Adaptive observer for speed sensorless PM motor
control
H. Rasmussen
Aalborg University, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7
DK-9220 Aalborg, Denmark
Abstract— This paper presents an adaptive observer for es-
timating the rotor position and speed of a permanent magnet
synchronous motors (PMSM). The observer compensates for
voltage offsets and permanent magnet strength variations. The
adaptation structure for estimating the strength of the permanent
magnet is determined from a Lyapunov stability proof. The
observer estimates the stator flux by integration of the measured
BEMF signal. In order to verify the applicability of the method
the observer has been implemented and tested on a 800 W motor.
NOMENCLATURE
a complex spatial operator ej2π/3
isA ,B ,C stator phase currents A,B and C
usA ,B ,C stator phase voltages A,B and C
is stator current complex space vector
us stator voltages complex space vector
ψs stator flux
ψr rotor flux
Rs stator resistances
Ls stator inductance
ω synchronous angular frequency
ωmech rotor speed
p time derivative operatord/dt
Zp number of pole pair
θ rotor position
θf filtered rotor position
I. I NTRODUCTION
The induction motor has in the past been the most applied
motor type but in recent years the Permanent Magnet (PM)
motor has become a strong competitor due to the better
efficiency. However, PM motors needs a measurement of
the rotor position in order to control the motor in a robust
way. PM motors cannot be operated in open loop due to
the highly unstable behavior of the motor dynamics. The
traditional method to determine the rotor position is to use
an encoder or resolver, but these components are expensive
and will add additional cost to the motor so it will not be
competitive to the induction motor. In more than ten years
there have been an extensive research in finding reliable
position sensorless methods to estimate the rotor position
from the applied voltages and the consumed currents. The
most significant papers of the research up to 1996 can be
found in the reference [3]. There are basically two types of
brushless PM motors, the Brushless DC (BLDC) motor and
the Permanent Magnet Synchronous (PMSM) motor. In the
BLDC type the rotor position is determined by BEMF sensing
in 60 degrees tri-state intervals. However in this article the
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P. Vadstrup and H. Børsting
Grundfos A/S
DK-8850 Bjerringbro, Denmark
focus will be on the PMSM type of motor due to the fact that
the results are intended to low noise emission applications
like pumps for domestic use. In PMSM solutions the rotor
position is normally determined by an open loop or closed
loop observer see [4] or by voltage injection methods exciting
saliency or saturation effects in the motor see [1] ,[5] and [6] .
An open loop observer that estimates the rotor position from an
integration of the BEMF signal will in the paper be extended
in order to perform more robust estimation with respect to bias
and inverter non-linearity. A similar observer type have in [2]
been reported for flux estimation in induction motor drives.
In the aforementioned methods for sensorless control of
PMSM motors the motor parameters are assumed known in
the observer. However in a real motor the parameters will drift
with temperature changes and decay due to ageing. The most
significant parameter in the high speed range relevant for the
pump application is the strength of the permanent magnet.
The strength will decay due to temperature variations, but the
largest change is due to ageing, which can cause a strength
reduction of 30% during the lifetime of the product. This paper
presents an observer capable of estimating the strength of the
magnet and use this information in a rotor position estimator in
order to get an improved position estimate. Stability is proven
theoretically.
Experiments show that the adaptive observer is capable
of improving the position estimate when the strength of the
permanent magnet is estimated.
II. PM MOTOR MODEL
The observer is based on the traditional PM motor model in
a stator fixed reference frame. Using complex space phasors
for voltage and currents
is = 23 (isA + aisB + a2 isC )
(1)
us = 23 (usA + ausB + a2 usC )
the dynamics for the motor is given by the following stator
voltage equation and flux linkage equations
dψs
dt = us − Rs is
ψs = Ls is + ψr (2)
ψr = ψM ejθ
 Fig. 1. Signal flow graph of the rotor angle observer

Fig. 2. Speed estimator Fig. 3. Rotor Field Oriented Control

where θ is the rotor angle. The electrical rotor speed is

expressed from the mechanical rotor speed as
dθ
= ω = Zp ωmech (3)
dt
III. ROTOR FLUX OBSERVER DESIGN
The estimation of ψr given in (2) requires an open integra-
tion of the voltage equation. The unavoidable offsets contained
in the inputs make the output drift. If the offsets are modelled
as ûof f the estimator for the rotor flux ψ̂r is
dψ̂s Fig. 4. Laboratory setup
dt = = us − Rs is + ûof f
(4)
ψ̂r = ψ̂M ej θ̂
where ûof f has to be designed in

a
way leading to a flux Fig. 3 shows the rotor field oriented control system. At zero



