Subharmonics and chaos in switched reluctance motor drives

In this paper, the investigation of the nonlinear dynamics of an adjustable-speed switched reluctance motor (SRM) drive with voltage pulse width modulation (PWM) regulation is carried out. Nonlinear iterative mappings based on both nonlinear and approximately linear flux linkage models are derived, hence the corresponding subharmonic and chaotic behaviors are analyzed. Although both flux linkage models can produce similar results, the nonlinear one offers the merit of accuracy but with the sacrifice of computational time. Moreover, the bifurcation diagrams show that the system generally exhibits a period-doubling route to chaos. Index Terms--Chaos, motor drives, subharmonics, switched reluctance motors.