Practical Wide-speed-range Sensorless Control System for Permanent Magnet Reluctance Synchronous Motor Drives via Active Flux Model

Abstract This article introduces a control strategy to obtain near-maximum available torque in a wide speed range with sensorless operation via the active flux concept for permanent magnet-reluctance synchronous motor drives. A new torque dq current reference calculator is proposed, with reference torque limited by the torque/speed envelope and by maximum current constraint. This solution approximates the maximum torque per ampere below base speed and also in the flux-weakening region, where voltage limitations impose constraints on the allowable dq currents with less computational effort. Comprehensive digital simulation results (1–6000 rpm) and experimental results (50–3000 rpm at low inverter available DC voltage of 12 Vdc instead of 48 Vdc) demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed sensorless control strategy in a wide speed range, with stable and reliable operations up to a speed equal to eight times the machine base speed (constant power speed range = 8).