DTC Based Solar fed SRM Drive for Electric Vehicle with Regenerative Braking Employing Zeta Converter

In this paper, a PV (Photovoltaic) fed Zeta converter based SRM (Switched Reluctance Motor) drive is demonstrated for light electric vehicle (LEV) application. A Li-ion battery is connected to the DC link to eliminate the cost of the power converter for charge and discharge control of the battery. SRM has a simple rugged-robust construction, high torque to weight ratio, high torque and power densities making it suitable candidate for the EV (Electric Vehicle) application. Major demerit of this machine is significant torque ripple at low speed. In this paper, DTC (Direct Torque Control) algorithm is used to control the four phase 8/6 SRM at low speeds for motoring mode. The model is controlled at different speed and torque to demonstrate the effectiveness of the control algorithm. To improve the system efficiency, a regenerative braking is also used through angle control and the braking energy is fed back to the battery by doing so, the range of the vehicle is increased. Moreover, a DC-DC Zeta converter is implemented as an intermediate chopper for MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) of the PV panel. The system is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink under different loads and varying solar insolation level.