RELUCTANCE MOTOR

• A reluctance motor is a type of electric motor that induces non-permanent magnetic

poles on the ferromagnetic rotor. The rotor does not have any windings. It generates
torque through magnetic reluctance.

 There are various types of reluctance motors

❖Synchronous reluctance ❖Variable reluctance ❖Switched reluctance ❖Variable

reluctance stepping

CONSTRUCTION:

STATOR
 The stator of the reluctance motor is similar to that stator of the single phase induction
motor. 
 The stator has smooth, distributed poles. It has a laminated iron core with open or semi
closed uniformly distributed slots.
 The open slot configuration => may be used to house multiphase concentrated coils per
phase –> Bcoz of the presence of air gap field and considerable harmonics, significant
torque pulsations occur which may not be tolerable in some drive applications.
 In order to improve performance, semi closed slots are used.

ROTOR
 The rotor of the reluctance motor is of salient or projecting poles. 

 like squirrel cage rotor of IM – ferromagnetic material

 The rotor does not have any windings. It generates torque through magnetic reluctance

 The rotor has a particular shape - Due to its shape, the air gap between stator
and rotor is not uniform - No dc supply is given to the rotor - The rotor is free to rotate

 The reluctance depends on the air gap - More the air gap, more is the reluctance - Due
to the variable air gap between stator and rotor, when the rotor rotates, reluctance
between stator and rotor also changes.

 4 pole salient pole rotor with 4 high permeance and 4 low permeance – Reluctance is
inverse of permeance – Low air gap means low reluctance means higher inductance
means high permeance.
 Hogh permeance means higher magnetic conductivity and higher inductance

WORKING PRINCIPLE:

When a magnetic material is placed in the magnetic field, it always aligns in the
minimum reluctance path.

The stator consists of a Single Winding called main winding - But single winding cannot
produce rotating magnetic field - So for production of rotating magnetic field, there must
be at least two windings separated by the certain phase angle - Hence stator consists of an
additional winding called auxiliary winding which consists of a capacitor in series
with it - Thus there exists a phase difference between the currents carried by the two
windings and corresponding fluxes - Such two fluxes react to produce the rotating
magnetic field - The technique is called split phase technique of production of the
rotating magnetic field. - (The speed of this field is the synchronous speed which is
decided by the number of poles for which stator winding is wound)

If an iron piece is placed in a magnetic field, it aligns itself in a minimum reluctance

position and gets locked magnetically.

Similarly, in the reluctance motor, rotor tries to align itself with the axis of rotating
magnetic field in a minimum reluctance position. But due to rotor inertia, it is not
possible when the rotor is standstill

So rotor starts rotating near synchronous speed as a squirrel cage induction motor - When
the rotor speed is about synchronous, stator magnetic field pulls rotor into synchronism
i.e. minimum reluctance position and keeps it magnetically locked - Then rotor continues
to rotate with a speed equal to synchronous speed. - Such a torque exerted on the rotor is
called the reluctance torque - Thus finally the reluctance motor runs as a synchronous
motor.

The maximum reluctance torque is attained at torque angle of 45deg.

Let us consider that the rotor of the squirrel cage induction motor consists of 24 copper
bars - If the rotor bar 5, 6, 11, 12,17,18,23 and 24 are cut, it is similar to 4 salient poles.
 Maximum load is when δ = 45°
• If load increases so that δ>45°
the flux path is “over stretched” and the
rotor falls out of synchronism.

ADVANTAGES:

• Low maintenance • DC supply not necessary

• Simple construction • Constant speed characteristic

• can deliver very high power density at low cost

DISADVANTAGES:

• Low efficiency • Low power factor • noise due to torque ripple

• High torque ripple (the difference between max & min torque during one revolution)
when operated at low speed

• Only fraction of load taken as compared to induction motor

 Size of the motor is large compared to synchronous motor.

TORQUE SPEED CHARA

The starting torque depends upon the rotor position. The value of the starting torque
varies between 300 to 400 % of its full load torque.

As we know that as motor attains speed nearly of synchronous speed, the auxiliary
winding is disconnected and the rotor continues to rotate at the synchronous speed.

The motor operates at a constant speed up to a little over than 200% of its full load
torque.

If the loading of the motor is increased above the value of the pull out torque, the motor
loose synchronism but continues to run as a single phase induction motor up to over
500% of its rated torque. At the starting, the motor is subjected to Cogging. This can be
reduced by skewing the rotor bars and by having the rotor slots not exact multiples of the
number of poles.

