98

SPEED AND TQWQUE CONTROL OF SWITCHED

RELUCTANCE MOTOR§
J. Schmid', M. Kaiserseder', W. Amrhein'; A. Schumacher', G.Knecht'
'Institute of Automatic Control and Electrical Drives
Dept. Electrical Drives and Power Electronics
Altenbergerstr. 69, A-4040 Linz, Austria
'Phone: +43 732 2468 9716 - fax: +43 732 2468 9719
e-mail: johannes.schmid@jku.at
'Robert Bosch GmbH, BE/EAD3
Postfach 1163, D-77813 Buhl, Germany
Phone. +49 7223 82 2678 fax: +49 7223 82 2545
~

e-mail: axel.schumacher@de.bosch.com

Keywords: Speed control, torque control, feedback lin- e mathematical model based on the states
7
earization, nonlinear state space model, switched reluc- x=(~,~,i)'
tance drives, nonlinear transformation
e modified mathematical model for the drive based
Abstract on the states x=(B,Q,T,,,)~. 4

This paper shows two methods of controlling rotational

speed and torque of switched reluctance motors. Both
methods are based on feedback linearization. The first
shows feedback linearization for rotational speed of the
drive and the second shows feedback linearization for the
generated torque using a modified state space model of the
drive. With the modified state space model the generated
torque of the drive can he represented by a first order trans-
fer function. Simulation results with help of
MATLAB/SIMULINKTM will be shown in the paper.
1 Introduction
Due to the simple,mechanical design (no permanent mag-
nets, no rotor coils) and the high mechanical robustness
switched reluctance motors can be used in many applica-
tions of motion control. Compared to AC and DC drives
the maintenance requirements of switched reluctance mo-
tors are very low. Othcr advantages are high reliability, in-
creased robushess against high temperature environments,
ability to control torque for electromagnetic gearing appli-
cations and low production costs.
The nonlinearities of switched reluctance drives, as shown
in [ I , 2 ] , do not allow such simple control strategies as
known for example from separately excited DC machines.
A lot of the presented control strategies deal with optimiz-
ing current waveforms, by knowing the characteristics of
the used drive, see [3-61.
The increasing capability of digital signal processors al-
lows the implementation of innovative control strategies
based on feedback linearization and torque sharing func-
tions shown in [7-111.
Starting from well known control strategies this paper
shows a method of linearizing the generated torque of
switched reluctance machines. Based on the mathematical
models for drive and power electronics feedback lineariza-
tion is shown by using two different mathematical models:
8 is the rotor position, R the rotational speed, i t h e vec-
tor of phase currents and T, is the vector of gencfated
torque of the independent phases of the switched reluc-
tance motor.
2 Working principle
The stator of a switched reluctance motor consists of s
stator poles with s concentrated windings. These s wind-
ings are electrically connected to m phases. The rotor con-
sists of r poles. The rotor and the stator are built up with a
stack of laminated sheets. There are no permanent magnets
in the drive and the rotor has no coils. Generation of torque
is based on the principle of minimizing the stored magnetic
energy in the air gap.
..
The produced torque depends on the absolute value of the
phase currents and the rotor position. When assuming un-
saturated stator yoke motor torque can he calculated by
summing the torque components of the m phases. Under
this condition there is no inleraction between the different
phases of a switched reluctance motor. The drive is built
up symmetrically, so the torque and the flux linkage need
not to be calculated seperately for each phase.
The typical characteristics (flux linkage v(i,,8) and
torque T, ( i j , 8 ) ofone
) phase are shown in Fig. 1. The
shape of the functions are depending on phase current and
on rotor position. The nonlinearities do not allow a simple
mathematical description of these functions, so they are
calculated by a finite elements program and stored in two -
dimensional look up tables.

0 7004 The Institiitinn nf Flertriral Fnninoers

 99
Fig. 1: Fingetprint of the SRM
There are two distinctive positions for the rotor of a
switched reluctance motor [ 1,2] as shown in
Fig. 2.
a) Aligned - the rotor is in aligned position with respect
to phase j when the rotor pole and the stator pole are
totally overlapping.
In this stable rest position phase 1 can not produce
any torque.
b) Unaligned the rotor is in unaligned position with re-
~
spect to phase j when the stator pole j is symmetri-
cally between two rotor poles.
In this unstable rest position phase 1 can not produce
any torque as well.
In any other position of the rotor torque is generated.
Fig. 2: Rotor positions of a switched reluctance motor
A) aligned position B) unaligned position of the rotor
with respect to phase 1
3 Mathematical Model
When building up a MATLAB/TMULINKTMmodel, which
is basis for the control algorithms, the mathematical mod-
els for the motor and power electronics have to be consid-
ered.
3.1 Switched Reluctance Motor
The cross section of a 614 switched is shown in
Fig. 3. The 614 SRM is a typical example of a three phase
drive.
Fig. 3: Cross section for a 614 switched reluctance motor
The equation of motion of the rotor is shown in equ. (2),
where 0 is the position of the rotor, R the rotational
speed of the rotor, J,o, the moment of inertia (including ~
the whole load), T, (e$) torque of the load and
TsRM(i,B) the generated torque of the drive.
d6'
-=Q
dl
,
By using the voltage vrnd across the lossless stator induc-
tivity the nonlinear differential equation for the phase cur-
rent i, can he written as,
where
aw (i, ,e)
and
aw (i,,e)
are the derivatives of the
as
~ ~
ai,
flux linkages of the drive. Due to the nonlinearities these
derivatives can't he written as a simple formula. They are
stored in a two dimensional look up table. The flux linkage
y ( i j , S ) andthe torque T, (i,,S) ofthe phase j are
calculated by the finite elements program FEMAGTM.
When combining the mechanical and the electrical part of
the drive (equ. (2) and equ. (3)), the application can be de-
scribed by a system of nonlinear differential equations of
the form equ. (4).
x = f (x) + g (x) .U
(4)
y = C' . h ( x )
Eqn. ( 5 ) shows the mathematical description of a m-phase
switched reluctance motor with coupled load. The output
y can be selected unrestricted from the states x .
 100

