Effect of power factor correction circuit on switched reluctance motor drives for appliances

The use of variable speed drives in appliance industries is growing due to the demand for high efficiency and possible federal regulations mandating their use in the near future. Almost all of the appliance variable speed drives have no power factor correction (PFC) circuit resulting in a large input filter and harmonic pollution of the utility supply and in the reduction of efficiency that could have been avoided. This paper presents an implementation of the PFC incorporated minimum switch converter for switched reluctance motor drives. The impact of the PFC circuit in the drive system efficiency is particularly addressed in this paper along with the details of the implementation. Results from an experimental prototype are presented comparing the efficiency of the switched reluctance motor drive system with and without the PFC circuit. This study is novel and addresses an important issue concerning the appliance drive industry