A PC-based apparatus for identifying magnetization characteristics of switched reluctance machines

This paper presents a flexible-and-friendly apparatus to accurately identify the magnetization characteristics of the switched reluctance machine (SRM) as functions of winding current and rotor position. The identifying method is proposed based on the fully automated measuring setup with a graphical user interface to determine characterization model of the SRM, and take the magnetic nonlinearity and static losses into account. Theoretical basis of the characterization parameters derivation is explored and used to implement the measurement apparatus. Experimental results on a 1-kW, four-phase, 8/6-pole SRM verify the validness of the evolved solution and show very great degree of accuracy. The derivations of the sensitivity and accuracy of this PC-based characterization system are given, and the uncertainty analysis of the system is included. Special emphases are placed on the flexible characterization procedure, computational intelligence and user friendliness scheme of the automatic measurement as well as the capability of the graphical presentation and good documentation of results. The developed instrument not only can be employed to characterize the magnetic circuit of the SRM and linear SRM, but also can be applied to measure the magnetization parameters of the other electromagnetic components or devices.