Speed-sensorless control of induction motors: trends and perspectives

Marcello Montanari
Center for Research on Complex Automated Systems (CASY) Department of Electronics, Computer Science and Systems (DEIS) University of Bologna Bologna

Outline
Introduction Induction motor (IM) model and general definitions Control requirements Speed/flux amplitude control Concept of field orientation Speed/flux estimation Observability properties of IM Lack of observability at zero frequency Speed sensorless control approaches Full-order observer Reduced-order observer Observerless controller Speed sensorless control of IM based on high-gain speed observer Main features Experimental and simulation results Concluding remarks
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Control of induction motors

Low-performance IM drives: V/f control strategy
Open-loop control Control design based on simplified steady-state IM model Frequency/amplitude of the applied stator voltages are adjusted depending only on the desired speed Low-performances: Highly nonlinear dynamical model Poor speed regulation and torque rejection capability Slow dynamic performance Reduced range of operating conditions (e.g. at low speed, high torques)

Control of induction motors

High performance IM drives
Feedback controllers based on measurements of
Stator currents Speed/position

Speed/flux trajectory tracking with high dynamics Large bandwidth torque disturbance rejection Safe behavior in a wide range of operating conditions speed range from standstill up to 200% rated speed load and regenerative torque up to 500% rated value

High performance IM controllers

Field oriented (FO) control
Standard IFOC [Ortega & Taoutaou, TAC 1996], [Peresada et al., Power Elec. 2003] Improved IFOC [Peresada & Tonielli, IJAC&SP 2000]

Feedback linearization
[Kim et al., IJC 1990], [Marino, Peresada, Valigi, TAC 1993]

Passivity based
[Ortega et al., Automatica 1996]

Direct Torque Control

[Vas, Oxford Univ. Press 1998]

Speed sensorless control of induction motors

Induction motor drive:
without mechanical sensor (for speed/position measurement) with medium/high dynamic performance Main objective: minimize performance degradation with respect to classical IM controllers with speed sensor

Advantages
Reduced hardware complexity, reduced size, no sensor cable Increased reliability, less maintenance requirements Lower cost Better noise immunity

Applications of speed-sensorless controlled IM motors

Speed regulation/load torque rejection
Pumps, fans, compressors Electric vehicles, trolleys Belt conveyors

Low (or medium) performance speed tracking

Cranes, lifts Simple manufacturing machines

Trends:
Better accuracy Increased bandwidth Wider operating conditions

Two-phase IM model in the stationary reference frame (a,b)

State variables: Stator currents ia, ib Rotor fluxes a, b Rotor speed Control inputs: Stator voltages ua, ub Disturbance input: Load torque TL

IM electromagnetic/mechanical parameters:
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Speed/flux control requirements

Speed control
Asymptotic tracking of smooth speed reference trajectory *

Rejection of load torque disturbance Arbitrarily selectable bandwidth of the speed control loop

Speed/flux control requirements

Flux (amplitude) control
Asymptotic tracking of smooth flux amplitude reference trajectory *>0 (normally constant *)

Variable flux: For efficiency/energy purposes In the field weakening regime To ensure persistency of excitation of estimation methods avoidance of unsafe operating conditions (e.g. dc excitation) e.g. for simultaneous speed/rotor resistance

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Concept of field orientation (F.O.)

Time-varying state space transformation
Equivalent to define a rotating reference frame (d,q) with angular position 0 w.r.t. the stationary reference frame How to design 0 (or equivalently 0)?

