A novel position and velocity observer for robust control of switched reluctance motors

A new position and velocity sensorless control algorithm for the switched reluctance motor (SRM) drive is presented, which employs a sliding mode observer technique to estimate the motor speed and rotor position. This paper describes the construction of the observer, proposes the detailed method for designing the feedback gains of the observer and provides a quantitative robustness analysis against disturbances. The proposed sliding observer scheme is applied to a 4 kW SRM drive and the system performance is verified by computer simulation and experimental results.