International Journal of Electronics Engineering (ISSN: 0973-7383)

Volume 9 • Issue 2 pp. 279-283 June 2017-Dec 2017 www.csjournals.com

Dynamic Simulation of Switched Reluctance Motor Using

MATLAB
1
K.Arunkumaran, Assistant Professor, 2D.Jayaraj ,Assistant Professor
Department of EEE, M.I.E.T. Engineering College , Trichy

Abstract- Electromagnetic Field Analysis and Matlab

simulation of a 8/6 Switched Reluctance Motor is
presented in this paper. SRM is modeled using Finite
Element Analysis based software package Magnet
and the static characteristics of the machine are
obtained. The dynamic characteristics of the machine
are obtained by simulation in Matlab/ simulink
environments. The dynamic behaviour of the machine
is analyzed to obtain optimal switching angles of the
power selection for minimizing torque ripple.
Keywords:- Switched Reluctance Machine,
Electromagnetic Field Analysis. Figure 1.Schematic diagram of an 8/6 SRM

I. INTRODUCTION To evaluate properly SRM design and performance

The inherent simplicity ruggedness and low
cost of Switched Reluctance Machine (SRM) makes
it a viable candidate for various general purpose
adjustable speed applications. Because of its
simplicity and controllability, the motor is being
evaluated for applications ranging from low power
servomotors to high power traction drives. The
Switched Reluctance Motor is a simple motor
consisting of a salient pole structure on both the stator
and rotor. The motor excitation is provided
sequentially to a concentrated winding on each stator
pole, while the rotor being passive laminated steel
structure.
The excitation of diametrically opposite
stator poles, when the rotor poles are nearby, creates
a torque tending to align rotor poles with stator poles.
When the number of stator and rotor poles differ, the
sequential switching of excitation from one set of
stator poles to next in synchronism with rotor
position, results in rotation in a particular direction.
The synchronization of the turn on of the
excitation with rotor position can be accomplished
with simple rotor position feedback. The inductance L
of the excited stator winding varies with the varying
reluctance of air gap reaching maximum of Lmax at
aligned position and a minimum of Lmin at unaligned
position. The inductance at an instant is dependent on
both the rotor position θ and the phase current i.
a reliable model is required. This can be achieved by
FEA based CAD package. The finite element
technique is used to obtain the magnetic vector
potential values throughout the motor in the presence
of complex magnetic circuit geometry and non linear
properties of magnetic materials. These vector
potential values are processed to obtain field
distribution, torque and flux linkage.
In this paper, Electromagnetic Field Analysis and
Matlab simulation of 8/6 Switched Reluctance Motor
are presented. SRM is modeled using Finite Element
Analysis based software package and the static
characteristics of the machine are obtained. The
dynamic characteristics of the machine are obtained
by simulation in Matlab/simulink environments. The
dynamic behaviour of the machine is analyzed.
II. FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
The magnetic field inside the motor is
determined by computing the magnetic vector
potential A. This satisfies the non-linear Poisson’s
equation.
∂ ∂A ∂ ∂A
∂x
(γ ∂x ) + ∂y (γ ∂y ) = −J (1)
In a two-dimensional Cartesian system where
γ is the magnetic reluctivity and J is the current
density vector. From the known boundary conditions,

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 International Journal of Electronics Engineering (ISSN: 0973-7383)
Volume 9 • Issue 2 pp. 279-283 June 2017-Dec 2017 www.csjournals.com

an interpolation technique is used to solve for the

nodal magnetic vector potential. It involves the
minimization of the non-linear energy functional

B A
F = ∫R [∫0 H. dB − ∫0 J. dA] dR (2)

Where H is the magnetic field intensity, B is the

magnetic flux density and R is the region of
integration. The value of B inside each element is
obtained from the relation. Figure 3 Flux lines in unaligned position

B = curl A (3)

The problem region is subdivided into triangles

taking care to see that the sides of the triangles
coincide with material boundaries.

