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PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF SWITCHED RELUCTANCE

MOTOR; DESIGN, MODELING AND SIMULATION OF 8/6
SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR
Vikas S. Wadnerkar * Dr. G. TulasiRam Das ** Dr. A.D.Rajkumar ***

*Mr. Vikas S Wadnerkar is with Essar steel, Hazira, Surat as a Faculty Electrical Engineering and
**Dr. G. Tulasi Ram Das with JNTU College of Engineering , Hyderabad and
***Dr. Rajkumar are with College of Engineering, Osmania University, Hyderabad.

ABSTRACT

The Switched reluctance Motor (SRM) is an old member of the Electric Machines Family. Its simple
structure, ruggedness and inexpensive manufacturing capability make it more attractive for Industrial
applications. However these merits are overshadowed by its inherent high torque ripple, acoustic noise and
difficulty to control. In this work Design, modeling, simulation and analysis of Switched Reluctance motor
has been done. Various models of Switched reluctance Motor Linear and nonlinear model with different
control strategies are simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The control strategies used are PI Control,
Hysteresis Control and voltage control. The result obtained from simulation has been verified practically.
The control signal and circuit design for operation of a Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) drive has been
described. The control circuit has been realized using microcomputer system. The technique developed is
suitable for implementation with recent DSP processors. The result obtained from the prototype drive
compared with those obtained in MATLAB simulation. The microprocessor/microcontroller/DSP has
permitted the reduction of the hardware to a minimum. The technique developed can easily be used in
implementation based on more powerful processors. In the scheme the problem caused by the harmonics
has not been considered.

Key Words: SRM, PI Control, Hysteresis Control, Voltage Control, Nonlinear

1. INTRODUCTION
The electrical drives play an important role on
the productivity to any industry. The
requirement of drives depends upon the
available mains and load characteristics.
Brushless variable speed drive using SRM
have become popular relative to other drives
and represents an economical alternative to
PM brushless motors in many applications. In
last few years the SRM have gain increasing
attention since they offer the possibility of
electric drives which are mechanically and
electrically more rugged than those build up
around the conventional AC and DC motors.
In case of SRM drive, the technical
superiority of the AC drive is obtained or
even enhanced at a very low cost. This is
possible due to the simple motor construction
and the requirement of a simple uni-.polar
power modulator for controlling the speed.
In order to get performance oriented Drive,
The accurate modelling of a Motor is to be
done. The performance of machine can be
checked with the help of Matlab / Simulink.
This helps to design the Controller for the
motor. Modeling can be done with the help of
mathematical equations.
This Paper compared different techniques for
the modelling of a SRM in view of its nonlinear
magnetization characteristics due to the doubly
salient structure(1). It proposes an application
of ANN to identify the nonlinear model of
SRM`s from operating data (2). The simulated
performance of SRM Drive system is presented
to analyze the effect of switching angles on
transient and steady state performance of the
Drive in terms of speed, Current and torque
response (3). A new analytical representation
and simulation of the phase inductance of SRM
using matlab/Mfile is presented (4). Simulation
method has many advantages:
• It is free from expression
• Can be applied widely
• Demonstrates inductance
profile using motor
parameters only

