2021
this paper, a disturbance rejection control method combining robust speed controller and load observer
Available online xxxx
is proposed for low-speed high-torque PMSM. The robust speed controller combines the composite
Keywords: nonlinear feedback (CNF) which has advantage in improving the transient responsive performance and
PMSM the integral sliding mode (ISM) advancing in improving system robustness. Subsequently, the effects
Composite nonlinear feedback control of unknown external interferences are avoided by using a sliding mode observer (SMO), in which
Integral sliding mode control the chattering is reduced by introducing fuzzy control, and the observation is used for feed-forward
Sliding mode observer
compensation. The proposed robust speed controller solves the contradiction between the rapidity
Disturbance rejection
and overshoot of the traditional control method, and combines the load observer to compensate the
influence of the load mutations and wide range of the load changes on the control system. Finally, the
numerical simulation and experiments demonstrate that the proposed speed control method is able
to achieve good transient performance in inhibiting system overshoot and reducing stable state error.
Additionally, it successfully suppresses the influence of load disturbances and mutations, and shows
the proposed method has better robustness.
© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of ISA.

1. Introduction adopts the low-speed high-torque PMSM to directly drive the

Low-speed high-torque motor drive systems are being applied
widely in mining, metallurgy, shipbuilding and other industries.
The mining scraper conveyor is one of the important equipment
in coal mining face, its driving device is a typical low-speed high-
torque motor drive system, as shown in Fig. 1 [1]. These drive
systems are usually ‘‘motor + reducer’’ transmission structure in
practical applications. Mechanical reducers often have abrasive
wear, leakage, fracture and other faults, which not only reduce
the entire transmission system’s stability along with reliability,
but also bring about the increase of energy consumption and
operation noise.
The related technology of low-speed high-torque PMSM is
becoming more and more mature. Therefore, there is a new
transmission structure that cancels the mechanical reducer and
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: jsluen@163.com (E. Lu), cmeecumt512@yahoo.com
(W. Li), wangshb@cumt.edu.cn (S. Wang), 709985630@qq.com (W. Zhang),
chengmingluo@yahoo.com (C. Luo).
load mechanism. In this case, if the PMSM runs slowly, there will
be low-frequency torque fluctuations, and any load disturbances
will act on the motor directly. These will affect the control system
stability, resulting in the decline of the overall performance of
the transmission system [2]. Fig. 2 shows the PMSM direct-drive
system which is applied in the mining scraper conveyor. Fig. 2a
is the PMSM direct-drive system, which consists of a low-speed
high-torque PMSM, coupling and sprocket. Fig. 2b is the chain
and sprocket meshing transmission system, which consists of a
sprocket and chain. During the work of the mining scraper con-
veyor, the chain and sprocket meshing transmission system has
a polygonal effect, and the chain movement exhibits unevenness
and additional dynamic loads. These dynamic loads will react to
the PMSM drive system, and can cause instability of the speed
control. Therefore, the controller performance of PMSM keeps
particularly significant under these states.
The composite nonlinear feedback control (CNF) has both lin-
ear feedback and nonlinear feedback, and they are designed to
achieve a faster response speed and the damping ratio of closed-
loop pole changes dynamically, respectively. Chen et al. discussed

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isatra.2021.01.008
0019-0578/© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of ISA.

