Switched reluctance motors control

A current controlled switched reluctance motor (SRM) drive for variable speed applications with efficiency optimization is presented. A robust, modular and flexible prototyping SRM drives is proposed. It is composed of a power electronic block, a driver board, a measurement and interface board and a DSP controller board. Firing angles are computed online, the turn-on is calculated by means of the Bose's rule, and the turn-off is calculated using the general theory of the optimal turn-off angle proposed by Gribble. In steady state operation, tie initial selection of firing angles is fine-tuned by means of an algorithm that minimizes the input power of the drive. A 6/4 switched reluctance motor drive prototype was tested and the experimental results show an improvement in online efficiency, a good steady-state performance and no deterioration in the dynamic response. An efficiency comparison with a commercial vector-controlled induction motor drive of the same size is also included.