TLS EXIN Based Sensorless Control of a Synchronous Reluctance Motor

Synchronous Reluctance Motors (SynRM) present very interesting technical characteristics, among which simplicity, robustness and cheapness. Their dynamic performance are, however, strictly tied to the theoretical framework describing their dynamic model and, in particular, to the strong non-linearity arising from the magnetic saturation, with different self saturation effects on the two axis and significant cross-saturation effects. Control performance of SynRM drives reveals particularly challenging as soon as sensorless techniques are to be integrated to their control. Among the different methodologies proposed in literature, a model based approach has been proposed here. In particular, this paper proposes a sensorless algorithm based on the so–called TLS EXIN neuron, which is a linear neural network able to solve the TLS problem on–line. A mathematical formulation of the dynamic model of the SynRM has been developed and suitably arranged to permit the use of a Least Squares technique. Experimental verification of the good performance of the proposed algorithm has been conducted on a 2.2 kW SynRM motor drive.