A PC-based measurement system for determining magnetic characteristics of switched reluctance motors

This paper describes a PC-based automatic measurement system (AMS) to determine the magnetic characteristics (flux linkage-current and flux linkage-rotor position curves) of switched reluctance motors (SRMs). The theoretical basis of this proposed method is presented and a new measurement apparatus is set up. A computer-controlled programmable power converter has been developed as the excitation source. A digital oscilloscope gathers the required data through the RS-232 interface. The experimental results on a 1 kW, 4-phase, 8/6-pole SRM verify the effectiveness of the evolved solution and demonstrate the simplicity, efficiency and accuracy of the computer-aided characterizing measurement of the SRM. The errors in the AMS have been analyzed and overall repeatability is better than ±0.35%.