Fault-tolerant operation of single-phase switched reluctance generators

This paper studies fault-tolerant operation of switched reluctance generators (SRG), in particular an 8/8-pole single-phase switched reluctance machine. The combination of multiple coils per phase and innovative power electronic converter circuits suggests improved operation under faults compared with conventional topologies. Open and short-circuit coils are studied through linear analysis, finite-element analysis and measurements. A new power converter topology which connects coils two in parallel is proposed. Generated current is measured by simulating the proposed power converter under fault conditions. It is concluded that the 8/8-pole single-phase switched reluctance machine can generate half its normal power with the same coil current under loss of half coils with a proper winding configuration and the power converter proposed.