A HIGH PERFORMANCE FIELMFUENTED CONTROL FOR A SWITCHED
RELUCTANCE MOTOR DRIVE
Tian-Hua Liu, Yung-Ju Chen, and Ming-Tzan Lin
Department of Electrical Engineering
National Taiwan Institute of Technology
Taipei, Taiwan 106, R. 0. C.
ABSTRACT
This paper presents a new controller design for a
switched reluctance motor drive system. The design,
simulation, and implementation of a three phase, 10 HP,
switched reluctance motor under field-oriented control is
described. An optimal controller design based on
field-oriented control is discussed. By using this control
method, the performance of the switched reluctance
motor drive system is improved. Experimental results
validate theoretical analysis and computer simulation
results.
INTRODUCTION
A number of studies [1]-[3] have been published
recently on switched reluctance motors (SRMs), as they
are simple in construction, and economical in comparison
with synchronous and induction motors. This research
has studied the analysis and design of the drive circuit.
For example, R.Krishnan and P. N . Materu proposed a
lowxost converter and a single-switch-per-phase
converter for SRMs, [1]-[2]. C. Pollock and B. W.
Williams presented a unipolar converter for a SRM, [3].
R. S. Wallace and D. G. Taylor presented a new method
to reduce torque ripple, [4]. In addition, many papers
have discussed the drive systems of SRMs. For instance,
B. K. Bose, T. J. E. Miller, P. M. Szczesny, and W.H.
Bicknell used a microprocessor to control a SRM, 151. J.
T. Bass, M. Ehsani, T . J. E . Miller proposed a robust
torque control of SRMs without a shaft position sensor,
[6]. M. Ehsani, I. Husain, and A. B. Kulkarni, presented
a SRM drive system without using position and current
This project is supported by National Science Council
under grant NSC43-0404-E011-032.
IEEE Catalogue No. 95TH8025
0-7803-2423-41951$4.aoOl995IEEE
180
sensors, (71. However, some disadvantages exist with
these previous papers. For example, a huge torque
pulsation is produced during the period of phase current
switching. As a result of this pulsation, the speed range is
not wide enough. Recently, N. Matsui, N. Akao, and T.
Wakino presented a high-precision torque control of
SRMs by using field-oriented control 181; However, the
modelling of the drive system and the speed-loop
controller design were not discussed in this paper. Unlike
papers [5]-[8], this paper presents a systematic controller
design for a switched reluctance drive. First, a simplified
model of the motor based on field-oriented control is
proposed. Based on the control method, the input
currents can thus be decoupled as flux and torque
currents, and the speed-loop controller design easily
achieved. Next, an optimal controller of the speed-loop is
derived. This controller can perform with both a fast
response and a good load disturbance rejection capability.
The proposed block diagram of vector control for a
switched reluctance motor is shown in Fig. 1. The system
consists of four major elements: a switched reluctance
motor, a current regulated inverter, a digital controller
implemented by a microcomputer, and some sensors. A
32-bit 16.7-MHz Motorola MC68020 monoboard
microprocessor serves as the speed-loop controller. The
microprocessor-based controller is connected to various
peripheral devices such as D/A and A/D conversion
modules, and a parallel 1/0 module via the VME bus.
The controller determines the reference stator current
magnitude command I , and current phase angle 6. Then,
* ,* *
It computes and provides three-phase currents ia, I,,, ic
to the current regulated inverter. The three-phase motor
line currents are measured by Hall-effect current sensors.
These measured currents are fed back to the current
controller to execute the current regulated algorithm.
The other feedback quantity is the absolute rotor
position, measured by the absolute encoder mounted on
the motor shaft.
ncropmcessov
T Absdut.
Encoder
'
I
Fig. 1 Block diagram of proposed system.
CONTROL ALGORITHM
The traditional control of a switched reluctance
motor is shown in Fig. 2. Both the stator and rotor have
salient poles, but only the stator offers windings. Take
the a-phase as an example. When the inductance of the
a-phase is increasing, the current of the a-phase is
injected with a constant amplitude. After the inductance
of the a-phase reaches a maximum value, the a-phase
current is blocked. So, the current is switched according
to the position of the rotor in order to obtain a smooth
torque.
181
(4 er
Fig. 2 Traditional control of a switched reluctance motor.
(a) structure (b) inductances (c) phase currents
In this paper, the basic principle of controlling a SRM is
proposed, Fig. 1. The motor is driven by a
current-regulated voltage-source inverter. The inverter
generates three-phase variable-frequency stator
currents. The amplitudes and frequencies of the stator
currents are determined by the speed-loop controller and
the encoder. The simplified model and controller design
are discussed in the following section.
A. Simplified Mathematical Model
In this paper, a simplified model of the switched
reluctance motor is used. Based on vector control, with a
d&q synchronous reference frame, the torque equation of
the simplified model can be described as
T = ( L d - L q ) i q id (1)
and the speed of the motor is
1
pur = JI T e - T ~ -Bm ur 1. (2)
m
where Te is the electromagnetic torque, Ld and L are
9
the d- and q- axes inductances, id and i are the d- and
9
q- axes currents, p is the differential operator d/dt, ur is
the rotor shaft speed, Jm is the inertia constant, T1 is the
load torque, and Bm is the coefficient of viscosity of the
motor.
B. Field Oriented Control Method
In this method, the d- axis current is fixed a t a
constant value to produce flux. The q- axis current,
which is called "torque current", is determined by the
speed-loop controller and the speed error. A fast response In this paper, we set up a quadratic performance index
to the torque can thus be achieved. The torque of the which weights speed error Awr(t) relative to control
motor can be expressed as input i (t) as follows
T =(L -L ) i i q
e d q d q
= K t iq (3)
J = [(q2 Aur(t)2 + i;(t)) dt

