International Journal of Technical Research and Applications e-ISSN: 2320-8163,

www.ijtra.com Volume 7, Issue 5 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2019), PP. 19-23

SIMULATION ANALYSIS OF A FOUR-PHASE

SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR USING A 3D
FINITE ELEMENT APPROACH

E. C. ABUNIKE 1, P. I. OBI2, N. J. AFFIA3,

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
1,2
Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State,
3
Akwa-ibom State Polytechnic, Ikot Osurua, Akwai-bom State
Nigeria

Abstract— Development of switched reluctance motors have control scheme is required to observe the rotor position and
revolutionized the industrial drives, aircraft applications, food switch the stator phases with respect to these rotor positions by
processors, fans, pumps, vacuum cleaners and many applications using the power electronic circuit.
because of its simpler design, ruggedness and efficiency. There are many advantages of SRMs over a conventional
Researchers are highly motivated to declare switched reluctance
motor as a substitute of induction motors. This paper deals with
electric motors: easy construction, less copper losses, higher
a three-dimensional (3D) finite element analysis of a switched efficiency compared to the motors in the same power ratings,
reluctance motor. The performance of the motor was analyzed by tolerable phase faults, very high speed applications, high
injecting voltage in the windings of the motor and transient torque/Inertia ratio, etc. There are also some disadvantages of
analysis of the model was carried out. Flux density distributions, SRMs: requirement of rotor position sensor or microcontroller
magnetic field intensity within the motor, the winding currents, for the sensor less control, complexity of the controller since
flux linkages, induced voltages, total energy and energy error theproduced torque is also a function of the position beside
were obtained. It was observed that the winding currents were thephase current, torque has strokes because of the switching,
high because of the high value of the applied excitation voltage noise, torque pulsations [8].
(120V). The plot of energy error showed that there was less than
1% error in the simulation which shows that the simulation was
There are a number of numerical methods which can be
accurate. adopted for the analysis of electromagnetic field problems.
Examples are Moments Method (MM), Monte Carlo Method
Index Terms—3D Model, Finite Element Method, Switched (MCM), Finite Difference Method (FDM) [9], Boundary
Reluctance Motor, Transient Analysis and Windings. Element Method (BEM) [10] and Finite Element Method
(FEM) [11].By the introduction of the FEA, numerical field
I. INTRODUCTION calculation approach has become a strong alternative in the
Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) is special machinery design and analysis of electrical machines and many
with simple robust construction high speed operation, high performance outcomes can be assessed. Intensive knowledge
efficiency, and high degree of independence between phases, of FEA could be found in [12], [13] and [14].
high reliability, and high torque to inertia ratio. Its application In this paper, the analysis of the SRM was done using
ranges from low-power servomotor to high power traction ANSYS Maxwell-3D package. The Magnetic and electric
drives [1], [2], [3] and [4].Exclusive features of the Switched potential was calculated by finite element solution which was
Reluctance Motor (SRM) such as lack of any coil or permanent made in3D. The ANSYS program supports high frequency
magnet on the rotor, simple structure and high reliability make electromagnetic analysis which will vary with current. First
it a suitable candidate for operation in harsh or sensitive step of analysis in Maxwell-3D is to assign excitations and
conditions. The different aspects of SRM drives have been boundary conditions to the criti¬cal geometry of the motor.
extensively investigated and carried out in the past decades by The Geometrical model of a Switched Reluctance motor is
several research organizations [5] and [6].SRMs are suitable meshed up into different polynomial elements. One sample can
for applications where high speed and high power are required. be analyzed by ANSYS software
Each stator phase is supplied with dc voltage and developed
torque tends to rotate the rotor aligned with the energized stator II. STRUCTURE CHARACTERIZATION OF SRM
poles. This makes the inductance of the excited coils The structure of the SRM is presented in Figure 1,which
maximum. Torque production is not dependent of the current shows the schematic diagram of an eight-stator pole, six-rotor
direction [7]. If this rotation tendency in the same direction is pole; the stator and rotor laminations are assumed to be made
kept continuously rotational, torque will be produced. A of steel_1008. Stator windings are made up of copper with

