A Robust Drive Train Controller for an Electric Three-Wheeler

Abstract

Electric Vehicles are the future of the automobile industry. They are economic and pollution free. The most promising traction motors like interior permanent magnet synchronous motors are mostly used in electric vehicles. From the accessible motor control techniques, field-oriented control is the foremost reasonable control technique for interior permanent magnet synchronous motors. In order to overcome the drawbacks of conventional controllers, maximum torque per ampere with flux weakening-based field-oriented control is used for traction motors, since it provides a wide speed range operation without compromising efficiency. Nevertheless, its performance can be affected by parameter variation of the motor due to temperature rise, aging, disturbances, load, etc. In order to overcome this drawback, a robust controller with field oriented and flux weakening is introduced along with the maximum torque per ampere concept. In this control, a sliding mode controller is used as a current control for compensating the parameter variations and an additional voltage loop for flux weakening control is included. The performance of the electric drive train with the proposed controller is evaluated with different parameter variation criteria. It is also compared with the conventional methods with vehicle load conditions, and it is proven that the proposed robust controller is suitable for the effective traction of an electric vehicle with parameter variation.