Patent ID: 8659923

Claim:
A method comprising: producing an alternating current (AC) power using a generator; measuring an AC current produced by the generator; estimating a rotor position of the generator using a sliding mode observer, without directly measuring the rotor position; calculating a control value for adjusting a rectifier, the control value is calculated using the estimated rotor position and the measured AC current; rectifying the AC power according to the control value to produce a direct current (DC) power; and measuring a DC output voltage produced by the rectifier, wherein estimating the rotor position of the generator using a sliding mode observer further comprises: computing a duty cycle of each leg of the AC power produced by the generator; estimating an AC voltage produced by the generator using the computed duty cycles and the measured DC output voltage produced by the rectifier; estimating a back electromotive force (EMF) using the sliding mode observer that uses the estimated AC voltages; and estimating the rotor position using the estimated back EMF.