Optimal Fractional Order PI Controller for Field Oriented Current Control of Switched Reluctance Motor

The switched reluctance motors are the widely used motors in the appliances and vehicles due to the property to run on reluctance torque. Researchers are keen to find a precise controller for the exact tracking of current and torque reference signals. This paper aims at implementing a Fractional Order Proportional and Integral (FOPI) controller for controlling the current of the switched reluctance motor. Extensive simulations are performed, and preliminary success has been achieved. Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm is used to optimize the gains of the FOPI controller. For performance comparison, an Integer Order PI (IOPI) controller has also been implemented and optimized using the ACO algorithm and hit and trial method. The optimal FOPI controller outperforms the optimal IOPI controller in terms of transient and steady-state performance metrics.