Characteristics of Braking

Operation of Switched Reluctance

Motor Drives for Electric Vehicles
Seminar report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the
award of Bachelor of Technology Degree in Electrical and Electronics
Engineering of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam

Submitted by

ANOOP S

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

RAJIV GANDHI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

KOTTAYAM

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

2009-2013
RAJIV GANDHI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
KOTTAYAM - 686501

CERTIFICATE
This

is

to

certify

that

the

report

entitled

CHARACTERISTICS OF BRAKING OPERATION OF SWITCHED

RELUCTANCE MOTOR DRIVES FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES is a
bonafide record of the seminar done by Mr.ANOOP S , REG NO
218339 towards the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the
award of Bachelor of Technology in Electrical and Electronics
Engineering of the Mahatma Gandhi University.

Seminar guide

Head of Department

Prof. Vijayakumari C K
Dept of Electrical Engineering

Prof. Vijayakumari C K
Dept of Electrical Engineering

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Words are not enough to praise the lord, the

almighty whose blessings led us through the green pastures
during the last 4 years
I have great pleasure to express my obligations
to Prof. Vijayakumari C K (HOD EEE) whose help and
guidance drived me to success.
I would also like to express my heartfelt gratitude
to all my teachers of Electrical department for their valuable
advice.
Finally I wish to thank my parents, family members,
friends as well as well-wishers for their moral support
rendered

to

me

for

finishing

my

seminar

successfully

ANOOP S

ABSTRACT

The electro-brake is one of advantages of electric motors in

EVs. During braking operation, mechanical (kinetic) energy of electric
motors can be converted to electric energy to generate braking torque.
Due to simple and rugged motor construction, low weight, potentially
low

production

cost,

easily

cooling,

excellent

power-speed

characteristics, high torque density, high operating efficiency, inherent

fault tolerance, direct-drive, high transmission efficiency, highly reliable
and simple drive train system, SRM drives are much suitable for EV
applications. Effective braking operation of SRMs is important for EVs
with high performances. Three criteria are proposed to evaluate braking
operation of switched reluctance motor drives for electric vehicles. They
are the average torque, the average torque per average excitation power
and the average torque per phase rms current. They imply the braking
torque, the efficiency of braking operation and the copper loss. Thus, the
effects of the turn-off and turn-on angles on these criteria are
investigated in detail. The investigation results are very beneficial to
develop the new control method for best braking operation of switched
reluctance motor drives in electric vehicles.

ii

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. TYPES OF MOTOR DRIVES FOR EVS

