Analysis and design of a single switch per phase converter for switched reluctance motor drives

One of the unique features of the switched reluctance motor (SRM) is that it requires only unipolar current for its four quadrant operation thus simplifying the converter topologies. This paper considers the analysis and design of one such converter with minimum switches which is known as the C-dump converter for use in a nonbifilar wound SRM drive. The analysis of this topology includes the evaluation of the switching losses of the power switching devices and diodes, their current and voltage stresses, relationship between the energy storage capacitor, inductor and the duty cycle of the energy recovery circuit and the efficiency of the overall system for a given switching frequency. From the analysis, a design procedure for the converter circuit is developed. The theoretical analysis and design procedure both validated with experimental results obtained from a laboratory prototype are presented in this paper