Method of aligning a rotor of a synchronous motor at a specified rotor angle and a controller therefor

1. A method of aligning a rotor of a polyphase synchronous motor to a predetermined rotor angle, the method comprising the steps of:

sensing voltages or currents in windings of a stator of the motor during synchronous operation of the motor;

based on the sensed voltages or currents, determining a synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ) in a q-axis of a synchronously rotating reference frame as a product of a resistance (R s ) of the windings of the stator and a current (i q ) in the windings of the stator in the q-axis;

determining, from the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ), corresponding polyphase drive voltages for the motor for a predetermined rotor angle (ϑ) by transforming the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V g ) to an orthogonal stationary alpha-beta (α-ß) motor coordinate system and then transforming the orthogonal stationary alpha-beta (α-ß) motor coordinate system to a polyphase motor coordinate system; and

applying the corresponding polyphase drive voltages to align the rotor on stopping the rotor at the predetermined rotor angle (ϑ).

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensed currents used in determining the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ) comprise only the current (i q ) in the q-axis.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises: ignoring a current (i d ) in the windings of the stator in a d-axis of the synchronously rotating reference frame when determining the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein transforming the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ) to the orthogonal stationary alpha-beta (α-ß) motor coordinate system comprises: using an inverse Park transformation.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein transforming the orthogonal stationary alpha-beta (α-ß) motor coordinate system to the polyphase motor coordinate system comprises: determining the corresponding polyphase drive voltages for the motor for the predetermined rotor angle (ϑ) by using an inverse Clarke transformation.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining, from the corresponding polyphase drive voltages for the motor for the predetermined rotor angle (ϑ), pulse wave modulated (PWM) signals for driving drive transistors for each phase of the motor to align the rotor on stopping the rotor at the predetermined rotor angle (ϑ).

7. A closed-loop method of starting a synchronous motor having a rotor, the method comprising the steps of:

sensing voltages or currents in windings of a stator of the motor during synchronous operation of the motor;

based on the sensed voltages or currents, determining a synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ) in a q-axis of a synchronously rotating reference frame as a product of a resistance (R s ) of the windings of the stator and a current (i q ) in the windings of the stator in the q-axis;

determining, from the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ), corresponding polyphase drive voltages for the motor for a predetermined rotor angle (ϑ) by transforming the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V g ) to an orthogonal stationary alpha-beta (α-ß) motor coordinate system and then transforming the orthogonal stationary alpha-beta (α-ß) motor coordinate system to a polyphase motor coordinate system;

applying the corresponding polyphase drive voltages to align the rotor on stopping the rotor at the predetermined rotor angle (ϑ); and

controlling start-up of the motor using a closed-loop synchronous operation motor control algorithm based on the predetermined rotor angle (ϑ).

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the sensed currents used in determining the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ) comprise only the current (i q ) in the q-axis.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises: ignoring a current (i d ) in the windings of the stator in a d-axis of the synchronously rotating reference frame when determining the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ).

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein transforming the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ) to the orthogonal stationary alpha-beta (α-ß) motor coordinate system comprises: using an inverse Park transformation.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein transforming the orthogonal stationary alpha-beta (α-ß) motor coordinate system to the polyphase motor coordinate system comprises: determining the corresponding polyphase drive voltages for the motor for the predetermined rotor angle (ϑ) by using an inverse Clarke transformation.

12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising: determining, from the corresponding polyphase drive voltages for the motor for the predetermined rotor angle (ϑ), pulse wave modulated (PWM) signals for driving drive transistors for each phase of the motor to align the rotor on stopping the rotor at the predetermined rotor angle (ϑ).

13. A closed-loop controller for a synchronous motor having a rotor, the controller comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing machine-readable instructions and a processor, wherein, when executed by the processor, the machine-readable instructions configure the controller to park the rotor at a specified rotor angle (ϑ) by:

sensing voltages or currents in windings of a stator of the motor during synchronous operation of the motor;

based on the sensed voltages or currents, determining a synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ) in a q-axis of a synchronously rotating reference frame as a product of a resistance (R s ) of the windings of the stator and a current (i q ) in the windings of the stator in the q-axis;

determining, from the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ), corresponding polyphase drive voltages for the motor for a predetermined rotor angle (ϑ) by transforming the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ) to an orthogonal stationary alpha-beta (α-ß) motor coordinate system and then transforming the orthogonal stationary alpha-beta (α-ß) motor coordinate system to a polyphase motor coordinate system; and

applying the corresponding polyphase drive voltages to align the rotor on stopping the rotor at the predetermined rotor angle (ϑ).

14. The closed-loop controller of claim 13 , wherein the motor is any of a brushless DC (BLDC) motor or a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM).

15. The closed-loop controller of claim 13 , wherein the motor comprises a three-wire stator configuration, a four-wire stator configuration, or a six-wire stator configuration.

16. The closed-loop controller of claim 13 , wherein the sensed currents used in determining the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ) comprise only the current (i q ) in the q-axis.

17. The closed-loop controller of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises: ignoring a current (i d ) in the windings of the stator in a d-axis of the synchronously rotating reference frame when determining the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ).

18. The closed-loop controller of claim 13 , wherein transforming the synchronously rotating reference frame vector voltage (V q ) to the orthogonal stationary alpha-beta (α-ß) motor coordinate system comprises: using an inverse Park transformation.

19. The closed-loop controller of claim 13 , wherein transforming the orthogonal stationary alpha-beta (α-ß) motor coordinate system to the polyphase motor coordinate system comprises: determining the corresponding polyphase drive voltages for the motor for the predetermined rotor angle (ϑ) by using an inverse Clarke transformation.

20. The closed-loop controller of claim 13 , further comprising: determining, from the corresponding polyphase drive voltages for the motor for the predetermined rotor angle (ϑ), pulse wave modulated (PWM) signals for driving drive transistors for each phase of the motor to align the rotor on stopping the rotor at the predetermined rotor angle (ϑ).