Design and comparative evaluation of converter topologies for six-phase switched reluctance motor drives

Abstract

This paper presents a novel converter topology for six-phase switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives, which reduces the number of switches and diodes by half, compared with the conventional asymmetric half-bridge (AHB) converter, and needs no additional energy storage component. A dynamic model of a six-phase SRM is developed in the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment and conventional control technique is applied to the proposed converter, demonstrating successful operation with modified conventional current control technique, lower converter losses, and higher system efficiency compared with the AHB converter. Furthermore, a direct torque control (DTC) method has been proposed for the novel converter to further reduce the torque ripple. Experimental tests comparing the proposed converter with the AHB are described and verify the predictions of the simulations.

Keywords

• machine control
• torque
• torque control
• reluctance motors
• switching convertors
• reluctance motor drives
• electric current control
• power convertors
• bridge circuits
• comparative evaluation
• converter topologies
• reluctance motor drives
• novel converter topology
• switches
• diodes
• conventional asymmetric half-bridge converter
• additional energy storage component
• dynamic model
• six-phase SRM
• MATLAB/SIMULINK environment
• conventional control technique
• modified conventional current control technique
• lower converter losses
• higher system efficiency
• AHB converter
• direct torque control method