A voltage control strategy for Switched Reluctance Generator

This paper presents a strategy to control the terminal voltage of a Switched Reluctance Generator. It is implemented using a closed loop feedback that senses the shunt capacitor smoothed generated voltage at the generator terminals. The voltage error feeds a PI controller that in turn governs the switches of the electronic converter used to drive the generator. With this approach the amount of energy stored in the winding in each cycle is controlled and leads directly to the control of the generated voltage. A mathematical model that considers magnetic saturation is used to represent the reluctance generator, which is driven by an asymmetric half bridge converter. An appropriate sequence of turning off the switches of each phase of the generator is shown to allow for a better usage of mechanical power in the electromechanical conversion process. Comparison with a standard switching strategy is included. An efficient technique to detect the right moment of firing the controlled switches is shown. Experimental and simulated results are compared and found to be in good agreement. The feasibility of the proposed strategy is demonstrated.