Computation of optimal excitation of a switched reluctance motor using variable voltage

The switched reluctance motor may be operated over a wide range of operating torque and speed with high efficiency. The present paper investigates the optimal excitation of a switched reluctance motor such that overall drive efficiency is maximized for a required torque and speed. From the optimal excitation design presented in the paper, the switching-mode excitation under a variable supply voltage exhibits the improved drive efficiency in the full range of operating torque and speed, and exhibits the expanded range of operating torque and speed compared to the operation based on the chopping-mode and switching-mode excitations under a fixed supply voltage. The paper proposes a continuous variation and a stepped variation as methods for varying the supply voltage, and compares them to the conventional operation