Research on the Control Algorithm for a Brushless DC Motor Based on an Adaptive Extended Kalman Filter

To address the performance degradation of the traditional Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) in state estimation for sensorless brushless DC motor (BLDC) control under dynamic operating conditions, such as sudden speed and load changes—a degradation caused primarily by model mismatches—this paper proposes an Adaptive Extended Kalman Filter (AEKF) algorithm. The proposed algorithm incorporates a robust weighting strategy based on the Mahalanobis distance and a dynamically adjusted adaptive forgetting factor. This integration establishes an estimation mechanism capable of online updating of the innovation covariance, thereby enhancing the state observer’s adaptability to system uncertainties and external disturbances. Simulation results demonstrate that, compared to the traditional EKF, the designed AEKF algorithm significantly improves the estimation accuracy of rotor position and speed under various operating conditions, including low-speed start-up, speed step changes, and sudden load applications. Furthermore, it accelerates dynamic response, suppresses overshoot, and enhances the system’s disturbance rejection robustness. This work provides an effective state estimation solution for high-dynamic performance sensorless control of BLDC.