Sliding Mode Control of PMSM Based on a Novel
Disturbance Observer
Ying Liu Bo Zhou Sichen Fang
Aero-power Sci-tech Center
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Nanjing, China
liuying8498@hotmail.com
Abstract—Conventional PI regular is a simple control method
that is widely applied in permanent magnet synchronous motor
(PMSM) control systems. However, in most cases, it cannot meet
the requirements of high performance control. In order to
improve system robustness and response, this paper adopts
sliding mode variable structure control strategy in the design of a
double–loop controller (speed loop and current loop). Integral
compensation and disturbance observer are also introduced to
prevent the possible steady-state errors and the intrinsic
chattering. As to the different rotational inertia due to load
changes, discrete model reference adaptive theory is adopted,
which identifies the rotational inertia online and updates it to the
observer. Experiments are carried out with a dSPACE real-time
system. Experimental results demonstrate that the designed
controller in this paper enhances system robustness and ensures
good dynamic and static performances.
Index Terms—PMSM, disturbance observer, rotational
inertia, dSPACE
I. INTRODUCTION
Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) has such
advantages as simple structure, high power density and high
efficiency. It has been widely used in high-precision digital-
controlled machine tools, robots, special processing and other
industrial and mining sites. The traditional PMSM system is
generally controlled by PI or PID regulator. This kind of
control method is simple and can meet the control requirements
of most areas; however, it gives rise to prominent setbacks such
as high vulnerability to parameter perturbations, unsatisfactory
adaptive ability to load changes and weak anti-disturbance
capacity. The control strategies based on modern control
theories and intelligent control can effectively improve the
operational performances of motors but their application is
greatly constrained by the complex algorithm.
Sliding mode variable structure control (SMC) is a kind of
discontinuous control put forward by Russian scholars in the
1950s. Compared with traditional control strategies, SMC has
good robustness to parameter perturbations, external
disturbances and inaccurate mathematical description, the most
valuable of which is its simple algorithm and easy engineering
application [1]-[2]. In recent years, many scholars have devoted
their research to applying sliding mode variable structure
control to PMSMs and other AC servo systems which have
features such as nonlinearity, strong coupling and time-varying
[3]-[6]. However, in the application of SMC to real systems,
978-1-4244-2800-7/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE 1990
the time and space lags caused by switches make the system
susceptible to chattering. Therefore, to weaken system
chattering is a problem must be solved in real applications.
Literature [7] introduced boundary layer to sliding mode
control, which adopts regular SMC outside the boundary layer
and continuous feedback control inside the boundary layer, the
width of which is adjusted online by system states, thus
weakening system chattering. However, due to inertia of
execution components, shuttering is still possible when the
value of the boundary layer is very small or the controlling
parameters are very large; on the other hand, if the value of the
boundary layer is relatively large, it will cause steady-state
error and undermine system robustness. Literature [8] adopts
approaching SMC, which replaces non-linear control with
linearized function control, improving dynamic and static
performances. However, this method is only applicable to
systems where load disturbances are known. Literature [9]
adopts a fuzzy sliding mode controller that encompasses three
parts: equivalent control, switching control and fuzzy control.
Through the design of the fuzzy rules, it effectively weakens
the effects of switching control and chattering. But the design
of the controller is complex comparatively.
SMC inhibits external disturbances and parameter changes
by large switching gains, therefore, external disturbances and
parameter changes are the major sources of chattering.
Methods such as parameter estimation and observers observe
parameter changes and load disturbances and compensate them
to decrease discontinuous terms of sliding mode to weaken
chattering [10]-[11]. Literature [10] applies SMC to dc motor
control. Through feed-forward compensation of the external
disturbances, the switching gain of the controller is decreased.
The control method is analyzed by the Lyapunov stability
theorem. Literature [11] applies a discrete sliding mode
observer to a CNC milling machine, which decreases the
switching gain though compensation of input disturbance.
A proportion switching SMC is adopted in this paper,
which is designed easily. The value of control variables is
determined by inequalities without knowing the exact system
parameters. Then a disturbance observer is designed. Through
feed-forward compensation of the external disturbances, the
amplitude of discontinuous terms of sliding mode controller is
decreased and chattering is effectively weakened. Considering
that load changes leads to different rotational inertia, and
referring to model reference adaptive identification theory, a
ICIEA 2009
novel disturbance observer capable of adjusting rotational P 2ψ f PTL
inertia online is proposed. dSPACE single board system Let a= , F= , U= iq , state equation of the
DS1104 is adopted in the experiment, which can construct the J J
control system rapidly [12]-[13]. The experimental results system can be expressed as:
demonstrate that the control method can effectively enhance
system robustness and ensure good dynamic and static ⎡ x1 ⎤ ⎡0 1 ⎤ ⎡ x1 ⎤ ⎡ 0 ⎤
performances. ⎢ x ⎥ = ⎢0 0 ⎥ ⎢ x ⎥ + ⎢ − a ⎥ U (6)
⎣ 2⎦ ⎣ ⎦⎣ 2⎦ ⎣ ⎦
II. MATHEMATIC MODEL OF PMSM To ensure the system reaches steady state without
overshoot, first-order sliding plane is selected:
For simplicity, several assumptions are made in the PMSM
mathematical model. Magnetic saturation is neglected and s = x1 + cx2 (7)
motor is assumed to have a smooth rotor. No saliency effect is
considered, thus Ld =Lq. The induced EMF is sinusoidal and Sliding control law is designed as:
eddy current and hysteresis losses are assumed to be negligible. U = ϕ1 x1 + ϕ2 x2 (8)
As the field excitation is from permanent magnets, there are no
field current dynamics. Thus, the electrical equations of the 1 2
PMSM can be described in the d, q rotating reference as V= s Lyapunov function is selected, from Lyapunov
follows: 2
stability theory, it can be derived that,
⎧ did
⎪⎪ ud = rid − ω Lq iq + Ld dt dV
= ss < 0 (9)
⎨ (1) dt
⎪u = ri + ωψ + ω L i + L diq That is:
⎪⎩ q q f dd q
dt ss = ( x1 + cx 2 ) s = [(1 − acϕ2 ) x2 − acϕ1 x1 ]s < 0
where, Ld, Lq, ud, uq, id, iq are respectively d, q frame
inductances, stator voltages and currents; ψf is rotor flux; r is Thus:
stator resistance and ω is inverter frequency. ⎧ α1 > 0 x1s > 0
The corresponding electromagnetic torque is given by: ⎪ϕ1 = {− β < 0 x1s < 0
⎪⎪ 1

