Switched Brushless Doubly-Fed Reluctance Machine Drive for Wide-Speed Range Applications

Brushless doubly-fed reluctance machines (BDFRM) utilize a partially rated power converter but are restricted to applications which have limited operating speed range. A switched BDFRM architecture has been described in this paper that re-configures one of the stator excitations on-the-fly to enable a wide-speed range operation. This approach can extend the use of BDFRM to many wide-speed range applications, such as propulsion systems, while preserving the benefit of fractionally-rated power electronics. Design, analysis, and simulations have been performed and are discussed here.