2 Switched Reluctance Motor Drive

2.1 The Switched Reluctance Motor

A Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) is an electric motor in which torque is produced by

the tendency of its moveable part to move to a position of least reluctance, which

corresponds to the position of maximum inductance [9]. It is a doubly salient, singly

excited motor. That is, the SRM has salient poles on both the rotor and the stator, but

only the stator poles carry windings. The rotor tries to get to a position of minimum

reluctance by aligning itself with the stator magnetic field. In the presence of a rotating

magnetic field, the rotor tries to rotate along with the rotating magnetic field to always be

in a position of minimum reluctance. Thus, exciting the stator phase windings of the

motor in a particular sequence and consequently, controlling the rotating magnetic field,

we can control the movement of the rotor.

Figure 2.1 shows a typical 6/4 SRM. It is a three-phase machine and has 6 poles on the

stator and 4 poles on the rotor. The number of poles on the stator and on the rotor is

usually not equal. This is to avoid the eventuality of the rotor being in a state of

producing no initial torque, which occurs when all the rotor poles are locked in with the

stator poles. Here, the diametrically opposite stator pole windings are connected in series

and they form one phase. Thus, the six stator poles constitute three phases. When the

rotor poles are aligned with the stator poles of a particular phase, the phase is said to be in

an aligned position. Similarly, if the inter-polar axis of the rotor is aligned with the stator

poles of a particular phase, the phase is said to be in an unaligned position.

7
In a three-phase SRM, the direction of rotation of the rotor is opposite to the direction of

the switching sequence of stator poles. A unique feature of SRM is that it can be

1 Stator

2 3’

Rotor
3 2’

1’
Fig 2.1 A typical 6/4 SRM with 6 rotor poles and 4 stator poles

operated, albeit with reduced power output, even when there is a loss of one of the

phases.

2.2 Principle of operation

When current flows in a phase, the resulting torque tends to move the rotor in a direction

that leads to an increase in the inductance. Provided that there is no residual

8
magnetization of steel, the direction of current flow is immaterial and the torque always

tries to move the rotor to the position of highest inductance. Positive torque is produced

when the phase is switched on while the rotor is moving from the unaligned position to

the aligned position.

Aligned Position
Unaligned
Position Lmax
Inductance
(Phase)
Lmin

on off
Rotor Position

Fig 2.2 Inductance profile of one phase of an SRM

The torque (T) produced in the SRM is given by the formula

1 2 dL
T= ∗i *
2 dθ

Thus positive torque is produced when the phase is switched on during the rising

inductance. Consequently, if the phase is switched on during the period of falling

inductance, negative torque will be produced.

9
An SRM is normally operated by getting a feedback of the rotor position and firing the

phases depending on this feedback. The phase is switched on when the rotor is in the

unaligned position and switched off before it reaches the aligned position. This is done so

that the current (and flux) decays to zero before the inductance begins to fall, resulting in

negative torque. This in turn maximizes the effective torque. The angle between turn-on

and turn-off is called the dwell angle. The turn-on, turn-off and dwell angles are used to

control the torque output of the motor. Having a negative voltage across the winding

would help in getting the flux back to zero quickly. This way, the dwell angle can be

increased and the torque ripple can be minimized.

There are several ways of controlling an SRM [9]. The first one is a single pulse method.

Here a single pulse is given to each phase and the current builds up to the level required

for driving the load. This method is used in high-speed operation. The next method is

current chopping, wherein the current is maintained between two preset levels. This is

also called hysteresis control. Voltage chopping is the control method wherein the phase

switching is done at a high frequency. There are two types of voltage chopping. Soft

chopping is the scheme wherein the voltage applied to the phase winding switches

between the DC rail and zero. If it switches between +DC rail and –DC rail, it is called

hard chopping. By controlling the duty cycle of this high frequency switching, we can

control the current. Chopping is used in low speed operation.

As mentioned earlier, an SRM needs a position sensor for proper firing of the phases.

This increases the cost of the motor and thus makes it unsuitable to applications where

cost is a major issue. There has been a lot of research on sensorless control, wherein the

10
rotor position is estimated by sensing the phase currents and other techniques that are

more economical [16].

2.3 Converters for SRM

As the direction of torque doesn’t depend on the signs or magnitudes of flux-linkage and

current, the converter for a SRM has to supply only unidirectional current. This makes

SRM converters simpler than the converters for Induction Machines. The main

differences between converters for SRM and other converters are:

• Only one switch per phase is required. This is a big advantage when compared to the

converters for AC motor drives, which require two switches per phase.

