A novel switching method for switched reluctance motors

The paper proposes a new switching scheme for the switch reluctance motor (SRM) which results in superior torque and current control over existing schemes. The scheme aims at removing the unnecessary restrictions imposed by the existing hard chopping and soft chopping methods, while retaining the combined advantages of simple implementation and low current ripples and switching losses, respectively offered by the hard chopping and soft chopping methods. The viability of the new method is supported by extensive simulations generated by a specially developed software, which has been fully validated elsewhere. Comparisons between the new scheme and existing schemes are made.