Comparative Study of Sensorless Vector Control PMSM Drive for Electric Vehicle Application

The expensive and sensitive component in the motor drive is the sensors which have defects such as manufacture or external environmental effects, as a solution the soft sensor (observer) can be used to realize the sensorless vector control of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) which has been widely used in industries and traction of electric vehicle applications and increase reliability due to its high efficiency. This paper focuses on a comparative study between first order Sliding Mode Observer (SMO) and Second Order Sliding Mode Observer (SOSMO) -based sensorless control of a PMSM drive. The results were obtained using 60 kW PMSM drive that the use of SOSMO can improve significantly the performances of the PMSM drive in steady and transient states.