Modelling and design of PMSM position drivesusing model following control

Abstract: Teenage Engineering is a Swedish electronics company that want to automate their quality control process. For this purpose, they want to develop a test jig that can perform tactile testing of their products. The test jig will utilize PMSM motors for position control of the end-effector. This study aims at designing and developing a position controller for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine (PMSM). The study was conducted in two main stages. First, a MATLAB/Simulink model was developed for the PMSM driver using Field Oriented Control (FOC) to reduce speed ripple. Model Following Control (MFC) was introduced to add servo controller capabilities to the PMSM driver. Secondly, a Motor Control Unit (MCU) was designed with all the necessary components to implement the PMSM driver and to meet the stakeholder requirements. The study showed that high precision position control of PMSMs can be achieved with Model Following Control (MFC) in simulation. The study also highlights important aspects to consider when designing a custom PMSM servo driver. Due to delays of manufacturing the MCU, only a subset of the MCU’s functionality could be tested. This subset included the Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), Analogue to digital converter (ADC), current sensing and hall encoder implementations. However, more testing was needed to achieve full verification of the PMSM position driver on the MCU.