IET Electric Power Applications

Research Article

ISSN 1751-8660
New circuits for emulating switched Received on 7th October 2015
Accepted on 26th January 2016
reluctance motor windings doi: 10.1049/iet-epa.2015.0627
www.ietdl.org

Yan Liang, Hao Chen ✉, Jiaotong Shi, Huajian Liu

School of Information and Electrical Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, People’s Republic of China
✉ E-mail: hchen@cumt.edu.cn

Abstract: This study sets forth two new universal circuits capable of emulating the behaviour of non-linear inductance,
which are composed of only off-the-shelf circuit devices. One of the proposed inductor emulators is dependent on a
controllable resistor whose resistance value is programmable, while the other is carried out by using a multiplier to
produce the emulator current. The values of the controllable resistance and the input voltage of the multiplier can be
easily computed according to the requirement through digital signal processing techniques by means of digital signal
processor chip. The phase inductance of switched reluctance motor (SRM) winding is of high non-linearity due to
doubly salient structure and magnetic saturation. Based on the analytical expression of phase inductance, the two
proposed universal inductor emulators are applied to mimic the characteristics of SRM windings. The experimental
and simulated results of the winding emulators provide the conclusive evidences for validating their practicability.
Moreover, the emulators for the whole SRM drive system are designed and the corresponding experimental results
further verify the correctness of the proposed SRM winding emulators.

1 Introduction control algorithm with satisfactory performance can also be tested

A number of circuits have been devoted to replace inductors by using
active devices, which can be applied to active filters, oscillators, and
analogue phase shifters [1–3]. In addition, inductor emulators can be
used for exploring the characteristics of devices with variable
inductance, such as meminductive system. In our previous papers
[4, 5], two analogue circuits which can mimic the dynamic
characteristics of ideal meminductor are proposed and identified,
of which equivalent inductance depends on the integral of flux. As
the previously reported circuits can only emulate the behaviour of
inductor with predetermined inductance function, they suffer from
the drawbacks of low hardware reusability and low flexibility. By
using digital implementation approach, these issues can be easily
resolved due to the programmability and high versatility of digital
processing chips, such as digital signal processor (DSP). Hence,
we exploit mixed-signal circuit structure to implement universal
inductor emulator, which can replicate the behaviour of non-linear
inductances with arbitrary analytical expression.
The switched reluctance motor (SRM) has been applied in many
industrial applications for its advantages such as low
manufacturing cost, robust structure, and high reliability [6, 7].
Many researchers carry out the simulation of SRM via the circuit
design tool Spice or the dynamic system design tool MATLAB/
Simulink [8–12], where the SRM winding models are designed
based on fundamental equations by using mathematical calculation
blocks and ideal dependent sources provided by the simulation
software. However, these above-mentioned models established by
the simulation software can hardly be implemented by using
practical circuit. To date, the investigation on emulating SRM
windings in terms of off-the-shelf circuit devices is absent in
literature. In this paper, we focus on designing new inductor
emulators and then apply them for implementing the hardware
simulation of the whole SRM system. Compared with the
existing offline numerical simulations, the proposed emulators of
SRM system have the significant advantages of semi-physical
and real-time operation. Furthermore, the emulated electrical
behaviour of motor such as current and flux linkage characteristics
can be monitored directly and controlled conveniently. New
via the proposed emulators.
The rest of this paper is organised as follows. In Section 2, two
universal floating variable inductor emulators are presented. The
analytical representation of phase inductance and dynamic
equations of SRM are introduced in Section 3. In Section 4, two
circuits for emulating SRM phase winding on the basis of the
proposed inductor emulators are designed. The simulation analysis
and experimental results of SRM winding emulators are given in
Section 5. In Section 6, the hardware simulation models for the
entire SRM system are designed. Also, the comparisons of the
experimental and simulated results are presented. A brief
conclusion is given in Section 7.
2 Floating emulators of variable inductor
Two ways of implementing variable inductor emulators are
discussed in this section. One is applying a controllable resistor
and a mutator, while the other is carried out by making use of a
multiplier.
2.1 Emulator I with a controllable resistor
A floating mutator and a controllable resistor can be utilised to
construct a universal variable inductor emulator. This mutator is
supposed to possess the ability that non-linear voltage (vm)–current
(im) or current (im)–voltage (vm) relationship of the controllable
resistor can be transformed into the relation described by flux (f)
and current (i). Hence, the following equations must hold
case 1: f = b1 vm , i = b 2 im ,
(1)
case 2: f = s1 im , i = s2 vm
where β1, β2, σ1, and σ2 denote the transformation coefficients which
depend on the circuit parameters of the emulator.
The relationships between the resistance RM or conductance GM of
the controllable resistor and the equivalent inductance L of the

