Asymmetrical Four-Phase 8/6 Switched Reluctance Motor for a Wide Constant Power Region

In this paper, the methodology for designing an asymmetrical four-phase 8/6 switched reluctance motor (SRM) that achieves approximately constant output power over a wide speed range is described. In an asymmetrical 8/6 SRM, orthogonal phase pairs are different in terms of the pole width and number of turns. The main comparison criterion between the asymmetrical and symmetrical 8/6 SRM is the power-speed characteristic, obtained for a given rated RMS phase current of the symmetrical drive. The obtained results demonstrate that the asymmetrical 8/6 SRM allows the shape of the power-speed characteristic to be modified, thereby extending the constant power region well beyond that of the symmetrical configuration with the same rated power level. To make a fair comparison between the asymmetrical and symmetrical 8/6 SRM drives, the converter volt-ampere rating, machine volume, slot fill factor, and ohmic losses per phase are kept constant in all analyzed cases. For determination of the optimal control parameters and maximal drive performance for both designs, the appropriate SRM mathematical model and differential evolution algorithm are used. The applied model includes all substantial non-linearities and mutual coupling between phases. The simulation results are verified using a Finite Element Method (FEM)-based model in the Ansys Electronics 2020 R2 software package.