0 ,0
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IM model in the generic rotating (d,q) reference frame

State variables : id, iq, d, q, Control inputs: ud, uq, 0 Disturbance: TL

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Field orientation principle

Decoupling between speed/flux subsystems The IM behaves similarly to a dc motor with separated excitation Motor torque is proportional to iq (if d=const) Flux dynamics is not perturbed by the mechanical one IM torque

Field orientation requirement Rotating reference frame with the d-axis aligned with the rotor flux vector
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Perfect field orientation

IM torque
Torque/flux coupling terms

Torque/speed control

flux control

Decoupled speed/flux control Inner loops for d-axis (flux) and q-axis (torque) current control
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Direct/indirect field orientation

Perfect field orientation is achievable only with known rotor flux vector Direct field orientation

Based on measurement (or estimation) of the rotor flux vector, independently of the controller Not trivial stability proof for the full-order controller and observer dynamics Indirect field orientation

Asymptotic field orientation is achieved without flux vector measurement or estimation Stability is guaranteed through the design of a proper output feedback controller
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Sensorless control of IM
Control requirements are identical to those of standard IM control
Controlled outputs: , d, q Control inputs: ud, uq, 0 (with indirect FO approach)

Assumptions:
Measured stator currents: ia, ib (i.e. id, iq) other technical assumptions: Known smooth speed/flux references Known constant IM parameters

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IM state estimation case 1

Rotor flux/stator current observer assuming
Measured (and bounded) speed (Unknown load torque) No measurements of stator current/rotor flux Unknown initial conditions for id, iq, d, q

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IM state estimation case 1

Linear time-varying electromagnetic dynamics

Rotor flux/stator current observer

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IM state estimation case 1

Estimation error model

Global asymptotic stability of the error model, thanks to passivity properties of the E.M. dynamics

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IM state estimation case 2

Speed estimation under hypothesis of
Known stator currents and voltages Unknown rotor flux and speed Practically achievable hypothesis for speed sensorless controlled IM

Observability/detectability properties of IM
See [Canudas De Wit et al., CDC 2000], [Ibarra-Rojas et al., Automatica 2004], [Holtz, Proc. IEEE 2002] Existence of indistinguishable trajectories with particular control inputs (i.e. internal trajectories that are different under the same input/output behavior) Speed sensorless controlled IM is not globally (or locally) observable/detectable through stator currents
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IM state estimation case 2

IM is not observable with zero excitation frequency (i.e. with 0=0)

Zero excitation frequency corresponds to

Zero speed operation with null load torque Regenerative mode (i.e. speed and torque are opposite in sign)

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IM state estimation case 2 physical interpretation

State-space transformation with variables proportional to stator fluxes

IM model

During dc excitation, constant stator voltages (ua, ub) are applied, i.e. 0=0, ud=const, uq=const Steady-state behavior constant stator currents, independently of stator flux and speed dynamics No information from stator currents and voltages for speed estimation
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IM state estimation case 2 physical interpretation

Steady-state behavior with dc exctitation: Lack of speed information in the back-emf signal Speed observers based on the back-emf signal (IM electromagnetic energy conversion) fail to work at zero frequency

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IM state estimation case 3A

Speed observer based on 1. known stator current and rotor flux 2. known load torque known time derivative of the speed dynamics

Adaptive speed observer based on current/flux tracking errors Speed estimation and control with global stability properties [Marino et al., IFAC 2002, Automatica 2004]
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IM state estimation case 3B

Speed observer based on 1. known stator current and rotor flux 2. unknown load torque

Adaptive speed observer based on current tracking errors Standard indirect field oriented control Speed estimation and control with local stability properties [Montanari et al., ECC 2003]
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IM state estimation case 3

Assumption of known flux is not practically achievable. However, it is equivalent to assume not measurable rotor flux, but with known initial conditions Rotor flux estimation can be performed through the stator flux model

Robustness issues related to open-loop pure integration

Drift problems due to measurement offset, distortion of voltage actuation, etc. Sensitivity to IM electrical parameter knowledge
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Speed sensorless controllers: literature overview

Known load torque and rotor flux Semiglobal exponential speed/flux tracking [Dawson et al., CST 2001] Adaptive controller with global exponential speed/flux tracking properties [Marino et al., Automatica 2004] Known rotor flux initial conditions, unknown load torque Adaptive observer/controller with local stability property [Montanari et al., ACC 2003, ECC 2003] Known load torque, unknown rotor flux Adaptive observer/controller with local stability property [Montanari et al., CDC 2004] Unknown load torque and rotor flux Sliding mode torque/flux control with sliding mode speed observer with local stability properties [Utkin et al., Ind.Elec. 2000] Sensorless IFOC with two-time scale separation with local stability properties [Montanari et al., IECON 2002]
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Speed sensorless control approaches

