Apparatus for quasi-sensorless adaptive control of switched reluct ange motor drives

1. A method for controlling a high rotor pole switched-reluctance motor (HRSRM), the method comprising steps of:

a) providing an HRSRM with a rotor;

b) applying current to an active phase winding to rotate the rotor;

c) establishing a time base for a software control module on a magnetic sensor;

d) updating the time base by generating a motor index pulse from the magnetic sensor;

e) calculating a shaft speed of the motor;

f) canceling out a switching threshold of the magnetic sensor;

g) monitoring a slope of a current waveform in the active phase to fine-tune a firing angle based on said shaft speed;

h) adjusting a pulse time t on based on an estimated time base;

i) monitoring the shaft speed to track any change in the shaft speed; and

j) adjusting a dwell angle based on the shaft speed and the current.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

a. applying a voltage pulse to an inactive phase winding of the HRSRM;

b. measuring current response in the inactive phase of the HRSRM;

c. applying multiple diagnostic pulses to the inactive phase of the HRSRM.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein after ten rotations the software control module establishes the time base and the inactive phase is not necessary to maintain operation.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein at least three signals are generated per rotor pole and the shaft speed of the motor is calibrated.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the time base is established to avoid slip in calculated value of speed.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the dwell angle is reduced if the commanded current is below a lower band.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the dwell angle is increased if the commanded current is above an upper band.

8. A method for quasi-sensorless adaptive control of a high rotor pole switched-reluctance motor (HRSRM), the method comprising steps of:

a) providing an HRSRM with a rotor;

b) aligning the rotor with respect to an initial position to start with a known phase and to rotate in a direction;

c) applying current to an active phase winding to rotate the motor;

d) establishing a time base for a software control module on a magnetic sensor;

e) calculating a speed and updating the time base by generating a motor index pulses from the magnetic sensor;

f) calibrating a shaft speed of the motor and calibrating a software encoder to operate on the time base;

g) canceling out a switching threshold of the magnetic sensor;

h) monitoring the slope of the current waveform in the active phase to fine-tune a firing angle from an encoder software;

i) adjusting a pulse time t on based on an estimated time base; and

j) monitoring the shaft speed to track any change in speed and fixing a dwell angle based on the shaft speed.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the rotor produces an inductance profile in each of the stator poles as each of the rotor poles comes into and out of alignment with the stator poles when the rotor is rotated.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the active phase winding is the phase that has a rotor pole close to the aligned position.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein a pulse of voltage is applied to the phase winding to measure the current response.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising

a. estimating position using a diagnostic pulse on an inactive phase winding during an initial rotation by estimating the inductance profile;

b. applying a voltage pulse to the inactive phase winding and measuring current response in each inactive phase;

c. applying multiple diagnostic pulses to the inactive phase to identify the next phase;

d. wherein the multiple diagnostic pulses are applied for at least ten rotations to establish the time base for the software control module.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein after ten rotations the software control module establishes the time base and the inactive phase is not necessary to maintain operation.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein at least three signals are generated per rotor pole and the shaft speed of the motor is calibrated.

15. The method of claim 8 wherein the dwell angle is reduced if the commanded current is below a lower band.

16. The method of claim 8 wherein the dwell angle is increased if the commanded current is above an upper band.

17. An apparatus for quasi-sensorless control of a high rotor pole switched-reluctance motor (HRSRM) comprising:

a switched-reluctance motor having a stator and a rotor, the rotor having a plurality of circumferentially spaced rotor poles, the rotor rotationally related to a motor shaft having a magnetic sensor;

a three-phase inverter controlled by a processor connected to an input of the switched-reluctance motor, the three-phase inverter adaptable to provide a power supply the switched-reluctance motor, the processor having a software control module and a software encoder;

a load connected to an output of the switched-reluctance motor via an inline torque meter;

a converter connected to the load; and

a software control module at the processor, the software control module comprising:

a rotor position estimation module to determine an initial position of the rotor utilizing a sequence of relation between phase inductances of the HRSRM, to estimate rotor position and to establish a firm time base for the software control module;

a time base module to calculate a shaft speed;

a slope monitoring module to monitor slope of a current waveform in an active phase;

a pulse time module to adjust pulse time based on an estimated time base; and

a dwell control module to fix a dwell angle and to establish a current band for controlling a dwell angle thereby operating the SRM at a saturation level.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein a time base is established in the magnetic sensor utilizing an inactive phase.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the time base is established to avoid slip in calculated value of speed.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein at least three signals are generated per rotor pole and the shaft speed is calibrated.