A VERY HIGH SPEED SWITCHED-RELUCTAKCE STAKTER-GENERATOR

FOR AIRCRAFT ENGINE APPLICATIONS

Stephen R. MacMinn
GE Corporate Research & Development
Schenectady, N.Y.

William D. Jones
GE Aircraft Engines
Lynn, Ma.

Abstract - An electric direct-drive gearless
starter-generator has been designed and built for
an aircraft engine application. The system is
based on a switched-reluctance motor, which was
chosen for its simplicity, robustness, high-speed
capability, and efficiency. This paper describes
the overall system configuration and the design of
the switched-reluctance motor and its solid-state
power converter.
When operating as an engine starter, the motor
help the engine accelerate from light-off to idle
speed. Once the engine reaches its idle speed of
26000 rpm, the SRM becomes a generator, supplying
32 kW of DC electrical power to run various engine
and vehicle loads, The generator must maintain
this output power over the 2:l engine operating
speed range.
Several different machine technologies were
examined as candidates for implementing the
starter-generator. The main concerns in choosing

I fk
produces torque torque to spin the engine up to its the machine were: high rotational speed (in excess
light-off speed. Following light-off, the motor of 50,000 rpm at overspeed), power density,
continues to produce torque to assist the engine in
accelerating to idle speed. When the engine is
running, the machine generates electrical power to
de 1ive red
Torque ;."
supply engine and vehicle loads, up to a peak to shaft
operating speed of 50,000 rpm. Key issues in the (ft - lb)
machine design are reliability, high speed, power
density, and cost. Krpm
10 20 30 40 50
Power
1. Introduction de 1ivered
to DC bus 0 0

Efforts are underway to reduce the volume of (kW) 32 kW

gas turbine engine accessories, improve er+,'x
form-factor, reduce cost, and improve system effi-
ciency by replacing mechanical and hydraulic
motors, gears, and actuators on the engine with
electrical systems. Electric motors and actuators
are being considered for functions such as fuel and
oil pumping, guidevane positioning, and other rela-
ted tasks.
In concert with these efforts, work is being
done to integrate the engine electric starter
motor, accessory generator, and main vehicle elec-
tric generator into a single, small, high-speed
machine mounted directly on the engine shaft. This
paper reports on such an integrated scarter-
generator, designed to work with a 1500 Hp, 48,000
rpm engine.
Figure 1 shows the approximate torque-speed
characteristics required of the starter generator.
During engine start, the machine runs as a motor
and must supply constant torque from standstill to
about 9000 rpm. Between 9000 rpin and 26000 rpm,
the motor provides a constant 17 Hp to the shaft to
Figure 1
Starter-generator torque/speed requirements.
reliability, and cost. Overall, it was decided
that the switched reluctance motor (SRM) offers the
best compromise between these criteria for this
application. The SRM is inherently a low cost
machine; its rotor is constructed from a simple
stack of laminations, making it a very rugged and
low-cost structure. The SRM rotor is capable of
very high speed operation without the containment
problems associated with rotor windings or per-
manent magnets. The concentrated stator windings
in the SRM can be externally form wound and then
slipped over the salient stator poles, making the
stator assembly process simple and inexpensive.
The SRM also has the potential to run in very
high temperature environments. Because it has no
permanent magnets, the maximum operating tempera-
ture of the machine is limited primarily by the
insulation system. Switched reluctance motor