n '1 n 'i

' 0 '
0

",d' ( 10)

When using the state space model equ. ( 5 ) control schemes There are certain regions in the functions of the flux link-
for the states 6 ,Cl and the phase currents i can he im-
plemented. If it is neccesary to control toTque'or to design age w, (T,, ,#) and the phase current i, (T,, ,8)shown
a speed control scheme with underlaying torque control, in Fig. 4 where the functions of the flux linkage and the
torque control can be done by current shaping or torque torque of one phase are limited. These are the rotor posi-
sharing functions [ I I]. tions where the current of the actual phase would be higher
Torque control would be easier if the generated torque is a than the maximum provided current of the power electron-
state of the nonlinear state space model. Using the torque ics for the desired torque. These regions can he excluded
TSRUi(i,,#),the flux linkage y j ( i j , 8 )ofeachphaseanda by the commutation strategy.
nonlinear state transformation
z=T(x).x (6)
it is possible to build up a new transformed state space
model. In this new model the flux linkage y~ of the actual
phase is a function of rotor position and actual torque of
one phase of the drive.
w = w ( TSRMI'Q) (7)
Starting again with the rotors equations of motion, the me-
chanical part leads to :

Fig. 4: Fingerprint of the SRM when using the transformed

This set of equations is similar to the set shown in (2). state space model
With this new approach the electro - mechanical part re-
sults in 3.2 Power Electronics
The used power electronics consists of m asymmetric half
bridges, with two power MOSFETS (TrMjand TrLj)and
, two recovering diodes (DHjand DLj)as shown in Fig. 5.
The low side transistor TrLjis synchronized by a pulse
aT,, width modulated signal, which is the output of the control-
Again, by combining the mechanical part and the electro- ler. The high side transistor is switched on during commu-
mechanical part, the new set of nonlinear differential equa- tation. When working with soft chopping three different
tions can he written as ( I 0). switching states of the power electronics are possible [ 121.
Fig. 4 shows the typical characteristics of the transformed .-e
state space model (10) for the used 614 switched reluctance i
motor when using a nonlinear transformation (6) for the
given state space model (5). Both two -dimensional fields
have been calculated numerically. These fields are sym-
metric for positive and negative values of torque. Torque is
defined as positive when the drive is working as motor and
as negative when working as generator.

Fig. 5: One phase ofthe power electronics ~ asymmetric

halfbridge
 101

As shown in [I21 an model for the power electronics using

R-
average values can be given with ri
pj ' ( V B ~ ~ -RD.6n2j
z "j)
P.U =
Vm,
(11)
1, ' (4,+ Rosoolj)- v, ' (1 + P j 1
~

..
,"
where V,,,, is the supply voltage, RDsnn,and RDson2 the Fig. 7: Speed control with feedback linearization
The linearizing feedback law of equ. (14) leads to the volt-
drain source power-on resistance of the power MOSFET,
age across the stator inductivity v , , , ~for each phase. This
R, the drives coil resistance of phase j , V, the forward
linearizing function is given by
voltage across the recovery diode, p the duty cycle as input
to the power electronics and pni,the average duty cycle,
used to calculate the voltage across the ideal stator induc-
tivity
-
'ind- j - PnC, .'Bott. (12)

4 Feedback Linearization
The main idea of feedback linearization is to transform the
nonlinear dynamic of the system into a linear form so that
(ij4
aij
classical control techniques can be applied to design the The implementation of the control law is shown in Fig. 7.
controller [13].
linear syriem 4.2 Speed control with exact input output linearization
7
I , I when using the states x = (6',Q,Ts,,)T