Please cite this article as: E. Lu, W. Li, S. Wang et al., Disturbance rejection control for PMSM using integral sliding mode based composite nonlinear feedback control with
load observer. ISA Transactions (2021), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isatra.2021.01.008.
E. Lu, W. Li, S. Wang et al.
Fig. 1. Mining scraper conveyor.
the input saturation of the system and applied the CNF control to
the hard disk servo control system successfully [3]. Peng et al.
introduced integral link in the CNF control to eliminate external
disturbances [4], but also caused the system to be less robust.
Bandyopadhyay et al. proposed an anti-input saturation method
combining integral sliding mode (ISM) with CNF control [5] and
generalized it to discrete systems [6]. Zhou [7] designed a robust
composite nonlinear feedback controller for speed control of a
DC motor. Jiang et al. [8] proposed a new CNF control based
on model compensation for the PMSM position tracking control
system, and solved the high-gain linear feedback contradictions
with overshoot. For the time-delays and external disturbances in
the MIMO linear systems, Majd et al. and Mobayen et al. proposed
to combine the integral sliding mode and the CNF control [9,10].
Sadala et al. presented a combination robust control algorithm of
CNF control and super-twisting control (STC) methods [11]. At the
same time, it shows a better performance in many aspects, such
as tracking error, chattering suppression, robustness and so on.
In complex working conditions, the control system of PMSM is
subject to unknown external interferences and uncertainties [12].
To overcome this difficulty, the researchers have proposed many
methods based on the strategy of identify and compensate. For
example, the state observer [13], extended Kalman filter [14],
neural network [15], sliding mode observer (SMO) [16] and so
on. Due to the SMO has low requirements on the model accu-
racy of the PMSM drive system, and it has strong robustness
to the parameter perturbation of control system and external
interferences. Therefore, the SMO is more suitable for the load
observation of PMSM drive system. In the literature [16,17], an
extended SMO of the load disturbances, to decrease the effects
of load disturbances and mutations, was proposed for the PMSM
control system. Combining the SMO into the robust speed control
framework can reduce the influence of the load mutations and
wide range of the load changes, and further improve the system
Fig. 2. Scraper conveyor drive system: (a) PMSM direct-drive system; (b) chain and sprocket meshing transmission system.
2
ISA Transactions xxx (xxxx) xxx
robustness. The main drawback of the SMO in practical applica-
tions is the chattering problem [18]. Therefore, it is necessary to
solve the chattering problem when using the SMO to estimate the
load disturbances and mutations.
The low-speed high-torque PMSM is a kind of typical nonlin-
ear, strong-coupling and easy-parameter perturbation electrome-
chanical coupling system. The control system is uncertainties and
subject to unknown external load disturbances and mutations as
well. Inspired by previous scholars’ research, this paper presents
a disturbance rejection control method (ISM_CNF+FSMO) for the
PMSM, and the main contributions are shown as follows: (1)
A improved nonlinear feedback parameter ρv is given in the
CNF control to change the damping ratio of control system by
degrees according to the speed control situation. In the ISM
control, a soft-switching sliding mode function is used to sub-
stitute the traditional switching function. The arrival phase and
input chattering of integral sliding mode surface can be success-
fully eliminated by varying boundary layers, thereby improving
system control performance. (2) Furthermore, the fuzzy SMO
(FSMO) is designed to estimate the load mutations and the wide
load changes, and the stability of the control system during
load changes is guaranteed by the combining the FSMO into the
ISM_CNF control framework.
This paper intends to realize the disturbance rejection control
of the low-speed high-torque PMSM drive system. In Section 2,
the mathematical model is presented. Section 3 presents the
design of the robust speed controller, which is based on the CNF
method and ISM method. The load observer is established accord-
ing to sliding mode control and fuzzy control theory in Section 4.
Section 5 provides the numerical simulations and experiments.
The brief conclusions are drawn in Section 6.
2. Mathematical modeling
PMSM is a typical nonlinear, and strong coupling system,
and it contains multiple variable parameters. The Clark trans-
formation and Park transformation are applied to simplify the
mathematical model in a natural coordinate system. Finally, the
stator voltage equation of the PMSM in the d–q synchronous
reference frame can be established, and shown as follows [19]:
di
⎧
⎨ud = Rs id + Ld d − ωe Lq iq
⎪
dt (1)
⎩uq = Rs iq + Lq diq + ωe Ld id + ωe ψf
⎪
dt
where ud and uq represent the d–q axis stator voltage compo-
nents, id and iq represent the d–q axis stator current components,
Ld and Lq represent the d–q axis inductances, respectively.
The electromagnetic torque equation of the PMSM is shown
below:
Te = 1.5pn iq [id (Ld − Lq ) + ψf ] (2)
E. Lu, W. Li, S. Wang et al. ISA Transactions xxx (xxxx) xxx

where pn represents the number of poles of the PMSM. For the We assume that ∆Bu + D(x, t) = Bfd (x, t) and Eq. (10) can be
surface-mounted PMSM, Eq. (2) can be simplified when choosing rewritten as follows:
rotor flux orientation control, and shown as follows: ẋ(t) = Ax(t) + Bu(t) + Bfd (x, t)
{
(11)
Te = 1.5pn iq ψf (3) y(t) = C1 x(t)

