Controlled Self-Excited Switched Reluctance Generator

This paper deals with switched reluctance generators. Two aspects of operation are investigated: self excitation and control of terminal generated voltage. Self excitation is attractive as it does not require external energy sources. Investigations in a self excited generator ask for magnetic saturation of iron core to be considered and that is observed in the paper. A technique based on the governance of the magnetization level of the machine phases to control the terminal voltage is proposed. It incorporates a strategy to improve the electromechanical conversion by means of adequate sequence of switching of the generator's electronic converter. Achieving the generated voltage build up as well as the ability to control the terminal voltage in the presence of oscillations in the generator speed shaft are shown to be feasible with the proposed approaches. Theoretical and experimental results are included to validate the investigations.