• Journal of Power Electronics
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.1264-1273
• /
• 2015

An inverter output power control based power factor correction (PFC) strategy is being extensively used for permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drives in appliances because such a strategy can considerably reduce the cost and size of the inverter. In this strategy, PFC circuits are removed and large electrolytic DC-link capacitors are replaced with small film capacitors. In this application, the PMSM d-q axes currents are controlled to produce ripples, the frequency of which is twice that of the AC main voltage, to obtain a high power factor at the AC mains. This process indicates that the PMSM operates under periodic magnetic saturation conditions. This paper proposes a back electromotive-force (back-EMF) estimator for the high-speed sensorless control of PMSM operating under periodic magnetic saturation conditions. The transfer function of the back-EMF estimator is analyzed to examine the effect of the periodic magnetic saturation on the accuracy of the estimated rotor position. A simple compensation method for the estimated position errors caused by the periodic magnetic saturation is also proposed in this paper. The effectiveness of the proposed method is experimentally verified with the use of a PMSM drive for a vacuum cleaner centrifugal fan, wherein the maximum operating speed reaches 30,000 rpm.

• Journal of Power Electronics
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.2173-2181
• /
• 2016

Permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) have higher torque and superior output power per volume than other types of AC motors. They are commonly used for applications that require a large output power and a wide range of speed. For precise control of PMSMs, knowing the accurate position of the rotor is essential, and normally position sensors such as a resolver or an encoder are employed. On the other hand, the position sensors make the driving system expensive and unstable if the attached sensor malfunctions. Therefore, sensorless algorithms are widely researched nowadays, to reduce the cost and cope with sensor failure. This paper proposes a sensorless algorithm that can be applied to a wide range of speed. The proposed method features a robust operation at low-speed as well as high-speed ranges by employing a gain adjustment scheme and intermittent voltage pulse injection method. In the proposed scheme the position estimation gain is tuned by a closed loop manner to have stable operation in tough driving environment. The proposed algorithm is fully verified by various experiments done with a 1 kW outer rotor-type PMSM.