Performance Analysis of Sensor-based and Sensorless Methods for PMSM Drive

Objective: Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) drives require speed/position information for the efficient performance of industrial applications. Methods: A sensor-based method utilizes sensors for extracting this information which increases weight, size, and cost of the drive system, whereas the sensorless method utilizes model-based estimators which depend on motor parameters. Thus, the performance degrades due to the parameter variations. Model Reference Adaptive System (MRAS), a robust estimation technique has been implemented for speed/position estimation. Conclusion: In this paper, sensor-based and sensorless methods have been studied and the performance has been compared in four operating environments of speed and torque values. The comparative results of both methods have been shown in the MATLAB/Simulink environment.