The rotor of a Reluctance Motor is unexcited, therefore, the power factor is low as
compared to the induction motor. As the motor has no DC field excitation so the output
of a reluctance motor is reduced. Hence, the size of the motor is large as compared to
synchronous motor.
APPLICATION: Automatic Regulator – signaling devices – recording instruments –
teleprinter – timer circuits – electric clock timer – gramophone

SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR

Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) is also known as Variable Reluctance Motor. This
motor works on the principle of variable reluctance. This means, the rotor always tries to
align along the lowest reluctance path. As the name suggests, a switching inverter is
required for the operation of Switched Reluctance Motor

Power is delivered to windings in the stator (case) rather than the rotor. This greatly

simplifies mechanical design as power does not have to be delivered to a moving part, but
it complicates the electrical design as some sort of switching system that needs to be used
to deliver power to the different windings.

Similar to variable reluctance stepper motor in closed loop operation – Requires rotor
position feedback

CONSTRUCTION:

Stator- salient poles – poles contain concentric winding – coils on opposite poles are
connected in series to form stator phases

Rotor- no winding or permanent magnet – built up of steel laminations – due to this

mechanical simplicity that the cost of SRM is low –
SINGLY SALIENT CONSTRUCTION:

Comprises of a non-salient stator & a salient two pole rotor. The rotor do not have any
winding wound over it but the stator have two phase winding.

In actual SRM, the no. of phase winding on stator

may be more than two.

Since the rotor is of salient construction, the

inductance of stator phase winding varies with the
rotor position.

The inductance is minimum when the rotor axis

and stator phase winding axis coincides whereas it
is maximum when both the axis are in quadrature.

DOUBLY SALIENT CONSTRUCTION:

Unlike singly salient type, the stator of doubly salient Switched Reluctance Motor is of
salient construction and consists of four poles as shown in figure below. The rotor do not
carry any winding and is of salient construction but have two poles. Thus this type of
SRM is a hetropolar motor where the numbers of stator and rotor poles are not same.

The stator phase winding are concentrated

winding – these concentrated windings on
radially opposite poles are either connected in
series or parallel to result into 2 phase winding
on stator.

This type produces more torque as compared to

singly type for the same size

Doubly SRM is more common & widely used

PRICIPLE WORKING:

POWER
DC SUPPLY SEMICONDUCTOR SRM
SWITCHING CIRCUITRY

REF SPEED
CONTROLLER RPS

As we know that magnetic flux have a tendency to flow through lowest reluctance path,
therefore rotor always tends to align along the minimum reluctance path. This is the basic
working principle of Switched Reluctance Motor or Variable Reluctance Motor.

Consider an SRM with 8 stator poles and 6 rotor teeth – 4 phases – these phases excited
by dc supply thru switches – first A-A’ energized, equilibrium position – next B-B’
energized by turning s2 on – rotor moves CCW by 15deg – and so on
 Conditions for the successful operation of SRM are:

• No. of rotor teeth and stator poles must be even and not equal.

• Stator phase is energised when the inductance of that phase is low

• Sensor for rotor position is required. The rotor position sensing is essential for
switching operations at correct instants.

• The flux density is changing in magnitude and direction in the magnetic circuit when
rotor moves. This results in iron loss. To reduce iron loss, laminated rotor and stator
structures should be used.

ADVANTAGES:

• Rotor construction simple and robust as there is no brush.

• Starting torque can be very high without excessive inrush currents

• SRM is self-starting

 Power semiconductor switching circuitry is simpler.

 Torque developed does not depend upon the polarity of the current in the phase
winding.

• Rotor has no winding, no slip rings and brush-less maintenance - hence, higher
permissible temp

 No permanent magnet, neither in stator nor in the rotor.

• Major losses occur in stator – easy to cool the motor – ventilating system simpler

• Under fault, the short circuit current & open circuit voltage are zero or small
DISADVANTAGES:

• Presence of ripples in torque

• At high speed- developed torque has undesirable ripples - develops acoustic noise

• At high speed - undesirable harmonics in current waveforms. To suppress this effect,

large size capacitor is to be connected.

• Accurate position- sensing mechanism is essential

APPLICATIONS:

Washing machines – vacuum cleaners – fans – traction - robotic control applications

POWER ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS:

A power converter is an electrical circuit that changes the electrical energy from one form
into desired form. A converter do one or more functions and give an output that differs
from the input.

# The main objectives of the design of the converter are performance of the drive and
cost of the drive.

TWO SWITCHING DEVICES PER PHASE and two diodes

This circuit requires 2 power switching devices and 2 diodes for each phase winding -
For 3 phase SRM – 6 semiconductor switching devices & 6 diodes – 6 IGBT as switching
devices – phase windings connected to the dc source – depending on posn of rotor of
SRM, detected by an apt posn sensor and is fed back thru a signal conditioner – t1 t2
turned ON for energizing phase A – the devices turned off for denergising the phase – the
stored energy is feedback to supply thru the freewheeling diodes

T1 T3 T5 are turned ON OFF by signals obtained from the rotor position sensor – T2 T4
T6 operated by chopping frequency signals

#As shown in figure phase winding A is connected to the dc supply through

semiconductor devices s1 & s2 – depending upon the rotor position, when phase winding
A is to be energized the devises s1 s2 are turned on – when they are to be disconnected
from the supply (this instant is also dependent on the posn of the shaft) the devices s1 s2
are turned off – The stored energy in the phase winding A tends to maintain the current in
the same direction – this current passes from the winding through D1 D2 to the supply.
Thus the stored energy is fed back to the mains.

