A Control Strategy for Enhancing Transient-State Stability of Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors for xEV Applications

Abstract

This study proposes a current control strategy to enhance the control stability of an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) under transient conditions, such as rapid acceleration or deceleration in electric vehicle (EV) applications. Conventional current control methods provide optimal steady-state current references corresponding to torque commands using a lookup table (LUT)-based approach. However, during transitions between these reference points, particularly in the field-weakening region at high speeds, the voltage limit may be exceeded. When the voltage limit is exceeded, unstable overmodulation states may occur, degrading stability and resulting in overshoot of the inverter input current. Although ramp generators are commonly employed to interpolate between current references, a fixed ramp slope may fail to ensure a sufficient voltage margin during rapid transients. In this study, a method is proposed to dynamically adjust the rate of change of the d-axis current reference in real time based on the difference between the inverter output voltage and its voltage limit. By enabling timely field-weakening before rapid changes in speed or q-axis current, the proposed strategy maintains control stability within the voltage limit. The effectiveness of the proposed method was verified through simulations based on real vehicle driving profiles and dynamometer experiments using a 38 kW class IPMSM for a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), demonstrating reduced input DC current overshoot, improved voltage stability, and enhanced torque tracking performance under high-speed transient conditions.