IET Electr. Power Appl., 2016, Vol. 10, Iss. 6, pp. 458–466
458 & The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016
emulator can be derived, respectively U2 can be expressed as

b1 R3 R
case 1: L = R , v2 = (v− − v+ ) = − 3 u. (4)
b2 M R1 R1
(2)
s
case 2: L = 1 GM . It can be seen that −v2 is in proportion to the input voltage u and can
s2
be adjusted by the feedback resistors R3 and R4. U3 combined with a
resistor and a capacitor fabricates an inverting integrator circuit.
For the purpose of easily connecting with other components,
Therefore, we can get
emulators generally require connection adaptability with floating
terminals. A floating emulator for variable inductor is shown in
t
Fig. 1. The circuit consists of four conventional operational 1 R3
v3 = vm = − v2 dt = f. (5)
amplifiers (TL084, labelled as U1, U2, U3, and U4), three R5 C 0 R1 R5 C
second-generation current conveyors (AD844, labelled as U5,
U6, and U7), a controllable resistor, a capacitor, and several Equation (5) clearly indicates that the flux is proportional to the
resistors. Interestingly, there are two alternative positions for a voltage across the controllable resistor RMP with a coefficient of
controllable resistor and a constant resistor, represented by R1R5C/R3. U4 together with RQ can realise the transformation
coloured frames and labelled as P and Q. By altering the from the current im into the voltage v4. Therefore, the output
combination of the controllable resistor and constant resistor, voltage of U4 can be represented as
variable inductor emulator with different transformation equations
can be obtained. v4 = −im · RQ . (6)

2.1.1 Combination case 1: The position P is configured for the On the basis of (3)–(6), the coefficients β1 and β2 can be written as
controllable resistor RMP, while the resistor RQ is placed in
the position Q. The AD844s adopted here are used for copying the R1 R5 C RQ
b1 = , b2 = . (7)
voltages v− and v4 as well as the emulator current i. According to R3 Rx
the performance of AD844, we can obtain
According to (2), the equivalent inductance of the circuit can be
v calculated by
i = − rx , v− = v7x , vrx = v4 . (3)
Rx
b1 RR R C
L= R = x 1 5 · RMP . (8)
The voltage follower comprising U1 is used to obtain the voltage v+, b2 MP R3 RQ
and ensures the entire emulator current i flowing into the terminal Z
of U5. U2 is exploited to establish a differential ratio amplifier From (8), we can see that the inductance is proportional to the
circuit. In the case of R1 = R2 and R3 = R4, the output voltage of controllable resistance. Hence, the controllable resistor RMP should
vary in the similar manner as the emulated inductance.

2.1.2 Combination case 2: When the resistor RP is connected to

the position P, the position Q contains the controllable resistor RMQ.
It can be inferred that