The motion equation of the PMSM is shown below [20]: 3. Design of ISM_CNF
dωm
Te − TL = Bm ωm + Jm (4) 3.1. Introducing input saturation
dt
where TL represents the load torque, Bm represents the viscous Introducing input saturation factors in the system Eq. (11) and
friction coefficient, ωm represents the angular speed, Jm repre- we can get [24]:
sents the rotational inertia, respectively.
ẋ(t) = Ax(t) + B [sat(u(t)) + fd ]
{
The mathematical model of the PMSM can be obtained as
y(t) = C1 x(t) (12)
below that is based on Eqs. (1), (3) and (4) [21].
⎧ z(t) = C2 x(t)
diq 1
⎪
⎪ = (−Rs iq − pn ψf ωm + uq ) where z is the control output; C2 is the constant matrices of the
dt Lq
⎨
(5) appropriate dimension. The actuator saturation can be defined as
⎪ ωm
⎪
⎩
d
=
1
(−TL +
3pn ψf
iq ) follows:
dt Jm 2
sat(u) = sgn(u) · min{umax , |u|} (13)
Assume that the reference signal ωref is constant, and the state
variables are defined as follows that is based on the characteris- where umax represents the maximum value of the input. The
tics of PMSM control system [22]. system Eq. (12) satisfies the following assumptions [3,10]:
(1) Matrices (A, B) are stable;
x1 = ωref − ωm
{
(6) (2) Matrices (A, C1 ) are observable;
x2 = ẋ1 = −ω̇m (3) Matrices (A, B, C2 ) have no invariant zero at s = 0 (s is the
Laplace variable);
where ωref represents the reference angular speed. According to
(4) Control gain matrix B is row full rank.
Eqs. (5) and (6), the following formula can be obtained:
1 3pn ψf
⎧
3.2. CNF controller design
⎨ẋ1 = −ω̇m = (TL −
⎪ iq )
Jm 2 (7)
3pn ψf Based on the above work, the design of nominal system
⎩ẋ2 = −ω̈m = −
⎪ i̇q
2Jm (Eq. (9)) CNF controller can be divided into the following three
parts.
Thus, the system state space equation can be written as:
Step 1: The linear feedback part in the CNF controller of the
0 PMSM is proposed as follows [25]:
[ ] [ ][ ] [ ]
ẋ1 0 1 x1 3pn ψf
= + i̇q (8)
ẋ2 0 0 x2 − uL = Fx + Gr (14)
2Jm
[ ]T where r represents the reference input vector, F represents the
The state vector is selected as x = x1 x2 , and the above state feedback gain matrix, and it needs to satisfy that A + BF is
continuous linear system can be expressed as: asymptotically stable and the C2 (sI − A − BF )−1 B have a dominant
{ pair with a small damping ratio in the closed-loop poles, which
ẋ(t) = Ax(t) + Bu(t)
(9) would result in a faster response speed of closed-loop system. The
y(t) = C1 x(t)
matrix G can be chosen as
where x, u, and y represent state vector, control input, and mea- ]−1
G = − C2 (A + BF )−1 B
[
(15)
surable output,[ respectively;[ A, B, ]and C1 are system constant
0
]
0 1 [ ] Step 2: The positive definite symmetric matrix W ∈ R2×2 ,
matrices A = ,B= 3p ψ , C1 = 1 0 , respectively.
0 0 − 2Jnm f P > 0(P ∈ R2×2 ), and it is a real positive definite solution of
The electrical parameters of PMSM usually change with the the Lyapunov equation as follows.
running time, temperature, etc., as a result of the control model
(A + BF )T P + P(A + BF ) = −W (16)
established above is inconsistent with the actual system model.
The moment of inertia Jm will vary greatly depending on the load Note that since (A + BF ) is asymptotically stable, such matrix P
applied to the PMSM, which has a significantly influence on the always exists. Next, the reference of the system state x is defined
stability of speed control. In order to better track the continuously as xe , and the reference of the controlled output z is assumed to
changing inputs in the PMSM drive system, it is necessary to be r, then:
consider the influence of parameter changes in the control model
xe = Ge r (17)
when designing the speed controller of PMSM. For convenience
of discussion, the linear time-invariant system Eq. (9) is called which means that x will track xe as z tracks r, and Ge = −(A +
the nominal system. Considering the parameter uncertainties and BF )−1 BG.
system disturbances in PMSM system, Eq. (9) can be rewritten as On basis of the output feedback tracking theory, the nonlinear
follows [23]: feedback part in the CNF controller can be obtained and shown
as follows:
ẋ(t) = Ax(t) + (B + ∆B)u(t) + D(x, t)
{
(10)
y(t) = C1 x(t) uN = ρ (r , z)BT P(x − xe ) (18)
where ∆B represents the parameter uncertainties in the matrix where ρ (r , z) represents a non-positive function of |z − r | and
B; D(x, t) represents unmodeled parts and system disturbances. satisfies the local Lipschitz property. ρ (r , z) is used for changing
3
E. Lu, W. Li, S. Wang et al. ISA Transactions xxx (xxxx) xxx

Then, the first-order derivative of V1 can be obtained as fol-

lows:
V̇1 = [Gs ẋ − Gs (Ax + B∆)]T s1 (x, t)
= [Gs (Bus + Bfd )]T s1 (x, t) (24)
= [us + fd ] (Gs B) s1 (x, t)
T T

The expression of the ISM control us is shown as follows:

us = −φ (x, t)sgn[(Gs B)T s1 (x, t)] (25)

where ϕ (x, t) represents a positive function, and it satisfies

ϕ (x, t) ≥ fd . Therefore, it proves V̇1 < 0. Without loss of
Fig. 3. Comparison of two sliding mode switching functions: (a) traditional
switching sliding mode function; (b) soft-switching sliding mode function. generality, we considered Gs B = I, so Eq. (25) is simplified as:

us = −φ sgn(s1 ) (26)

the damping ratio of control system gradually, and getting better For the convenience of analysis, us can be substituted by an
tracking performance. Its specific form is selected as follows. equivalent controller [26].

