A simulation model for a 4 phase switched reluctance motor for PSIM

PSIM is a powerful circuit simulation tool which allows fast and easy power circuit design verification by simulation. It provides an intuitive developing environment and a vast library of common components for both digital and analog circuits. In addition it has a collection of different types of motor models which designers can use to test their driving circuit designs. For the case of switched reluctance motor drives, the library provides two motor models: the first one is a 3 phase SRM with a linear and non-saturable inductance profile, and the second one a 3 phase SRM with a non-linear and saturable inductance profile. Although these two models can provide a rough estimation on how the system will perform, they have a few shortcomings that will make more accurate analysis difficult. Although it's possible to use external programs such as simulink/matlab to aid in motor modeling and simulation[5], the switched reluctance motors have certain properties that make this capability quite unusable. This paper presents an alternative and more accurate motor model for use in the simulation of an SRM system. It utilizes the built-in components from PSIM, most importantly the C-block element, and some external parameter files generated by external C programs. In this way no other software is needed to design and simulate the complete system. Simulation results show that the new model can provide a more accurate simulation result for the complete drive and motor system.