Comparative study on Switched Reluctance Machine based fault-tolerant electrical drive systems

The switched reluctance machine (SRM) based electrical drive systems are ideal for critical applications (aerospace, automotive, defense, medical, etc.) where the fault tolerance is a basic requirement. The phase independence characteristics of the SRM enable it to operate also under partial phase failure conditions also in its classical construction. Its reliability can be improved by applying special fault-tolerant designs, respectively monitoring its condition and applying fault detection techniques. The SRMs used in such safe electrical drive systems has to be fed from power converters having also fault-tolerant capability. In the paper two SRMs are proposed together with their converters. The fault tolerance capacities of the two electrical drive systems are compared by means of simulations. Two advanced simulation platforms were coupled together to simulate the drive system. The results of the comparative study emphasize the usefulness of the proposed fault-tolerant electrical drive system. The conclusions of study help the users to select the best fitted variant for they specific application.