Comparative Assessment of Converter Topologies for Switched Reluctance Motor Drives

Abstract

Switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives are more popular due to their attractive features as compared to other conventional motors. The overall performance of the SRM drive system can be resolved by choosing an appropriate power electronic converter. In this paper, the performance analysis of the 3-phase 6/4 SRM drive, using different power converters, is presented. The comparison is made among the different converter topologies in terms of parameters such as torque ripple, commutation time, number of power devices used, and overall cost of the drive. The results show that an asymmetric bridge (ASB) converter is best for high-performance applications. This paper also introduces a new improved ASB (IASB) converter with a minimum number of switches. The simulation results of the 6/4 SRM drive system have been carried through MATLAB/Simulink tool. An experimental prototype has also been validated and the results demonstrated that the proposed converter is more preferable than other converters.

KEYWORDS:

• Commutation time
• Minimization
• Power converters
• Switched reluctance motor
• Torque ripple
• Variable speed drives

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the management of St. Joseph’s College of Engineering, Chennai, for providing all the computational facilities to carry out this work.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Damarla Indira

Indira Damarla is a research scholar in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the St Joseph's College of Engineering, Chennai, India. She received her BTech in EEE from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, India in 2005, ME in power electronics and industrial drives from Sathyabama University, Chennai, India in 2011. She has ten years of teaching experience. She has published papers in an international conference and in journals to her credit.

Mahendran Venmathi

Venmathi Mahendran is an associate professor in St Joseph’s College of Engineering, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. She obtained her BE from Madras University, Chennai, India in 2003, ME in power systems engineering from College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University, Chennai, India in 2007. She obtained her PhD degree from Anna University in solar PV systems interfacing converters. She has been teaching for over 12 years. She has published many papers in conferences journals. Her areas of interest include solar PV systems, power conversion techniques for renewable energy sources. Email: [email protected]