Design of saliency-based sensorless drive IPM motors for hybrid electric vehicles

This paper presents the design of concentrated winding IPMSM under the saliency-based sensorless drive using a high-frequency signal injection. The finite element (FE) analysis is used to examine the feasible region of the sensorless drive in consideration of the cross-coupling magnetic saturation and the space harmonics. The reliability of the feasible region is verified by experiment using two prototypes. Then, the influence of the IPM motor geometry on the feasible region is examined. Consequently, the design guideline is established to obtain a suitable motor geometry which can maximize the torque capability and stability of the sensorless drive. Under the restricted specifications of dimensions and requirements, the 100Nm-10kW 12-pole-18slot IPMSM is optimally designed for HEV applications. The validity of the proposed design is verified using the MATLAB/SIMULINK based dynamic simulator.