RP R1 R5 C 1
s1 = , s2 = . (9)
R3 Rx

Substituting (9) into (2), the equivalent inductance can be described as

s1 R RR R C
L= G = P x 1 5 GMQ . (10)
s2 MQ R3

where GMQ represents the conductance of the resistor RMQ. It can be

Fig. 1 Emulator of variable inductor with a controllable resistor
a Schematic diagram
b Implementation of the controllable resistor RMP
observed that for this case the inductance is in proportion to the
conductance of the controllable resistor.
In practical circuit implementation, controllable resistors have
been achieved by using common electronic devices such as
junction filed-effect transistor, light-dependent resistor, resistive
digital-to-analogue converter (DAC), and digital potentiometer
[13–16]. The non-linear feature of junction filed-effect transistors
and light-dependent resistors will bring an influence on the
accuracy. In [16], a 256-position 10 kΩ digital potentiometer
AD5206 is chosen as a programmable resistor. In order to
decrease quantisation errors, a higher resolution 1024-position 10
kΩ digital potentiometer AD5174 is exploited here for
implementing controllable resistor. Since the resistance of AD5174
can be directly programmed, the combination case 1 of the
emulator I is selected for elaborating the inductor emulator in the
following sections.
The controllable resistor consists of a digital potentiometer
(AD5174) and a digital processing chip (DSP TMS320F28335) as
depicted in Fig. 1b. The external 16-bit analogue-to-digital
converter (ADC) AD7606 is used instead of the internal 12-bit

IET Electr. Power Appl., 2016, Vol. 10, Iss. 6, pp. 458–466
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016 459
ADC reducing the errors. The terminals F and W of AD5174
representing the fixed terminal and wiper terminal, respectively,
will be connected to the position P of Fig. 1a. The resistance of
AD5174 is determined by the programmed code from the DSP.
The supply voltages of Vcc = 5 V and Vss = 0 V are chosen for
AD5174, and then the voltages of the terminals F and W must satisfy
0 V ≤ vF ≤ 5 V, 0 V ≤ vW ≤ 5 V. (11)
Hence, it can be inferred that v3 should be guaranteed to range
between 0 and 5 V in the design of circuit parameters.
2.2 Emulator II with a multiplier
By referring (12) and (13), it can be derived that vy is proportional to
the equivalent inverse inductance, i.e.
vy = k · L (14)
where k = ((10RwRdR6R10Ci)/(R8(Rw + RZ))).
Since the complicated non-linear expression is difficult to realise
by analogue circuit, the inverse inductance module is designed via
digital processing chip as shown in Fig. 2b. The DSP
TMS320F28335 is employed to calculate the instantaneous value
of vy based on the expression of the inverse inductance. An
external 16-bit DAC, i.e. DAC8563 is recommended to output the
voltage signal vy, whose output range is [0 V, 10 V].

A universal variable inductor emulator with a multiplier is shown in

Fig. 2, where the inverse inductance module can output a voltage 3 SRM basic
signal proportional to the equivalent inverse inductance of the
circuit. Apart from three current conveyors (AD844, labelled as Due to the doubly salient structure and high magnetic saturation of
U11, U12, and U13) and three operational amplifiers, this SRM, the inductance is highly coupled in terms of the current and
approach requires a multiplier (AD633, labelled as U14) to rotor position. This section will brief the fundamental equations of
produce the emulator current by taking a multiplication of inverse SRM.
inductance with flux. The current of inductor can be represented as
3.1 Inductance representation
i=L·f (12)
In the simulation stage, accurately modelling inductance of SRM is
where Λ is the inverse inductance. imperative. The inductance characteristics of SRM can be obtained
Similar to U2 of Fig. 1, U9 combined with four resistors senses the by experimental measurement approaches or numerical
input voltage u and delivers u to the integrator circuit. According to calculations, i.e. finite-element analysis and equivalent magnetic
the datasheets of AD844 and AD633, we can get circuits [17, 18]. Numerical calculations are formulated in terms of
accurate geometrical parameters, and are unsuitable for a practical
⎧ SRM because of measurement error. There are several methods to
⎪ R + RZ
⎪
⎪ v10 · vy · w = vw capture the non-linear relationship c(θ, i) or L(θ, i), such as
⎪
⎨ 10Rw
look-up table, neural network, and analytical models [19–21]. The
vw = iRd . (13)
⎪
⎪ look-up table and neural network approaches need massive data,
⎪
⎪ R8
⎩ v10 = f and are therefore time consuming. Hence, the analytical
R6 R10 Ci representation is used to describe the inductance characteristics.
An available four-phase 8/6 SRM is selected for illustrative
example. Without considering the electrical asymmetry of the
prototype, each phase inductance is strictly symmetrical. Here, the
inductance, voltage, current, flux linkage, and torque of phase ‘k’
are denoted by Lk, uk, ik, ck, and Tk, respectively, where k ∈ {A, B,
C, D}. The phase inductance is described as

