Performance investigations of hybrid switched reluctance motor

Abstract

Switched Reluctance Motors (SRM) have emerged as a potential contender in a variety of industrial and domestic applications owing to its inherent advantageous features. To make it competitive with respect to permanent magnet motors, the focus has been oriented to evolve hybrid configurations of SRM with permanent magnets embedded in the stator/ rotor. This necessitates a comprehensive analysis of the electromagnetic and structural characteristics of the hybrid configuration to establish its suitability for real world application. In this perspective, this thesis investigates the characteristics of an SRM configuration with permanent magnets and auxiliary windings embedded in the stator back iron. The electromagnetic characteristics of the hybrid SRM is obtained by performing simulation, using finite element analysis based computer aided design package- MagNet. The results indicate that while the hybrid SRM exhibits better characteristics in terms of average torque and losses, it generates higher torque ripple in comparison with SRM. The closeness of the simulation results with the experimental results performed with hardware prototype validates the analysis. The structural characteristics of the hybrid SRM is obtained by performing modal and harmonic analysis using ANSYS 16. The modal analysis reveals that hybrid SRM exhibits higher natural frequency. The harmonic analysis results indicate that it produces higher value of displacement due to magnetic forces and highlights the need to explore design topologies and control strategies to minimize torque ripple and vibration. A detailed investigation into the characteristics of hybrid SRM is carried out to analyze the influence of stator and rotor pole shape newline