A Comprehensive Review on Brushless Doubly-Fed Reluctance Machine

Abstract

The Brushless Doubly-Fed Reluctance Machine (BDFRM) has been widely investigated in numerous research studies since it is brushless and cageless and there is no winding on the rotor of this emerging machine. This feature leads to several advantages for this machine in comparison with its induction counterpart, i.e., Brushless Doubly-Fed Induction Machine (BDFIM). Less maintenance, less power losses, and also more reliability are the major advantages of BDFRM compared to BDFIM. The design complexity of its reluctance rotor, as well as flux patterns for indirect connection between the two windings mounted on the stator including power winding and control winding, have restricted the development of this machine technology. In the literature, there is not a comprehensive review of the research studies related to BDFRM. In this paper, the previous research studies are reviewed from different points of view, such as operation, design, control, transient model, dynamic model, power factor, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), and losses. It is revealed that the BDFRM is still evolving since the theoretical results have shown that this machine operates efficiently if it is well-designed.

Dynamic Modeling and Control of BDFRG under Unbalanced Grid Conditions

“…During the past few decades, they have been rapidly developed in response to increasing requirements for a wide range of new applications such as [1]: wind energy conversion systems (WECS), micro-grids, electric vehicles, more electric aircrafts, electric ship propulsion, high-power industrial drives, robotics, etc. Among them is certainly the Brushless Doubly Fed Reluctance Machine (BDFRM) with two electrical and one mechanical port, mostly targeting large wind generators [2], but also commercial heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and large pump-type drives, as well as turbo machinery [3]. The BDFRM main advantages can be summarized as the following [2]:…”

“…The drawbacks that may be associated with the BDFRM are compromised torque density [3], efficiency, and power factor [2]. In order to minimize these limitations and enhance its market competitiveness, further performance improvements are necessary, especially through the rotor optimization [2].…”

“…In order to minimize these limitations and enhance its market competitiveness, further performance improvements are necessary, especially through the rotor optimization [2]. This promising machine technology is still evolving and according to the latest design and control advances it should be seriously considered as a viable substitute to DFIMs, foremost as a wind turbine generator (BD-FRG) [3]. The BDFRMs have therefore gained increasing attention given their numerous advantages not only over DFIMs, but also its Brushless Doubly-Fed Induction Machine (BDFIM) counterpart, which is much more difficult to control due to the heavy parameter dependence of dynamic models [6].…”

“…The BDFRM is a self-cascaded, slip power recovery machine [3] with two conventional, sinusoidal stator windings of different applied frequencies and pole numbers [7], and a modern reluctance rotor having half the total number of stator poles to provide magnetic coupling between the windings. Thus, a pre-requisite for the torque production is established by modulating the stator magneto-motive force waveforms and generating flux through a variable air gap.…”

Low Sensitivity Predictive Control for Doubly-Fed Induction Generators Based Wind Turbine Applications

“…Furthermore, the rapid falling in the price of power electronics devices also facilitate the technology of variable-speed wind turbines. The doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) is currently the most famous variable-speed wind generator in the market [8][9][10][11]. In the DFIG, the variable speed operation is possible by using a reduced-scale back-to-back (BtB) power converter to interface the DFIG rotor with the grid.…”