1758

CH2759-918910000-1758$1 .OO ' 1989 IEEE

designs have been explored for operation at ambient
temperatures up to 400' C.
Several features of the SRM combine to make it
a highly fault tolerant machine:
The motor phase windings are both physically
and electromagnetically isolated from one
another, which minimizes the possibility of
phase-to-phase faults and allows faulted
phases to be isolated from the rest of the
system.
Because there is no excitation source on the
rotor, the machine cannot generate power into
a faulted phase. Therefore a faulted phase
does not cause drag torque when the. machine is
motoring, and does not present a fire hazard
due to excessive fault currents.
The SRM power converter topology used for this
application has the winding in series with the
two power switching devices in each phase leg
(see figure 7). This topology has no shoot-
through fault mode as is found in AC drive
converters, where turning both switches on
results in a direct short circuit of the DC
bus.
If these inherent features of the switched reluc-
tance machine are properly exploited, the system
can be designed to continue operation at reduced
capability following motor or inverter faults.
2. System Configuration
A simplified block diagram of the prototype
starter-generator system is shown in figure 2. The
SRM rotor is mounted directly on the shaft of the
engine gas generator, and the cooling and lubrica-
tions systems of the SRM are integrated directly
into those of the engine. A brushless resolver
transmits rotor angle information to the controller
for synchronizing the machine excitation to the
CONVERTER
L
0
A
D
CONTROLLER
Figure 2 , System block diagram.
1759
rotor position.
The base voltage for the prototype electrical
system was chosen to be 105 Vdc. This voltage was
selected to allow starting from a series string of
four 24 Volt batteries ( 9 6 Volts), and to provide
some margin for battery charging when the generator
is providing 105 Vdc to the system.
The prototype S/G controller is a microproces-
sor based digital control system that includes some
dedicated hardware for very high bandwidth func-
tions. This controller was built for concept (test
cell) demonstration only, and has not been rug-
gedizeflfor installation on a vehicle. A companion
paper will describe the control hardware and
algorithms for this system in more detail.
3. Switched Reluctance Machine
The switched reluctance motor is a brushless
synchronous machine with salient rotor and stator
poles, concentrated phase windings, and no per-
manent magnets or rotor windings. A diagram of the
machine is shown in figure 3 . Each phase of the
motor is made up of two coils wound around
diametrically opposed stator poles and electrically
connected in series. Ideally the flux entering the
rotor from one stator pole exactly balances the
flux leaving the rotor from the opposite pole, s o
that no flux couples to the other phase windings
and there is no mutual coupling between the phases.
The magnitude of the torque produced by the SR
machine is determined by the magnitude of the phase
current pulses. Torque direction is controlled by
the placement of the phase current pulses with
respect to rotor position. The torque generated by
the unsaturated SRM is ideally:
where I is the phase current, L is the phase induc-
tance, and 0 is the rotor angle. While this equa-
tion is valid only for unsaturated conditions,
A b
Figure 3 , SRM Geometry
several general conclusions can be drawn from it:
Torque direction is independent of the sign of the
current, s o the phase currents can be unidirec-
tional, and the sign of the torque is determined by
placement of the phase current ulse relative to
the change of phase inductance, -
dE Figure 4 shows
the placement of current pulses d$or torque genera-
tion in the switched reluctance motor. Figure 4a
shows the idealized phase inductance variation as a
function of rotor angle. For motoring operation
the current is turned on while the rotor and stator
poles are approaching alignment, as shown in figure
4b. In this region the phase inductance is
dL
increasing (- > O ) , and the torque acts in the