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 International Journal of Technical Research and Applications e-ISSN: 2320-8163,
www.ijtra.com Volume 7, Issue 5 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2019), PP. 19-23

relative permeability of 0.999991 H/m and bulk conductivity of 0.19%. This shows that further mesh refinement will probably
58000000 Siemens/m. The stator winding is concentrated and not change the solution, which further proves that the solution
the rotor has no winding or brushes. The rotor has segments is accurate.
which constitute flux guides that serve to bend the flux It should be noted that at each step in the adaptive process,
produced by the current flowing in the coil windings in the the energy and error energy are computed, and the most recent
stator slots around the slot and back towards the periphery of solutions can be viewed as soon as they are completed. After
the rotor. Figure 1 shows layout of the SRM with 4-phase and the mesh is refined, the matrix is calculated on the refined
8 poles. Table 1 shows the specifications of the SRM. mesh. The relative change between the previous matrix and the
current matrix will then be computed and reported as the
III. FINITE ELEMENT MODEL matrix delta; the target matrix delta is the Percent Error.
Finite Element Method (FEM) is a numerical technique to The magnitude of magnetic flux density and magnitude of
get an approximate solution by partial differential equation. vector potential were monitored during the simulation as
FEM is a computational tool used to know the perfor¬mance in presented in figures 7 and 8 respectively.
engineering applications. The complicated solid structure with Figure 7 shows the flux density on the stator and rotor of
moving boundaries can be analyzed over FEM. A field solution the motor. It can be observed that there are enough magnetic
can be obtained with time variables and with non-linear fields on the stator than the rotor.
materials [15]. The stages involved in the simulation of the Figure 8 is the field plot of the magnitude of vector
motor using 3D FE approach are; design settings, creation of potential showing the direction of concentration. The vector
3D model, assigning of boundaries and excitations, assigning potential lines link all the slots of modeled motor.
of parameters, mesh operations and analysis setup as outlined The transient simulation results are shown in figures 9, 10,
in [16]. 11 and 12. The stop time is 20 ms while the time step is 2 ms.
In the three dimensional finite element analysis adopted in Figures 9 and 10 are the plots of the winding currents
this paper, a regular polyhedron element, with dense meshes at versus time. It can be observed that the maximum current that
places where the field variations are being changed rapidly has is going through each of the windings is approximately 59
been used. Each phase of the motor has two coils which are amps. The maximum currents for winding1, winding2,
shown in different colours as presented in figure 1. There are winding3 and winding4 are 58.9442 amps, 58.9250 amps,
150 turns which are made up of stranded conductors. The 58.8975 amps and 58.7703 amps respectively. The reason for
windings were excited using voltage type of excitation. Also, these high currents is because of the high value of the applied
the usual assumption that the magnetic field outside of an air excitation voltage of 120 volts.
box in which the motor is placed is considered to be zero. The induced voltage recorded a transient of 62.5 volts at 2
Figure 2 shows the shape of the boundary with the model while ms before settling at 0 volt as presented in figure 11. The
figure 3 shows the finite element mesh of the SRM. maximum flux linkage recorded in the windings of the motor is
0.29 Wb as shown in figure 12.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
In the previous sections, the model of the four-phase V. CONCLUSION
Switched Reluctance Motor was obtained and implemented in In this work, a complete model of Switched Reluctance
Maxwell 3D environment. The simulation produced a number Motor was developed and the simulation analysis of the motor
of results. The objective of this section is to discuss the was carried out using Maxwell 3D software. The motor has
obtained results and pave way for an informed conclusion. four phases in which each of the phases has two coils. The
The Total Energy, Energy Error (%) and Delta Energy were coils are in series with each other. The stator has eight poles
plotted against Adaptive Solution Pass as shown in figures 4, 5 while the rotor has six poles. The stator windings are made up
and 6 respectively. This is primarily to evaluate the of copper with relative permeability of 0.999991 H/m and
convergence of these quantities versus the mesh. The bulk conductivity of 58000000 Siemens/m. Using Finite
maximum number of passes used in this analysis is nine (9). Element Approach, finish element mesh of the model was
This is the maximum number of mesh refinement cycles which obtained. The performance of the motor was analyzed by
Maxwell-3D performed. This value is a stopping criterion for injecting voltage in the windings of the motor. Flux density
the adaptive solution. distributions, magnetic field intensity within the motor were
Figure 4 shows that the total energy was decreasing down monitored. Transient analysis was carried out which produced
during the simulation. It stopped at 5.39 J at the last adaptive results such as flux linkages (0.29 Wb), induced voltages (62.5
pass. V), winding currents of the four windings (58.9442 amps,
Figure 5 shows the Energy Error (%). This is the error 58.9250 amps, 58.8975 amps and 58.7703 amps respectively).
energy as a percentage of the total energy. From the figure 5, It was observed that the winding currents were high because
the percentage is less than 1% at the last adaptive pass. This of the high value of the applied excitation voltage. Adaptive
shows that the simulation/solution is accurate. solutions of the model were obtained and it was shown that
The Delta Energy (%) plot is presented in figure 6. It can be there was less than 1% error in the simulation.
observed that the value at the last adaptive solution pass is Table 1: Specifications of the 4-phase SRM

