High performance switched reluctance machine
View Patent ↗Certain exemplary embodiments can provide a switched reluctance machine, comprising a rotor; and a stator encircling said rotor and comprising a plurality of radially distributed stator poles, each of said stator poles comprising a set of coils, each set of coils comprising: a phase coil adapted to be switched to affect a rotation of said rotor; and a field excitation coil adapted to, while said rotor is rotating, generate a magnetic field from a received excitation current.
1. A switched reluctance machine, comprising
a rotor; and
a stator encircling said rotor and comprising a plurality of radially distributed stator poles, each of said stator poles comprising a co-radial set of coils, each set of coils comprising:
a phase coil adapted to be switched non-sinusoidally to affect a rotation of said rotor; and
a field excitation coil adapted to, while said rotor is rotating, generating a time-dependent magnetic field from a received excitation current;
said plurality of radially distributed stator poles grouped into at least three sectors, each sector comprising a neighboring sub-plurality of said stator poles and a neighboring sub-plurality of said field excitation coils, said neighboring sub-plurality of said field excitation coils electrically connected in series, said received excitation current of each of said sectors independently controllable, each phase coil in a given sector assigned a different phase from each other phase coil in a said given sector; and
an electronic controller configured to operate the switched reluctance machine (SRM) as a motor/generator, in one of a plurality of operating modes comprising:
a switched mode, wherein current in the field excitation coils is zero, and the SRM operates as a conventional SRM.
2. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , wherein for each set of coils, said field excitation coil and said phase coil are centered along a radius of said stator.
3. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , wherein said rotor comprises a plurality of rotor poles.
4. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , wherein each of said phase coils is electrically coupled to a power amplifier.
5. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , wherein each of said field excitation coils is adapted to create a magnetomotive force between the stator pole corresponding to said field excitation coil and said rotor.
6. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , wherein said field excitation coils in each sector are electrically connected in series.
7. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , wherein said excitation current is quasi-steady.
8. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , wherein when said excitation current is applied to at least a subgroup of said field excitation coils and said rotor is rotating, a back EMF is induced in at least a subgroup of said phase coils.
9. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , wherein when said excitation current is applied to at least a subgroup of said field excitation coils and said rotor is rotating, a time-dependent back EMF is induced in at least a subgroup of said phase coils.
10. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , wherein a radial force is produced when a differential excitation current is applied to at least one diametrically opposed pair of said field excitation coils.
11. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , wherein when a differential excitation current is applied to at least one pair of said field excitation coils, said at least one pair opposingly positioned on a line segment collinear with an outer diameter of said stator, a radial force is produced along said line segment.
12. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of angular position sensors adapted to determine an angular position of said rotor.
13. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , further comprising a processor adapted to provide command signals to a plurality of phase amplifiers, each of said phase amplifiers coupled to at least one of said phase coils.
14. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , further comprising a processor adapted to provide command signals to a plurality of field excitation amplifiers, each of said field excitation amplifiers coupled to at least one of said field excitation coils.
15. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , further comprising a processor adapted to provide command signals to a plurality of phase amplifiers, each of said phase amplifiers coupled to at least one of said phase coils, the command signals adapted to determine a turn-off current for each of a plurality of phase switching cycles.
16. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , further comprising a processor adapted to provide command signals to a plurality of field excitation amplifiers, each of said field excitation amplifiers coupled to at least one of said field excitation coils, the command signals adapted to cause a current in said at least one of said field excitation coils.
17. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , further comprising a processor adapted to determine an amount to advance or retard a voltage applied to at least a subgroup of said phase coils relative to a sensed angular position of said rotor.
18. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , further comprising a processor adapted to receive an angular position signal from a phase position sensor and to determine an amount to advance or retard a voltage applied to at least a subgroup of said phase coils relative to a sensed angular position of said rotor.
19. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , further comprising a phase position sensor located substantially adjacent said rotor.
20. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , further comprising a phase position sensor located substantially adjacent said rotor and adapted to detect a passing of each of a plurality of rotor poles.
21. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , further comprising a phase position sensor located substantially adjacent said rotor and adapted to detect a passing of each of a plurality of rotor poles and to generate a corresponding switching signal for a phase amplifier.
22. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , further comprising a controller adapted to determine an amount to advance or retard a voltage applied to at least a subgroup of said phase coils relative to a sensed angular position of said rotor.
23. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of operating modes further comprises:
a hybrid mode where current is applied to the field excitation coils.
24. The switched reluctance machine of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of operating modes further comprises:
an unswitched mode where current is applied to the field excitation coils and the phase coils are not actively switched.