2.1. BRUSHED DC MOTOR DRIVES

2.2. INDUCTION MOTOR DRIVES

2.3. PERMANENT MAGNET BLDC MOTOR DRIVES

2.4. SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR DRIVES

3. SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR

4. MECHANISM OF BRAKING OPERATION

5. CONTROL SCHEMATIC

6. CRITERIA OF BRAKING OPERATION

7. EFFECT OF CURRENT

8. EFFECT OF TURN OFF ANGLE

10

9. EFFECT OF TURN ON ANGLE

11

10.CONCLUSION

12

11.REFERENCE

13

iii

1. INTRODUCTION
An electric vehicle uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. Three main
types of electric vehicles exist, those that are directly powered from an external power station,
those that are powered by stored electricity originally from an external power source, and those
that are powered by an onboard electrical generator like ic engine or a hydrogen fuel cell.
Environmental and economic considerations are the major reasons for the
development of electric vehicles. Exhaust emissions from the internal combustion engine are the
main source of urban pollution and one of the most important causes of the greenhouse effect.
The pollution problem only gets worse with increasing numbers of automobiles. There is also an
economic factor arising from the poor energy conversion efficiency of the internal combustion
engine. When efficiency is evaluated on the basis of conversion from crude oil to road load at the
wheels, the numbers for electric vehicles are not significantly higher than for internal combustion
engine vehicles (19.64% for electric vehicles, 10.26% for internal combustion engine vehicles).
Moreover, efficient power generation at electric plants together with very high motor and
controller efficiency and advancements in power source technology within the vehicle, battery or
fuel cell, mean that electric vehicles offer huge possibilities for improving overall efficiency.
Braking refers to the deceleration or complete cessation of the translational or
rotary motion of machines or vehicles. In electric braking the electric motors direction of rotation
remains the same as during normal operation, but the electric torque acting on the armature has
an opposite direction. There are several distinct types of electric braking: rheostatic,
regenerative, reverse current, and combined such as regenerative-rheostatic braking.
During braking operation, mechanical (kinetic) energy of electric motors can be
converted to electric energy to generate braking torque. Clearly, it is helpful to that hydraulic
brake systems stop EVs fast and its dynamic performance is better than conventional hydraulic
brake systems. In addition, instead of conventional hydraulic brake systems, electromechanical
systems employing an electric motor that drives the brake caliper through a gear assembly are
also developing. Comparing with the motoring operation of electric motors in EVs, the braking
operation is just the generating operation and it lasts by a short time in EVs. However, the
braking operation of electric motors in EVs occurs frequently. Hence effective braking operation
is important for EVs with high performances.

EEE 2009 - 2013

2. TYPES OF MOTOR DRIVES FOR EVS

As so far, four types of motor drives have been applied to EVs. They are brushed
DC motor drives, induction motor (IM) drives, permanent magnet (PM) brushless DC (BLDC)
motor drives, and switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives.

2.1 Brushed DC motor drives

Brushed DC motors are well known for their ability to achieve high torque
at low speed and their torquespeed characteristics suitable for the traction requirement. The
motor speed is adjusted through varying voltage. Being suitable to propel a vehicle and easy to
be controlled, they have been used on EVs. However, brushed DC motor drives have a bulky
construction, low efficiency, low reliability, and higher need of maintenance, mainly due to the
presence of the mechanical commutator and brushes. It is difficult to downsize brushed DC
motors. This makes brushed DC motors more heavy and expensive. Furthermore, friction
between brushes and commutator restricts the maximum motor speed.

2.2 Induction motor drives

Induction motors are of simple construction, reliability, ruggedness, low
maintenance, low cost, and ability to operate in hostile environments. The absence of brush
friction permits the motors to raise the limit for maximum speed, and the higher rating of speed
enable these motors to develop high output. However, the controllers of induction motors are at
higher cost than the ones of DC motors. Furthermore, the presence of a breakdown torque limits
its extended constant-power operation. At the critical speed, the breakdown torque is reached.
Generally, for a conventional IM, the critical speed is around two times the synchronous one.
Any attempt to operate the motor at the maximum current beyond this speed will stall the motor.

EEE 2009 - 2013

2.3 Permanent Magnet Brushless DC Motor Drives

Permanent magnet BLDC motor drives are specifically known for their
high efficiency and high power density. Using permanent magnet, the motors can eliminate the
need for energy to produce magnetic poles. So they are capable of achieve higher efficiency than
DC motors and induction motors. Furthermore, heat is efficiently dissipated to the surroundings.
The speed range may be extended three to four times over the base speed if for a PM BLDC
motor a conduction-angle control is used. PM BLDC motor drives have the other drawbacks
such that the magnet is expensive and that the mechanical strength of the magnet makes it
difficult to build a large torque into the motor. This motor suffers from a rather limited field
weakening capability.

