Design of Sliding Mode Speed Controller for Switched Reluctance Motor

Switched Reluctance motors (SRM) can be classified into a group of multi-speed electrical motors. The low cost, rugged constructions and simple are feature advantages for this motor. The simplicity is the result of their torque generation principle, which known as variable reluctance principle. The SRM has many more features that have made it to be common for applications in commercial and industrial markets. The main disadvantage of SRM is the nonlinearity that it appears in their dynamics because of the magnetic saturation. It is required for SRM speed controllers to have features such as fast dynamic responses, parameter insensitivity and quick recovery from load disturbances. In this paper, a design of a robust sliding mode speed controller based on a nonlinear mathematical model is proposed. Matlab/Simulink software is used to simulate switched reluctance motor drive system under control of SMC. 6/8 switched reluctance motor has been taken as case study. The performance of proposed sliding mode control is tested at different load and speed conditions, and comparisons with conventional PI control for switched reluctance motor are presented. The sliding mode controller exhibits a better performance than the PI controller for all the studied cases.