Minimum copper loss flux-weakening control of surface mounted permanent magnet synchronous motors

This study presents a novel current loop design method capable of automatic flux-weakening control with minimum copper loss for surface mounted permanent magnet synchronous motors (SPMSM). The proposed current controller can automatically re-compute the d-axis current command to defer output voltage saturation. Consequently, the motor operations in the flux-weakening region are also contained in the stable operating region. Analysis results indicate that since the output voltage vector in the flux-weakening region produced by this controller is consistently on the boundary of the maximum output voltage vector allowed by the inverter, the corresponding flux-weakening current is the optimal value in the sense of minimum copper loss. This minimum copper loss design differs from the maximum output torque design and the constant power design of the flux-weakening control methods found in the literature. Experimental results further demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed current controller and its ability to maximize the speed range of the motor drive for a given inverter capacity.