Direct Torque Control of a Four-Phase Switched Reluctance Motor for Electric Vehicle Drives

Abstract

Switched reluctance motors (SMRs) are competitors of traditional ones in electric vehicles due to their high specific performance and the absence of permanent magnets and windings in the rotor design, which increases reliability and reduces production costs. Due to the pronounced nonlinearity of their magnetic characteristics and discreteness in control, SRMs are characterized by significant torque ripples, noise, and vibrations, to suppress which it is advisable to use direct instantaneous torque control (DITC), which is widely used in traditional electric drives. However, SRMs differ from traditional motors, so known technical solutions cannot be applied to them. Simulation modeling is a convenient and universal tool for research and development of methods and algorithms for SRM control, and the MATLAB/Simulink environment makes it possible to successfully implement them. The article considers two of the best-known and fundamentally different DITC options with respect to a four-phase SRM. Their shortcomings are substantiated and illustrated, and a new DITC option is proposed that is most suitable for controlling an SRM as part of a traction electric drive of electric vehicles.