Initial position estimation strategy for a surface permanent magnet synchronous motor used in hybrid electric vehicles

A novel nonlinear model for surface permanent magnet synchronous motors (SPMSMs) is adopted to estimate the initial rotor position for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Usually, the accuracy of initial rotor position estimation for SPMSMs relies on magnetic saturation. To verify the saturation effect, the transient finite element analysis (FEA) model is presented first. Hybrid injection of a static voltage vector (SVV) superimposed with a high-frequency rotating voltage is proposed. The magnetic polarity is roughly identified with the aid of the saturation evaluation function, based on which an estimation of the position is performed. During this procedure, a special demodulation is suggested to extract signals of iron core saturation and rotor position. A Simulink/MATLAB platform for SPMSMs at standstill is constituted, and the effectiveness of the proposed strategy is verified. The proposed method is also validated by experimental results of an SPMSM drive.