A Switched Reluctance Motor Drive using Photovoltaic Transistors: Principle, Prototype, Experimental and Numerical Results

Abstract

Abstract-A solar-powered switch reluctance motor drive using photovoltaic transistors is presented. The expression "photovoltaic transistor (PVT)" is used to designate a conventional photovoltaic cell used as a light-controlled power transistor. To obtain a motor drive, a set of PVTs controls the current fed from an external DC power source to the motor phases. The control is achieved by modulating the sunlight hitting the PVTs using a shutter driven by the motor rotor. If the external DC source is a solar panel, the resulting system is able to convert light energy into mechanical energy, without the need of any brushes or other power electronics components. This system could be more affordable and reliable than conventional ones, and therefore is well suited for off-grid applications like water pumping. This article first discusses the operation of a photovoltaic transistor through the proposition and the validation of a model. Then, the operating principle of a PVT inverter is clarified. Finally, experimental and numerical results on the first PVT inverter-fed switched reluctance motor are reported. A prototype was built using a switched reluctance motor 6/4 and 12 PVTs. It was here connected to an external 12 V DC power source as a step before using a solar photovoltaic source. Results showed that the PVT inverter-fed switched reluctance motor was operating as expected and provided useful power.

Electric Traction Chain with Segmented Power Supply

“…The phase windings of an electric machine can be split to add redundancy to the electric drive [25] or to adapt the voltage ratings of the machine and of the power electronics [14]. Alternatively, multi threephase machines can be obtained by splitting the different sectors of a three-phase machine [26] or by grouping the phases of multi-phase drives [27].…”

A SRM for a PV Powered Water Pumping System Based on a Multilevel Converter and DC/DC Dual Output Converter

“…There are many types of electrical machines that can be used in this system. However, one of the machines that have been considered very interesting for this application is the switched reluctance machine (SRM) [5][6][7][8][9].…”

Influence of The Temporal Resolution of The Water Consumption Profile on Photovoltaic Water Pumping Systems Modelling and Sizing

“…The modelling, design, control and application of PVWPS have been extensively discussed in the literature. Components which are well adapted to photovoltaic water pumping have been designed, such as the motor drive using PV transistors detailed in [8]. Several control strategies of PVWPS have been investigated such as the parallel distributed compensation control [9] and the fuzzy logic control [10].…”