Development of an improved switched reluctance motor drive using a soft-switching converter

The use of soft-switching converters in association with switched reluctanc e motors (SRM) potentially allows the fabrication of motor drives with incr eased power density and with better efficiency than other types of drive sy stem. Additionally, the SRM can be operated with high reliability at very h igh speeds in harsh environments. As a result, a soft-switched SRM drive sy stem can compete favourably with other drive types, in applications where c ompactness and robustness are required. In this work, the feasibility of a soft-switched reluctance drive is evaluated using simulations and validated with experimental results.