Design and Fabrication of Switched Reluctance Motor for Energy Efficient Operation by Minimizing Torque Ripple

Around the world, motor is consuming more than 40% of the total-generated electrical energy. Accordingly, energy efficient electrical drives are the needs of the hour. The Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) is more energy efficient than other kinds. Since SRM has a rugged structure, it has inherent fault tolerance characteristics and is cost-effective than synchronous and induction machines. Nevertheless, the application of such a motor is limited due to low torque density, torque ripples and power losses because of control circuit. In this research work, the author proposed a novel-designed SRM, which is achieved by optimizing stator and rotor pole arc. Alongside, a novel control circuit, which has single transistor, is proposed. The modification of stator and rotor pole arcs assists in the reduction of the torque ripple. The stator pole arc is modified from 32 degree to 36 degree, and the rotor pole arc is modified from 30 degree to 28 degree. Thus, the torque ripple is reduced from 3.25 to 2.92 Nm, and thus, the useful torque is increased from 4.94 to 5.2 Nm. Furthermore, a single transistor switching device is used instead of the conventional one with four switches. Hence, energy loss on the control circuit is significantly reduced. From the experimental analysis, it is found that, with-pole-arc modified SRM has higher efficiency than the one without it.