  4  

Lk u, ik = cl ik cos lNr (u + hk ) (15)
l=0

where Nr is the number of rotor poles, θ is the rotor position, ηk is the

phase shift (ηA = 0, ηB = π/12, ηC = π/6, and ηD = π/4), and cl(ik) is
the coefficient of each term.
For an 8/6 SRM, each electrical period is equal to 60°. The rotor
position is defined as θ = 0° at the unaligned position of phase A and
θ = 30° represents the aligned position. The flux linkage values of
phase A at five critical rotor positions for different phase currents
are experimentally measured, wherein the five rotor positions are
selected as 0, π/24, π/12, π/8, and π/6, respectively. The
experimental inductance values of phase A are obtained from
the measured flux linkage and current data, which can be used for
the determination of cl(iA).
To verify the correctness of the proposed inductance
representation, more experimental tests are carried out. The
measured position starts from 0° and ends at 60° by 1° interval.
The measured current is gradually increased from 0 to 8 A for
each rotor position. The inductance values of phase A calculated
by the proposed representation are compared with the measured
data for an electrical period, as shown in Fig. 3.
The good agreement between the calculated and experimental
Fig. 2 Emulator of variable inductor with a multiplier inductance profiles indicates the accuracy of the proposed
a Schematic diagram inductance representation. The extreme inductance values are
b Inverse inductance module Lmax = 0.078 H and Lmin = 0.007 H.

IET Electr. Power Appl., 2016, Vol. 10, Iss. 6, pp. 458–466
460 & The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016
 The electromagnetic torque of SRM is defined as the derivative of
co-energy versus rotor position, i.e.


∂Wk′   
Tk = , Wk′ = ck u, ik dik (18)
∂u ik =const

where Wk′ is the co-energy.

According to (15) and (18), the electromagnetic torque produced
by each phase can be expanded as

 
∂ Lk (u, ik )ik dik 
Tk (u, ik ) = ik =const
∂u
  
  
∂ 4
l=0 cl (ik ) cos lNr (u + hk ) ik dik 

= ik =const
∂u


4


=− lNr sin lNr (u + hk ) cl (ik )ik dik . (19)
Fig. 3 Comparisons of the experimental and calculated inductance profiles l=0

The mechanical equation of SRM can be given by

3.2 Dynamic equations of SRM
dv
Generally, the mutual inductance existing in SRM windings is very Tem − TL = J + Bv , Tem = Tk (20)
small [22]. Thus, only the self-inductance is taken into account. Each dt
phase winding can be equivalent to a variable inductor connected
with a resistor in series. In terms of the simplified equivalent where Tem is the total instantaneous torque, J is the moment of
circuit of SRM phase winding, the applied voltage for each phase inertia, B is the viscose coefficient, TL is the load torque, and ω is
winding can be derived as the angular velocity. The determination of rotor position is the key
for SRM operation, and it can be obtained by
 
dck u, ik
t
uk = Rs ik + (16) u= v dt. (21)
dt
0

where Rs denotes the phase resistance. According to the definition of The frequency of phase voltage, phase current, and rotor position can
inductance, the phase flux linkage is described by be calculated by [11]
    n
ck u, ik = Lk u, ik · ik . (17) f = ∗ Nr Hz (22)
60

where n denotes the rotor speed, i.e. n = ω × 30/π.

4 Floating emulators for SRM phase winding

The proposed universal inductor emulators are exploited to design

SRM phase winding emulators based on the phase inductance
representation. It is noted that the implementation of SRM phase
winding emulator demands a resistor in series with the circuit of
Fig. 1a or Fig. 2a, whose value represents the phase parasitic
resistance.
The phase winding of SRM is usually excited by an asymmetric
half-bridge converter [23]. Due to the symmetry of SRM phase
windings, only the winding emulator of phase A with its converter
is shown in Fig. 4, where each phase has two metal–oxide–
semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) and two
free-wheeling diodes. For the real four-phase 8/6 prototype, the
rated voltage vdc applied to each phase winding is 24 V and the
rated current is 8 A. Without consideration of the voltage drop in
power switches and diodes, the amplitude of phase voltage is
equal to the DC supply voltage.

