Method and apparatus for quasi-sensorless adaptive control of switched reluctance motor drives

An apparatus for quasi-sensorless control of a high rotor pole switched-reluctance motor comprising:

• a switched-reluctance motor (SRM) having a stator and a rotor;
• a three-phase inverter controlled by a processor connected to an input of the SRM;
• a rotor position estimation module to determine an initial position of the rotor utilizing a sequence of relation between phase inductances of the SRM;
• a position estimation module designed to estimate rotor position during an initial rotor rotation by estimating an inductance profile, to measure current response in each inactive phase, to identify next phase and to establish a firm time;
• a time base module to calculate shaft speed and to update the firm time base by generating motor index pulses from a magnetic sensor at a motor shaft;
• a slope monitoring module to monitor slope of a current waveform in an active phase to fine-tune a firing angle from the time base module;
• a pulse time module to adjust pulse time based on the estimated time base;
• and
• a dwell control module to monitor the shaft speed to fix a dwell angle and to establish a current band for controlling the dwell angle.

An apparatus for quasi-sensorless control of a high rotor pole switched-reluctance motor comprising:

• a switched-reluctance motor (SRM) having a stator and a rotor;
• a three-phase inverter controlled by a processor connected to an input of the SRM, the three-phase inverter being adaptable to provide power supply to the SRM;
• a rotor position estimation module to determine an initial position of the rotor utilizing a sequence of relation between phase inductances of the SRM;
• a position estimation module designed to estimate rotor position during an initial rotor rotation by estimating an inductance profile, to apply a voltage pulse to an inactive phase winding thereby measuring current response in each inactive phase, to apply multiple diagnostic pulses for identifying a next phase and to establish a firm time base;
• a time base module to calculate shaft speed and to update the time base by generating motor index pulses from a magnetic sensor at a motor shaft and canceling out a switching threshold of the magnetic sensor;
• a slope monitoring module to monitor slope of a current waveform in an active phase to fine-tune a firing angle;
• a pulse time module to adjust pulse time based on an estimated time base;
• and a dwell control module to monitor the shaft speed to fix a dwell angle and to establish a current band for controlling the dwell angle.