Using a multiphase interleaved-switched inverter as power-hardware-in-the-loop machine emulator to test sensorless control techniques

This paper describes an optimized hardware setup for a power-hardware-in-the-loop machine emulator which allows the emulation of the magnetic anisotropy e.g. of a permanent magnet synchronous machine. This gives the opportunity to test various control systems which are beyond the common current and speed control, like sensorless control methods, on a machine emulator. Additionally, sophisticated test scenarios such as a step-shaped speed change, which hardly can be done on a test bench are able to be performed on a machine emulator. To obtain best results, several optimizations for an emulator setup are described. The performance of the presented emulator is verified by measurements conducted with an inverter-under-test, that uses the INFORM method and an EMF-model to track the rotor position sensorless.