Robust passivity-based control of switched-reluctance motors

We propose a state-feedback controller for switched-reluctance motors as a preliminary step toward the solution of the sensorless control problem (without measurement of rotor variables). We establish global exponential stability. Furthermore, our controller renders the closed-loop system robust to external disturbances, that is, input-to-state stable. Although there exist some works on sensorless control of switched-reluctance motors, these consist mainly of ad hoc solutions without theoretical foundation. The few theoretically validated results in the literature are established under more stringent conditions such as knowledge of the load torque. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.