Speed and current Model Predictive Control of an IPM synchronous motor drive

Predictive control indicates a wide family of advanced control techniques that in last decade have been investigated in several studies and researches in the electrical drive field. This paper considers one of them, named Model Predictive Control (MPC). There are many advantages and interesting aspects in the use of this control technique compared to more traditional techniques that are usually employed in electrical drives. The typical cascade structure of FOC algorithms, for instance, can be avoided by implementing a single controller that manages both speed and currents. The innovation proposed within this paper is the application of Model Predictive Control to an IPM synchronous motor drive. Herein, special attention is given to the system's non-linearities and how the controller can be modified to realize flux-weakening and other control strategies. After a detailed description of the strategy that has been implemented, in the last part of the paper most important results obtained by simulations and by testing on a real drive are shown and discussed.