Sensorless torque control of SyncRel motor drives

This paper describes a direct self-control (DSC) scheme for synchronous reluctance motor drives. The presented DSC scheme develops a new torque control methodology that does not require any position transducer to synchronize the stator current vector with the rotor. Such a control strategy differs from the conventional DSC approach in order to fit some specific requirements of synchronous reluctance (SyncRel) machines. First, torque and rotor position are controlled instead of torque and stator flux as in a conventional DSC scheme. Second, the operating sector is selected according to the actual position of the current vector rather than the position of the stator flux. The proposed methodology allows simplifying implementation of the torque control on SyncRel drives and reducing the global cost for medium-performance electric drives. Simulations and experimental tests on a 1.5-kW motor drive are provided to evaluate the consistency and the performance of the proposed control technique.