estimate with constant amplitude
ψ̂r
. This is obtained for and low speed the reference value for isd is given a value
different from zero. If the rotor angle is estimated correctly
θ̂ = arg(ψ̂r ) a value for isd = 0 gives no torque. If the rotor angle is
(5)
ûof f = c1 (ψM,ref − ψ̂M )ej θ̂ estimated with an error the rotor is forced in the direction
of θ̂ used in the controller. This new principle means that no
giving an estimate of the rotor flux vector rotating close to
manual mode at zero and low speed is necessary, closed loop
a circular trajectory, as shown in the stability analysis. For
control is obtained for all values of the speed reference. The
known magnitude of the permanent magnet ψM,ref = ψM
function for isd,ref is
the observer may be seen as an rotor field angle observer. A
signal flow graph of the observer is shown in fig. 1. To avoid isd,ref = iref 0 e−|ω̂r |/ω0 (8)
a pure differentiation an estimate of the rotor speed may be
obtained by with (iref 0 , ω0 ) experimentally determined. For further details
see [7].
dθ̂f
dt = ω̂
1 j(θ̂−θf )
(6) IV. S TABILITY ANALYSIS
ω̂ = Kp (1 − Ti p ) arg e
If the motor is represented by the model
with a signal flow graph shown in fig. 2.
dt (ψr + Ls is ) = us − Rs is
d
The algorithm for the estimator then becomes (9)
ψr = ψM ejθ
dψ̂s
dt = us − Rs is + c1 (ψM,ref − ψ̂M )e j θ̂
and the estimator is given by
ψ̂r = ψ̂s − Ls is
dt (ψ̂r + Ls is ) = us − Rs is + c1 (ψM,ref − ψ̂M )ej θ̂
d
θ̂ = arg(ψ̂r ) (7)
ω̂ = Kp (1 − T1i p ) arg ej(θ̂−θf ) ψ̂r = ψ̂M ej θ̂
dθ̂f
(10)
dt = ω̂

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 25 1500

20

1000

rotor speed [rpm]

rotor speed [rpm]

15

10
500

0
0 −1 −0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
−1 −0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
time [sec]
time [sec]

Fig. 5. Rotor speed step response 0 − 20rpm Fig. 7. Rotor speed step response 0 − 1500rpm

3.5
600

500
2.5

d−axis stator current [A]

400 2
rotor speed [rpm]

1.5
300

200
0.5

100 0

−0.5
0 −1 −0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
−1 −0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 time [sec]
time [sec]

Fig. 8. isd response for isd,ref function enabled

Fig. 6. Rotor speed step response 0 − 500rpm

Defining the positive definite Lyapunov candidate function

we get the error model by subtraction
1 2 1 2
V = 2 ψ̃M + 2 (θ̃ − θ0 ) (15)
dt (ψ̂M e − ψM ejθ ) = c1 (ψM,ref − ψ̂M )ej θ̂
d j θ̂ (11) 2ψM
If this error model is transformed to a coordinate system with θ0 defined for ω̂ = 0 by
rotating in the direction of the estimated rotor angle θ̂ we c1 (ψM,ref − ψM )
get θ0 = − (16)
ω̂ψM
( dt
d
+ j ω̂)(ψ̂M − ψM e−j θ̃ ) = c1 (ψM,ref − ψ̂M ) (12) The derivative of the Lyapunov candidate function using the
dynamics given by (14) becomes
where ω̂ = and θ̃ = θ̂ − θ dθ̂
dt c1 2
Assuming |θ̃|  1 and with the definition ψ̃M = ψ̂M − ψM V̇ = − 2 ψ̃M
ψM
we get
Because the derivative for c1 > 0 is negative definite the
( dt
d
+ j ω̂)(ψ̃M + j θ̃ψM ) = c1 (ψM,ref − ψ̂M ) (13) solution is stable and converges to the subset ψ̃M = 0. In
Taking real and imaginary parts gives this subset (14) becomes
d
= ω̂ψM θ̃ + c1 (ψM,ref − ψ̂M ) 0 = ω̂ψM θ̃ + c1 (ψM,ref − ψM )
dt ψ̃M
d
= −ω̂ ψ̃M /ψM
(14) d
dt θ̃ =0
dt θ̃
leading to a constant error angle θ̃ with the value θ0 for ω̂ = 0.

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For
θ̃
 1 the stability proof gives θ̃ = θ0 leading to
0.45

dθ̃
=0
estimated rotor flux reference [Vs]

0.4 dt
giving ω̂ = ω and
600rpm

0.35 dı̃s
Ls = −j ω̂(ψM,ref − ψM + jψM θ0 )ej θ̂ − c2 ı̃s (20)
1000rpm
dt
1500rpm
Insertion of (16) then gives
0.3

dı̃s
Ls = −(c1 + j ω̂)(ψM,ref − ψM )ej θ̂ − c2 ı̃s (21)
dt
0.25
−0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 The derivative of the Lyapunov function candidate
time [sec]
Ls 2 1
V = |ı̃s | + (ψM,ref − ψM )2 (22)
Fig. 9. ψM,ref for Nmech = 600, 1000 and 1500rpm. Adaptation 2 2γ
switched on for 0 < t < 2.5. At t = 2.5 ψM,ref is to the starting
value. along the solution of (19) is
V̇ = −c2 |ı̃s |2
+(ψM,ref − ψM )( γ1 M,ref
dψ
+ real{ı̃∗s (−(c1 + j ω̂)ej θ̂ )}
2
dt
(23)
For c2 > 0 and γ1 M,ref
dψ
+ real{ı̃ (−(c + ) = 0
0
∗ j θ̂
dt s 1 j ω̂)e we
rotor angle estimation error [deg]

