20

88 w .BRIGHTON I3 1691993
TURN-OFF ANGLE CONTROL OF SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTORS FOR
OPTIMUM TORQUE OUTPUT
R.ORTHMANN H.P. SCHONER

DAIMLER-BENZ AG, GERMANY

AbstracL A new analytical concept is proposed to determine the turn-off angle for optimum
torque output. It is based on the simplified voltage equation of the motor terminal. Simula-
tion results based on a linear motor model are presented to demonshate the influence of turn-
off angle on torque output. The concept enables the on-line calculation of the optimal tum-
off-angle. It just requires the knowledge of some state variables within the control loop and
some fixed drive parameters. A decrease in torque ripple and subsequently a decrease in
acoustic noise is the result. The concept is applicable to the full wave mode and the chopping
mode as well.

Kevwords: SR-motor drive, on-line control, turn-off

INTRODUCTION BASIC RELATIONS

In recent years there is increasing interest in Switched Applying the general voltage equation of electrical
Reluctance Motors (SR-Motors). The special design motors
form with six stator poles and four rotor poles ( 6/4-
u=R.i+- dw(y.i) (1)
motor ) is regarded as the least expensive way to real- dt
ize a brushless variable speed drive. The motor itself is with the derivative of the flux linkage for the special
robust and reliable, nearly independent on the op- case of the switched reluctance motor
erating environment and qualified to run both at very dy(y,i) d{i.L(y,i)}
high speeds and at low speeds. The inverter is shoot- -=
dt dt
through safe and its control is less complicated than in
classical variable speed ac-drives. The switched reluc-
tance motor can be operated in a torque controlled
way, and thus it is an excellent solution for a high we get the basic equation for the terminal-voltage of
number of domestic and automotive applications. switched reluctance motors as function of the winding
current:
However, to obtain the maximum torque output of a
SR-motor, an appropriate stator current control has to
be implemented. Without shifting the turn-off angle as
function of the actual operation conditions, the high
torque capability superfluously dentes. In addition, the
torque ripple increases and the drive generates more
acoustic noise. Aim is to operate the motor with
minimum current amplitude required, thus resulting the
smallest ripple on the current and torque waveforms.
State of the art controls use look-up tables to determine
the tum-off angle. They have to be adapted individu-
ally to each specific motor design and thus they are
very inflexible. I

wc(y,i) = /y(y,it)dit (5)

This paper proposes a concept for on-line calculation
of the turn-off angle. This calculation requires only
four state variables already existing within the speed
control loop and two easily measurable motor parame-
ters.

The optimum turn-on angle is not reflected here, as

seven1 papers are dedicated to this topic/3,5/

0 1993 The European Power Electronics Association

 21

In order to simplify the calculation, the inductance as The second mode is the 'Full wave mode' ( s.. fig. 3).
function of the rotor angle y is represented as a Current and toque can only be controlled by shifting
stepwise linear curve as shown in fig.1. the turn-on and turn-off angles. In this mode, torque
has a high ripple.

Figure 1: Idealised current and inductance waveform

for positive torque production

For positive torque production the inductance must be

- I

U-
Figure 3 Current and terminal voltage in the full wave
mode
increasing(O<(y- o ) < i 3 s in fig.1)
iLaligned -Lunaligned) TRANSITION BETWEEN CHOPPING MODE
L(y) = Lunaligned + +YO) (7) AND FULL WAVE MODE
PS

Let yo be zero and defining a inductance ratio b,

The transition point from the chopping mode to the full
b= Lunaligned
wave mode is reached, when neglecting all ohmic
Laligned -Lunaligned losses the dc-supply voltage uzK of the motor power
then supply is equal to the motor back-emf ( third part of
eqn. 3). The current i,, at this point depends on the
(9) actual motor speed nact
and

Running modes: Chopping mode / Full wave mode If the speed control loop requires a current higher than
the value above, the drive system operates in the full
wave mode.
The speed-torque-characteristic of the switched reluc-
tance motor has two different modes of operation: The
fist mode is the 'Chopping mode' (s. fig.2). Current ANALYTICAL CURRENT WAVEFORM SIMU-
control is done by pulse width modulation of the LATION IN THE FULL WAVE RANGE
terminal voltage. Torque is controlled by the current
amplitude and by shifting the turn-on and turn-off A procedure to simulate the current waveform in the
angles as well. full wave mode has been published by Ray and Davis
et al. /l/. It supposes that all ohmic resistances
1
z R v =O (12)
U
and all mutual couplings are neglected and no satura-
tion happens.
!
zMv(y,i)=O : L(7.i) * f(i) (13)
U
Forming the basis of the here presented concept, this
procedure will be reported briefly:

