Smooth torque speed characteristic of switched reluctance motors

Abstract

The torque ripple of switched reluctance motors (SRMs) is the main disadvantage that limits the industrial application of these motors. Although several methods for smooth-toque operation (STO) have been proposed, STO works well only within a certain torque and speed range because of the constraints of the supply voltage and peak current. Based on previous work that sought to expand the STO range, a scheme is developed in this study to determine the maximum smooth torque range at each speed. The relationship between the maximum smooth torque and speed is defined as the smooth torque speed characteristics (STSC), a concept similar to torque speed characteristics (TSC). STSC can be utilized to evaluate torque utilization by comparing it with TSC. Thus, the concept benefits the special design of SRMs, especially for the generation of smooth torque. Furthermore, the torque sharing function (TSF) derived from the proposed method can be applied to STO, which produces a higher smooth torque over a wider speed range in contrast to four typical TSFs. TSimulation and experimental results verify the proposed method.