Vector control for switched reluctance motor drives using an improved current controller

In general, switched reluctance motors (SRMs) are driven by the unipolar current excitation. The conventional drive technique requires simultaneous optimization process for some controlled-parameters: the turn-on angle, turn-off angle, and current chopping level. The difficulty in the current command generation makes the torque controller design complicated. In the previous paper, to give a general solution for the problem, the authors have described the vector control specialized for SRM drives. In the proposed technique, the maximum torque per ampere (MTPA) condition is mathematically given and the SRM drive can be easily controlled by a single parameter under the MTPA operation. This paper presents an improved current controller for the vector control. The current control system can achieve the wide driving area without the parameter tuning and mitigate vibration and noise levels in operation. The proposed vector control using the improved current controller is evaluated by comparing with the conventional drive technique on a 1kW three-phase SRM.