Experimental validation of a velocity estimation algorithm for speed control of electrical drives

The problem of the estimation of rotating speed is a very important problem, specially for systems that works with high dynamics. Actually the most common way to measure velocity is to use an incremental encoder. However the precision of the velocity estimation is yet a not completely solved problem. Typically, it is possible to increase the accuracy of the measure increasing the observation time, but during dynamic phenomena this could be dangerous for the efficiency and the stability of the control of the system. In the paper authors have proposed an innovative algorithm for the estimation of velocity starting from the output signal of an incremental encoder. The algorithm proposed can be used either at steady state or in dynamic conditions because it has a self adjustable observation time in function of velocity and acceleration of the system. The algorithm has been tested in laboratory and experimental results have been reported in the paper.