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Rotor shaft position sensors are required to ensure the efficient and reliable control of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines (PMSM), which are often applied as traction motors in electrified automotive powertrains. In general, various sensor principles are available, e.g., resolvers and inductive- or magnetoresistive sensors. Each technology is characterized by strengths and weaknesses in terms of measurement accuracy, space demands, disturbing factors and costs, etc. Since the most frequently applied technology, the resolver, shows some weaknesses and is relatively costly, alternative technologies have been introduced during the past years. This paper investigates state-of-the-art position sensor technologies and compares their potentials for use in PMSM in automotive powertrain systems. The corresponding evaluation criteria are defined according to the typical requirements of automotive electric powertrains, and include the provided sensor accuracy under the influence of mechanical tolerances and deviations, integration size, and different electrical- and signal processing-related parameters. The study presents a mapping of the potentials of different rotor position sensor technologies with the target to support the selection of suitable sensor technologies for specified powertrain control applications, addressing both system design and components development.

Due to the increasing electrification of automotive drive train systems, accurate position and speed sensors play an important role to achieve an optimum drive train performance and driving range. These sensor systems determine the rotor shaft position to deliver exact data for efficient drive train control. The system itself must be reliable, sufficiently accurate and cost efficient at the same time. In this way, the design process of the sensor system is influenced by a trade-off, which influences the system performance in view of different parameters, e.g., resolution and data processing accuracy. The focus of the present work is to introduce a method for benchmarking the performance of not only the rotor shaft position sensor, but the whole electric drive train sensor systems by use of a highly accurate reference system on a specifically developed test bench. To achieve a significant benchmark statement by determination of the rotor position angle error, the independent measuring systems, the automotive drive train system and the reference system are synchronized by the use of a common trigger/clock signal. The mentioned signal defines the time steps of the system under test rotor position angle capturing procedure and those of the reference system simultaneously. This enables a common time-base for two independent working measurement systems. This publication provides information about a concept for enhanced rotor position sensor evaluation that enables the merging of real-time data processing with test bench measurement. This procedure provides an important basis for the selection and optimization of position sensor systems for sophisticated electric powertrains.

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