Sensorless control and initial position estimation of permanent magnet flux switching motor

A 6-slot 4-pole permanent magnet flux switching motor (PMFSM) presents a potential of high-speed operation and low-cost manufacturing. However, with both magnets and armature windings located on the stator, it is difficult to utilize low-cost hall sensors for position detection if no individual sensing magnets arc installed on the rotor. Therefore, a simple sensorless control strategy with initial position estimation is proposed in this paper, using the unique winding inductance variation with the rotor position. The method is verified with FE data-based Simulink analysis.