Control of switched reluctance motors of traction electric drives of railway transport

Abstract

Due to harmful emissions from vehicles on fossil fuels, rising prices for petroleum products and natural gas, the use of electric vehicles is on the rise. The rapid growth of electric vehicle production will ultimately satisfy these problems in cities. Outside the city, it is advisable to develop intercity electric transport, primarily rail, which can significantly reduce the cost of passenger and freight transportation. The paper considers the possibility of using switched reluctance motors in the traction drives of railway locomotives to replace less efficient, outdated direct current motors. It was designed in a direct current motor housing to study the static characteristics of the switched reluctance traction motor. A simulation model of a switched reluctance motor was developed, and its static characteristics were calculated at various supply voltages and load torque when operating in traction electric drives of railway transport. A comparison of the traction, mechanical and energy characteristics of a switched reluctance motor and a direct current traction motor at different supply voltages was carried out to assess the efficiency of its application. With this approach, as with direct current motors, the supply voltage of the switched reluctance motors was regulated by changing the wiring diagram. An algorithm for controlling the switched reluctance motor through pulse-width modulation of its phase voltage to form a family of traction characteristics is proposed. The study results showed that the proposed approach to regulating the rotation speed of the switched reluctance motor allows for the formation of the required number of traction characteristics and, if necessary, for performing stepwise or smooth transitions between them to regulate the vehicle speed. The results indicate the efficiency of switched reluctance motors in direct current traction electric locomotives.