The system (IO) is exact linearizable again, and when lin-

earizing the system for torque T,, of the drive the rela-
tive degree r of the system is I , With this linearization the
I I I
torque of the drive is given by the linear first order transfer
function
Fig. 6: Feedback linearization
Considering a plant given by equ. ( 2 ) with the internal state
x = ( x , , x 2,.._
x")T E R " , (13)
and can be controlled by a linear controller.
the control output U E W" and the measured output y E R ,
Speed control is done by underlaying torque control as
a feedback law
shown in Fie. S.
U = a(x) + p( x ) . v (14)
Y (f)
can be defined, that the system with transfer function -
41)
becomes linear. v represents the new control output, U
represents the input to the plant. The theory of exact lin-
earization is covered by many other publications [eg. 7, 8,
91 and omitted here. Fig. 8: speed control with underlaying linearized torque
control
4.1 Speed control with exact input output linearization
The linearizing control law (14) leads again to the voltage
when using the states x = (B,R,i)T across the stator inductivity for each phase. The function
for vi"* is given by
The system (5) is exact linearizable. When linearizing the
system for the rotational speed 0 ,the relative degree r of
the system is 2. The new linear second order transfer func-
tion of the drive is given by

The parameters a, and a, are describing the dynamic of

the system.
 102
5 Results
The in Section 4 shown strategies for linearizing the input
to output hehavior'of rotational speed and torque have been
implementedin MATLAB,SIMULINKTM of
the drive. The Figures Fig. 9 -Fig. 14 show the results of
the simulation when linearizing th e rotational speed and
the torque of the drive. Linearizing the torque is done with
the modified state space model ( 1 0).
5.1 Speed control with exact input output linearization
when using the states x = ( O , C & i r
For a state space model using the state vector x = (O,Qi)T
the linearization of the rotational speed leads to a second
order transfer function (15). Without anv feedback control
\ I
the step response of the linearized drive (linearizing law
shown in (1 6)) and the step response of the linear transfer
function (15) should be the same.
Fig. 9: comparison of the step response of the linear trans-
fer function and the linearized model
The comparison of the step response of the linear transfer
function and the step response of the linearized motor
model can be seen in Fig. 9.
new control input v,
The commutation between the phases is done depending
on the rotor position, an-d given as a constant function.
There is no overlapping between the different phases. The
control input v leads to the voltage across the stator induc-
tivity v,n4. ~h~ corresponding functions are shown in Fig.
10. It shows that the voltage across the stator inductivity
",nc# is with the Ofthe bane"Y voltage vm,.
. . ~ ~
e*lart %el %el
Fig. 11: phase current i, and the voltage across the stator
inductivity v,"+
i.
Fig. 1 I shows the phase current ' and the voltage across
the stator inductivity v , " ~ .
5.2 Speed control with exact input output Linearization
when using the states x = (O,QTs,M)T
In this section only the step response of the torque of the
drive at given constant speed is considered. Due to the lin-
earizing law (18) the transfer function ofthe torque leads
to a first order transfer function. The shown Simulations
have been done by constant speed.
~......~~ I
I
Fig. 12: comparison of step responses of the linear transfer
function and the linearized model
The comparison of the step responses of the linear transfer
function and the linearized model for the generated torque
is shown in Fig. 12. It also shows the voltage across the
stator inductivity v , " ~ .
In Fig. 13 the functions of the desired torque of the drive
and the sharing of the torque on the different phases are
shown. With the help of the commutation positive and
 103
negative torque is possible on the shaft of the drive. The
sharing of the torqye on the different phases can be done
user defined. The sum of the different phase torques has to
be Ts,.
OP*, *Pa, %., %*I
Fig. 13: desired torque T,, ofthe drive, shared torque of
the different phases T,, and rotor position
Fig. 14 shows the functions of the phase currents i, and
the voltage across the stator inductivity vln4for different
steps of the desired torque of the drive. This Simulation is
also done by constant rotational speed.
0 %*, %*, %*, %.
Fig. 14: phase current i j and voltage across the stator in-
ductivity v,n4 for desired torque T,
6 Conclusion
The simulated results Fig. 9 -Fig. 14 show that feedback
linearization for speed and torque control of switched re-
luctance machines is working and reach good results. The
main advantage of these feedback linearizing control
strategies is that the controller can be designed automatic
and that the plants behaviour is linear in the operation re-
gions.
A major disadvantage is the higher demand on computing
power of the digital signal processor. The limitation of the
control variable, in the shown simulations the voltage
across the stator inductivity v,"+, has to be proofed sepa-
rately
7 References
[I] T. J. E. Miller, SwitchedReluctance Motors and their
Control, Monographs in Electrical and Electronic Engi-
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Publications
[2] R. Krishnan, Switched Reluctance Motor Drives, CRC
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[3] T. J. E. Miller, Electronic Control of Switched Reluc-
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[4] M. Kaiserseder, J. Schmid, W. Amrhein, A.
Schumacher, G . Knecht Reduction of Torque Ripple in a
Switched Reluctance Drive by Current Shaping, Speedam
2002, pp. B4-25 B4-30, Ravello, Italy
~
[ 5 ] Frede Blaaherg, Philip C. Kjaer, Peter Ommand Ras-
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B4-6, Ravello, Italy
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~
[9] C. Rossi, A. Tonelli, Feedback linearizing and sliding
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