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Robust sensorless control of high speed PMSM drives under low carrier ratios and parameter uncertainties
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  • Published: 27 February 2026

Robust sensorless control of high speed PMSM drives under low carrier ratios and parameter uncertainties

  • Zhanyi Lin1,
  • Shi Jin1,
  • Hao Wang1 &
  • …
  • Fengge Zhang1 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Engineering
  • Mathematics and computing

Abstract

Operating high-speed Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) drives at low carrier-to-fundamental frequency (C/F) ratios is critical for improving system efficiency, but it severely degrades the stability and performance of conventional sensorless control schemes. This paper addresses this critical system-level challenge. To overcome these limitations, a robust sensorless control strategy based on Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) is proposed, which enhances system resilience by actively estimating and compensating for total disturbances arising from parameter uncertainties and unmodeled dynamics. To make this advanced yet computationally intensive algorithm feasible for practical implementation, a high-fidelity hybrid (HY) discretization method is developed. This scheme achieves RK4-level accuracy for critical nonlinear dynamics while reducing the computational load by 30%. Subsequently, a systematic stability analysis is conducted to delineate the performance boundaries of conventional techniques and theoretically validate the superior stability of the proposed HY-discretized ADRC framework in the low C/F ratio domain. The proposed strategy’s effectiveness is comprehensively validated on a 100-kW, 20,000 r/min industrial PMSM platform. Experimental results demonstrate stable, high-performance operation at C/F ratios as low as 6 and showcase superior robustness against significant parameter mismatches, confirming its viability for demanding drive systems.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to commercial confidentiality and intellectual property protection regarding the industrial prototype platform, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request and subject to a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

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Funding

The work was supported by the Project of National Natural Science: Foundation-of China under-Grant U2541284.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Electrical Engineering, Shenyang University of Technology, Shenyang, 110870, China

    Zhanyi Lin, Shi Jin, Hao Wang & Fengge Zhang

Authors
  1. Zhanyi Lin
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  2. Shi Jin
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  3. Hao Wang
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  4. Fengge Zhang
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Contributions

Z.L. conceived and designed the study, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, prepared all figures, and wrote the main manuscript text. S.J. and H.W. reviewed and edited the manuscript. F.Z. was responsible for the supervision and funding acquisition for the project. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fengge Zhang.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Cite this article

Lin, Z., Jin, S., Wang, H. et al. Robust sensorless control of high speed PMSM drives under low carrier ratios and parameter uncertainties. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41212-z

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  • Received: 21 October 2025

  • Accepted: 18 February 2026

  • Published: 27 February 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41212-z

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Keywords

  • Low carrier ratio
  • High-speed electric machine
  • Transportation electrification
  • Active disturbance rejection control (ADRC)
  • Sensorless control
  • Dynamic response
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