ρ (r , z) = diag {ρ1 , ρ2 , . . . , ρm }, (us )eq = useq = −fd (27)

ρi = −ai ⏐e−bi |zi (t)−ri (t)| − e−bi |zi (0)−ri (t)| ⏐ , i = 1, 2, . . . , m

⏐ ⏐
(19) A soft-switching sliding mode function with variable boundary
is introduced to substitute the traditional sliding mode switching
where ai > 0, bi > 0, and m is the dimension of the input vector.
function, and shown as follows.
According to the Eq. (19), we ⏐ can know that⏐ the range of the
|s1 | ≥ ξ
⎧
parameter ρ (r , z) is 0 ∼ −ai ⏐1 − e−bi |zi (0)−ri (t)| ⏐ (ρ (r , z) < 0). ⎨sgn(s1 )
Step 3: The linear feedback part and nonlinear feedback part satr(s1 ) = π s1 (28)
⎩sin( ) |s1 | < ξ
are combined to obtain the complete CNF controller, which are 2ξ
given in the following formula [8]:
where ξ represents the thickness of the variable boundary layer.
u0 = uL + uN = Fx + Gr + ρ (r , z)BT P(x − xe ) (20) The comparison of the traditional sliding mode switching func-
tion and the soft-switching sliding mode function are shown in
Fig. 3.
3.3. ISM controller design
Combining the designed ISM controller with the CNF con-
troller, the complete ISM_CNF controller can be obtained and
The above CNF controller in Eq. (20) does not consider the pa- shown as follows:
rameter uncertainties ∆B and disturbances D(x, t) to the nominal
system, and does not guarantee the robustness of the closed-loop u = u0 + us
(29)
system. To address this issue, an ISM controller is designed to = Fx + Gr + ρ (r , z)BT P(x − xe ) − φ satr(s1 )
eliminate the effects of the parameter uncertainties and system
Finally, according to the Eq. (29), the reference current iq can
disturbances, which is combined with the proposed CNF nominal
be obtained and shown as below:
controller. Therefore, the control input of the PMSM drive system ∫ t ∫ t
is designed as u = u0 + us .
iq = sat(u)dτ = sat(u0 + us )dτ (30)
The integral sliding surface is designed as [26]: 0 0
t The design of the ISM_CNF controller is completed above,
{ ∫ }
s1 (x, t) = Gs x(t) − x(0) − (Ax + Bu∆ ) dτ (21) and its schematic diagram is shown in Fig. 4 [23]. The output
0
of the CNF controller is represented by u0 , and it is used to
where Gs B is uniformly invertible and Gs ∈ R2×2 is a constant pro- achieve the reliable and stable control of the nominal system
jection matrix; x(t) represents the actual state of∫the system, and model (Eq. (12) without considering the parameter uncertainties
t
x(0) represents the initial state of the system; 0 (Ax + Bu∆ ) dτ and system disturbances). The output of the ISM controller is
represents the desired trajectory of the closed loop system; u∆ represented by us , and it is used to eliminate the model parameter
represents the output of the nominal controller when the actua- uncertainties and disturbances.
tor is saturated, and it can be expressed as:

u∆ = sat(u) − us (22) 3.4. Stability analysis

According to the deviation between the actual trajectory and Define a new error state variable
the projection of expected trajectory on the Gs , the designed in-
tegral sliding surface can be obtained. This deviation is caused by x̃ = x − xe (31)
system uncertainty (such as system disturbances, internal param-
Combined with the above equations, the control law Eq. (29)
eter perturbations, etc.) and can be reduced or even eliminated by
can be rewritten as:
designing an appropriate controller, so that the expected trajec-
tory can be successfully tracked. Therefore, the ISM controller is u = Fx + Gr + ρ BT P(x − xe ) + useq
designed to achieve the sliding surface s1 (x, t) = 0 in the control = Fx − Fxe + FGe r + Gr + ρ BT P x̃ + useq (32)
system. The following Lyapunov function is selected:
= F x̃ + Hr + ρ B P x̃ + useq
T

1
V1 = sT1 (x , t)s1 (x, t) (23) where H = G + FGe .
2
4
E. Lu, W. Li, S. Wang et al. ISA Transactions xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of the ISM_CNF.

Substituting Eq. (32) into the system Eq. (12), we can get [27]:

x̃˙ = ẋ − ẋe = Ax̃ + B [sat(u) + fd ]

= A(x̃ + xe ) + BF (x̃ + xe ) − BFx
+ B[sat(u) + fd − F x̃ − Hr ] + B[F x̃ + Hr ]
= (A + BF )x̃ + (A + BF )xe − BFx (33)
+ B[sat(u) + fd − F x̃ − Hr ] + BF (x − xe ) + B(G + FGe )r
= (A + BF )x̃ + (A + BF )xe
+ B[sat(u) + fd − F x̃ − Hr ] + BGr
According to Eq. (17), we can get: Fig. 5. Schematic diagram of the SMO.