dB
direction of rotor motion. Alternatively, to gen-
erate electrical power the current must be on while
the poles are being pulled away from alignment, as
shown in figure 4c. In this region the phase
inductance is decreasing, < 0 and the torque
opposes the rotor motion. Tie work done by the
mechanical system to pull the poles apart is retur-
ned as energy to the DC link. Because the sign of
the torque is independent of current direction, the
power converter can be configured so that current
flows only in one direction through the phase win-
ding. In this way, the SRM differs from most other
brushless machines which require hi-directional
phase currents.
Figure 5 shows typical phase current waveforms
relative to rotor angle for low, medium, and high
speed motoring operation, and for high speed gen-
erating. At low speed the current rises to its
setpoint value nearly instantly relative to rotor
angle, as shown in figure 5a. Once at the setpoint
value, the current magnitude is regulated by
hysteresis-band chopping. When the phase is turned
off, the current falls quickly to zero.
-I Alignment
I
I to minimize windage losses. To extract the maximum-
/ I \ encountered by the Lotor at top speed, the rotor
4 a ) Idealized phase ,nductance,
T (0)
4b) Motoring current. I
I
bc) Generating current. I
I
I 4. Power Converter
1
I2 &
Te = 1
-
2 d8
Figure 4 , Placement of current pulses
for torque generation.
1760
At higher speeds, the motor back-EMF opposes
the rise and the fall of current in the phase win-
ding. Because the rate of current rise is slowed
by the back-EMF, the rotor traverses a significant
angle in the time it takes the current to rise to
its setpoint, as shown in figure 5b. At speeds
where the motor back-EMF is significant, it is
necessary to advance the current pulse to maintain
maximum torque production. Turning the pulse on
earlier allows the current to rise against a lower
back-EMF, and turning it off sooner allows the
current to decay before the rotor passes alignment,
preventing the production of braking torque during
motoring operation.
At still higher speeds where the machine
back-EMF exceeds the DC supply voltage, the machine
is operated in "full-square'' mode, without current
chopping. In this mode, shown in figure 5c for
motoring and figure 5d for generating, the machine
torque is controlled by regulating the duration of
the excitation pulse. At all speeds, proper pla-
cement of the phase current pulses is critical to
obtain maximum efficiency from the machin
minimize the stress on the power converter
Figure 6 is a photograph of the switched
reluctance machine designed for the starter-
generator application. The starter-generator is a
three phase machine with six stator poles and four
rotor poles. It has a 3 . 3 inch long stack, and an
outside stator diameter of 6.25 inches. Both the
rotor and the stator are cooled by engine lubrica-
ting oil. Rotor heat is conducted to the hollow
shaft, where it is carried away by oil flowing in
the shaft. Stator heat is removed by oil flowing
in grooves machined in the stator O.D. and also by
oil flowing in non-magnetic cooling tubes at the
top of the stator slots. The stator bore is filled
with epoxy and machined to be smoothly cylindrical
power from the machine, its rotor and stator lam-
inations are made from Vanadium Permendur (Fe-CO-
V), which has a saturation flux density of 2.2
Tesla. Because high mechanical stresses are
laminations are annealed at a lower temperature
than the stator laminations to retain some of their
work hardened strength. This low temperature
anneal results in somewhat higher core l o s s in the
rotor than if a higher temperature anneal were
used.
There is considerable flexibility in the topo-
logy of the power converter used to drive the
switched reluctance machine. For most applica-
tions, the primary focus in SRM power converter
design has been on minimizing the number of power
"'.
switches used. Thus, for an N phase machine, con-
verters using 2N, N , tches have been
described in the literature
Or "'l Each of these
topologies has its own advantages and disadvantages
 500 7
500 T I
I Alignment