−2
obtain V̇ negative definite leading to convergence to the subset
1500rpm
ı̃s = 0
−4 The PM amplitude estimator is then given by
1000rpm
dψM,ref
−6 = γ(c1 ı̃sd + ω̂ı̃sq ) (24)
dt
−8
VI. E XPERIMENTS
600rpm
The laboratory setup shown in Fig. 4 is based on Real
−10 Time Workshop, Simulink from MathWorks and a DSP based
control board from dSPACE. The drive system is via a signal
−12
−0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45
conditioner connected to a DSP board in the computer. The
time [sec] control software is Simulink blocks written in C. The nominal
motor parameters are
Fig. 10. θ̃ for Nmech = 600, 1000 and 1500rpm. Adaptation
switched on for 0 < t < 2.5 Rs Ls ψM Zp Nmech
(25)
Nom. 4.0 0.013 0.3 3 1500
Fig 5, 6, 7 show a very low speed step response 0 − 20rpm, a
For known rotor field we can use ψM,ref = ψM in the
medium speed step response 0−500rpm and a high speed step
observer giving a zero steady state estimation error of the rotor
response 0 − 1500rpm. Fig 8 shows the isd current. At high
angle.
speed the isd,ref function goes to zero as given by equation
V. PM FIELD AMPLITUDE ADAPTATION 8.
Using ψr = ψM ejθ with constant ψM the dynamically Fig 9 and 10 show the effect of switching on the adaptation.
equation for the PM motor has the form in the stator fixed When adaptation is switched off the reference for the flux is
reference frame set to ψM,ref = 0.4, witch is 33% more than the correct value.
Fig 9 shows the convergence of ψ̂M for Nmech = 600, 1000
dis and 1500rpm respectively. Fig 10 shows the estimation error
= us − Rs is − jωψM ejθ Ls (17)
dt of the rotor angle θ̃ when the estimated rotor flux deviates
If the observer for is is given by the form from the correct value. θ̃ is shown for Nmech = 600, 1000
dîs and 1500rpm respectively. The figure also verify the result
Ls = us − Rs is − j ω̂ψM,ref ej θ̂ − c2 (îs − is ) (18) from (16).
dt
insertion of the errors ı̃s = îs − is and θ̃ = θ̂ − θ gives
dı̃s
Ls = −j(ω̂ψM,ref ej θ̂ − ωψM ejθ ) − c2 ı̃s (19)
dt

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 VII. C ONCLUSION
Various papers concerning methods for sensorless control
of PMSM have been presented. Most methods assume that
the motor parameters are known and constant. The proposed
method violates this assumption by estimating voltage offsets
and the strength of the permanent magnet. These estimates are
used in an adaptive observer for estimating the rotor position
in an accurate and robust way. The observer shows remarkable
results, the angle can in a wide speed range estimate the
position with an accuracy better than 2 degrees. The method is
implemented and verified experimentally on a 800 W motor.
The method is able to produce estimates of position and speed
with a precision good enough to replace a shaft sensor for a
wide range of applications.
R EFERENCES
[1] Holtz Joachim, “Methods for Speed Sensorless Control of AC
Drives”, Sensorless Control of AC Motors, IEEE Press Book,
(1996).
[2] Holtz Joachim, “Sensorless Vector Control of Induction Motors at
Very Low Speed using a Nonlinear Inverter Model and Parameter
Identification”, IEEE-IAS’2001, Chicago, Illinois, (2001).
[3] K. Rajashekara, A. Kawamura and K. Matsuse. ” Sensorless
Control of AC Motor Drives”, IEEE Press, 1996.
[4] N. Matsui , ”Sensorless PM Brushless DC Motor Drives”, IEEE
Trans. Ind. Electron. vol 43, no.2, pp. 300-308, Apr. 1996
[5] P.L. Jansen, R.D. Lorenz, ”Transducerless Position and Velocity
Estimation in Induction and Salient AC Machines”, IEEE Trans.
on Ind. Appl., March/April 1995, pp. 240-247
[6] M.Corley and R. Lorenz, ”Rotor position and velocity estima-
tion for salient pole permanent magnet synchronous machine at
standstill and high speed”, IEEE Trans. on Ind. Appl. July/Aug
1998, pp 784-789
[7] H. Rasmussen, P. Vadstrup and H. Brsting,”Sensorless field
oriented control of a PM motor including zero speed”, to be
published at IEMDC’2003, Wisconsin, USA.

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