Te = Pψ f iq (2) ⎨ α > 1 ac (10)

⎪ϕ = { 2 x2 s > 0
where, P is the pole number of the rotor.
⎪ 2 −β < 1 x2 s < 0
The associated mechanical equations are as follows: ⎪⎩ 2 ac
When the system enters sliding control mode:
d ωr
Te − TL = J (3)
dt s = x1 + cx2 = x1 + cx1 = 0 (11)
where, J is rotor inertia; ωr represents the speed of the rotor. Solve the above equation:
t
III. SPEED CONTROL BASED ON SLIDING MODE CONTROL −
x1 = ω * − ω = c0 e c （c0 is constant） (12)
By adjusting the structure of feedback control system,
It can be seen that x1 reaches zero exponentially with time,
sliding mode variable structure control enables a sudden switch
the rapidity of which is determined by c, realizing speed
of the state vectors when it passes through the switching hyper tracking without overshoot.
plane and ensures that state variables are constraint on the
switching plane rapidly and movement of the system on the An integrator is added to the controller U to make the
sliding plane is asymptotically stable. discrete variables continuous, thus weakening chattering in the
The state variables of the system are defined as: variable structure system, and eliminating steady state errors.
The ultimate control variable is iq1:
⎧ x1 = ω * − ω
⎨ (4) 1 1
⎩ x2 = x1 = −ω iq1 = U =ϕ2 x1 + ϕ1 ( x1 ) (13)
s s
where ω * and ω are the given speed and speed feedback
respectively. IV. DESIGN OF A DISTURBANCE OBSERVER WITH ONLINE
From equation (2) and (3), it can be calculated that: IDENTIFICATION OF ROTATIONAL INERTIA
⎧ P A. Design and analysis of disturbance observer
⎪⎪ x1 = −ω = − [ Pψ f iq − TL ]
J The sliding mode control is essentially a kind of switching
⎨ 2
(5) control. It uses discontinuous terms to constraint the impact
⎪ x = −ω = − P ψ i from external disturbances and parameter variations. So the
⎪⎩ 2 J
f q
minimum value of the discontinuous terms will increase with

