Design and Control of a Direct-Driven Three-Phase Switched Reluctance Generator for Micro-Wind Power Applications

This paper addresses design and basic electronic control issues of a small three-phase switched reluctance generator (SRG) with twelve stator poles and eight rotor teeth (12/8) intended for use as direct-driven generator in low-speed stand-alone micro-wind energy conversion systems. SRG design and commutation-pattern optimizations are carried out, and electronic switching control achieved by hysteresis regulation of stator-phase currents and enhanced wind-power extraction (MPPT) techniques is approached. Laboratory tests on the SRG built prototype are performed using wind speed profile applied to micro-wind turbine emulator, and some experimental results for stand-alone generating operation are compared with finite-element analysis-based simulation results.