Modeling and sensorless control of a segmented PMSM

This paper presents field-oriented sensorless control with distributed phase control strategy for a segmented PM synchronous motor driven by the multiphase converter to operate as an electronic geared motor. A mathematical model is developed for a three-phase segmented PMSM. Compared with conventional three-phase inverter topology, the proposed converter topology with associated distributed phase control strategy has advantages of reduced conduction loss, improved efficiency under light load condition, and expanded torque-speed operating ranges with a same dc-link voltage. The sensorless multiphase control strategy has been implemented based on a single-chip MCU controller (STM32F0). Experimental results have been given to show the performance and flexibility of the proposed multiphase converter for sensorless segmented PMSM drive with the distributed phase control scheme.