Starting procedure of rotation sensorless PMSM at coasting condition for railway vehicle traction

This paper investigates the procedure for starting a rotation sensorless PMSM under coasting condition for railway vehicle traction. To achieve restarting, the initial rotor position and speed at restart are needed. The existing algorithm for estimation of the initial position and speed cannot be applied to railway vehicle traction because of the greater speed range and the longer current sampling time. We propose a novel method for estimation of the initial speed. The estimation method is verified experimentally to assure that it is suitable for application to the railway vehicle traction system. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 169(2): 56–63, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.20764