A newly designed variable-structure controller for a permanent magnet (PM)
synchronous servo motor drive, which is insensitive to uncertainties includ
ing parameter variations and external load disturbance, is introduced. To o
vercome the two main problems with variable-structure control, i.e. the ass
umption of known uncertainty bounds and chattering phenomena in the control
effort, a variable-structure adaptive (VSA) controller is investigated. In
the VSA controller a simple adaptive algorithm is utilised to estimate the
uncertainty bounds; moreover, the chattering phenomenon is reduced. A vari
able-structure direct adaptive (VSDA) controller comprising the VSA control
algorithm and a direct adaptation law is proposed to further improve the c
ontrol performance of the variable-structure controller. The position contr
ol of a PM synchronous servo motor drive with the variable-structure contro
l strategies is illustrated. Simulated and experimental results show that t
he developed controllers provide high-performance dynamic characteristics a
nd are robust with regard to plant parameter variations and external load d
isturbance.