Supposing, that the terminal voltage is constant during

turn-on and turn-off of the phase current and suppos-
Figure 2: Current and terminal voltage in the chopping
ing, that it has a fixed known ratio to the dc-supply
mode
voltage UZK,
 22

Turn on: U"on=+ 1 'um: (14)

Turn Off: ummoff=- m . u x ; (15)
and within the range F , the angle aR is the rotor pole
the equation of the motor terminal voltage eqn.3 sim- angle normalized to the stator pole angle:
plifies to
u(y)=~.d{i.L(y)}=o,,.-{i.L(y)} d (16)
dt dy dr Defining the current at a = 0 as &, , the integration of
In order to calculate the current wave form, this equa- q n s . I<..% gives
tion has to be solved separately according for each a+Io.b
range of the inductance curve, respectively according forrange A: IA =
b-(a-a,)
to the switching condition of the terminal voltage. In
total there are six different ranges. for range B: IB =+IO +-a
b
for range C: if Full wave mode, i.e. IO 2 1
1, = a+I o
b+a
(a-a,)+I,.(b + a p )
I, =
b+a

(
if Chopping mode,i.e. Io I 1
I, = Io = I,
m .(a,-a)+I, . ( b + a , )
1
forrangeD: I D =
b+a
1-a
forrangeE I, =12-m.-
Figure 4: ranges of the current waveform simulation b+l
m . ( a R -a)+I,.(b+l)
forrangeF IF =
It will be presupposed, that the tum-off process starts (b+l)+(aR -U)
within the increasing slope of the inductance curve, i.e.
a, I1,and finishes within the decreasing slope of the The currents b.11.12 and I3 are the currents at the
inductance curve, i.e. a, 2 aR. boundaries of the different ranges of the inductance
curve, respectively is the current at the beginning of
For further calculations, it is convenient to normalize the turn-off process ( s. fig.4).
the winding current and the rotor angle: I, =Io +h a1
(35)
se current; -
a,+Io.b
@act .(Laligned -Lunaligned) I, =-
TI=-= a s e b+a,
'lh uZK ' P s
a, .(l+m)- m + 10. b
Normalized a n d g I, = (37)
b+l
a = r ap.(l+m)-m.aM +lo.b)
BS I, = (38)
b+l
Eqn.16 becomes within (boundary condition for I, and I,: turn-off is not yet
d finished, i.e. 12 .I3 > 0 )
rangeA +l=--(I(a).(b-a+a,)}
da
d COMPUTATION OF THE EXTINCTION ANGLE
rangeB: +l=-{I(a).b}
da
d
range C: +1= -{ I(a).(b+a)} With eqn. 34 and 38, we can calculate the angle ag,at
da
d which the tum-off process is finished, by setting eqn.
range D: -m = -{ I(a).(b + a)} 34 qual to zero:
da
d IF(a= a,)= 0 = - m . a g + a , . ( l + m ) + I o .b
rangeE -m =-{I(a).(b+l)}
da b+l+aR-ag
rangeF -m=- {I(a).(b+l+aR -a)}
da
Within range A the angle a, marks the end of the de-
creasing inductance ( s. fig.3),
 23

Solving for the desired angle ag,we get
up. ( l + m ) + I o . b
as=
m
and for the duratian of the turn-off process
a +Io.b
aOff = a g-ap = P (40)
m tion result of the complete drive system using eqns. 27
As a result we notice, that with known ratios of the in-
ductances (b) and voltages (m), both angles are only
dependent on the current I, and dependent on the nor-
malized turn-off angle up .
INFLUENCE OF THE TURN-OFF ANGLE ON
THE TORQUE OUTPUT
Theoretically, for a given current amplitude the maxi-
mum gross torque output is reached by instantaneously
turning on each phase at the beginning of its corre-
sponding rising inductance slope and by instantane-
ously turning off each phase at the end of the rising in-
ductance slope. As the dc-supply voltage is limited,
turn-on time and especially tum-off time are not
negligible. At higher running speeds, each of these
events easily exceeds more than 15O. When keeping
these times unconsidered, a high degradation of the
gross torque output will result. Additionally, both the
torque ripple and the acoustic noise will considerably
increase as we can see in comparing fig. 5 to fig.6.
%
. -, ........ .,.,.-
I"
In fig5 ,the turn-off angle has been appropriately cho-
sen, in fig.6 the turn-off angle has been fixed to
(39) up =J.
Figure 7 shows the influence of the turn-off angle on
the gross torque output. This figure gives the simula-
to 34 for the calculation of the motor currents. Plotted
are the torque output normalized to the maximum at-
tainable torque output at given current level versus the
normalized turn-off angle up at different normalized
current levels I,.
The current level was varied between Io = 1 and
I, = 9. As system parameters in the simulation the
normalized centre angle a,( s. fig.4 ) was chosen to
and the inductance ratio b was chosen to b = 0.187.
Saturation was neglected. As we can see in fig. 7 ,the
optimum value of a p is decreasing with increasing
current level I, from up= 0.8 at I, = 1 to ap= 0.35
at I, = 9 . Mischosen values of the turn-off angle will
result in a remarkable decrease in torque output. If we
keep, for instance, the turn-off angle at 0.8 and in-
crease the current from b=1 to b=6,we will get a re-
duction in torque output of more than 25%.