4.1 Scaling factors of critical parameters

The voltage and current of the variable inductor emulators cannot be

large enough as those of the SRM prototype owing to the presence of
low-voltage low-power active devices. Hence, emulator circuit
provides the downscaled model of the real SRM. It can be
Fig. 4 Emulator of phase A and its converter deduced that the actual phase voltage, current, flux linkage,
a Winding emulator I resistance, and inductance need to be scaled down or up
b Winding emulator II synchronously. Therefore, the following parameters are defined: kv

IET Electr. Power Appl., 2016, Vol. 10, Iss. 6, pp. 458–466
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016 461
Table 1 Optimal scaling factors for the prototype winding emulator can be written as
Parameters Real SRM Emulated SRM Scaling factors
b2 ′  ′ 
RkMP = · L u, ik . (28)
voltage 24 V 10 V 0.4167 b1 k
current 8A 6.4 mA 8 × 10−4
– –
Due to the linear relationship between RkMP and Lk′ , the controllable
flux linkage 0.4167
inductance 0.007–0.078 H 3.65–40.6 H 520.83
resistance 1.55 Ω 807 Ω 520.83 resistance can be expressed as a function of the emulated phase
current and rotor position, i.e.
 
RkMP = f u, i′k
(voltage scaling), ki (current scaling), kc (flux linkage scaling), and
kz (impedance scaling). These parameters represent the ratios of the
4  
 (29)
emulated values to the real ones, which are determined by the = dl i′k cos lNr (u + hk ) .
characteristics of the real SRM and designed circuit components. l=0
The amplitude of the voltage across each phase winding emulator
is restricted by the supply voltage of active circuit devices, such as The determination method of the coefficient δl(ik′ ) is the same as that
operational amplifier. Also, the emulated rated current must be of cl(ik). The values of the emulated phase current and the
below the allowable maximum current inflowing the active device controllable resistance at five critical rotor positions can be
AD844 to ensure the normal operation way of the circuit. By obtained based on (24) and (28). It is noted that RkMP is dependent
referring to the datasheet of AD844, the rated emulated phase on the emulated phase current, not the current flowing into itself.
current in the circuit is set as 6.4 mA in order to reduce the The emulated phase current varies from 1.6 to 6.4 mA with a step
simulation errors. Considering our emulators are realised by the of 0.8 mA. The controllable resistance ranges from 840 Ω to
active devices with ±15 V, the emulated excitation DC voltage is 9.36 kΩ.
chosen as 10 V. The frequency of the real SRM is reproduced in
the circuit emulation. Based on (16), the voltage equation of phase
4.3 Inverse inductance module
winding emulator can be represented as
With respect to the emulator II, the key is the design of the inverse
dc′k inductance module. The circuit parameters for implementing
u′k = R′s i′k + . (23)
dt the winding emulator II are chosen as follows: R6 = R7 = 50 kΩ,
R8 = R9 = 16 kΩ, R10 = 50 kΩ, Rw = 10 kΩ, Rz = 50 kΩ, Ci = 100
Herein, the variables in the winding emulator are distinguished by nF, and Rd = 1 kΩ. Substituting these parameters into (14), we can
the superscript ‘′ ’. The relationships among the actual and obtain k = 26.04. The value of vyk is proportional to the inverse
emulated phase voltage and current can be derived phase inductance, and hence can be expressed as a function of the
emulated phase current and rotor position, i.e.
u′k = kv · uk , i′k = ki · ik . (24)
26.04
As a consequence of (23) and (24), the emulated phase flux linkage vyk = g(u, i′k ) =  ′. (30)
L′k u, ik
can be described as
By referring (28)–(30), the expression of vyk can be given by
c′k = kv · ck . (25)
6000
It can be inferred from (24) and (25) that the emulated phase vyk = 4 ′
. (31)
inductance and phase resistance can be calculated by l=0 dl ik cos lNr (u + hk )

