A unipolar converter for a switched reluctance motor

A switched reluctance motor requires a power converter circuit to control the unipolar phase current in its phase windings. A converter circuit for a four-phase reluctance motor that uses only four switches is described. Unlike previous circuits with one switch per phase, the switches are created at the motor voltage. Each switch is connected to two of the four phase windings. The switching signals must be carefully derived so that independent control of the phase currents is maintained despite the common connections. Analysis is given to predict the ideal switching algorithm for the converter circuit. This produces the optimum torque at all speeds and currents. Experimental results are given for the performance of the proposed converter circuit as compared with that of other circuits with one switch per phase. It can be seen that for a given supply voltage and peak phase current, the novel converter circuit produces superior torque output from the motor. The low number of switches in the coinverter together with the performance of the four-phase reluctance motor will result in an ideal low-cost variable-speed drive.<
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