Abstract
This thesis develops the switched-reluctance motor (SRM) drives with different switch-mode rectifier (SMR) front-ends and proposes a SRM position sensorless control scheme. After comprehending the basics of a SRM drive and some related power electronic technologies, a standard SRM drive is first established. Through proper commutation, current and speed controls, it possesses good driving performances, including acceleration/deceleration, reversible and regenerative braking operations. Under higher speeds, the DC-link boosting is further applied to reduce the effects of back electromotive force (EMF) on the winding current response. Next, a rotor position estimation scheme based on narrow pulse voltage injection is developed and applied for constructing a position sensorless SRM drive. The pulse voltage injection scheme, the resulted current detecting and signal conditioning schemes are all adequately designed to let its driving characteristics being comparable to those of standard SRM drive. Second, a three-phase full-bridge boost switch-mode rectifier (SMR) is established to be the front-end of the SRM drive. Under good line drawn power quality, the DC-link voltage of the SRM drive is boostable to enhance the SRM driving performance in higher speeds. Moreover, the recovered regenerative braking energy can be successfully sent back to the mains. Third, another SMR front-end SRM drive is proposed and comparatively evaluated. This AC/DC front-end consists of a three-phase single-switch (3P1SW) discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) boost SMR and a three-phase shunt active power filter (APF). All functions of the standard full-bridge SMR fed SRM drive are preserved by this type of SRM drive. However, the rating analysis demonstrates that the higher power device rating utilization is possessed.