A switched reluctance motor model with mutual coupling and multi-phase excitation

A novel switched reluctance motor (SRM) magnetic equivalent circuit model with mutual coupling and multiphase excitation is presented which successfully predicts the magnetic behavior of an SRM with multiple phase at a time excitation. The model is new in that it spreads the saturable elements throughout the machine rather than at the tooth tips. This allows the dominant mutual coupling effect, core saturation during multi-phase excitation, to be modeled. The authors describe methods for calculating or functionally representing values for the circuit elements given the machine geometry and a minimum number of finite-element models, a method for modeling saturable materials, and a method for solving the resulting mesh for flux values given excitation levels. The model results are compared with intermediate finite-element results. >