1 /I

o / I/ i II ,
4 I 1

0 40 80 120 160
degrees degrees
5a) Low speed motoring. 5c) High speed motoring
500

400
IFgnment
L
500 Alignment

300 300
m
a
4 4
200

100

I
'\
0 0 I

0 40 80 120 160 0 40 80 120 160

degrees
5b) Medium speed motoring.
Figure 5 , Phase current waveforms.
with regard to hardware requirements, fault
tolerance, and control flexibility. The topology
shown in figure 7 was chosen for the starter-
generator because it offers the maximm possible
control flexibility and it has a high level of
fault tolerance.
Because the motor phase impedance is connected
in series with the two switches in this circuit, it
is impossible to have a shoot-through fault in the
sense of conventional AC drive circuits. In this
circuit, the motor phase impedance limits the rate
o f change of current so that the maximum possible
S!A is within the bandwidth of the current control
fotgic.
To produce torque with this system, both
switches are turned on and current is allowed to
build in the motor phase winding. At low speed,
the phase current reaches its commanded value
quickly and is then regulated by
I
chopping. This high-frequency chopping results in
degrees
5d) High speed generating.
a ripple current component on the DC link which
must be supplied by the DC link filter capacitor.
The ripple current rating of this capacitor
translates directly into capacitor size and weight.
To minimize the required ripple current rating of
the capacitor, the current controller only turns
off one of the power switches when chopping. If
both switches were turned off, the phase current
would flow through the diodes back onto the DC link
and into the capacitor. Instead, with only one
switch off, the phase current freewheels through
the other switch and its associated diode; no
current flows back onto the DC link. This
"freewheel" chopping strategy limits the rms magni-
tude of the ripple current that the capacitor must
supply to 300 Amps; a factor of three reduction
compared to the alternative strategy of switching
off both devices.
A side benefit of using freewheel chopping is
that device switching frequency is reduced signifi-
cantly. Because the forcing voltage across the
 Figure 6 , SR starter-generator
phase during chopping is only the sum of the two Table 1 shows computer predictions of the
semiconductor drops and the winding resistance peak, mean, and rms currents seen by the switches
drop, the current decays much more slowly than if and diodes for several different operating condi-
negative bus voltage were applied to the winding by tions.

i
turning off both switches. This slow current decay
SWITCH DIODE
lowers the average chopping frequency by a factor rpm/mode
of five, resulting in a considerable reduction in
switching losses. To balance switching and conduc- 1000 mot
tion losses between the switches, chopping is 8925 mot
alternated between the upper and lower switches in 25767 mot 419 165 390
each phase leg. 25767 gen 501 51 111 624 155 286
Table
46850 gen 501 56 120 571 160 274
When commutation occurs, both switches are
I , Power converter current loadings.
turned off and the winding current flows through
the two diodes back onto the DC link. Because both
The highest demands on the power switches occur
switches are off, the winding sees a voltage of
during motoring, when the rms switch current
-VDc, which forces the current to decay quickly to
reaches 206 Amps at about 9000 rpm. To handle this
zero
current each switch in the converter is made up of
three paralleled power MOSFET modules. Each of the
modules contains four paralleled MOSFET chips, mak-
ing a total of 12 chips in parallel per switch.
The resulting switch has a continuous current
rating of 324 A (@25O case) and a voltage breakdown
rating of 200 Volts. Experiments showed both the
static and dynamic current sharing of the MOSFETs
to be excellent, so that very little derating of
the devices was necessary. The highest stress on
the diodes occurs in generating mode, when the
average diode current reaches 160 Amps. Each diode
in the converter is made up of three paralleled
fast recovery diode chips for a total continuous
current rating of 255 Amps.

Figure 8 shows a photograph of the prototype

power converter. Careful attention was paid to
Figure 7 , Power converter ~ o p o l o g y circuit layout in order to minimize the stray

1742
inductance of the buswork, thus reducing the vol- ting speed range. The starter-generator was also
tage stress and switching losses of the power MOS- extensively tested for mechanical integrity, inclu-
FETs, and eliminating the need for snubbers. The ding a 40 hour endurance run over the entire engine
use of liquid cooling eliminated the need for a operating speed range. During this test, the
metal heat sink, allowing the semiconductors to be machine was run at selected speeds between 25,000
placed on either side of the DC power bus which and 52,500 rpm for 4 to 8 hours at a time. An
runs through the center of the converter. The internal inspection after the endurance test
cooling system is a single series loop that con- revealed no evidence of distress in the machine.
tacts the baseplates of all of the devices. The
ends of the plumbing for each base plate are visi-
ble in the photograph at the top of the converter.
The bulk DC filter capacitance is distributed along
the length of the converter on either side of the
DC power bus to minimize the local voltage
overshoot at any given switch. The MOSFET gate
drive circuits are located directly on top of the
switches. To minimize noise and coupling problems,
fiber optic cables are used to connect the gate
drive inputs to the remotely located control elec-
tronics.

