Transient performance of reluctance machines

The object of the paper is to build up a general picture of basic features of the transient behaviour of reluctance machines to serve as a guide to both the designer and the user of these machines. Consideration of transient behaviour focuses attention on the importance of the rotor winding, and attention is given to the digital solution of the differential equations of the machine, in which each rotor circuit is individually represented. Comparisions are then made with measured performance characteristics, and also with results based on the simple 2-coil representation of the rotor circuits. This simple model is used in demonstrating various features of the transient characteristics, including initial switching transients, asynchronous torque pulsations and their relationship to the average asynchronous torque/speed characteristic, responses to suddenly applied loads, and the effects of load, inertia, supply voltage and rotor-cage design on synchronising performance.