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• Saves run time
The paper presents dynamic modeling of a
commercially available 1-HP, 4 Phase 8/6
SRM using nonlinear 2D look up tables
created from its measured flux linkages and
static torque data. A model for each phase
consists of a flux linkage estimator; a current
look up table and a torque look up table (5).
This paper presents a simplified nonlinear
model for the SRM, which uses the
fundamental mathematical functions to
describe the saturation of the flux linkage
depending on the winding current and rotor
position. The model requires a minimum of
pre-calculated or measured input data (6). A
matlab/Simulink environment to simulate 6/4
SRM is described. Dynamics from Linear to
nonlinear model has been discussed (7). The
AC small signal modelling technique is
proposed for liberalization of SRM model
such that a conventional PI controller can be
designed accordingly for PWM current
controller (8). A nonlinear dynamic model of
SRM is presented and a concise model of the
phase inductance versus current and rotor
position relationship of an SRM is
proposed(9). Describe torque production in a
saturated SRM using the unsaturated form of
he torque equation (11).
2. SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR
In Switched Reluctance Motor the torque is
developed because of the tendency of the
magnetic circuit to adopt the configuration of
minimum reluctance i.e. the rotor moves in
line with the stator pole thus maximizing the
inductance of the excited coil. The magnetic
behavior of SRM is highly nonlinear. But by
assuming an idealistic linear magnetic model,
the behavior pattern of the SRM can be
adjusted with ease of without serious loss of
integrity from the actual behavior pattern.
3. CONSTRUCTION OF SRM
The physical appearance of a Switched
Reluctance motor is similar to that of other
rotating motors (AC and DC) Induction
Motor, DC motor etc. The construction of 8/6
(8 stator poles, 6 rotor poles) poles SRM is
shown in fig.20. It has doubly salient
construction. Usually the number of stator and
rotor poles is even. The windings of Switched
Reluctance Motor are simpler than those of
other types of motor. There is winding only
on stator poles, simply wound on it and no
winding on rotor poles. The winding of
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opposite poles is connected in series or in
parallel forming no of phases exactly half of the
number of stator poles. Therefore excitation of
single phase excites two stator poles. The rotor
has simple laminated salient pole structure
without winding. This is the advantage of this
motor as it reduces copper loss in rotor winding.
The stampings are made preferably of silicon
steel, especially in higher efficiency
applications. For aerospace application the rotor
is operating at very high speed, for that cobalt,
iron and variants are used. The air gap is kept as
minimum as possible, especially 0.1 to 0.3mm.
The rotor and stator pole arc should be
approximately the same. If the rotor pole arc is
larger than the stator pole arc it is more
advantageous.
4. DEVELOPMENT OF TORQUE
The most general expression for the torque
produced by one phase at any rotor position is,
T = [∂ W`/ ∂Ө] i = Const ………………
..(1.1) Since W`=Co-energy = ½ F Φ = ½ N I
Φ…1.2)
This equation shows that input electrical power
goes partly to increase the stored magnetic
energy (½L*i2) and partly to provide mechanical
output power ( i2/2 x dL/dӨ x ω ), the latter
being associated with the rotational e.m.f. in the
stator circuit.
Neglecting saturation non-linearity
L = Inductance = NΦ/ I………………..
(1.3)
T = ½ i2 dL/dӨ……… ………. .(1.4)
This equation shows that the developed torque is
independent of direction of current but only
depends on magnitude of current & direction of
dL/dӨ.
5. GENERALIZED EQUATION OF
MOTOR:
The voltage equation is,
V= r i +dΨ / dt …………………..…(1.5)
ψ=Li=Nφ..................................................(1.6
)
For r=0
V = L di/dt + i (dL /dθ) (dθ/dt)
V = L di/dt + i ω (dL
/dθ)………………(1.7)
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6. MODELLING OF SRM Expansion of one of the phase (Fig 4).

• Linear Model of SRM (Fig 1)
From Above equations of SRM the model for 7. CONTROL STRATEGIES
Different control strategies such as
simulation is developed. Fig: 1
• Voltage control,
p h a se to rq u e • PI control,
• Hysteresis control
In1 Out1
T o Wo rksp a ce 2
S te p In2 Out2 to rq u e sp e e d
p h a se 1 S co p e T o Wo rksp a ce 1 T o Wo rksp a ce
For linear as well as nonlinear modeling has
been applied to get simulation results. All
1 1
1 /J
s s
In1 Out1 In te g ra to r Gain In te g ra to r1

In2 Out2
F simulation results are shown below.
p h a se 2 S co p e 1 Gain2

In1 Out1
8. SIMULATION RESULTS OF SRM
In2 Out2

p h a se 3 S co p e 2 Simulation has been made with Hysteresis

In1 Out1
control and Voltage control for single pulse
In2 Out2
operation. Various results obtained as shown in
fig.4, fig. 5 and fig. 6. Chopping control results
p h a se 4 S co p e 3

are also shown.

t
Cl o ck
T o Wo rksp a ce 3
C u rre n t t h ro u g h o n e P h a s e
9

7
volt
Gain current
To Workspace1 6
R To Workspace2
5

1 MATLAB 1
MATLAB MATLAB 1
In1 Function s em em 4
Relay Function Function Out1
switch Integrator
inductance torque 2
Out2 3

MATLAB
2
Function 2
In2
pie
inductance 1

To Workspace3
0
0.2 0.205 0.21 0 .2 1 5 0.22
Th e ta

Expansion of one of the phase (Fig 2) Fig. 5 Current Chopping in one phase(x-axis
current in amp, y-axis angle)
Step Input1

Sum2 Inductance for All 4 Phases

In1
0.02
Step Input2
Out1
In2
Phase1
PI
1
phase1
0.01
Mux torquevikas
Sum3 sted speed
Mux To Workspace1
fre3 0
To Workspace4 0.2 0.22 0.24 0.26 0.28 0.3 0.32
In1
Out1 1
1/J
1 0.02
In2 s s
Integrator Gain Integrator1 0
Phase 2
phase2

Display
0.01
F
In1
Out1 Gain1
In2
teta 0
phase3 0.2 0.22 0.24 0.26 0.28 0.3 0.32
To Workspace3
0.02
In1
Phase 3
Out1
t
In2
Clock 0.01
phase4 To Workspace2
|u|

Abs
0
0.2 0.22 0.24 0.26 0.28 0.3 0.32
0.02
Phase 4

•
0.01

Nonlinear Model of SRM (Fig 3).