Full-order observer
E.g. MRAS, adaptive, Luenberger-like, sliding-mode observers, Kalman Filter

, Controller

, u IM i u Observer

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Speed sensorless control approaches

Full-order observer
Estimation of speed/rotor flux/(stator current) Observer design independent of the control Full state estimation is not strictly necessary
E.g. flux tracking can be guaranteed thanks to stability properties of the IFO-controlled IM without flux measure/estimation

High computational burden and overall controller complexity Direct or indirect FO control architecture Issues related to stability of the full-order error dynamics
separation principle for nonlinear time-varying system

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Speed sensorless control approaches

Reduced-order observer
Adaptive control techniques exploited for the controller/observer design E.g. [Marino et al., Automatica 2004], [Montanari et al. IECON 2002, ACC 2003, ECC 2003, CDC 2004]
, Controller i* u IM , i

Observer
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Speed sensorless control approaches

Reduced-order observer The observer is embedded in the controller Reduced number of state estimations is necessary (e.g. only speed) Speed estimation can be achieved since, when speed is not correctly estimated, imperfect speed tracking causes imperfect vector flux regulation and hence non-null current tracking errors Adaptation law based on current tracking errors (essentially, it relies on the estimation of back-emf signal d perturbing the qaxis current dynamics) Observer and controller must be designed in a joined way Simple controller/observer structure Stability properties more related to the physical behavior of the IM Lack of control at zero frequency if the stator flux model is not exploited, due to observability properties of the IM
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Speed sensorless control of IM based on high-gain speed estimation

No exploitation of the stator flux model for state estimation Rotor/stator flux are not estimated true speed-sensorless control Reduced-order high-gain speed observer based on back-emf signal Adaptation law based on the q-axis current tracking error Two-time scale separation is exploited (by means of singular perturbation technique)
Fast estimation dynamics Slow mechanical and electromagnetic dynamics

Controller structure Vector-flux control based on improved indirect field oriented control strategy Auxiliary terms designed according to Lyapunov-like technique for the stability of the reduced-order flux subsystem Speed controller based on P-I + feed-forward action for speed tracking with unknown constant load torque adaptation Inner current control loop
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Speed sensorless control of IM based on high gain speed estimation

Full-order error dynamics Feedback interconnected mechanical, electromagnetic and estimation subsystems Exponentially stable estimation dynamics Slow system Speed estimation error dependent on flux tracking error Series interconnection of Linear asymptotically stable mechanical subsystem Nonlinear asymptotically stable electromagnetic subsystem Local stability properties of the full-order error dynamics In the adaptive control framework, Persistency of Excitation, related to observability of the IM, is required for the stability of the reducedorder flux subsystem
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Speed sensorless control of IM based on high gain speed estimation

Reduced-order high-gain speed observer based on backemf signal
Adaptation law based on the q-axis current tracking error Two-time scale separation is exploited (by means of singular perturbation technique) Fast estimation dynamics Slow mechanical and electromagnetic dynamics

Notation

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Speed-flux controller

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Reduced-order speed observer

Speed and q-axis current estimation

q-axis current estimation is introduced for technical motivations Decomposition of error dynamics in standard form for singular perturbation theory simpler speed estimation:

No exploitation of the stator flux model for state estimation Rotor/stator flux are not estimated true speed-sensorless control
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Mechanical/estimation error dynamics

Two feedback-interconnected 2nd order linear systems Time-scale separation obtained imposing the estimation dynamics to be faster than the mechanical one Perturbation from flux dynamics i, due to lack of flux estimation Quasi-steady state for the estimation error dynamics

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Slow subsystem
Reduced-order tracking error dynamics

4th LTV flux dynamics xe Stability dependent on Persistency of Excitation conditions

avoid zero-frequency excitation, i.e. 0r 0 Relation with observability properties of speed-sensorless controlled IM without flux reconstruction from stator flux model

