The effective identification of the load torque is one of the key methods to improve the positioning accuracy of the position servo system, and the sliding mode observer (SMO) is a common identification method in the speed control system because of its advantages of insensitive parameters and easy physical realisation. However, the existing SMO can not achieve high precision and high response identification of load torque in the full speed range when the motor is running at variable-speed or variable-load, which limits its application in the position servo system. Based on the analysis of the stability and the adaptive law of feedback gain coefficient, an improved SMO for adaptive identification based on adaptive control and improvement of cut-off frequency is proposed. To verify the proposed method, the dedicated simulation model and test platform are built. The results show that the proposed observer can realise the adaptive identification of the load torque under the condition of variable-speed or variable-load, and the estimation accuracy is high. The position servo system designed by the proposed observer can improve the response against load change, which is an effective method for high-precision positioning control of the position servo system with a variable-speed or variable-load.

Effective identification of the load torque is one of the key aspects in improving the performance of servo drive systems against load disturbances. Sliding mode variable structure control has become a popular method in the development of a load torque identification (LTID) algorithm due to its parameter insensitivity and easy realization features. However, existing LTID sliding mode observers with conventional structure have the disadvantages of high frequency chattering and poor estimation accuracy, which limit its application in high performance servo systems. In this paper, the mathematical model of the conventional LTID sliding mode observer is deduced and analyzed. A new LTID sliding mode observer is proposed by replacing the sign function with a saturation function and an additional feedback loop in the load torque observer. The effectiveness of the proposed observer is verified by various experiments. The results show that compared to conventional load torque observer, the proposed observer can identify the load torque with higher accuracy and faster response in different operation conditions.

Small dc-link drive systems, built with film capacitors in the dc-link, present a new trend in many industrial applications and are obtaining increasing interests. It has the advantages of longer lifetime and the possibility to achieve a more compact design of the capacitor bank, especially at medium and high power rates. However, it could exhibit instability problems, mainly in the form of oscillations. The unexpected oscillation may result in overvoltage and shorten the lifetime of the power devices and the dc-link capacitors; increase the total harmonic distortion and also the partially weighted harmonic distortion of the grid supply current. Therefore, active damping methods are usually needed in order to stabilize such drive systems. This paper first analyzes the system characteristics and the principles of existing active damping methods. Then, a new voltage modulation based method named as “virtual positive impedance” method is introduced to guarantee the dc-link stability. This new approach is simple to apply and its implementation does not require the knowledge of system parameters and machine operating conditions. The proposed method is analyzed in details and verified by experiments.

Pulse-width modulated ac drives equipped with a small dc-link capacitor are becoming an attractive solution for electric drive applications with moderate requirements for shaft dynamic performance. However, when these drives are fed from a weak grid, a resonance between the line side impedance and the dc-link capacitor appears. Due to this resonance, the total harmonic distortion and the partially weighted harmonic distortion of the line currents are increased, which may raise compatibility problems with the ac line harmonic standards. This paper proposes a novel dc-link voltage compensation method, which can reduce the amplitude of the aforementioned oscillation, while the large dc-link voltage variation, caused by the rectification, can be eliminated from the motor current. The method has been experimentally validated and the results show excellent performance.

Flux-linkage based sensorless control method is well-known and has been widely used in the control of electrical machines. The closed-loop flux observer (CLFO), which is the adaptive combination of the machine voltage and current models, is commonly adopted. It can cover a wide speed operating range and was considered to be able to solve the dc drift and initial value problems associated to the pure integrator used in the observer. However, it is reported in this paper that this popular CLFO cannot always work as expected. In some situations, steady state dc-offset cannot be removed by this flux observer, causing large system oscillation at fundamental fre-quency and is very harmful to the drive system. This important issue has not been reported and discussed in the existing literature for the CLFO. In this paper, this phenomenon is experimentally illustrated and solution to damp this harmful oscillation is proposed and verified experimentally on a synchronous reluctance machine drive system.