Speed sensorless control of a long-stator linear synchronous-motor arranged by multiple sections

Linear permanent magnet (PM) motors have become a viable alternative for material handling and processing systems in the industry, mainly because of its higher dynamic response, robustness and accuracy. For long stators, the position sensor, which extents along the carriageway, becomes a costly part of the system. In addition, for long carriageways, the stator is divided in several sections increasing sensing complexity. Therefore, sensorless methods are of higher concern than in rotative motors. In this paper, a speed sensorless control of a long-stator linear synchronous motor arranged by multiple sections is presented. This method uses an EMF observer for each active section (i.e. where the mover is and the subsequent). Then, based on the addition of the observed EMF a single speed and position observer is implemented for the mover. Finally, using an experimental setup, validation results are attained and presented.