0
0.2 0.22 0.24 0.26 0.28 0.3 0.32
Theta

Fig 6. Inductance profile for four phases w.r t.

-K-
R
angle Ө.
Scope
1/s K-
1
In1 voltage 1/p fluxo
iref-i
v-ri 1
Out1
table couple1 torque
switch
table couple

MATLAB MATLAB
2
Function Function
In2
modulo pi/2 angle speciale

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Torque through All 4 Phases

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.2 0.21 0.22 0.23 0.24 0.25 0.26
3.5
3
2.5
2

0.2 0.21 0.22 0.23 0.24 0.25 0.26

3
2.5
2
1.5
0.2 0.21 0.22 0.23 0.24 0.25 0.26
3.5
3
2.5
2

0.2 0.21 0.22 0.23 0.24 0.25 0.26

Theta
Fig.7 Current in all the four phases with
reference to angle Fig 11. Voltage control – Linear mode
T o rq u e

12
P h a s e In d u c t a n c e
-3
x 10

10
16

14
8

12
6

10

4
8

2 6

4
0
0 .0 5 0 .1 0 .1 5 0 .2 0 .2 5 0 .3 0 .3 5 0 .4 0 .4 5 0 .5
2
Th e ta

Fig 8. Torque in one of the phase

0
0 .0 1 0 .0 1 5 0 .0 2 0 .0 2 5 0 .0 3 0 .0 3 5 0 .0 4 0 .0 4 5 0 .0 5

TH E TA

Fig 12. Inductance profile Voltage control –

Linear mode
C u rre n t

6
Inductance
5

0.015
4

0.01
3

0.005
2

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
1

0
0 .6 5 4 0 .6 5 6 0 .6 5 8 0 .6 6 0 .6 6 2 0 .6 6 4 0 .6 6 6 0 .6 6 8
current 8
Th e ta
6

Fig 9. Current in winding Non linear 4

Hysteresis control
2

(x-axis current in amp, y-axis angle)

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Torque
3
C U R R E N T

2
19

1
18

0
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
17
Theta

16

Fig 13. Inductance, Current and Torque in one of the phase

15
of Stator winding
14

13

0 .0 1 0 .0 2 0 .0 3 0 .0 4 0 .0 5 0 .0 6

TH E TA

Fig 10. Current in phase of the SRM 9. SYSTEM HARDWARE DESIGN

Voltage control – Linear mode (verified with The system circuit consists of the following
experiment) modules. The block diagram of proposed
scheme is shown in fig. 14.
1. Power supply module
2. Converter module.

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3. Motor.
4. Pulse modulator module.
5. Microprocessor module.
6. Regulated power supply circuit
module.
Design of Stator and rotor is shown in Fig 14.
All other components and system has been
designed to control 8/6 SRM.
Electrical Specifications: Supply voltage 110
to 200 volts DC.,Power Rating 500
watt.,Speed 6000 rpm
Mechanical Specifications:
• No. Of stator poles = 8
• No. of rotor poles = 6
• Air Gap = 0.3 mm Photograph: The experimental setup
• No. of turns per phase = 100 10. EXPERMINTAL RESULTS
• Stator pole width 8 mm, rotor pole
width 10mm The experimental results are obtained and
compared with simulation results. The test on
• Cross sectional area of conductor
the Drive system for open loop operation is
0.5mm2
performed. Practical verification has been done
with the help of test bench as shown Current
through one of the phase in blocked as well as
in running condition has been taken. The speed
of SRM for various ON time (pulse width) is
tested. The results are shown below (fig 16-
20).The various test results from pulse
modulator also been observed. The practical set
up for the developed system is shown in
photograph. The simulation results obtained in
MATLAB are shown (fig 1-13). Given above
for Inductance, Current and torque in voltage
Fig 14. The converter model control & Hysteresis control.

