Study on a Motor Driver for an Improved SRM by Using Constant Current Power Supply

Abstract

This paper describes a novel motor which is an improved SRM (Switched Reluctance Motor) and a study of its driving circuit. Our objective is applying the motor to the EV(Electric Vehicles) for one of the solution of the rare earth issue. In order to realize it, control method of the motor and driving circuits must be developed. For the control method, DC chopper, phase controller and inverter are proposed so far. On the other hand, SRM has strong nonlinearity and some disadvantages. Due to the nonlinearity, computer simulation of the motor and its driving circuits are quite difficult. Therefore, we had to evaluate our method by experiments using real hardware. In this paper, at first, structural feature of the novel motor is explained. Then a principle of commutation circuit will be described. In addition, this paper presents a structure and operation of constant-current power supply which plays important role for control of the novel motor. Finally, results of experiments of the motor drive by using our driving circuits will be presented.