−(A + BF )xe = BGr (34)

Eq. (33) can be rewritten as: Due to ρ < 0, then BT P x̃ > 0, thus

x̃˙ = (A + BF )x̃ + B[sat(u) − F x̃ − Hr + fd ] V̇2 = −x̃T W x̃ + 2x̃T PBw

(35) (42)
= (A + BF )x̃ + Bw = −x̃T W x̃ + 2[BT P x̃]T w < 0
where w = sat(F x̃ + Hr + ρ BT P x̃ + useq ) − F x̃ − Hr + fd . (3) If u > umax , based on useq = −fd and by construction
Selecting the following Lyapunov function |F x̃ + Hr | ≤ umax , we have

V2 = x̃T P x̃ (36) ρ BT P x̃ = u − F x̃ − Hr − useq > w

(43)
= umax − F x̃ − Hr + fd > 0
Then, the first-order derivative of V2 can be obtained as fol-
lows: Due to ρ < 0, then BT P x̃ < 0, thus
T
V̇2 = x̃˙ P x̃ + x̃T P x̃˙ V̇2 = −x̃T W x̃ + 2x̃T PBw
(44)
= [(A + BF )x̃ + Bw] P x̃ + x̃ P [(A + BF )x̃ + Bw]
T T (37) = −x̃T W x̃ + 2[BT P x̃]T w < 0
= x̃T [(A + BF )T P + P(A + BF )]x̃ + 2x̃T PBw
In summary, V̇2 are all less than 0 in the above three cases
Because P is a positive definite matrix, when the Eq. (16) is (|u| ≤ umax , u < −umax and u > umax ). Since the closed-loop
substituted into Eq. (37), the following can be obtained: system composed of the control law u and the controlled object
will eventually converge to the steady-state point. Therefore,
V̇2 = −x̃T W x̃ + 2x̃T PBw (38)
lim x(t) = xe , lim z(t) = r (45)
In the case of the system input amplitude is limited, V̇2 can be t →∞ t →∞
discussed in the three cases, namely, |u| ≤ umax , u < −umax and
u > umax [28]. 4. Design of FSMO
(1) If |u| ≤ umax , based on useq = −fd , then,

w = sat(F x̃ + Hr + ρ BT P x̃ − fd ) − F x̃ − Hr + fd According to the motion equation shown in the Eq. (4), the
(39) PMSM suffers from the influence of unknown external interfer-
= ρ B P x̃T
ences (including load disturbances and mutations) under actual
Substituting Eq. (39) into Eq. (38), we can get: working conditions. These factors affect the stability of speed
control. In order to reduce the influence of unknown external
V̇2 = −x̃T W x̃ + 2x̃T PBρ BT P x̃
(40) interferences, this paper designs a FSMO to estimate the load
= x̃T [−W + 2ρ PBBT P ]x̃ torque in real time.
Due to ρ < 0, then V̇2 < 0. Compared with the switching frequency of PMSM control
(2) If u < −umax , based on useq = −fd , then, system, the load torque of the PMSM changes very slowly in
the control cycle. Therefore, the load torque in actual working
ρ BT P x̃ = u − F x̃ − Hr − useq < w condition can be assumed as a constant value, namely, ṪL = 0.
(41)
= −umax − F x̃ − Hr + fd < 0 On basis of Eqs. (3) and (4), the following observation equation
5
E. Lu, W. Li, S. Wang et al. ISA Transactions xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 6. Schematic diagram of the FSMO.

of state is obtained:
1 3pn ψf
⎧
ω̇m = ( iq − TL − Bm ωm )
⎨
Jm 2 (46)
⎩Ṫ = 0
L

Based on the Eq. (46), the following SMO is established [16,

29]:

⎨ω̂˙ = 3pn ψf i − 1 T̂ − Bm ω̂ + k sgn(s )

⎧
m q L m 1 2
2Jm Jm Jm (47)
⎩˙
T̂L = k2 sgn(s2 )