where Kt is the constant coefficient of torque.
The current magnitude and phase are
+
I = ( i 2d i2q ) 112 (4)
(5)
C. Controller Design
Under field-oriented control, the transfer function
of the plant can be obtained from equations (1)-(3), and
expressed as P(s)= wr(s)/ i (9) = Kt/ (J,s
9
+
Bm). In
the real system, however, exists the delay time due to the
sampling interval of the microprocessor and the switching
interval of the inverter. In addition, there are coulomb
friction and transportation lag between the motor shaft
and the mechanical load. So, the plant can be expressed
as a more precisemodel as
K
t e-rds
= Jms+Bm
where rd is the equivalent delay time between the
current i and the motor speed wr. In order to simplify
9 reduced; however, in this case the speed response
the design of the controller, we use l / ( l t r d s ) to
approach e-'ds. Then, the plant is shown in Fig. 3 and
can be expressed as
where J is the quadratic performance index, q is the
weighted factor, Aur(t) is the speed error, i (t) is the
9
control input (q-axis current). The controller design is
shown as follows.
First, By using spectral factorization, the
denominator of the optimal closed-loop transfer function
is obtained as (101
Dt(s) D t ( W = Dp(s) D p W + q2 Np(s) Np(-S)
(9)
where Dt(s) is the denominator of the optimal
closed-loop system, D (s) is the denominator of the
P
transfer function of the plant, and N (5) is the nominator
P
of the transfer function of the plant. The weighted factor
q is chosen according to the closed-loop performance of
the system. If q is chosen as a larger value, the speed
response is better but the control input i (t) becomes
q
larger, which requires a lot of energy. On the other hand,
if q is selected as a small value, the control input i is
9
performs poorly. The closed-loop transfer function of the
system is chosen as [lo]
(YS+P
T(s) = (10)
K2S2+X1 S +KO
From equations (7), (9), and (lo), we can obtain
K2 -- r d J m (11)

nl =J2rciJmJni+K:q2 +Bm2r2+Jm2 (12)

If we allow the steady-state error of the ramp input

t n ( t ) to become zero, we can easily obtain

:
Fig. 3 Block diagram of the closed-loop control system.
ess = 1i m SE(s)
s-, 0

182
 0 (("1--(y)S+(Ko-P)) microprocessor computes the speed error, executes the
=lim
S-+o K2S3+KlS2+KoS optimal control algorithm and coordination
transformation, and generates threephase sinusoidal
=O (14)
waves to the current-regulated inverter. The sampling
According to the equation (14), we can conclude that the
period of the microprocessor is 1 ms. The motor is
parameters of the nominator are nl = a, and K~ = P.
three-phase, eight-pole, and 10HP, and is made by
From Fig. 2, the closed-loop transfer function can he Allenwest Company. The parameters of the switched
reluctance motor are shown in Table I.

Table I
Substituting (10)-(14) into (15) and letting x1=", K~=P,
Parameters of the Switched Reluctance Motor
the controller C(s) can be derived as 0.13H
6 J 7 (KIBm+KOJm)Td+KIJm Ld
C(Sl = ~ mds+ 0.065H
Kt K2 K t n2 Lq
RS
2R
KOBmrd+KIBm+KOJm 1 Jm 0.0222 N-msec 2/rad
+

