Photovoltaic Switched Reluctance Motor Modeling and Simulation

A photovoltaic switched reluctance motor converts light energy into mechanical energy, without power electronics, brushes or magnets. With the rapid decrease of photovoltaic cells price, its simplicity makes it ideal for low cost, autonomous and reliable applications, such as water pumping in isolated areas with good solar irradiation. But the concept does not allow for motion control or variable-speed operation. In order to evaluate its range of application, then to optimize its sizing, we need to understand the complex interactions between the photovoltaic cells and the motor. To this end, we develop here a numerical model of our photovoltaic switched reluctance motor prototype. It takes into account the nonlinearity of photovoltaic cells and of the switched reluctance machine. Despite the uncommon operation of the photovoltaic cells, the agreement between the simulation and the measures is so far good, thus validating our modeling strategy.