Performance Analysis of an 8/6 Switched Reluctance Machine Using Finite-Element Method

This paper presents a non-linear finite-element model of an 8/6 switched reluctance machine (SRM) under single-phase excitation. The performance of this switched reluctance machine has been determined using the two-dimensional finite-element method under different rotor positions (fully aligned to fully unaligned) for varying exciting current conditions. The FEM results have been compared with the experimental ones. The flux and air-gap torque as determined by the FE analysis are found to be in a good agreement with the experimental ones in the case of the single-phase excitation.

I. Introduction

RECENTLY Switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives have received more and more attention in the field of high performance drives because of their simple construction, variable speed operations, inexpensive, reliability, ruggedness, fault tolerance and relatively low manufacturing costs leading to attractiveness for industrial and electrical vehicle (EV) applications. An SRM can produce high torque at low speed. Furthermore, these features make SR drives a viable alternative to other commonly used motors like AC, BLDC, PM Synchronous or universal motors for numerous applications. A well designed SRM drive system matches the performance of the conventional ac motor drives and it has several advantages over them due to unipolar rotor torque.