• An SRM drive doesn’t encounter shoot through faults. This is because there is

always a motor winding in series with each main switching device.

• As the three phases of the motor are not connected, fault in one phase doesn’t effect

the other phases and they can continue to operate independently.

• The SRM has zero short-circuit current and zero open-circuit voltage. Thus, there are

less over-voltage and over-heating problems accompanied with faults.

There are many converters being used in the SRM industry [9,10]. The typical ones are

listed below.

2.3.1“Classic” Inverter

This converter is similar to the conventional six-step ac inverter, with the difference

being that the motor windings are in series with the phase switches. The switches have

11
voltage and current ratings that are similar to those of an equivalent AC inverter drive.

This converter provides the highest efficiency, reliability and control flexibility. By

controlling the upper and lower switches independently, we can achieve all forms of

control, including hard and soft chopping. Furthermore, it can have maximum

regenerative braking capability and equal performance in forward and reverse directions.

Vdc

Fig 2.3 “Classic” SRM inverter with two switches per phase

In this converter, the motor winding prevents shoot-through faults and hence protective

circuitry is not required. This converter is the most widely used converter for SRM drive

applications in the industry.

2.3.2 Converters with one switch per phase

There are several converters that have only one switch per phase. For motors having three

phases or more, the minimum number of switches required, per phase, for full control is

one. Fig 2.4 shows four different converters having only one switch per phase. All the

converters provide a freewheeling path for the phase currents.

12
 Vdc Vdc

(a) (b)

Vdc Vdc

(c) (d)
Fig 2.4 Converter configurations with one switch per phase

Converter (a) has a switch in series with the phase winding and has a freewheeling diode

in parallel with the phase winding. When the switch is turned off, the phase winding

current freewheels through the diode. The disadvantage of this converter is that during

freewheeling, negative voltage is not applied across the winding and thus the time taken

for the flux to decay to zero is much longer. For proper control, the dwell angle should be

reduced and this would reduce the efficiency of the machine.

13
In Converter (b), an external resistance has been added to Converter (a) and this

resistance is used to generate reverse voltage. This is an inefficient method in that as the

current decreases, the reverse voltage magnitude also decreases and thus this gives rise to

a current “tail”. Coupled with the losses in the resistance, this phenomenon makes this

converter unsuitable to a lot of applications.

In Converter (c), a zener diode has been added to the Converter (b). This is useful in

sustaining a high reverse voltage magnitude and thus is a better alternative to Converter

(b).

In the three converters mentioned above, the peak voltage across the switch is the supply

voltage. Converter (d) uses a bifilar-wound motor. Such motors have lower efficiency

than the normal motors. When the switch is turned off, the current in the primary winding

is transferred to the secondary winding and freewheels through the diode. Thus, negative

voltage is applied across the winding and consequently it is possible to have larger dwell

angles. The resulting gain in efficiency is more than offset by the lower efficiency of the

bifilar windings. Furthermore, the peak voltage across the switch in this converter is

twice the supply voltage and thus switches with higher ratings have to be used.

2.3.3 Converter with phases sharing the components

None of the converters mentioned above shared components, i.e., each phase had its own

set of components. Thus, switches in each phase leg would carry only the current that

flows through the winding associated with that phase leg. There are some converters that

use shared components. Here, some of the switches and diodes would conduct all phase

currents.

14
 Vdc

Figure 2.5 (n+1) switch circuit.

Figure 2.5 shows a (n+1) switch converter. The number of switches in this converter is

one more than the number of phases. The main (upper) switch serves all the phases, while

the switches (lower) in series with the winding commutate the phases. There are also

variations of this converter such as the n*1.5 switch converter, wherein there is one upper

switch for every two phase windings and thus can only be used for motors with even

number of phases.

In this class of converters, the lower switching devices are switching at a higher

frequency than the upper switches and thus have higher switching losses. Also, the use of

a common switching device negates the fault tolerance inherent in a SRM converter. This

is because the phases are no longer independent of one another.

Apart from the converters mentioned above, there are several other converter

configurations used in SRM drives. The most notable of these is a C-dump converter

wherein all three phases freewheel into a dump capacitor before being returned to the dc

source by a resonant circuit [12]. All these converters are suitable for specific kind of

15