Performances of bearingless and sensorless induction motor drive based on mutual inductances and rotor displacements estimation

A self-sensing bearingless motor is considered as an effective solution to reduce cost and shorten a shaft length. In this paper, a novel estimation method of a rotor displacement is proposed. The method is based on the detection of currents induced by mutual inductances, which vary as a function of the rotor displacements. A high-frequency carrier voltage is superimposed on a motor main terminal voltage. The induced carrier-frequency current component is distinguished from the suspension-winding current. The carrier signal is selected high enough to suspension-current components. However, the carrier current is disturbed in transient conditions. The disturbed current results in a vibration of the estimated rotor displacements. A suspension-current estimator is proposed to reduce this vibration and to obtain the difference between the detected current and the estimated current. As a result, the disturbance vibration is significantly reduced. It is shown that a successful magnetic suspension is realized with the proposed method.