A Simplified PWM Strategy for Open-Winding Flux Modulated Doubly-Salient Reluctance Motor Drives With Switching Action Minimization

In this article, a simplified pulsewidth modulation (PWM) strategy is proposed for open-winding flux modulated doubly-salient reluctance motor (FMDRM) drives for switching action minimization and common-mode voltage (CMV) reduction. Conventionally, the open-winding converter topology is utilized to achieve the zero-sequence current flow path and dc-biased sinusoidal current excitation for the FMDRM, where the switching actions of power switches are doubled compared to the conventional modular three-phase converter, leading to higher switching losses. Different from the conventional space vector PWM scheme, the reference voltages of converter legs are directly calculated by the reference phase voltages in the proposed PWM scheme. In addition, a rotor-position-based sector division method is proposed to deal with the sector imbalance caused by the distorted back electromotive force (back EMF). Furthermore, different leg voltage clamping methods are respectively developed in odd and even sectors for switching action minimization, which can achieve voltage stress balance and CMV reduction. With the proposed scheme, the switching actions in each switching cycle can be reduced by half, which effectively increases the system efficiency of the FMDRM drive. Experiments are carried out on a three-phase 12/8 FMDRM prototype to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Automated summary

In this article, a simplified pulsewidth modulation (PWM) strategy is proposed for open-winding flux modulated doubly-salient reluctance motor (FMDRM) drives for switching action minimization and common-mode voltage (CMV) reduction. The proposed strategy directly calculates the converter leg reference voltages based on the reference phase voltages and utilizes a rotor-position-based sector division method to address sector imbalance caused by distorted back electromotive force (EMF). Additionally, different leg voltage clamping methods are developed for switching action minimization and CMV reduction. Experimental results on a three-phase 12/8 FMDRM prototype confirm the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.