Model-Free-Predictive Control of Open-End Winding Synchronous Reluctance Motor Drive

This paper presents a Model-Free Predictive Control (MFPC) strategy for Synchronous Reluctance Machines (SyRel) with an Open-End Winding (OEW) configuration. The method enhances performance by ensuring accurate torque and speed tracking in both transient and steady-state conditions. The OEW topology, combined with MFPC, enables extended base speed operation, active regulation of the Floating Capacitor (FC) voltage, and unity power factor, without requiring detailed motor parameters. The proposed control relies on a Finite-Control-Set Model-Free Predictive Control (MFPC) strategy with a unified cost function to regulate torque, FC voltage, and Main side power factor. System predictions are obtained via an Auto-Regressive with Exogenous input (ARX) model, whose parameters are estimated online using a Recursive Least Squares (RLS) algorithm, ensuring robustness to parameter variations. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. A comparative analysis with conventional Model-Based Predictive Control demonstrates the superior performance, improved robustness, and reduced complexity of the MF approach, making it a promising solution for high-performance SyRel OEW drives.