New Integrated Multilevel Converter for Switched Reluctance Motor Drives in Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles With Flexible Energy Conversion

• Published in: IEEE transactions on power electronics Vol. 32; no. 5; pp. 3754 - 3766
• Main Authors: Chun Gan, Jianhua Wu, Yihua Hu, Shiyou Yang, Wenping Cao, Guerrero, Josep M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.05.2017; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Alternating current; Batteries; Battery chargers; Braking; Capacitors; Charging; Converters; Demagnetization; Electric motors; Electric potential; Electric vehicles; Energy conversion; Energy storage; Fast excitation and demagnetization; flexible battery charging; front-end circuit; Generators; Hybrid electric vehicles; Multilevel; multilevel voltage; Phase current; plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV); Power flow; Reluctance; Reluctance motors; switched reluctance motor (SRM); Switches; Torque
• ISSN: 0885-8993; 1941-0107
• DOI: 10.1109/TPEL.2016.2583467

This paper presents an integrated multilevel converter of switched reluctance motors (SRMs) fed by a modular front-end circuit for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) applications. Several operating modes can be achieved by changing the ON-OFF states of the switches in the front-end circuit. In generator driving mode, the battery bank is employed to elevate the phase voltage for fast excitation and demagnetization. In battery driving mode, the converter is reconfigured as a four-level converter, and the capacitor is used as an additional charge capacitor to produce multilevel voltage outputs, which enhances the torque capability. The operating modes of the proposed drive are explained and the phase current and voltage are analyzed in details. The battery charging is naturally achieved by the demagnetization current in motoring mode and by the regenerative current in braking mode. Moreover, the battery can be charged by the external ac source or generator through the proposed converter when the vehicle is in standstill condition. The SRM-based PHEV can operate at different speeds by coordinating the power flow between the generator and battery. Simulation in MATLAB/Simulink and experiments on a three-phase 12/8 SRM confirm the effectiveness of the proposed converter topology.