1991
the increase of to-be-constraint external disturbances and where kt is the function coefficient of the torque observer, and
parameter variations, worsening the system chattering. Thus, if kt>0. It can be seen that compensation for the disturbances can
disturbances are observed and feed-forward compensation reduce the discontinuous terms, thus it can weaken system
based on the observed value is added ， the discontinuous chattering at a certain extent.
terms will be decreased and system chattering will be B. Online identification of rotational inertia
effectively weakened.
In the design of the above-mentioned torque observer,
A disturbance torque observer based on rotational speed rotational inertia J is taken as a known value, however, in most
and torque current is studied in this paper. Assume that TL is applications of PMSM servo systems, there are significant
∧ variations of rotational inertia of the load. If the system can
the total torque except the electromagnetic torque, TL is the identify rotational inertia online and update the torque observer
observed torque, the observer is designed as follows: with the rotational inertia, good robustness of the system can be
guaranteed. From the existing papers, there are generally two
d ωr methods to realize online identification of rotational speed:
∧ Pψ f iq − J least square method and model reference adaptive
TL = dt (14) identification. However, due to data saturation, recursive least
1 square method with forgetting factor is usually adopted, which
s +1 is a complex algorithm [14].
g
where, g is a constant, the numerator is the load torque derived A method based on discrete model and reference adaptive
from equation (2) and (3) and the denominator is a filter that identification method to identify rotational inertia online is
helps avoid high frequency noises imposed by the derivative of adopted in this paper. This method is derived from model
speed in the numerator. Fig. 1 shows the structure diagram of reference adaptive control method, in which the equation
the torque observer after equivalent transformation, in containing the to-be-estimated parameters is used as the
which ε = TˆL + gJ ωr . reference model, and the equation without unknown parameters
as adjustable model. The input and output of these two models
Assume that the load is non-time-varying and rotational share the same physical meaning. If the parameters of
speed is measurable, observer error is defined as: adjustable model are adjusted real-timely with the error
between the outputs of the two models, the output of the
ΔTL = TL − TˆL (15) adjustable model will track the output of the control objects
[15]-[16]. This method is based on stability theory, so
Thus: asymptotic convergence of the parameters can be ensured in
d ΔTL d (TL − ε + gJ ωr ) the course of parameter identification.
= = − g ΔTL (16)
dt dt Discretize equation (3):
ΔTL = c1e − gt T
ωr [ k ] = ωr [k − 1] + (Te [k − 1] − TL [k − 1])
where c1 is a constant. Observer error ΔTL reaches zero J
exponentially with time, the speed of which is determined by g, T
= 2ωr [k − 1] − ωr [k − 2] + {(Te [k − 1] (18)
which ensures that the designed observer is asymptotically J
stable. −Te [k − 2]) + (TL [ k − 1] − TL [k − 2])}
The output of the observer is used as the input of current
regulator and servers as compensation control input iq2 of where T is the sampling period. Due to the high sampling
system disturbances. Combined with (13) ， the current frequency, it can be assumed that load torque TL remains
reference can be given as: constant in a sampling period, thus TL [k − 1] = TL [k − 2] ,
solved with equation (18), it can get:
1 Tˆ
iq = iq1 +iq2 =ϕ2 x1 + ϕ1 ( x1 ) + L (17) ωr [ k ] = 2ωr [ k − 1] − ωr [ k − 2]
s kt (19)
T
∧ + (Te [ k − 1] − Te [k − 2])
TL J
- Take equation (19) as the reference model, the adjustable
+ model can be established as follows:
g ∧
s ωr [ k ] = 2ωr [k − 1] − ωr [k − 2]
(20)
∧
Iq - + r
+ α [k − 1]ΔTe [k − 1]
P f gJ ∧
+
where α = T / J is the parameter to be identified,
Figure 1. Structure diagram of the torque observer
ΔTe [k − 1] = Te [ k − 1] − Te [k − 2] .

