Switched reluctance motor with DC assisted excitation

A new topology of switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives is proposed in this paper. Based on a similar concept of the d q theory for conventional sinusoidal electric machines, this SRM with DC assisted excitation (SRDC) uses auxiliary DC windings to achieve the built-in field excitation in SRM structures. Since the field in this SRDC motor is established by the DC winding excitation, a larger percentage of the armature current is used to produce torque rather than building the field, which makes the SRDC motor have 50% higher torque density than that of the conventional SRM drive without losing performance. The detailed modeling of this SRDC motor drive, power density, machine performance comparison against conventional SRM drive and the proof of the theory by the experimental study are given in the paper. The results of this study show great potential for this technology in multiple industrial applications.