KtK2 s
+

-'O2
B, 1
(16)
Bm 0.00028 N-m-sec/rad
When the viscous coefficient is small and can he
neglected, then the controller can be simplified as a PID
controller EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The concepts behind this paper have been
C(S) = K p + - Ki +K ~ s (17) validated in the laboratory. The system has very low
and torque pulsation and can reduce the noise of motor
K = 'OJm7d+"lJm operation. The implemented system can he operated at as
P KtK2 low as 15 r/min. Fig. 4 shows the speed responses of the
K. =- 'OJm motor at 400 [/min. By adjusting the weighted factor,
tK2 the rising time and overshoot can he changed. Fig. 5
Kd = "1 Jmrd shows the load disturbance rejection responses at 2 N.m.
K t "2 The measured responses match the simulation results.
When Bm is neglected, the controller is reduced as a PID Fig. 6 shows the low speed response of 25 r/min. This
system has a lower speed range than traditional control.
controller; however, the result is different from Generally speaking, the lowest speed of the traditional
traditional PID control. The parameters of the control is 40 r/min. Fig. 7 shows the steady-state
traditional PID control are determined by trial and error. a-phase current at 2 N. m. Fig. 8 shows the line to line
In this paper, the parameters of PID are related to the voltage Vab of the motor. Fig. 9 shows the torque to
parameters of the plant and the parameters of the
optimal closed-loop transfer function. current curves of the drive system. The maximum torque
is operated when i is equal to id and 6 is 45'. Although
q
IMPLEMENTATION the maximum torque control can obtain a larger
The implementation of the system is shown in Fig. torque/current ratio, it is very difficult to design a
1, where the microprocessor system consists of a MC speed-loop controller because the relationship between
68020 CPU, a MC 68881 coprocessor, and some torque and q-axis current is nonlinear. Fig. 10 shows the
peripheral devices such as a D/A converter, an A/D responses of field-oriented control and maximum torque
converter, and parallel I / O ports. The microprocessor control.
system executes the field-oriented control algorithm. The

183
 Im , , I I I I I , I T

I -

YI-

:I, - LU-
--
-0

'-2) -
.YI

.is -
.,m " I " '

I
1

(b)
Fig. 4 Speed Responses (a) simulation (b) measured.

--
-
...
..o.o>,

..am,
W.

1 I , I., I, 1 4 1, 1 0 $, I. I* 8

Tim @4

(a) 131 116 IJ7 IJI I39 141 141 112 143 144 145

(b)
Fig. 7 Steady-state current (a)simulation (b)measured.

IO I.! 1.1 3J 3, 1.1 3.6 1.7 1 . 1.1

(b)
Fig. 5. Load disturbance response -ml
,.a, I,. I.,, I,. I
.,
. L.4 !.I 1.11
I
(a) simulation (b)measured. ."8.- ,I.,

184
 model, a systematic controller design procedure can be
no, , , , , , , , , easily derived. The results presented herein represent a
I first step toward the vector control and reliability
J improvement for a switched reluctance motor.

REFERENCES
I11 R. Krishnan and P. N. Materu, "Design of a
.,I single-switch-per-phase converter for switched
I I I I I I I
reluctance motor drives," IEEE Trans. Ind.
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n m 1-1

(b) I21 R. Krishnan and P. N. Materu, "Analysis and

design of a low-cost converter for switched
Fig. 8 Steady-state voltage (a)simulation (b)measured. reluctance motor drives," IEEE Trans. Ind.
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1993.

131 C. Pollock and B. W. Williams, " A unipolar

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222-228, March/ Apr. 1990.

I41 R. S. Wallace and D. G. Taylor, "A balanced

commutator for switched reluctance motors to
,. .....- , reduce torque ripple," IEEE Trans. Power
I
, 1 1 4 5 ' Electron., vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 617-626, Oct. 1992.
iIA~P)
151 B. K. Bose, T. J. E. Miller, P. M. Szczesny,
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. .",I
Appl., vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 708-715, July/ Aug.
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[61 J. T. Bass, M. Ehsani, T . J. E. Miller, "Robust

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(71 M. Ehsani, I. Husain, and A. B. Kulkarni,

"Elimination of discrete position sensor and
#@ m m Lm ,", current sensor in switched reluctance motor
drives," IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 28, no. 1,
Fig. 10 Speed responses of field-aiented control pp. 128-135, Jan./Feb. 1992.
and maximum torque control.
I81 N. Matsui, N. Akao, and T. Wakino,
"High-precision torque control of reluctance
CONCLUSIONS motors," IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 27, no.
In this paper, the design and implementation of a 5 , pp. 902-907, Sep./ Oct. 1991.

switched reluctance motor system are proposed. Based on 191 T. H. Liu, J . R. Fu, and T . A. Lipo, "A
the field-oriented control formulation, a new optimal strategy for improving reliability of
field-oriented controlled induction motor
controller design algorithm is presented. Experimental drives," IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 29, no.5,
results validate the theoretical analysis, and show the pp. 910-918, Sep./Oct. 1993.
applicability of field-oriented control and optimal [lo] D. R. Towill, "Coefficient plane models for
controller design in switched reluctance drive. In control system analysis and design," New York:
Research Studies Press, 1981.
comparison with the conventional design method, this
drive system has lower noise, lower harmonics, and better
performance a t low speed. Moreover, from the simplified

185