Cost-Effective Current Measurement Technique for Four-Phase SRM Control by Split Dual Bus Line Without Pulse Injection and Voltage Penalty

Abstract

This paper proposes a simple and cost-effective current measurement technique for four-phase switched reluctance motor (SRM) control, by splitting the dual bus line of the converter, without pulse injection and voltage penalty. Only two Hall-effect sensors are utilized, where one is installed in the upper bus to measure two phase currents, and the other is placed in the lower bus to measure other two phase currents. In order to realize independent current measurement in the whole turn-on region, switching functions are redesigned so that upper switches of two phases act as the choppers, while lower switches of the other two phases are employed as the choppers. Compared to traditional drives, the developed system requires only two Hall-effect sensors in the dual bus line, without a need for individual phase sensors or additional devices, which reduces the cost and volume for SRM drives. Furthermore, compared to the single-sensor based current measurement scheme, the proposed method has no need to implement pulse injection and will not cause any voltage penalty and current distortion, which also improve the current measurement accuracy and system performance. Simulation and experiments carried out on a 150-W four-phase 8/6 SRM confirm the effectiveness of the proposed technique.