During starting, the power converter effi-

ciency ranges from 4 6 % at low speed (light power
load), to 89% at engine idle. In generating mode,, I '
I
the full load converter efficiency is roughly con- 30 I
stant at 93% over the entire 2:l generator speed 0 20,000 40,000 rpm
range.
Figure 9 System efficiency

5. System Test results

The starter-generator has been used exten-
sively as an engine starter during test cell opera-
Prior to being installed on the engine, the tion. More than 30 starts have been made with the
starter-generator was tested on a dynamometer to
electric starter. Figure 10 shows a typical speed
demonstrate its ability to produce the required versus time curve during start, prior to engine
torque-speed curve shown in figure 1. Data was light-off. After engine light-off the starter
taken on system efficiency for battery voltages of assists the engine in attaining idle speed (about
105, 84, and 72 Volts, representing the expected
25,000 rpm) after which speed the starter stops
range of battery voltage. The system efficiency
motoring and becomes available to generate electri-
versus speed, shown in figure 9 , was found to be
cal power for engine and vehicle loads.
independent of the battery voltage during starting.
In generating mode the system efficiency is a
roughly constant 82 percent over the engine opera-
 Acknowledgments
12
The starter-generator system was the work of
many people at GE Corporate R&D, GE Aircraft
h
Engines (Lynn), GE Drive Systems Department, and GE

f
5
v
f
Drive Motor and Generator Department. In particu-
lar, the authors would like to thank J . W . Sember of
GE Drive Systems Department and W.R. Oney of GE
CR&D for their technical support and editorial
assistance during the preparation of this paper.
r:
c4
e : 3
References

0 , , I , , ,

0 4 a 12 16 20 24 MacMinn S.R. and Sember J.W., "Control of a

Seconds
Figure 10, Speed s's. time during starting
(two phase operation).
During the course o f demonstrating the elec-
tric starter on the engine, conditions arose which
necessitated operating the system on two phases.
An open circuit was discovered in one phase of the
starter after it had been installed inside the bul-
let nose o f the engine. Because removing and
repairing the machine would have been difficult and
time-consuming, the open phase was disabled elec-
tronically a d the remaining two phases were used
Y
to produce 3 of full torque, which was sufficient
for starting the engine. Starting in two-phase
mode allowed engine testing operation to continue
until it was convenient to repair the starter.
This practical experience underscored the attrac-
tive and easily achievable fault tolerance of the
switched reluctance machine.
Switched-Reluctance Aircraft Engine Starter-
Generator over a Very Wide Speed Range," To
be presented at the 24th Intersociety Energy
Conversion Engineering Conference (IECEC),
August 6-11 1 9 8 9 , Washington, D.C.
Harris M . R . , Finch J . W . , Mallick J . A . , and
Miller T . J . E . ,"A Review of the Integral H o r -
sepower Switched Reluctance Drive," IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Applications, Vol.
IA-22, No, 4, Jul/Aug 1986, pp. 716-721.
Pollock C. and Williams B . , "A Unipolar Con-
verter for a Switched Reluctance Motor,"
Conference Record of the 1988 IEEE IAS Annual
Meeting, October 2-7 1988, Pittsburgh Pa.,
pp. 4 4 - 4 9 .

6. Conclusions

This paper has described the design of an

integrated, gearless starter-generator for gas tur-
bine engines. The switc.hed reluctance motor was
chosen as the machine technology for this system
because it offers an excellent balance between
cost, power density, high-speed capability, and
reliability.

Test results have verified that the system can

meet the torque and generated power requirements
over its entire operating range. The fault
tolerance capability of the switched reluctance
machine has also been demonstrated. Experience
gained from demonstrating the switched reluctance
machine as an engine sta.cter motor has proven the
feasibility of the integrated S/G concept.

If electric engine accessory systems and

power-by-wire are to become reality, a highly reli-
able, cost competitive generator technology is
required to supply the vastly increased electrical
power that these flight critical systems will need.
This paper has described one possible technology
for fulfilling that generation requirement.

1764