Design of extended Kalman filters for high performance position control of electrical drives

High performance position control of electrical drives requires controllers adapted to the mechanics. As some of the mechanical parameters, e.g. total inertia of the drive, vary with time, effective schemes are needed to track time-varying parameters. Although the extended Kalman filter has turned out to be suitable for dealing with this problem, industrial application of this advanced algorithm is especially hindered by a lack of systematic commissioning schemes. The paper presents a design method for extended Kalman filters adapted to fast position control. The design is based on a physical approach and provides a physical insight into the extended Kalman filter algorithm. This facilitates an easy transfer of this approach to a broad range of other applications, such as sensorless drives or system monitoring.