Sensorless control of switched reluctance motor for EV application using a sliding mode observer with unknown inputs

Abstract : This paper deals with the sensorless position control of 8/6 Switched Reluctance Machine used in the drivetrain of an Electric Vehicle. The developed observer could be an excellent alternative to replace the analog position sensor, in case of high maintenance cost, limit lifecycle and safety-driving with a sensor default. The software position sensor based on Sliding Mode Observer consists of estimating the rotor position, the velocity and the torque of the SRM drive with a known and an unknown load torque. The main advantage of the developed observer is to estimate online the variables over all the velocity operation range using only the current and voltage measurements of each phase. However, the proposed observer is implemented in a simulator, where results confirm the reliability and the accuracy of the developed observer comparing to the real rotor position, velocity and machine torque.