Abstract
This thesis develops a switched-reluctance motor (SRM) drive powered by a bidirectional switch-mode rectifier (SMR) and equipped with an energy support DC-link. After exploring some basics and key issues of SRM drive, a basic SRM drive with diode rectifier front-end is first established and employed as the test platform. The experimental evaluation is made to verify its satisfactory driving performance in acceleration, deceleration, and reversible operations. Second, to conduct bidirectional operation between the SRM drive and the mains, a power factor corrected (PFC) bilateral AC/DC converter is developed. It consists of an H-bridge SMR and an one-leg buck/boost converter. In driving mode, the boosted and well-regulated SRM drive DC-link voltage is established to enhance the motor driving performance under higher speeds. Meanwhile, good line drawn power quality is obtained. Conversely in regenerative braking operation, the recovered kinetic stored energy can be successfully sent back to the mains via proper commutation setting and controls. Third, a DC-link energy support system (ESS) is designed and implemented. A buck-boost/buck-boost bidirectional interface DC/DC converter is employed to let the motor drive DC-link be supported energy from possible harvested DC sources or energy storage devices. The latter can also be made the auxiliary charging from the mains, or to absorb the regenerative braking energy. In idle case, the 220V/60Hz AC output voltages with good waveform quality can also be generated for battery-to-grid (B2G) applications from the battery via the established interface converter and single-phase H-bridge inverter. Some experimental results are provided to demonstrate the operating characteristics of all power stages in various conditions.