High efficiency control of synchronous reluctance motors using extended Kalman filter

High efficiency control of synchronous reluctance motors (Syn. RMs) is very important in the sense of energy saving and conservation of natural environment because the efficiency of the synchronous reluctance motor is generally lower than that of other types of AC motors. This paper presents a high efficiency control strategy for the Syn. RMs. In this strategy, the d- and q-axis currents are controlled instantaneously. Since the control performance mainly depends on the accuracy of the machine parameters, the online parameter estimation using an extended Kalman filter is incorporated in the control strategy. This control strategy improved the drive efficiency and robust performance against machine parameter variations. The validity of the proposed scheme is demonstrated through experimental results.