Switched Reluctance Drives with Degraded Mode for Electric Vehicles

Abstract

There are many types of electrical machines suitable for electric vehicles. Nowadays, most manufacturers and researchers tend towards two major alternatives: permanent magnet synchronous machines and induction machines. However, these are not the only competitive candidates. Reluctance machines, which have been well-known for some decades already, present some interesting advantages. For instance, switched reluctance machines are intrinsically redundant and fault-tolerant, which makes them attractive for applications in which robustness is compulsory. In this sense, switched reluctance drives can keep working even when one of their phases loses its functional‐ ity for any reason. In an electric vehicle, this would mean being able to keep driving the vehicle even after some failures, although with reduced performance (in degraded mode). In this chapter, switched reluctance drives for traction applications are analyzed, focusing on their capability to operate in degraded mode (with m-1 phases available).