Calculation of Flux Linkages of a 12/8 Dual-Channel SRM Including Mutual Coupling and Saturation: From Magnetic Circuit Model to FEM Analysis

The dual-channel switched reluctance machine (DCSRM) is driven by two independent sets of power electronic circuits with dual control channels, so a fault tolerated operation mode can be used in this system for high reliability. This paper presents a magnetic circuit analysis of a 12/8 DCSRM in order to compute the nonlinear magnetization curves including mutual coupling and iron saturation. The proposed analysis implements the magneto-motive force (mmf) sources to accommodate complex flux paths and consists of the magnetic equivalent circuit, the analytical models of saturable airgap permeanes in the stator and rotor poles and nonlinear iron yoke permeanes. Then, the performance of this 12/8 DCSRM including self and mutual flux linkage have been determined using the two dimensional finite-element method (2D-FEM) under different rotor positions (fully aligned to fully unaligned) for varying exciting current conditions. The effectiveness of this proposed magnetic circuit analysis is verified by comparing with 2D-FEM in terms of the analytical accuracy.