c′k kv On the basis of the extreme values of the controllable resistance, it

L′k = = · Lk , can be deduced that vyk ranges from 0.64 to 7.14 V.
i′k ki
  (26)
dc′
R′s = u′k − k /i′k = v · Rs .
k
dt ki 5 Simulation analysis and experimental results of
the winding emulators
The phase inductance data of the prototype can be transformed into
the emulated inductance values based on (26), which can be used for PSpice is adopted here to implement the simulation analysis for the
the determination of the expressions of RMP and vy. Table 1 gives an two SRM winding emulators of Fig. 4. The controllable resistor
overview of the optimal scaling factors for the prototype. RAMP can be easily carried out by the PSpice Model Editor based
The proposed inductor emulators can be applied to emulate the on the mathematical expression (29). Similarly, the instantaneous
windings of SRMs which are different in parameters without value of vyA can be outputted via the Model Editor according to
changing the hardware circuit structure. (31). In the circuit implementation, all the signals must be
expressed by voltage or current. Here, the voltage signal is used to
represent the rotor position.
4.2 Modelling of the controllable resistor RMP The circuit parameters have been configured in the preceding
analysis. In order to simplify the PSpice simulation model, it is
The accurate expression of the controllable resistor is necessary for hypothesised that the SRM operates at a steady state. A rotor
the emulator I at the first stage of designing. The circuit speed n = 250 r/min suitable for the motor is adopted. Based on
parameters are configured as follows: R1 = R2 = 50 kΩ, R3 = R4 = (22), the rotor position signal is given directly and set as a
9 kΩ, R5 = 50 kΩ, C = 100 nF, RQ = 3.2 kΩ, and Rx = 1 kΩ. sawtooth wave with the frequency of 25 Hz, of which initial and
Substituting these parameters into (7), we can get maximum values are 0 and π/3 V, respectively. By assuming that
the turn-on angle θon is 0° and the turn-off angle θoff is 24°, as the
b1 1 electrical period is equal to 60°, two MOSFETs of phase A can be
= . (27)
b2 230.4 controlled by a 25 Hz square wave with 40% duty cycle. By
adjusting the parameters of the square wave generator, different
According to (8), the controllable resistor RkMP in each phase θon and θoff can be obtained.