Figure 5: Turn-off with appropriately chosen tum-off

angle (b=.187 m = l a = 75.a = 1 094, I,=l)
7"-
I.*,
..
' >,.PO
"U.......... ,..,,_.-'.L---.---
,-L--L.xL
Figure 7: Normalized torque output as function of
normalized turn-off angle

If we can choose a normalized turn-off angle a p= 1

and turn-off will be finished before the start of the de-
creasing inductance slope, i.e. ag<.ap. maximum
torque output will be reached. The minimum current
taqw c a n p e n t of o m P- for validity of wn.39 thus is
2m (ac11)
IO." = l+h
With the known parameters of b = 0.185 ,m = 1 and
Toqucripplc: 0.768~p,.0.168pl(,
a, = 1.0935 ,we get
igure 6: Turn-off with normalized tum-off
angle a p= 1 ( b=.187, m=l,a, = 1.094 I,=l )
 24

Thus, at normalized currents higher than 16%,the de- The maximum gross torque loss is less than 1 %. With
sired turn-off angle has to be different from a? = l. As this value and via eqn. 43 we can rewrite eqn.39 and
for the full wave range only I, 2 1 is valid, this secon- we get
dary condition is rarely of any importance.
forIo21 (47)
DETERMINATION OF THE TURN-OFF ANGLE
FOR OPTIMUM TORQUE OUTPUT OPERAT-
For a given drive there is a simple linear relation be-
ING IN THE FULL WAVE MODE
tween optimum turn-off angle and current I, . Let
k0.185, m=l and a, =1.0935, then
As we have seen, we can precalculate the current level ap,opt= 0.820-0,0462~10 (48)
as function of the tum-off angle and as function of the
current b at the beginning of the rising inductance.
All we have to know for this algorithm is the actual
Now, which tum-off angle is the best to choose? To
value of the normalized ,I ,which is the current at the
answer this question, we have to analyse, which way is
beginning of the rising inductance slope. Additional
the best to distribute the turn-off process among the
current measuring is not necessary. By turning-on the
positive and negative torque producing range. If we
current path in advance to the beginning of the rising
initialize the tum-off in advance to the optimum value,
inductance and by limiting the current by a bang-bang
we get of course less negative torque component, but
current controller, the current is at its predetermined
also a minor positive torque component. Tuming off
value at the start of the rising inductance slope. Meth-
late, we get a high positive torque component, but a
ods to compute the good values of the pretiring angle
high negative torque component as well, so the
effective torque output will derate.
are well known / 3 . 5 /. Therefore within the drive con-
trol it is sufficient to know the desired reference value
For going further on, we define a turn-off ratio aKom.
of the current, This current is normalized using the
actual running speed, which is known within the speed
It indicates the portion of the tum-off process falling
control loop, and using the actual value of the dc-
into the range behind the centre angle a, normalized
to the total turn-off process supply voltage ( s. eqn.11 and 17 ).

(43) When digitally controlling a switched reluctance motor

A ratio of0.5 indicates identical duration of the turn-
off process in the positive and negative torque produc-
ing range.
To determine the optimum tum-off ratio, we have to
calculate the effective torque output as function of the
turn-off angle ap and the normalized current I, . The
derivative of the torque with respect to the tum-off
angle leads to !he optimum turn-off ratio.
drive, the task of computing the turn-off angle accord-
ing eqn. 47 can be realized within 1 ms by a standard
8051 microcontroller.
DETERMINATION OF THE TURN-OFF ANGLE
FOR OPTIMUM TORQUE OUTPUT
OPERATING IN THE CHOPPING MODE
The algorithm for the chopping mode is quite similar
to the presented algorithm for the full wave mode. The
difference derives from the modelling of the voltage
chopping.

