A Novel 4-level Converter for Switched Reluctance Motor Drive in Plug-In HEVs

Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) due to its advanced application, it is the best suited candidate for the propulsion system of the electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles. It can be used in any severe operating condition, is compact in design and is able to produce required torque and speed. Asymmetric bridge converter (i.e. two transistors per phase) is commonly used for SRM drives. The biggest disadvantage of using this type of converter is higher torque ripple in the motor output. In this paper, a 4-level converter is proposed for Switched Reluctance Motor in Plug-in HEV. The proposed converter (i.e. 4-level converter) has four current controlling modes that are able to produce additional 2 voltage levels. The high demagnetizing voltage developed by the converter can be used to decrease the demagnetization period which can minimize the torque ripples. The different modes of operation of the proposed 4-level converter are also described. The results of this 4 level converter are compared with commonly used 2 level converter in MatLab simulink.