Journal paper
The control of commutation of switched reluctance (SR) motor without the use of a physical position detector (sensorless detectection) has been an area of active research from the late eighties to date. The main drive being to overcome inherent problems associated with and limitations imposed by the physical position sensor used in the operation of SR drives. Most rotor position detection schemes for SR motor based on magnetisation characteristics of the motor use normal excitation or injected current or applied voltage pulses for position detection purposes. The resulting schemes are referred to as passive or active methods respectively. The research effort in sensorless SR rotor position detection being directed at achieving accurate, reliable and robust detector to suit desired application while taking to account economical aspects. This paper present effective and reliable means of generating commutation signals of an SR motor based on inductance profile of its stator windings to define degree of overlap between stator and rotor teeth using active probing technique. The overlap status is used in the motors’ commutation control. The scheme has been validated online using a 4-phase 8/6 SR motor and an 8-bit processor
Commonwealth