Gain-scheduling control of the Switched Reluctance Motor

Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) drive technology has developed significantly over the last few years. The simplicity in both motor design and power converter requirement, along with the availability of high-frequency, high-power semiconductor devices, has made SRMs competitive with conventional adjustable-speed drive technologies. Control of an SRM is completely different from that of conventional AC or DC drives. Some advanced control techniques, such as variable structure and feedback linearization, have been applied, but they are not easily implementable and hence not widely used in industries. This paper presents an easily implementable gain-scheduling PI controller for the switched reluctance motor. A first-order model is derived for the SRM through a series of approximations. The model is useful for simple gain-scheduling control. The simplicity of the design makes it highly practical and implementable. The technique described in this paper was successfully implemented on a 400W, 4-phase switched reluctance motor for a speed-tracking application. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd All rights reserved.