Analysis, design and implementation of sensorless V/f control in a surface-mounted PMSM without damper winding

Abstract

This paper presents a novel, reliable and efficient V/f control implementation on a 8-pole, 750 rpm, 5 kW surface-mounted permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) without damper winding. In the absence of a damper winding, open loop V/f control of SM is inherently unstable, particularly at high speeds. Stabilisation can be done with proper stator frequency modulation in accordance with the change in rotor speed to provide for effect of damping. This has been implemented here without use of any shaft-mounted encoder. The change in rotor speed is observed from power perturbation, thereby eliminating the need for using a speed sensor in the drive. The efficiency of the drive is further increased with appropriate control of the power factor, irrespective of load and frequency variations. Simulated and experimental results are presented for both open-loop and the proposed V/f control. These results establish the accuracy of the design of the proposed V/f control strategy and the precision of hardware implementation. A comparative study between the proposed V/f control method and standard vector control method, as implemented on this PMSM, has also been presented here to establish the advantages of the proposed scheme. The PMSM itself was designed and fabricated in the laboratory.