This paper presents a technical overview for low-noise switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives in electric vehicle (EV) applications. With ever-increasing concerns over environmental and cost issues associated with permanent magnet machines, there is a technical trend to utilize SRMs in some mass production markets. The SRM is gaining much interest for EVs due to its rare-earth-free characteristic and excellent performance. In spite of many advantages compared to conventional adjustable-speed drives, SRMs suffer from torque ripple and radial distortion (and thus noise and vibration) by their nature. Therefore, for high-performance vehicle applications, it is important and urgent to optimize the SRM system to overcome the drawbacks of the noise and vibration. In order to present clear solutions to the acoustic noise in SRMs, this paper starts by analyzing the mechanism of the radial vibration and torque ripples inherent in the motors, and then focuses on the state-of-the-art technologies to mitigate the radial force and torque ripples. It highlights two categories for low-noise SRMs, including the machine topology improvement and control strategy design for radial vibration mitigation and torque ripple reduction. Advanced technologies are reviewed, classified, and compared accordingly. In addition to these methodologies, the schemes that have been developed by authors are also presented and discussed. Finally, the research status on this topic is summarized and forecast research hotspots are presented. It is our intention that this paper provides the guidance on performance improvements for low-noise SRM drives in EV applications.

This paper proposes a modular multilevel converter (MMC)-based switched reluctance motor (SRM) drive with decentralized battery energy storage system (BESS) for hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) applications. In the proposed drive, a battery cell and a half-bridge converter is connected as a submodule (SM), and multiple SMs are connected together for the MMC. The modular full-bridge converter is employed to drive the motor. Flexible charging and discharging functions for each SM are obtained by controlling switches in SMs. Multiple working modes and functions are achieved. Compared to conventional and existing SRM drives, there are several advantages for the proposed topology. A lower dc bus voltage can be flexibly achieved by selecting SM operation states, which can dramatically reduce the voltage stress on the switches. Multilevel phase voltage is obtained to improve the torque capability. Battery state-of-charge (SOC) balance can be achieved by independently controlling each SM. Flexible fault-tolerance ability for battery cells is equipped. The battery can be flexibly charged in both running and standstill conditions. Furthermore, completely modular structure is achieved by using standard half-bridge modules, which is beneficial for market mass production. Experiments carried out on a three-phase 12/8 SRM confirm the effectiveness of the proposed SRM drive.

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.

This paper proposes an optimized direct instantaneous torque control (DITC) scheme for switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives with a novel adaptive dynamic commutation strategy, which can effectively reduce torque ripple and improve system efficiency. To minimize torque ripple, two operational modes are developed for torque tracking during commutation regions. In Mode I, the torque error is compensated by the outgoing phase during the current buildup region of the incoming phase; in Mode II, the torque error is compensated by the incoming phase during the demagnetization region of the outgoing phase. To implement the proposed DITC scheme in a more effective conduction range, the commutation instants are dynamically adjusted according to the varied operation conditions. For each phase, the turn-on and turn-off angles are modified in each electrical cycle by a torque error regulator and a phase current endpoint detector, respectively. By employing the proposed strategy, the torque generation capability is fully utilized for minimized torque ripple, and the phase currents work within a more effective conduction range for improved system efficiency. The simulation and experiments on a three-phase 12/8 SRM are carried out to verify the feasibility and effectiveness.

The bidirectional ac/dc converter is widely used to realize the power conversion between ac and dc microgrid, but the faults of switch devices and unbalanced grid voltages may lead to the decline of power quality and affect normal operation of the converter. The four-switch three-phase (FSTP) fault-tolerant structure is reconstructed from a six-switch three-phase structure with switch device fault. In order to reduce harmonic currents and output power fluctuations under unbalanced grid voltages, finite states model predictive direct power control (MPDPC) with power compensation method is proposed for FSTP structure and predictive power model of the bidirectional FSTP ac/dc converter is established. The power compensation values are expressed by grid voltages and their quadrature signals that lagging 90 electrical degrees in the αβ stationary coordinate system. Compared with the conventional method, phase-locked loop, pulse width modulation, and complex positive-/negative-sequence extraction of grid voltage are not required. Ripples of active power or reactive power under unbalanced grid voltages are eliminated. The proposed fault-tolerant MPDPC with power compensation method ensures the continuous and reliable operation of the bidirectional ac/dc converter with high power quality. Simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the proposed control strategy under symmetrical unbalanced grid voltages with switch device faults.

To reduce the common-mode voltage (CMV) and eliminate the CMV spikes for 2-level voltage source inverters (2L-VSIs), an improved model predictive control (MPC) based CMV reduction method is proposed considering dead time effects. First, an improved voltage vector (VV) preselection strategy is proposed to reduce the CMV spikes caused by the dead time. Second, a new hybrid VV preselection strategy based on a delay compensation strategy and a modified current sector division strategy is proposed to completely eliminate the CMV spikes. As the proposed hybrid VV preselection based MPC strategy makes full use of the six nonzero VVs of the 2L-VSI, the current total harmonic distortions and ripples are reduced. The simulation and experiments are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.