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 International Journal of Technical Research and Applications e-ISSN: 2320-8163,
www.ijtra.com Volume 7, Issue 5 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2019), PP. 19-23

Materials Descriptions Dimensions

in mm
Core diameter on 70
gap side
Core diameter on 30
ROTOR yoke side
Core length 66
Number of poles 6
Yoke thickness 9
Pole embrace 0.5
End extension 0
Region length 200

Core diameter on 75 Figure 3: Finite Element Mesh of the SRM

gap side
Core diameter on 120
STATOR yoke side 5.75
Core length 65

Total Energy (J)

Number of poles 8
Yoke thickness 9 5.65
Pole embrace 0.5
End extension 1
Region length 200
5.55

5.45

5.35
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Pass
Figure 4: Total Energy versus Adaptive Solution Pass
15.00
12.50
Energy Error (%)

10.00
7.50
5.00
2.50
0.00
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Figure 2: Shape of the boundary with the Model Pass
Figure 5: Energy Error (%) versus Adaptive Solution Pass

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 International Journal of Technical Research and Applications e-ISSN: 2320-8163,
www.ijtra.com Volume 7, Issue 5 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2019), PP. 19-23

3.50
3.00
Delta Energy (%)

2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Pass
Figure 6: Delta Energy (%) versus Adaptive Solution Pass Figure 9: Winding1 and Winding2 Currents with Time

Figure 10: Winding3 and Winding4 Currents with Time

Figure 7: Magnitude of Magnetic Flux Density

Figure 8: Magnitude of Vector Potential Figure 11: Induced Voltage versus Time

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[6] Miller, T.J., 1993. “Switched Reluctance Motors and their

Controls”.1st Edn. Magna Physics Publishing and Clarendon
Press, Oxford, London, ISBN-13: 978-1-881855026, pp: 13-89.
[7] Miller, T.J.“Switched reluctance motors and their
control”,Oxford, Magna, 1993.
[8] Ibrahim Sengor, Abdullah Polat, Lale T. Ergene.
“DesignandAnalysis of switched reluctance Motor”.
International Conference on Electrical and Electronics
Engineering (ELECO),2013.pg1102-1114.
[9] Binns, K.J. and Lawrenson P.J. “Analysis and computation of
electric and magnetic fieldProblems”, New York, Pergamon
Press, 1973.
[10] Brebbia, C.A. and Dominguez, J. “Boundary elements: an
introductory course”,Southhampton, Boston: Computational
Mechanics Publications; New York: Co-published with
McGraw-Hill, 1992.
Figure 12: Flux Linkage versus Time [11] Salon, S. J. “Finite element analysis of electrical machines”,
Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995.
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