A new torque control method for switched reluctance motor drives

Switched reluctance (SR) motors have an intrinsic simplicity and low cost that make them well suited to many applications. However the control of the motor is difficult and complex compared to other machines. Previous methods of control have fallen into two main categories: those which use a simplified linear model and those which account for the motor saturation. The simplified linear model schemes have the advantage of simplicity and tractability but are inaccurate in most practical SR drives, whereas the nonlinear schemes have the problem of high complexity and computational expense which makes real-time implementation difficult. To overcome these problems, a novel control method for the SR motor is derived from analysis of the nonlinear torque characteristics of the motor. The control method draws from the philosophy of direct torque control (DTC)