In this mode, the current controller applies an average

with k, ,a constant torque factor.
As an exact solution of eqns 44 and 45 in closed form
is not possible, we solved the equations the numerical
way. The result is that the optimum value is in the
range of 2/3 and varies between 0.69 for I,=l and 0.63
for I,=10. The optimum turn-off ratio is fairly inde-
pendent from the values of the inductance ratio b , the
voltage ratio m and the value of aR. So a constant
tum-off ratio of 2/3, fixed for all normalized currents I,
is a good choice for aKom,opt:
aKom.opt = 5 (46)
voltage to the motor terminal of such a level, that the
average di/dt is zero and in consequence the desired
current is impressed. So, with eqn. 2 and neglecting all
ohmic losses, this average voltage is .
Comparing this voltage to the dc-supply voltage, we
get a ratio n,
ZK
n= (50)
 25

result. Their only input are the normalized current Io

Substituting uzK using eqn.11
at the start of the rising inductance and some fixed
ilim '"ad '(Laligned -Lunaligned) drive parameters :
uu( =
PS 2m(ac -1)
for I, 5 IO,min=
we get l+b
i i i ."act '(Laligned -Lunaligned)/PS ap=l
n=
iphase '"act '(Laligned -Lunaligned)/fiS for IO,minIIo I1, i.e. 'Chopping mode'
! '
'lim
'phase

As in both equations 11 and 49 the mean di/dt is zero,
this deduction is admissible. Subsequently the ratio n is
inverse to the known normalized current I:
n = l/I (52)
As the current is impressed, the current at the start of
the tum-off is equal to the current at the beginning of
the rising inductance.
I p (chop)= IO =lphase (53)
I, (Chop) = l/n (54)
With eqn. 54 ,we get the extinction angle
b+ap
ag = a p+- (55)
n
... ...
m Electric Power A ~ o n s . V o l . 2JQ& .
Introducing the tum-off ratio aKomas for the full wave
mode, we get the desired tum-off angle
(aKom- l).b+ n.m .ac
up=
n .m + 1- aKon,
Investigations concerning the optimal tum-off ratio
result in approximately the same value as valid in the
full wave mode. So the optimum ratio is fixed again to
2/3. With n=l/I, we get for I, 2 IO,min( s. eqn 41 )
3m.ac-b.Io
ap,opt = for I, 5 1 (57)
3,m+Io
Comparing eqn 57 to eqn.47, the continuous solution at
the transition point I, = 1 is evident.
Io,min has been defined in eqn.41. For a current less
than IO,minthe optimal tum-off angle is ap= 1 .
CONCLUSION
A new analytical concept is proposed in this paper to
solve the problem of determining the turn-off angle for
optimum torque output. Besides some linearisations it
only supposes that no saturation occurs. This simplifi-
cation is in most cases permissible, as in the full wave
operation mode even highly saturable motors are quite
unsaturated.
Based on the simplified voltage and torque equations,
the proposed method has been deduced. Simple linear
algorithms for calculating the tum-off angle a- are the
for I, 2 1, i.e. 'Full wave mode'
3m.a, - b.1,
ap=
3m +1
Both, the fullwave operation mode and the chopping
mode are covered by the equations. At the transition
point between both modes no discontinuity occurs. The
concept has been proven on consumer applications in
the fractional horse power range.
REFERENCES
1. Ray W.F., Davis R.M. (1979) "Inverter drive for
doubly salient reluctance motor: its fundamental
behaviour, linear analysis and cost implications"
2. Miller T.J.E. (1989) "Brushless permanent-magnet
and reluctance motor drives", Monographs in
Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Oxford
University Press
3. Bose B.K. ,Miller T., Szczesny P., Bicknell W.
(1986) "Microcomputer control of switched reluc-
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4. Krishanan R., Mang X., Bharadwaj AS. (1991)
"Design and performance of a microcontroller-
based switched reluctance motor drive system",
Electric Machines and Power svstems, 18,359-373
4. Finch J.W., Metwally H.M.B.(1990) "Control
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5. Vergalle M.F., Melkebeek J.A. Ghijselen J.A.
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6. Schramm D.S., Williams B.W., Green T.C. (1991)
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