2nd order LTI exponentially stable mechanical dynamics xm Interconnection terms with linear/bilinear properties Series-interconnection, considering the linearized dynamics Bilinear terms lead to local stability

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LTV slow flux subsystem

Exponentially stable d & q-axis current tracking error dynamics Classical structure of adaptive control systems with skew-symmetric dynamical matrix (see [Morgan & Narendra, SIAM JC&O 1977]) Stability is related to Persistency of Excitation conditions

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Persistency of excitation condition

The LTV flux subsystem is GES if the Persistency of Excitation condition is satisfied, i.e. if there exist T, k such that:

PE condition corresponds to avoid zero-frequency excitation, i.e. 0r 0 Relation with observability properties of speed-sensorless controlled IM without flux reconstruction from stator flux model

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Simulation and experimental results

Rated Power 1.1 kW Rated speed 1410 rpm @ 50Hz Rated Torque 7.0 Nm Two pole pairs Rated current 2.8A rms Rated voltage 220V rms k=120, k i=7200 (=11.8 ms) ko=240, koi=93400 (o=3.3 ms) kid=150, kiq=300 Ts=200 s

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Speed/flux reference, load torque profile

Speed reference and load torque profile (*10) 1 100 rad/s, Nm Flux reference

Wb 0 0.5 time (s) 1 1.5

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0.5

0 0 0.5 time (s) 1 1.5

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Speed tracking error 10 rad/s rad/s 0 -10 0 10 rad/s 0 -10 0 0.5 time (s) 5 Reference for d-axis current 5 1 1.5 A 0.5 1 1.5 Speed estimation error 10

Estimated speed tracking error 200 V 0 -200 0.5 1 1.5 q-axis current estimation error 0

d-axis voltage (u d) 200 V 0 -200 0.5 1 time (s) 1.5 0

q-axis voltage (u q)

0 -10 0 1 0.5 0

0.5

1 time (s)

1.5

-0.5 -1 0 0.5 time (s) Reference for q-axis current 0.02 d-axis flux error 0.02 Wb 0 q-axis flux error 1 1.5

Wb

-0.02 -5 0 1 0.5 A 0 -0.5 -1 0 0.5 time (s) 1 1.5 A 0.5 1 d-axis current error 1.5 -5 0 1 0.5 0 -0.5 -1 0 0.5 time (s) 1 1.5 0.5 1 q-axis current error 1.5 0 0.5 1 time (s) 1.5

-0.02 0 0.5 1 time (s) 1.5

*=100rad/s, TL=7.0Nm

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Speed tracking error 10 rad/s rad/s 0 -10 0 10 rad/s 0 -10 0 0.5 time (s) 5 Reference for d-axis current 5 1 1.5 A 0.5 1 1.5 Speed estimation error 10 0 -10 0 1 0.5

Estimated speed tracking error 200 V 0

d-axis voltage (u d) 200 V 0

q-axis voltage (u q)

-200 0.5 1 1.5 q-axis current estimation error 0 200 V 0 0.5 1) a-axis voltage (u a 1.5

-200 0 200 V 0 0.5 1) b-axis voltage (u b 1.5

0 -0.5 -1 0 0.5 time (s) Reference for q-axis current 1 1.5

-200 0 0.5 1 time (s) 1.5

-200 0 0.5 1 time (s) 1.5

A 0.5 1 d-axis current error 1.5

-5 0 1 0.5 A 0 -0.5 -1 0 5

-5 0 1 0.5 A 0 -0.5

0.5 1 q-axis current error

1.5

0.5 1 a current)(i a

1.5

-1 0 5

0.5 1 b current)(i b

1.5

-5 0

0.5 time (s)

1.5

-5 0

0.5 time (s)

1.5

*=100rad/s, TL=7.0Nm

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Speed tracking error rad/s rad/s 10 0 10 0

Speed estimation error

-10 0 5 A 0 0.5 1 d-axis current 1.5

-10 0 5 A 0 0.5 1 q-axis current 1.5

-5 0 5 A 0

0.5 1 a current (i a)

