PWM Switching Frequency Signal Injection Sensorless Method in IPMSM

The rotor position of an interior permanent-magnet synchronous machine (IPMSM) can be estimated without a position sensor by signal injection sensorless control at standstill and/or in very low speed rotating condition. In the signal injection sensorless control, however, the fundamental control performance is limited by the frequency of the injected signal, and no negligible acoustic noise is generated. If the frequency of the injected voltage signal would increase to pulsewidth modulation (PWM) switching frequency and if the switching frequency is near or above audible range, the dynamics of the sensorless control can be improved, and the acoustic noise can be remarkably reduced or totally eliminated. This paper describes how to extract the rotor position information of IPMSM using the voltage signal injection whose frequency is the same as the PWM switching frequency. Compared to the conventional heterodyning process, the proposed method is simple to implement and appropriate for PWM switching frequency signal injection. The high-frequency voltage signal can be injected in the stationary reference frame or in the estimated rotor reference frame. In this paper, the 5- and 16-kHz signal injections are proposed, implemented, and compared. The experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.