# Similarly phase winding B & C are also switched on to the supply and switched off
from the supply in a cyclic manner

# Advantages:

* control of each phase is completely independent of the other phase.

* the converter is able to free wheel during the chopping period at low speeds which
helps to reduce the switching frequency and thus switching losses of the converter

* The energy from the off going phase is feedback to the source, which results in
utilization of energy.

# Disadvantages:

Higher no of switches required in each phase, which makes the converter

expensive and also for low voltage applications.
(n+1) SWITCHING DEVICES & (n+1) DIODES

# This circuit makes use of lesser no of power switching devices and diodes where n is
the no of phases.

For energising phase A from the dc supply, T and T1 are turned ON - When these devices
are turned OFF, the stored energy will fedback to the supply through diodes D and D1 - T
and T2 for energising phase B –the stored energy is feedback thru D D2 - T and T3 for
phase C – this cycle repeats

#Advantages:

 Cost is reduced as less number of switching devices are used

 Freewheeling is possible during chopping thus reducing the switching
frequency & losses
 Voltage rating of all the switching devices & the diodes are Vdc, which is
relatively low
 The energy from the off going phase is feedback to the source, which results in
utilization of energy and also improves efficiency.

#Disadvantages:

 Higher torque ripple during commutation

 Higher switching stress for T as it is conducting current while other phases
are energized
 At higher speeds the off going phase cannot be deenergised because the
common switch T keeps on turning on intermediately, disabling forced
demagnetization.

CONVERTER CIRCUITS FOR SRM with BIFILAR Winding

Each phase of SRM has 2 identical and magnetically coupled coils – In stepper motor, the
purpose of bifilar winding is for bipolar excitation with a reduced number of switching
elements.

When T1 is turned ON, current flows through winding A - When it is turned OFF, the
stored energy goes back to the supply through A’ and D1.

MERITS: ~The converter uses lower no of switching devices thus reducing the cost on
the converter ~ Allows fast demagnetization of phases during commutation

DEMERITS: • Double number of connections • Poor utilisation of copper and voltage

spikes due to imperfect coupling – The copper loss associated with the auxiliary winding
is unacceptable high for many applications

SPLIT-LINK CIRCUIT

Used when no of phases is even - The main power supply is divided into two halves -
During conduction, energy is supplied to the phase by one half of the power supply -
During commutation period , the stored energy is fed back to the other half of the supply
- For example, when T is turned ON, phase A is energised by the upper half of the supply
- When T1 is turned OFF, the stored energy is fed back through D2 to the lower half.

C-DUMP CIRCUIT
This circuit uses (n+1) additional devices to feed the stored energy from the dump
Capacitor C back to the supply through step down chopper circuit.

TYPES:

SRM

ROTARY SRM LINEAR

SRM

RADIAL FIELD AXIAL FIELD

LONG FLUX PATH SHORT FLUX PATH

MACHINE MACHINE SINGLE STACK MULTI STACK

LINEAR SRM:

Similar to conventional SRM in their structure except that their rotor and stator are cut
open taking a linear form – the motion of the motor is linear – the linear SRM may have
windings either on the stator (fixed part) or translator (moving part) – Application:
electric trains & subways

ROTARY SRM:

This is differentiated by the nature of magnetic field path as to its direction with respect
to the axial length of the machine.

RADIAL FIELD SRM

The magnetic field path is perpendicular to the shaft or along the radius of the cylindrical
stator and rotor

LONG FLUX PATH MACHINE

Doubly salient with concentric windings, diametrically opposite windings are in series to
form a phase

SHORT FLUX PATH

Adjacent pole windings are in series to form a phase winding – the most common
problems with this are high mutual inductance and the imposition of asymmetric
magnetic fractions

AXIAL FIELD SRM

The magnetic flux path is along the axial direction – They are used for cases where the
motor length is of high temperature – The motors with a small length are preferred for
applications such as air conditioning fans and electric vehicles

RELUCTANCE MOTOR SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR

Construction is simple, robust as there is no The conduction angle for phase current is
brush controlled and synchronized with rotor
position.

It is impossible to have very high speeds. Maximum operating speed.

Low efficiency High efficiency.

No permanent magnet neither in the stator nor It is designed for efficient power conversion
in the rotor. at high speeds