where ω̂m and T̂L represent the observed values of angular speed
and load torque, respectively; k1 and k2 represent the sliding
mode gain and feedback gain, respectively; s2 is a sliding surface, Fig. 7. Schematic diagram of fuzzy inference.
and s2 = ω̂m − ωm .
Observation errors represent the effect of the designed SMO,
they can be defined as ω̃m = ω̂m − ωm and T̃L = T̂L − TL , be simplified as:
respectively. On basis of Eqs. (46) and (47), the observation errors ⎧
can be obtained as follows: ⎨0 = − 1 T̃ + k sgn(s )
L 1 2
⎧ Jm (53)
⎨ω̃˙ = − 1 T̃ − Bm ω̃ + k sgn(s ) ⎩˙
m
Jm
L
Jm
1 2
(48) T̃ L = k2 sgn(s2 )
⎩˙
T̃ L = k2 sgn(s2 ) Eq. (53) is further simplified and can be obtained:
k2
Proof. Selecting the following Lyapunov function [30]: T̃˙ L − T̃L = 0 (54)
k1 Jm
1
V3 = s2 (49) According to the stability analysis theory, when Eq. (54) is in
2 2 a steady state, k 2J < 0. Due to k1 < 0 and Jm > 0, the feedback
k
1 m
Then, the first-order derivative of V3 can be obtained as fol- gain k2 > 0, and the observation error T̃L is shown as [31]:
lows:
k2
t
V̇3 = s2 ṡ2 T̃L = c0 e k1 Jm (55)
1 Bm where c0 represents constant value. The observation error T̃L
= s2 [k1 sgn(s2 ) − T̃L − ω̃m ]
Jm Jm decreases with the increase of time t, and eventually reaches zero.
1 Bm (50) The sliding mode gain k1 and feedback gain k2 determine the
= s2 [k1 sgn(s2 ) − T̃L − s2 ]
speed of observation error T̃L tend to zero. Therefore, V̇3 < 0 can
Jm Jm
Bm 1 be guaranteed by selecting appropriate parameters k1 and k2 . In
=− s22 + s2 [k1 sgn(s2 ) − T̃L ] this case, the designed SMO can be proved to be stable, and its
Jm Jm
schematic diagram is shown in Fig. 5.
where Bm > 0 and Jm > 0. In order to achieve the asymptotic The high frequency chattering caused by switching variables
stability of the designed SMO, the condition of V̇3 < 0 needs to is the main obstacle of SMO in engineering applications. This
be satisfied. At this time, s2 [k1 sgn(s2 ) − J1 T̃L ] ≤ 0, which can be paper selects the fuzzy control method to describe the expert
m
simplified as follows: experience, and use it to adaptively adjust the switching variables
in the SMO. This method can effectively reduce the chattering and
⎧
1
⎨ T̃L + k1 < 0, s2 < 0
⎪
⎪ enhance the robustness of SMO. The schematic diagram of fuzzy
Jm
(51) SMO (FSMO) is shown in Fig. 6.
1
⎩ T̃L − k1 ≥ 0, s2 ≥ 0 The sliding surface s2 and its derivative ṡ2 are used as the
⎪
⎪
Jm inputs of the fuzzy controller, the sliding mode gain k1 and feed-
Therefore, sliding mode gain needs to meet the following back gain k2 are used as the outputs of the fuzzy controller. The
condition: Mamdani model has the advantage of being good at expressing
⏐1 ⏐
⏐ ⏐ human experience and knowledge, and its parameters are easy
k1 ≤ − ⏐⏐ T̃L ⏐⏐ (52) to set and can independently process fuzzy information according
Jm
to each component. Therefore, this paper chooses it as the infer-
When the designed SMO enters the steady state, the observa- ence algorithm of fuzzy controller, and the schematic diagram is
tion error of the angular speed ω̃m = ω̃
˙ m = 0, and Eq. (48) can shown in Fig. 7.
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E. Lu, W. Li, S. Wang et al. ISA Transactions xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 8. Input and output membership functions: (a) input linguistic variable S; (b) input linguistic variable DS; (c) output linguistic variable K1 ; (d) output linguistic
variable K2 .

The scale transformation between clear value and fuzzy value Table 1
is realized by the quantization factor module and the scale factor Fuzzy inference rules of the sliding mode gain K1 .
module. Their effect is to enlarge or reduce the variable in a K1 S
certain proportion, so as to make a good match with adjacent DS NB NM NS ZO PS PM PB
modules. In this paper, the linguistic variables S, DS, K1 and NB NB NM NS ZO NS NM NB
K2 represent the sliding surface s2 , the derivative of the sliding NM NM NS ZO PS ZO NS NM
surface ṡ2 , sliding mode gain k1 and feedback gain k2 in the fuzzy NS NS ZO PS PM PS ZO NS
ZO ZO PS PM PB PM PS ZO
set. The universes of the S, DS, K1 and K2 are from −1 to 1, −1 to
PS NS ZO PS PM PS ZO NS
1, −1 to 0, and 0 to 1, respectively. The quantization factor and PM NM NS ZO PS ZO NS NM
scale factor are calculated as follows. PM NB NM NS ZO NS NM NB

