Implementation of EKF in a RFOC-MPCC Scheme for Sensorless Control of Induction Motors

Speed measurement in Induction Motors (IM) consists in a major barrier to the implementation of vector control in low-power applications. To overcome this issue, many estimation strategies were developed. In particular, the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) provides good results with a relatively low computational cost. This work proposes the application of a 6th-order EKF to make rotor speed and rotor flux estimation in an RFOC-MPCC (Rotor Field Oriented Control - Model Predictive Current Controller). The effectiveness of this approach was evaluated in two stages. First, the accuracy of the EKF in estimating the rotor speed and rotor magnetic flux was assessed. Then, the performance of the control system using data from the EKF was analyzed. The results from both analyses suggest that proposed scheme is a promising method for sensorless control of induction motors.