2.4 Switched Reluctance Motor Drives

SRM drives are gaining much interest and are recognized to have a potential for
EV applications. These motor drives have definite advantages such as simple and rugged
construction,

fault-tolerant

operation,

simple

control,

and

outstanding

torquespeed

characteristics. SRM drives can inherently operate with an extremely long constant-power range.
The torque-speed characteristics of SRM drives match very well with the EV load
characteristics. The SRM drive has high speed operation capability with a wide constant power
region. The motor has high starting torque and high torque-inertia ratio. The rotor structure is
extremely simple without any windings, magnets, commutators or brushes. The fault tolerance of
the motor is also extremely good. Because of its simple construction and low rotor inertia, SRM
has very rapid acceleration and extremely high speed operation. Because of its wide speed range
operation, SRM is particularly suitable for gearless operation in EV propulsion. In addition, the
absence of magnetic sources (i.e., windings or permanent magnets) on the rotor makes SRM
relatively easy to cool

EEE 2009 - 2013

3. SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR

The switched reluctance machine is a double salient machine with a passive rotor.
In the switched reluctance motor(SRM), the torque is produced by the tendency of its rotor to
reach a position where the inductance and the flux produced by the energized stator winding is
maximized. SRMs stator and rotor both have salient poles. In the figure, consider that the rotor
poles r1 and r1 and stator poles c and c are aligned. Apply a current to phase a with the current
direction as shown in Fig.1a. A flux is established through stator poles a and a and rotor poles r2
and r2 which tends to pull the rotor poles r2 and r2 toward the stator poles a and a, respectively.
When they are aligned, the stator current of phase a is turned off and the corresponding situation

Figure 1: SRM working

shown in Fig.1b. Now the stator winding b is excited, pulling r1 and r1 toward b and b,
respectively, in a clockwise direction. Likewise, energizing phase c winding results in the
alignment of r2 and r2 with c and c, respectively.
Accordingly, by switching the stator currents in such a sequence, the rotor is
rotated. Similarly, the switching of current in the sequence of acb will result in the reversal of
rotor rotation. Since the movement of the rotor, hence the production of torque and power,
involves a switching of currents into stator windings when there is a variation of reluctance, this
variable speed motor is referred to as a switched reluctance motor (SRM).

EEE 2009 - 2013

4. MECHANISM OF BRAKING OPERATION OF SRM DRIVES

Different from other motors, SRMs have the particular braking mechanism. The
braking operation of SRMs includes two modes. One of which is named as the excitation mode
and the other is named as the generation mode. In a period, the excitation mode is active firstly.
During the excitation mode, both electric energy and mechanical energy are needed to excite the
SRM to set up stored magnetic energy. At the same time, the SRM also generates braking torque.
Electric excitation energy is turned off when stored magnetic energy reaches to the specified
value. Consequently, the excitation mode of the braking operation is inactive and the generation
mode is active. During the generation mode, the SRM takes in mechanical energy and outputs
electric energy. Clearly, the SRM generates braking torque. These two modes occur alternately
in every a period until the braking operation terminates. Fig. 1 illustrates the schematic of the
braking operation of an SRM.

Figure 2: Mechanism of breaking operation of SRM

EEE 2009 - 2013

5. CONTROL SCHEMATIC OF BRAKING OPERATION

The control schematic for braking operation of SRM drives is proposed as shown
in Fig. 2. The turn-on angle and the turnoff angle are defined to generate braking torque. The
current reference with the hysteresis current controller is used to adjust the average value of
braking torque. Thus, the controlled parameters of SRM drives under braking operation have
three ones, which are the current reference, turn-on angle and turn-off angle

Figure 3: Control schematic of braking operation in SRM drives

For SRM drives, the phase flux linkage and phase current must satisfy the
equation, given as

Where

represents the voltage applied to a phase, represents the phase flux

linkage, represents the rotor position, i represents the phase current, t represents the time, and
represents the phase resistance.

