SUMMARYThis paper proposes a new generalized high-frequency voltage injection method for sensorless drive of salient-pole permanent-magnet synchronous motors. The injected high-frequency voltage has a unique spatially-rotating elliptical shape, with the amplitudes of both the major and minor axes varying with the motor speed, and can be designed by selecting a design parameter. The high-frequency current caused by the injected voltage, which has information on the rotor phase to be estimated, is speed-independent, that is, is not affected by the motor speed at all. Consequently, the rotor phase can be estimated in a wide speed range from zero to the rated speed. By selection of the design parameter, the properties of the high-frequency current can be adjusted appropriately to the associated motor-drive system consisting of a motor and an inverter. As a versatile phase estimation method for estimating rotor phase using the high-frequency current, the "mirror-phase estimation method" is reconstructed and reproposed.