S = p 1 s2 (56)
Table 2
where, p1 = 1/|s2 max |, and |s2 max | represents the maximum Fuzzy inference rules of the feedback gain K2 .
absolute value of the sliding surface s2 . K2 S
DS = p2 ṡ2 (57) DS NB NM NS ZO PS PM PB
NB PB PM PS ZO PS PM PB
where, p2 = 1/|ṡ2 max |, and |ṡ2 max | represents the maximum NM PM PS ZO NS ZO PS PM
absolute value of the first-order derivative of the sliding surface NS PS ZO NS NM NS ZO PS
ṡ2 . ZO ZO NS NM NB NM NS ZO
PS PS ZO NS NM NS ZO PS
k1 = p3 K1 (58) PM PM PS ZO NS ZO PS PM
PM PB PM PS ZO PS PM PB
k2 = p4 K2 (59)
where p3 = k1max , p4 = k2max . k1max is the maximum values
allowed for the sliding mode gain k1 , and k2max is the maximum
Table 1 shows the fuzzy inference rules of the sliding mode
values allowed for the feedback gain k2 .
The s2 max , ṡ2 max , k1 max and k2 max are chosen from numerical gain K1 , Table 2 shows the fuzzy inference rules of the feedback
simulations and experiments. gain K2 . They are designed based on the changes of the sliding
This paper selects seven different linguistic terms ({NB, NM, surface s2 and its derivative which is obtained through numerical
NS, ZO, PS, PM, PB}) to represent the input domain and output simulations and experiments. Surface of the fuzzy rules is show
domain [32]. The transformation of input and output variables
in Fig. 9.
into linguistic control variables is realized by membership func-
tion. The designed fuzzy controller selects the same input and By inputting the observed value of FSMO into the front end
output membership functions, and adopts the basic triangle and of the current regulator, the load disturbances in the control sys-
Z forms [18,33], as shown in Fig. 8. tem can be compensated. Combined with Eq. (30), the reference
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E. Lu, W. Li, S. Wang et al. ISA Transactions xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 9. Surface of the fuzzy rules: (a) sliding mode gain K1 ; (b) feedback gain K2 .

Fig. 10. Schematic diagram of disturbance rejection control.

Table 3
Simulation parameters of the PMSM.
Parameter Value Unit
Rated power PN 37 kW
Rated speed nN 300 r/min
Rated voltage VN 380 V
Rated current IN 73.4 A
Stator resistance R 0.116 
Flux linkage ψf 1.235 Wb
D-axis inductance Ld 4.28 mH
Q-axis inductance Lq 4.28 mH
Pole pairs number Pc 8 –
Rotational inertia Jm 1.96165 kg m2

5. Simulation and experiment

5.1. Numerical simulations

Fig. 11. Load torque of the PMSM.
Based on the disturbance rejection control scheme of the
PMSM (Fig. 10), the numerical simulations can be carried out, and
current iq can be rewritten as below: Table 3 shows the parameters of the PMSM [1].
Fig. 11 is the curve of the load torque used in the simulation.
i∗q = iq + i′q It is can be seen from that the PMSM has no load from 0 to 1 s,
(60) and the PMSM are subjected to random load from 1 to 3 s and its
= sat Fx + Gr + ρ BT P(x − xe ) − φ sgn(s1 ) + kt T̂L
( )
load become a constant value from 3 to 4 s.
where kt represents the feed-forward compensation gain, and kt The effectiveness of the designed speed controller (ISM_CNF)
> 0. is illustrated by comparing the traditional PI and CNF method
in the Jiang et al. [8], and the simulation results are given, and
The designed FSMO is used to identify the real-time load
shown in Figs. 12–14. Figs. 12a, 13a and 14a show the rotating
disturbances and mutations of the PMSM, which can effectively speed curves of the PMSM. Compared with the traditional PI
overcome their influence on the speed control and improve the method, the CNF and ISM_CNF method almost without over-
system reliability. The schematic diagram of disturbance rejection shoots and the transient performance is apparently improved,
control (ISM_CNF+FSMO) is shown in Fig. 10. and the designed ISM_CNF method has a faster response time
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E. Lu, W. Li, S. Wang et al. ISA Transactions xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 12. Simulation curves of the PI method: (a) rotating speed, (b) d–q axis currents, (c) A-phase current.

Fig. 13. Simulation curves of the CNF method: (a) rotating speed, (b) d–q axis currents, (c) A-phase current.

