A Simple Four-Phase Switched Reluctance Motor Drive for Ceiling Fan Applications

Abstract

A simple four-phase switched reluctance motor (SRM) drive for a ceiling fan is presented in this paper. Here, an asymmetric bridge converter is preferred due to its independent phase control and simple design. The proposed four-phase asymmetric bridge converter based SRM drive has no speed and current feedback loops, thereby eliminating the use of current sensors and complex computational logic. Position sensing is carried-out using hall-effect sensors in the proposed drive. Analytical and simulation studies are carried-out on the proposed drive and the results are presented. To verify the efficacy of the drive a prototype of motor and drive are fabricated. Experimental results show that the proposed SRM drive has low current ripple and acoustic noise as required in ceiling fan applications.