Performance Comparison Between Unipolar and Bipolar Excitations in Switched Reluctance Machine with Sinusoidal and Rectangular Waveforms

In this paper, the electromagnetic performance of switched reluctance machines (SRMs) with unipolar and bipolar excitations, either sinusoidal or rectangular current waveforms, is investigated in terms of torque capability and torque ripple, iron loss etc. By employing a cost effective standard 3-phase full bridge inverter, both rectangular and sinusoidal bipolar excitations are implemented. Compared with unipolar and rectangular bipolar excitations, the torque ripple and iron loss are significantly reduced with sinusoidal bipolar excitation, albeit with reduced torque capability. Experiments on a prototype 6/4 SRM are carried out to demonstrate the advantages of sinusoidal bipolar excitation.