1992
 Derived from parallel reference adaptive algorithm,
adaptive identification law of rotational inertia is:
∧ ∧ ΔTe [ k − 1]
α [k ] = α [k − 1] + β Δωr [k ] (21)
1 + β (ΔTe [k − 1])2
where β is the adaptive gain,

Δωr [k ] = ωr [k − 1] − ωr [ k − 2] (22) Figure 2. Block diagram of rotational inertia identification

The principle of reference adaptive identification of the
PMSM rotational inertia based on the discrete model is shown
in Fig.2.
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS PMSM Load

Parameters of the PMSM used in the experiments are as

follows: rated power 400W, rated speed 3000r/min, armature Position
Waveforms Drive iA iB iC
winding resistance 3.2Ω, d-axis inductance 0.81mH, q-axis display circuit signals

inductance 0.8mH, rotational inertia 0.402kg.cm2, operating

D/A
frequency of IPM 10kHz. Real-time simulation system PWM
A/D
Incremental
encoder
dSPACE DS1104 is adopted, with which code generating and dSPACE-DS1104
interface

downloading will be completed automatically by RCP (Rapid

Control Prototyping). The hardware system is shown in RTW RTI ConrtolDesk
Fig.3.Based on the above control method, the system control PC
diagram is shown in Fig.4.
Figure 3. System hardware diagram
Fig. 5 shows the identified rotational inertia under full-load
conditions. The initial identification value is set as 0.1kg·cm2.
The convergence rate rises with the increase of the self
adaptive gain β , but considering that in the real motor system
there are disturbances from multiple sources and the
identification algorithm is not an unbiased estimation, which
will lead to larger identification error, even system instability,
β is selected as 0.5 after a number of experiments. The
converging value is around 1.6kg·cm2 under different initial
identification values in the experiments.
Fig. 6 shows current reference iq1 and torque compensation Figure 4. System control diagram
current iq2 of sliding mode controller when there is a sudden
change of torque. It can be seen that the required current of
torque changes is mainly supplied by the observer while the
control output of sliding mode controller remains generally
unchanged, so the amplitude of discontinuous terms of the
sliding mode controller is effectively reduced and system
chattering is weakened.
Fig. 7 shows rotational speed and current feedback under
suddenly-applied and suddenly-removed rated torque under
sliding mode control with the novel torque observer. It can be
seen that the changes of load barely has any effects on the
rotational speed, which remains at 3000r/min, ensuring good Figure 5. Identified rotational inertia under full-load conditions
robustness of the system.
Fig. 8 shows rotational speed and current feedback under
suddenly-increased and suddenly-decreased rotational speed
with rated load. The given rotational speed is a step signal from
2000r/min to 3000r/min. When there is a sudden drop of
rotational speed, DC bus voltage reaches a certain value, then
the braking circuit begins to work. It can be seen that the
rotational speed responds rapidly without overshoot.
(a) sudden load (b) sudden unload
Figure 6. q-axis reference current

1993

(a) sudden load (b) sudden unload
Figure 7. Waveforms under sudden changes of load
(a) sudden speed increase (b) sudden speed decrease
Figure 8. Waveforms under sudden changes of rotational speed
VI. CONCLUSION
A PMSM speed controller based on SMC is designed in
this paper, and the cause of the intrinsic chattering is analyzed.
Through feed-forward compensation of the external
disturbances, the amplitude of discontinuous terms of sliding
mode controller is decreased and chattering is effectively
weakened. Furthermore, for improving the robust of the system,
a novel disturbance observer capable of adjusting rotational
inertia online is proposed. The experimental results
demonstrate the feasibility of applying the designed sliding
mode control based on a novel disturbance observer to vector
controlled PMSM speed control systems. It not only ensures
the dynamic characteristics of the PMSM control systems, but
also effectively improves robustness of the system and weakens
system chattering. Compared to traditional development
methods, applying dSPACE to the development of PMSM
control systems shortens development cycle, reduces
development costs and provides a new approach of research
and development of motor control systems.
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