1.5

-5 0 5 A 0

0.5 1 b current (i b)

1.5

-5 0

0.5

1 time (s)

1.5

-5 0

0.5

1 time (s)

1.5

*=0rad/s, TL=7.0Nm standstill

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Speed tracking error rad/s rad/s 10 0 10 0

Speed estimation error

-10 0 5 A 0 -5 0 5 A 0 -5 0 0.5 1 d-axis current 1.5

-10 0 5 A 0 0.5 1 q-axis current 1.5

0.5 current1(i a a)

1.5

-5 0 5 A 0

0.5 current1(i b b)

1.5

0.5

1 time (s)

1.5

-5 0

0.5

1 time (s)

1.5

*=10rad/s, TL=-7.0Nm

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PE condition and reference flux selection

In order to avoid lack of PE (0s=0), the reference flux * can be selected such that |0s| is maximum * [*m,*M]

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Speed tracking error rad/s rad/s 10 0 10 0 -10 0.5 1 1.5 Speed estimation error Nm 0 10 5 0 -5 0.5 1 Flux reference 1.5 -10 0 40 rad/s

Estimated speed tracking error 10 rad/s 0 -10 0.5 1 1.5 Load torque (real and estimated) rad/s 0 10 0 -10 0.5 1 Synchronous speed 1.5 0 0 1 Wb

Speed tracking error 10 rad/s 0 -10 0.5 1 1.5 Speed estimation error 0 10 Nm 5 0 -5 0.5 1 Flux reference 1.5 -10 0 40 rad/s 20 0

Estimated speed tracking error

-10 0 10 0

0.5 1 1.5 Load torque (real and estimated)

rad/s

-10 0 1 Wb 0.5

0.5 1 Synchronous speed 0

1.5

20 0

0.5

0 0 5 A 0 -5 0

0.5

1 time (s) d-axis current

1.5

-20 0 5 A 0 -5 0

0.5

1 time (s) q-axis current

1.5

0 0 5 A

0.5

1 time (s) d-axis current

1.5

-20 0 5 A

0.5

1 time (s) q-axis current

1.5

0.5

1 time (s)

1.5

0.5

1 time (s)

1.5

-5 0

0.5 time (s)

1.5

-5 0

0.5

time (s)

1.5

Constant flux reference

Variable flux reference

*=7.5rad/s, TL=-7.0Nm

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Concluding remarks
Achievable performances
At high speed with load or regenerative torque Performance similar to standard IFO control with medium-cost encoder
mechanical time constant 10ms

Safe behavior up to 2-3 Hz with rated load/regenerative torque

Lack of speed regulation/torque generation (or even instability) Performance degradation near zero frequency due to robustness issues sensitivity to stator resistance, inductances Measurement noise and actuation distortion

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Concluding remarks
Sensorless control of IM under realistic assumptions (unknown speed, rotor flux and load torque) is still a research topic both from the theoretical and application viewpoint A solution based on high-gain reduced-order observer and IFO control seems to be promising
Based on fundamental laws of electromechanical energy conversion of IM (back-emf estimation)

Local stability results, but with sufficiently large domain of attraction, at least at high speed
Local results seem to be unavoidable with unknown rotor flux

PE condition related to observability of IM with dc-excitation

Structural property of speed-sensorless controlled IM Solutions: Avoidance of dc-excitation by proper selection of reference flux Injection of high frequency signals

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Concluding remarks
Other solutions based on stator flux model are deeply investigated Reconstruction of rotor/stator fluxes from stator flux model Estimation is independent of speed It is necessary to cope with pure integrator dynamics Low-pass filtering, stator resistance and inverter model estimation, other technological remedies [Holtz, Proc. IEEE 2002], [Profumo et al., Trans. IAS 1998], adaptive observers [Montanari et al., CDC 2004], etc.

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Other research activities

Control of electrical drives
Speed-sensorless control of induction motors

Learning-based adaptive control Hybrid systems modeling and control Modeling and control of a car driveline
Clutch, gear-box actuators, transmission shaft modeling Application of hybrid control techniques

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