IET Electr. Power Appl., 2016, Vol. 10, Iss. 6, pp. 458–466
462 & The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016
Fig. 5 Simulation results of the SRM winding emulators
a Winding emulator I
b Winding emulator II
Since v3 reflects multiplied cA′ by 1/β1, the emulated phase flux
linkage of the winding emulator I can be calculated as cA′ = v3 ×
β1 = 0.029v3. In the winding emulator II, the flux linkage can be
represented as cA′ = v10 × R6R10Ci/R8 = v10/64. Fig. 5 shows the
simulation results of two winding emulators. The instantaneous
emulated inverse inductance value is indirectly sensed by
capturing vyA. From Fig. 5, we can find that the DC source directly
supplies power to the winding emulators when the switches S1
and S2 are both on. During this process, the capacitors C and Ci
store energy from the power supply. This behaviour results in the
increment of the flux linkage and current. When S1 and S2 are
both off, the current commutates to the free-wheeling diodes D1
and D2, and the emulated phase voltage is slightly smaller than
−10 V because of the forward voltage over the diodes. Hence,
Schottky diodes are adopted for their smaller forward voltage. The
negative voltage across the winding emulators leads to the
decrement of the flux linkage and current. The current will
become zero and even change its sign, until recovery of the diodes
occurs. After recovery, the phase voltage exhibits a damped
oscillating behaviour as shown in Fig. 5. The oscillation is caused
by the energy exchange between the parasitic capacitances of the
semiconductor devices and the phase inductance. Owing to the
resistances existed in the circuit, the oscillation is damped.
Although the emulated and real prototype waveforms except for
the rotor position are different in magnitude, the very close
waveform shape reveals their high similarity of dynamic
behaviour. The emulated phase inductance ranges from 3.7 to
40.6 H, and the extreme values of the emulated inverse inductance
are 0.0246 and 0.268 H−1. The maximum current and flux linkage
of the two winding emulators in this operation case are ∼6 mA
and 0.1 Wb, respectively. It can be observed that the simulation
results of the two winding emulators are in good agreement.
The circuits shown in Fig. 4 are used for the experimental
confirmation. To reproduce the SRM transient behaviour with high
fidelity, accurate models of RkMP and vyk with a small time step is
necessary for the real-time simulation. Hence, the look-up table
method is used instead of the proposed analytical expression in the
DSP for shortening the runtime. The tables containing the values
of RAMP and vyA are obtained based on (29) and (31), which are
120 × 80 arrays. The interval of the rotor position and current is
IET Electr. Power Appl., 2016, Vol. 10, Iss. 6, pp. 458–466
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016
0.5° and 0.08 mA, respectively. The voltage vrs′ proportional to iA′
is sampled and converted into digital code. Two voltage followers
are exploited for copying two terminal voltages of Rs′ and a
differential ratio amplifier circuit is used to obtain vrs′ .
Corresponding to the PSpice simulation, the SRM is assumed to
run at a constant speed. The rotor position signal is set by the DSP
and ranges from 0 to π/3 at a fixed frequency of 25 Hz. The DSP
is used not only for the calculation of RAMP or vyA, but also to
offer control signals for the MOSFETs in Fig. 4. Note that the
control signals must be sent to the drive circuit first, and then
provided for the MOSFETs. In hardware experiment, the same
circuit parameters as in simulation are configured. The
experimental data are captured by TDS2024 (2500 samples) and
then drawn by OriginPro8.0 software.
Fig. 6 clearly displays the emulated phase voltage, current, and
flux linkage waveforms captured from the two experimental
hardware emulators, which agree well with the simulation results
given in Fig. 5. The small errors are possibly caused by the
inaccuracy of practical components and sampling.
6 Hardware simulation of the whole SRM system
The practicability of the two winding emulators has been verified.
Moreover, their correctness needs to be tested via the comparisons
with the practical SRM system performance. The emulator of the
whole SRM system with four-phase winding emulators will be
constructed in order to compare with the real behaviour of the
prototype.
The winding emulators of the other three phases can be obtained
by shifting π/12, π/6, and π/4 based on phase A. In addition to each
phase winding emulator and the converter, the mechanical equation
and controller should be contained in the hardware simulation. Since
the electromagnetic torque characteristic is highly non-linear and the
analytical solution of the mechanical equation is unavailable,
analogue circuit no longer applies. Hence, DSP is employed to
compute the torque, speed, and position information, which also
functions as the controller of SRM system.
Fig. 7 shows the overall hardware architectures of the SRM
system emulator based on two proposed winding emulators,
463
Fig. 6 Experimental results at n = 250 r/min, θon = 0°, and θoff = 24°. The horizontal coordinate scale is 10 ms/division. The vertical coordinate scales are CH1:
10 V/division, CH2: 3 mA/division, and CH3: 0.5 Wb/division
a Winding emulator I
b Winding emulator II

which are implemented via a single DSP platform and analogue the input x is Tem − TL and the output y is ω, (20) can be rewritten by
circuits as well as external data acquisition instruments.
High-performance ADC (AD7606) and DAC (DAC8563) with
1
the resolution 16 bits are adopted to decrease the quantisation y= x (32)
errors caused by DSP. Js + B
The initial module gives the initial states of the angular velocity ω
and the rotor position θ, which can be changed easily according to where s is defined as the differentiation operation. Equation (32) can
the real operation state of the SRM system. In the simulation be discretised by means of Z-translation. Here, the bilinear
model I, the calculation module is responsible for calculating RkMP transformation method is chosen for the discretisation of the
and phase torque based on the rotor position and the current mechanical equation of SRM. Hence, the angular velocity at t
captured from the winding emulator I. For the simulation model II, moment can be derived as
the values of vyk and phase torque are derived in the calculation
module. Similar to the calculations of vyk and RkMP, the torque is
predicted by the look-up table method. The table is obtained based 2J − BTs   Ts
Y (t) = × Y t − Ts + × X (t )
on (19), which is also a 120 × 80 array. The predicted phase 2J + BTs 2J + BTs
torque is sent to electromagnetic device module for obtaining the Ts  
angular velocity ω and the rotor position and updated after θ is + × X t − Ts . (33)
2J + BTs
calculated during each time step. In the electromagnetic device
module, the differential equations need to be discretised first, and
the detail discretisation methods are presented below. Suppose that For the 8/6 SRM prototype, J = 0.00011 kg m2 and B = 4 μN s/rad.