EEE 2009 - 2013

6. CRITERIA OF BRAKING OPERATION

The criteria of braking operation for SRM drives are proposed as the average
torque, the average braking torque per average excitation power, and the average braking torque
per rms current. They imply the magnitude of braking torque, efficiency of braking operation and
copper loss, respectively.
The average torque of an SRM is computed as

where Tp denotes the time value of an electrical period, Nph denotes the number of phases, Tphk
denotes the instantaneous torque produced by a phase. The positive torque represents the
motoring torque and the negative torque represents the braking torque.
The average excitation power under braking operation is expressed as

The positive power indicates that the SRM takes in electric power from the DC link and the
negative power indicates that the SRM output electric power to DC link.
The rms value of the phase current is determined as

The average braking torque per average excitation power is expressed as

EEE 2009 - 2013

The average braking torque per rms current is defined as

From the equations it is clear that as the value of TP becomes higher and if the
average excitation power is set at unity then the value of braking torque also rises. And large TC
implies that unity copper loss can bring about larger braking torque.
In this study, the prototype of a four-phase in-wheel SRM drive is simulated to
accomplish the investigation. The rotor position angle is equal to 0 when the stator pole is fully
unaligned with the rotor pole and the rotor position angle is equal to 30 when the stator pole is
completely aligned with the rotor pole.

EEE 2009 - 2013

7. EFFECTS OF CURRENT

Fig. 4: Effect of current

Fig. 3(a) and 3(b) illustrates the effects of the current reference on average braking torque,
average braking torque per average excitation power and average braking torque per phase rms
current, which are obtained when the turn on, turn off and motor speeds are varied. From the
graphs it can be observed that
(i) the braking torque becomes large if the current reference increases,
(ii) the braking torque per excitation power increases if the current

reference

goes up, and

(iii) the braking torque per rms current changes with the current references.

EEE 2009 - 2013

8. EFFECTS OF TURN OFF ANGLE

Fig 5: Effect of turn off angle

The changes of the average braking torque, average braking torque per average
excitation power and average braking torque per phase rms current with the turn-off angle are
depicted in Fig 4(a) and 4(b). From the graphs it is clear that the turn off angle has an optimum
value at which average braking torque, average braking torque per average excitation power and
average braking torque per phase rms current has a maximum value. So if we can run the motor
with turn on angle near to this value we can obtain better breaking characteristics.

EEE 2009 - 2013

10

9. EFFECT OF TURN ON ANGLE

Fig 6: Effect of turn on angle

The fig 5(a) and 5(b) shows the variations of average braking torque, average
braking torque per average excitation power and average braking torque per phase rms current
with change in turn on angle. From the graphs we can make the following conclusions
(i) the average braking torque becomes small if the turn-on angle increases
(ii) variation in turn on angle does not have a noticeable effect on the braking
torque per excitation power
(iii) the braking torque per rms current decreases with increase in turn on angle.
Thus we can conclude that a small value of turn on angle helps in maintaining a
good breaking characteristic for an SRM motor drive.
EEE 2009 - 2013

11

10. CONCLUSION
From the investigations carried out so far we are able to conclude that the braking
operation in SRM drives can be controlled by varying the current reference, turn on angle and
turn off angle. The turn on and turn on angles can be adjusted to maximize the breaking torque
whereas the magnitude of breaking torque can be controlled by varying the current reference
using the hysteresis controller. In total a large value of current reference gives better breaking
characteristics and a small value of turn on angle is also needed. Turn off angle does not have a
great role in the breaking operation of SRM drives.

EEE 2009 - 2013

12

11. REFERENCES

1. X. D. Xue, K. W. E. Cheng, T W.Ng. and N. Cheung, Investigation on Characteristics of

Braking Operation of Switched Reluctance Motor Drives for Electric Vehicles,
presented at AUPEC 2008, Sydney,Australia.
2. Switched Reluctance Motor Drives: Basics and Research Trends Dr. Iqbal Husain
Department of Electrical Engineering The University of Akron, OH 44325
3. Omekanda, A.M.; Gopalakrishnan, S.; Klode, H.; Acoustic Noise ofSwitched
Reluctance and Permanent Magnet Motors: A Comparison in the Context of Electric
Brakes, 42nd IAS Annual Meeting, 2007
4. Switched reluctance drives for electric vehicle application P.Andrada, M.Torrent,
B.Blanqu, J.I.Perat
5. Switched reluctance motor, www.wikepedia.org

EEE 2009 - 2013

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