A VSC Approach to Minimum-Time Optimal Current Control of a Switched Reluctance Motor

A variable structure control (VSC) approach to the minimum-time optimal current control is presented. After reviewing the dynamic model of the four-phase switched reluctance motor (SRM), this VSC approach is proven to be also minimum-time. The coincidence endows the proposed control law with both the properties of time optimality (Pontryagin´s minimum principle) along with disturbance rejection (variable structure control method). The experimental results show that the VSC is effective in dealing with the torque ripple and the nonlinearity of the SRM.