18-1

Chapter 18

Reluctance Drives: Stepper-motors And

Switched-reluctance Drives

2020 by N. Mohan
 Reluctance Drives: 18-2

Stepper – Motor and Switched –

Reluctance Drives
 Reluctance Drives
• Stepper – Motor drives
- Accurate position control without feedback
- Electrical pulse input gives discrete angle change
- Types: Variable Reluctance
Permanent Magnet
Hybrid

• Switched – Reluctance drives

- Variable-reluctance stepper-motor designed to go into
saturation
- Feedback necessary

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-3
Stepper-Motor Positioning

m

Electrical
pulse
step angle l input
0 t
0 t

 Each pulse moves motor a discrete angle – step angle

 Counting pulses tells how far motor has turned without actually
measuring (no feedback)

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-4

Reluctance Motors – Operating Principles


fixed
i (t )
2
R

2

 S
T
1 1
at   
e(t )
at 

 i
0 i1

 Salient rotor aligns to salient stator

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-5

Stepper - Motors

 Variable – reluctance motors

- relies on rotor saliency

 Permanent magnet motors

- relies on rotor magnets

 Hybrid motors
- relies on both saliency and rotor magnets

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-6

Variable – Reluctance Stepper Motors

1
  rotor
3
 0 tooth pitch
ia

z z
ib

2
  rotor ia
3
tooth pitch  1 rotor
tooth pitch

z
z

ic

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-7
Variable - Reluctance Stepper Motors
(cont…)

 Rotor and stator saliency

 Unequal number of poles

 Stator current effectively pulls rotor pole in line with stator pole

3600 q = number of phases

step-angle =
qN r N r = number of rotor poles

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-8

Permanent Magnet Stepper Motor

  0o
  45o   90o  135o
A A
N S B B
B S
N B N N
z S S S N
N z
S z
A N S S N A
S N N S A
A z
S N N N S B
S N S N
S S
N B B
A B
A

A
N
S

A
S N N S A  180o

zS
N
A

 Permanent magnets replace salient poles of variable-reluctance motor

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-9

Hybrid Stepper Motor

L R

stator windings

S N

shaft

S N
end cap end cap

air gap
stator
outer casing
L' R'

 Uses both rotor saliency and permanent magnets on rotor

 Saliency on ends of rotor – ends not lined up
 Permanent magnet makes one of the rotor ends a south pole and the
other a north pole

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-10

Hybrid Stepper Motor (cont…)

1 1
N N
2 8 N N 2
8 S
S S
N N
S S
7S S3 7S N N N S3
S
S S
N N
S S N N
6 S 4 6 4
N N
5 5

1 1
8 2 8 N 2
S S N S N N
1 S N
S rotor N
4 tooth
pitch S N
7 S 3 7 N 3
S N
S N
S N
N S S S4 N N N S4
6 6
5 5

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-11

Stepper-Motor Equivalent Circuit

i ph

 R ph

L ph
v ph

e ph
 

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-12

Half–Stepping and Micro-Stepping

ia

ib

 Possible to move rotor by half steps by exciting two stator windings

equally

 Finer steps possible by exciting two windings unequally

2020 by N. Mohan
 PPU for Variable-Reluctance Stepper- 18-13

Motor
 v ph
 
T1 D1
e ph
i ph L ph
 
Vd
T2
Phase winding
D2
Rsense


i ph

Iref

t
T1 on
T1 on T1
T1 ,T2 off
off
T2 on

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-14
PPU for Variable-Reluctance Stepper-Motor
(cont…)

 Currents do not need to reverse

 Circuit uses “incomplete” switch poles that can pass current

only one direction through the motor phase

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-15

Unipolar voltage drive for variable-reluctance motor (a) circuit; (b) current waveform

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-16

PPU for PM and Hybrid Stepper-Motor


T1 D1 D3
T3
Phase winding

Vd

D4  v ph  D2
T2
T4

 Phase currents must be reversible

 Complete switch poles used

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-17

SRM Drives

 Cross-section of a four-phase 8/6 switched reluctance machine:

 
meh
c
o
0
mec
h

a
d b

c c

b d
a

F
ig
ure1
0-1C
ros
s-s
ectio
nofaf
o u
r-
p h
ase8
/6s
w itc
hedr
elu
cta
ncem
ac
hin
e.

2020 by N. Mohan
 qqmech == oo
mech 00
qqmech 18-18
mech = q al q un

aa
d b

c cc

b dd
aa
q mech = 0o q mech = 0o
q mech q mech
= q al q un

a a
d b d b

c c c c

b d b d
a a

Aligned position for phase a Unaligned position for phase a

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-19
Typical flux-linkage characteristics
of an SRM

aligned position

a
(V-sec)

unaligned position

ia (A)

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-20

Torque Calculation

la

l2 2
l1 1
qq
1
+D mech
q1

0 I1 ia

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-21
Instantaneous Waveforms
 Performance assuming idealized current waveform:

ia ( A) va  Ria  ea

 un  al
d
ea  a (ia , mech )
a dt
(V  sec)

 un  al

a d a d
Tem ,a  ia   mech
( Nm) ia  dt  mech i dt
mech a

a d a
ea (V ) ea   mech   mech
 mech i 
dt    mech i
a a
 mech
 mech (deg)

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-22
Instantaneous Waveforms
 Performance with a power-processing unit:

ia (A)

 on  un  off  al

a
(V-sec)

 on  un  off  al

Tem ,a
(Nm)

 on  un  off  al
Tem

(Nm) Tem ,a Tem ,b Tem ,c Tem ,d

 on  un  off  al

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-23
Role of Magnetic Saturation

aligned
position
a

 off
Wf

Wem

unaligned
position
0
ia

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-24

Power Electronic Converters for SRM Drives

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-25
Estimation of Rotor Position


  mech
v

  ( , i )
 i
iR

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-26
Summary/Review
 What are the three broad categories of reluctance drives?
 How is the principle on which reluctance drives operate different than that
seen earlier with other drives?
 Write down the reluctance torque expression. What does the direction of
torque depend on?
 Describe the operating principle of a variable-reluctance stepper-motor.
 Describe the operating principle of a permanent-magnet stepper-motor.
 Describe the operating principle of a hybrid stepper-motor.
 What is the equivalent-circuit representation of a stepper-motor?
 How is half-stepping and micro-stepping achieved in stepper-motors?
 What is the nature of power-processing units in stepper-motor drives?
 Describe the operating principles of switched-reluctance drives.
 What are the application areas of switched-reluctance drives?

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-27

Performance with a Power Processing Unit

ia (A)

 on  un  off  al

a
(V-sec)

 on  un  off  al

Tem ,a
(Nm)

 on  un  off  al
Tem

(Nm) Tem ,a Tem ,b Tem ,c Tem ,d

 on  un  off  al

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-28

Role of Magnetic Saturation

aligned
position
a

 off
Wf

Wem

unaligned
position
0
ia
Flux-linkage trajectory during motoring.

Wem
Energy Conversion Factor=
Wem  W f

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-29

Power Processing Unit

Sa1 Sb1 Sc1 Sd1

 Da1 Db1 Dc1 Dd1

Phase a

Phase b

Phase d
Phase c
Vdc
 Da2 Db2 Dc2 Dd2

Sa2 Sb2 Sc2 Sd2

Power converter for a four-phase switched reluctance drive.

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-30

Determining Rotor Position for Encoder-less

Operation


  mech
v

  ( , i )
 i
iR

2020 by N. Mohan
 18-31
Control in Motoring Mode

a
gate
 mech
*
I ref current power
 PI
 controller converter
 signals
 mech

s
position

2020 by N. Mohan