CH1= 10V 20ms/div

Fig16: Current in one of the phase (Practical

Fig 15: Design of stator and rotor winding
verification)

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Pulse Width Vs Speed 11. CONCLUSION

300
From the simulations it is being observed that
250 the torque is developed during change of
inductance. For constant inductance (unaligned
Speed in rpm

200

150 Speed
position) torque developed is zero. To get
100
positive torque Voltage should apply during +
50
dL/dӨ where as negative torque will develop
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 during - dL/dӨ. Therefore exact switching (turn
Pulse Width in mSec
on and turn off angles) is needed. Simulation
helps to get exact switching angles. Also the
speed variation can be observed in case of
nonlinear. From the design of the motor it can
Fig 17: Speed Vs ON Time (Practical be concluded that the structure of the motor is
verification) very simple as compared to other AC and DC
motors. The speed of the motor increases with
Applied Voltage Vs Speed decrease in switching ‘ON’ time i.e. as
switching frequency increases, the speed of the
motor increases as shown in fig 16. This is
300

250

200
sufficient to conclude that we can increase the
Speed

Speed
speed with increase in switching frequency. The
150
100

50
present scheme is open loop scheme as the rotor
0
0 50 100 150 200 position encoder is not present. The closed loop
control of SRM can give best results with wide
Voltage

speed range. Micro controlled or DSP based

system can be developed by which sensor less
operation of speed control can be achieved. The
Fig 18: Applied voltage Vs Speed torque minimization can be also be done using
sophisticated controllers. The present work is
an approach to make a SRM drive and can give
all information related to control strategy.

12. ACKNOWLEDGEMNT

[1] “Nonlinear Modeling of Switched

Reluctance Motors using artificial
Intelligence techniques”, T. Latchman, T R
Fig 19: Torque in Single Winding (Practical Mohamad and C H Fong. IEE Proceedings
Power Application Vol 151 No. 1 Jan
verification). 2004.
[2] “Modelling and Parameter Identification of
Switched Reluctance Motors from
Operating Data Using Neural Networks”,
Wenzhe Lu, Ali keyhani, Harald Klode,
Amuliu Proca, IEEE Proceedings June
2003 Page 1709-1713
[3] “Modelling , Simulation and Performance
Analysis of Switched Reluctance Motor
Operating with Optimum Value of Fixed
Turn-On and Turn-Off Switching Angles”,
Hamid Ehsan Akhtar, Virendra Sharma,
Ambrish Chandra, Kamal Al-Haddad, June
Fig20: Current in one of the phase (Practical 2003 Page 397-402

verification)

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[4] “Simulation of a Switched Reluctance

Motors Using Matlab / M File” Chong-
Chul Kim, Jin Hur, Dong-Seok Hyun,
page 1066-1071, IEEE Proceedings Nov
2002
[5] “Dynamic Modelling of a Four-Phase 8/6
Switched Reluctance Motor Using
Current and Torque Look-up Tables”,
Phop Chancharoensook, Muhammad F
Rahman, IEEE Proceedings, Nov 2002,
page 491-496 Nov 2002
[6] “ A nonlinear Analytical Model for
Switched Reluctance motor”, Liu
Shanshan, Zhao Zhengming Proceedings
of IEEE TENCON`02, page 2034-
2037.397
[7] “Spice-Based dynamic analysis of
Switched Reluctance Motor with multiple
teeth per stator pole”, Faiz J., Raddadi J.,
Finch J.W., Magnetics, IEEE
Transactions on, Volume 38, Issue 4, July
2002, Pages 1780-1788.
[8] “Small Signal Modelling and Control for
PWM Control of Switched Reluctance
Motor Drives” Xiaoyan Wang and Jih-
Sheng Lai June 2002, Page 546-551
[9] “Simulation of Non-Linear Switched
Reluctance Motor Drives with PSIM” P.
CUI, J G Zhu, Q P Ha Aug 2001 Page
1061-1064.
[10] “Simulation of a 6/4 Switched
Reluctance Motor Based on
Matlab/Simulink Environment”. F
Soares, P. J. Costa Branco, IEEE
Transactions on Aerospace and
Electronic Systems, Vol 37, No. 3 July
2001.
[11] “Modeling of a saturated Switched
Reluctance Motor using an operating
point analysis and the unsaturated Torque
Equation” Nicholas J Nagel , IEEE
Transactions on Industry applications Vol
36, No. 3 May/June 2000.
[12] “Starting Performance of Switched
Reluctance Motor with Fixed Turn off
Angle Control Scheme” Hamid Ehsan
Akhter, Virendra K Sharma, A. Chandra

Note: The experimental results are taken

using thermographic printer therefore results
shown above are scanned from the original
results.

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