III. MODELING OF SRM

The machine is modeled and simulated using FEA

based CAD package MagNet. The dimensions of the
machine are as specified in Appendix. In Finite
Element method, the original field problem is divided Figure 4 Inductance profile
0.8
into a number of sub domains or elements. The
potential distribution within each element is 0.7
Torque(Nm)

approximated by a polynomial and a numerical current 3A

0.6
solution to the field problem is then obtained with 0.5
respect to some optimal criterion. Several Element
0.4
shapes are in use, the principle one being the triangle,
the quadrilateral and curvilinear shapes. The 0.3
following characteristics are obtained. In figure 2 flux 0.2
lines in aligned position, in figure 3 flux lines in
0.1
unaligned position, in figure4 inductance profile and
in figure 5 torque profile are shown 0
0 20 40
Time(sec)

Figure 2 Torque Profile

IV. SIMULATION USING MATLAB

The instantaneous voltage across the

terminals of a phase of a Switched Reluctance Motor
winding is related to the flux linked in the winding by
Faraday’s law as

Figure 2 Flux lines in aligned position dΨ

V = IR + dt
(4)

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 International Journal of Electronics Engineering (ISSN: 0973-7383)
Volume 9 • Issue 2 pp. 279-283 June 2017-Dec 2017 www.csjournals.com

Where V is the terminal voltage, I is the phase

current, R is the phase winding resistance, and Ψ is
the flux linked by the winding. Because of the double
salient construction of the Switched Reluctance
Motor and the magnetic saturation effects, the flux
linked in an SRM phase varies as a function of rotor
position θ and the phase current. The equation (4) can
be expanded as

Ψ dI Ψ dθ
V = IR + ( I ) (dt) + ( θ ) ( dt ) (5)

Ψ
where ( I ) is defined as L(θ,I), the instantaneous
Ψ dθ
Fig 6 Simulink model for phase 1 block
inductance, and term ( ) ( ) is the instantaneous
θ dt
back electromotive force (EMF). The electric equation of each phase is given
by
The parameters used to simulate the 8/6 SR
motor were previously obtained by a Finite Element dΨ ((θ, I)/dt) + RI = V (9)
Analysis (FEM). Figure 4 shows its inductance with i={1,2,3,4}
profile L (θ,i) with each phase inductance is displaced
by an angle θs given by While excluding saturation and mutual inductance
effects, the flux in each phase is given by the linear
1 1 equation
θs = 2π (Nr) − (Ns) (6)
Ψ(θ, I) = L(θ)I (10)
where Nr and Ns are the number of rotor and stator
poles respectively. When the motor has equal rotor The total energy associated with the four phases
and equal stator pole arcs, βr = βs, one has the (n=4) is given by
following angle relations

π
θx = ( ) − βr (7) 4
Nr
π Wtotal = 1/2 Σ L(θ+(n-i-1)θs) Ii2 (11)
θy = ( ) (8)
Nr i=1
The motor total torque by
Which are indicated in figure 6. The 8/6 SRM has the
following parameters: Lmin = 10.6 mH, and Lmax = 47 4
mH, and βr = 30°, βs = 22.5°. Thus from (7) and (8), T = 1/2 Σ dL(θ+(n-i-1)θs)/dθ Ii2 (12)
one gets θx =7.5° and θy = 30°. i =1

The mechanical equations are

J dω/dt = T – TL − fω (13)

and dθ/dt = ω
(14)

Where TL represents the torque load, and f the

machine friction coefficient.
Using the above equations SRM is simulated using
Matlab and the results are shown below.

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 International Journal of Electronics Engineering (ISSN: 0973-7383)
Volume 9 • Issue 2 pp. 279-283 June 2017-Dec 2017 www.csjournals.com

Figure10 Torque Profile for Teta on =2 and Teta

off=21

Torque(Nm)
2
Fig 7 1
Simulink model for determining speed 0
0.05 0.07 0.09 0.11
12 -1
-2 Time(Sec)
10
-3
8
Figure 11 Torque Profile for Teta on =2 and Teta
Current(A)

6 off=25
4
V. CONCLUSION
2
In this paper a standard switched reluctance
0 machine is model FEA based CAD package MagNet.
0.05 0.15 0.25 0.35 0.45 0.55
The static characteristics of the machine were
Time(Sec)
obtained .SRM is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink
Figure 8 current profile environment using linear inductance profile and the
dynamic characteristics are obtained From the
simulation results, it is observed that by suitably
3 varying the switching angles, the torque ripple can be
2
minimized.
Torque(Nm)

1
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0.05 0.07 0.09 0.11
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 International Journal of Electronics Engineering (ISSN: 0973-7383)
Volume 9 • Issue 2 pp. 279-283 June 2017-Dec 2017 www.csjournals.com

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