Fig. 7 Block diagrams of the hardware simulation

a Simulation model I
b Simulation model II

IET Electr. Power Appl., 2016, Vol. 10, Iss. 6, pp. 458–466
464 & The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016
Fig. 8 Flux linkage versus current characteristics of the SRM
a TL = 1 Nm, θon = 0°, and θoff = 24°
b TL = 1 Nm, θon = 0°, and θoff = 26°
c TL = 2 Nm, θon = 0°, and θoff = 24°
d TL = 2 Nm, θon = 0°, and θoff = 26°

The rotor position at the time of t can be obtained as denote the maximum values of the flux linkage and current,
respectively; navg and Tavg represent the average speed and average
  T torque, respectively. The flux linkage and current can reflect the
Ts
u(t) = u(t − Ts ) + v(t ) × + v t − Ts × s . (34) electrical behaviour of the SRM. It can be seen that the simulated
2 2 flux linkage/current loci are close to the real ones for the
prototype. Furthermore, accurate prediction of average torque
For the sake of simplicity, the motor is operated at speed open-loop versus rotor speed characteristics is crucial for the SRM. As is
and only the current chopped control strategy is adopted herein to clear from Table 2, the average speed is closely predicted by the
avoid phase current beyond the rated current at low speed [24]. hardware simulation models. The errors between the simulated and
Hence, the control signals of the MOSFETs are only determined real data are all <10%. The good agreement between the simulated
by the rotor position and phase current. The controller module and real results indicates the correctness of the proposed winding
detects the rotor position and current states in every time step, and emulators.
then compares them with the given turn-on angle θon, turn-off
angle θoff, and maximum current imax. Based on the comparison
results, the controller module generates dynamic digital control
signals for the MOSFETs. Table 2 Comparisons of real and simulated results
The real SRM system utilises another DSP (TMS320F28335) chip
to sample the phase current and rotor position signal. The control TL cAp IAp Tavg navg
signals of the MOSFETs are provided by the DSP. The
(a) real 0.1529 4.51 1.105 485.2
experiments of the prototype are performed under the same (a) simulated I 0.1535 4.60 1.115 485.5
operation condition with the hardware simulation. The (a) simulated II 0.1493 4.62 1.108 485.0
experimental steady-state characteristics of the SRM prototype are (b) real 0.1668 4.55 1.129 485.0
captured to compare with the simulated ones. It is noted that the (b) simulated I 0.1676 4.64 1.130 485.8
(b) simulated II 0.1622 4.59 1.127 485.3
waveforms of phase current and flux linkage in the hardware (c) real 0.2053 6.14 2.070 317.9
simulation models are captured and then multiplied by the scaling (c) simulated I 0.2045 6.20 2.054 317.5
factors in Table 1. (c) simulated II 0.2022 6.23 2.063 318.0
Fig. 8 depicts four cases where the motor is operated with different (d) real 0.2230 6.17 2.141 320.5
(d) simulated I 0.2205 6.16 2.057 319.9
loads or turn-off angles. The detailed comparisons between the (d) simulated II 0.2185 6.21 2.085 320.2
simulated and real data are listed in Table 2, wherein cAp and IAp

IET Electr. Power Appl., 2016, Vol. 10, Iss. 6, pp. 458–466
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016 465
7 Conclusions
Two new circuits with programmable equivalent inductance are
proposed by making use of common off-the-shelf components.
These two inductor emulators have the advantage of universality
and can be used both in floating and grounded connections. Based
on the two newly proposed inductor emulators and the phase
inductance representation, SRM winding are first emulated based
on the hardware circuits. Although the circuit emulation is the
downscaled model of the real SRM, both the simulation and
experimental results reflect that these two winding emulators can
achieve high accuracy. The proposed hardware simulation of the
SRM system model can be used for not only emulating the
dynamic behaviour of the system, but also many other potential
application in future researches in consideration of its real-time
operation and low cost.
8 Acknowledgment
This work was supported from the National Natural Science
Foundation of China under grant no. 51277174.
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IET Electr. Power Appl., 2016, Vol. 10, Iss. 6, pp. 458–466
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016