Control Input Limited Switched Reluctance Motor with Auxiliary Sliding Mode Position Tracking Control

The drive system of a switched reluctance motor (SRM) is a nonlinear one with coupling between the rotor position, inductance, and flux linkage. Moreover, the system parameters change with the external environment such as temperature, humidity, and pressure. At the same time, uncertain factors including friction, torque fluctuation, and external interference in the system, reduce system stability and reliability. To effectively improve the influence of uncertain factors on the performance of an SRM system, this study proposes an auxiliary sliding position tracking method, under the condition of limited control input. First, the mathematical model of the system was established according to the structure and characteristics of an SRM. Second, an auxiliary sliding mode position tracking controller was designed by constructing the auxiliary system and utilizing the sliding mode control theory. Finally, the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method were verified through comparison with proportional integral differential (PID) control and the traditional sliding mode control using simulation. Results demonstrate that under limited control input, the auxiliary sliding position tracking control method still delivers rapid and error-free tracking of the position and speed for the change of model parameters. The recommended scheme has a response time 2.9 times shorter than that of PID control. Furthermore, the steady-state errors of the PID control position and speed are 0.66 rad and 1.62 rad/s, respectively. The control input of the traditional sliding mode control has greater chattering than the proposed method. When the system has interference, the designed method under the condition of limited control input can achieve the desired tracking command within 1.7 s. The steady-state error is 0.0044 rad, and the steady-state accuracy of the developed scheme is 10.3 times higher than that of PID control. Therefore, the proposed method enjoys both high position tracking accuracy and strong robustness to external disturbances.