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E. Lu, W. Li, S. Wang et al.
Fig. 14. Simulation curves of the ISM_CNF method: (a) rotating speed, (b) d–q axis currents, (c) A-phase current.
during the PMSM starting process. Besides, the random load in
the one to three-second range affects the stability of the speed
controller, whether using either the CNF or the ISM_CNF method.
The designed ISM_CNF method has the least undulation when
the load is abrupt (t = 1 s), which shows the control system
has better robustness. Figs. 12b, 13b and 14b show the d–q
axis current curves of the PMSM. The q axis current curves are
consistent with the load torque of the PMSM, and the q axis
current curves of the CNF and ISM_CNF controller are closer to
the load torque. Figs. 12c, 13c and 14c show the A-phase current
curves.
The simulation contrast curves of observation effect between
the SMO and FSMO are shown in Fig. 15. It can be seen that both
observers can successfully estimate the load torque in real time.
Meanwhile, the chattering of FSMO is almost non-existent. It il-
lustrates that the fuzzy control is utilized to reduce the chattering
phenomenon in the SMO, and improve the stability of the control
system.
The simulation curves of the ISM_CNF controller with FSMO
are given in Fig. 16. Fig. 16a shows the rotating speed curves of
the PMSM. It illustrates that the feed-forward control based on
the FSMO can effectively reduce the influence of random load
(t = 1 ∼ 3 s) on the control system. In addition, the effect of
load mutation is minimized at t = 1 s. Figs. 16b and 16c show
the d–q axis currents and A-phase current curves of the PMSM,
respectively.
5.2. Experiments
In order to further prove the effectiveness of the proposed
method, the control experiments are constructed, and the exper-
imental apparatus are shown in Fig. 17.
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ISA Transactions xxx (xxxx) xxx
The powder brake dynamometer is used to load the PMSM
(the load simulation curve is shown in Fig. 11). The experimental
of PI, CNF and ISM_CNF controllers are studied, and the results are
shown in Figs. 18–20. Comparing with Figs. 12–14 respectively,
the experiment curves are consistent with the simulations. It
can be seen from the rotating speed curves (Figs. 18a, 19a and
20a) that the CNF and ISM_CNF speed controllers have almost
no overshoot and reach the control target. It can also be con-
cluded from the q-axis current curves (Figs. 19b and 20b) that
the CNF controller has a small spike at the 1s load mutation,
and the ISM_CNF controller is closer to the random load curve
shown in Fig. 11. The ISM_CNF controller shows better control
performance. In addition, the trend of the A-phase current curves
(Figs. 18c, 19c and 20c) also show consistency with the load
curve, and the experimental and simulation results are close.
Fig. 21 shows the experiment contrast curves of SMO and
FSMO. Comparing with Fig. 15, the experiment curves are also
consistent with the simulations. It has proved that the designed
FSMO applied to the actual working conditions is feasible.
The experiment results of the ISM_CNF controller with FSMO
are given in Fig. 22. Comparing with Fig. 16, it proves that the
experimental curves are basically accord with the numerical sim-
ulation curves, and it demonstrates that the designed distur-
bance rejection control method can successfully satisfy the actual
working conditions.
6. Conclusions
Aiming at the low-speed high-torque PMSM drive system, a
disturbance rejection control method (ISM_CNF+FSMO) is pro-
posed. The ISM_CNF method not only retains the advantages
of the CNF method in improving the system transient response
performance, but also retains the advantages of the ISM method
E. Lu, W. Li, S. Wang et al. ISA Transactions xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 15. Simulation contrast curves of the load observer: (a) SMO, (b) FSMO.

Fig. 16. Simulation curves of the ISM_CNF controller with FSMO method: (a) rotating speed, (b) d–q axis currents, (c) A-phase current.

Fig. 17. Schematic diagram of experimental apparatus: (a) physical photo; (b) experimental principle.

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E. Lu, W. Li, S. Wang et al. ISA Transactions xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 18. Experiment curves of the PI method: (a) rotating speed, (b) d–q axis currents, (c) A-phase current.

Fig. 19. Experiment curves of the CNF method: (a) rotating speed, (b) d–q axis currents, (c) A-phase current.

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E. Lu, W. Li, S. Wang et al.
Fig. 20. Experiment curves of the ISM_CNF method: (a) rotating speed, (b) d–q axis currents, (c) A-phase current.
Fig. 21. Experiment contrast curves of the load observer: (a) SMO, (b) FSMO.
in rejecting the impacts caused by the parameter uncertainties
and system disturbances. The PMSM load torque is observed by
the designed FSMO, and the observation is fed forward into the
control system to eliminate the effects of the load mutations
and wide range of the load changes. Finally, the effectiveness of
the proposed control method is investigated through numerical
simulations and experiments.
Compared with the traditional PI and CNF method, the de-
signed ISM_CNF method achieves the transient targets without
overshoot, and satisfies the rapidity of the control system. More-
over, the speed fluctuations of the PMSM is the smallest when
the load torque changes, it indicates that the designed ISM_CNF
method has better robustness. Additionally, the designed FSMO
accurately estimates the load torque changes of the PMSM in
real time, and the effects of load disturbances and mutations
on the system can be effectively reduced by the combining the
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ISA Transactions xxx (xxxx) xxx
FSMO into the ISM_CNF control framework. Furthermore, the nu-
merical simulation and experimental results demonstrated that
the control effect of the designed disturbance rejection control
method reaches the expectation. And the experiment results are
basically accord with the numerical simulation results, which
further proved the proposed method is feasible under the actual
working conditions.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No. 51775543, No. 52005220 and No.
E. Lu, W. Li, S. Wang et al.
Fig. 22. Experiment curves of the ISM_CNF controller with FSMO method: (a) rotating speed, (b) d–q axis currents, (c) A-phase current.
62001195), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province,
China (BK20180189), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
(2019M651962) and a project funded by the Priority Academic
Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Higher Education Insti-
tutions, China.
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