Unbalanced magnetic force mitigation and torque ripple reduction in eccentric switched reluctance motors using flux leakages

In this article, a comprehensive method is introduced to redress eccentricity fault consequences. Two main effects of eccentricity faults include considerable increase in unbalanced magnetic force and torque ripple. Dependency of unbalanced magnetic force and torque ripple on eccentricity fault level is shown, and the possibility of compensating them via controlling currents in facing poles is proved. These objectives are accomplished through a novel converter that controls currents in poles of every phase such that one pole is responsible for nullifying unbalanced magnetic force and the facing pole is in charge of torque ripple reducing. The control algorithm is analyzed in details and through finite-element method and MATLAB/Simulink (The MathWorks, Natick, Massachusetts, USA) is implemented on a 6/4 switched reluctance motor with 30% eccentricity fault level. The proposed strategy samples the flux leakage as the index both for occurrence and criterion for compensation of unbalanced magnetic force. The suggested method is designed such that there is no need to detect eccentricity fault direction, location, and type, which makes it cost effective and practical for a wide range of switched reluctance motors and applications.