World Journal of Engineering Research and Technology

Zainab Musa Gwoma*, S. Saidu Adamu, M. Buhari and Abdulrahman Buji Babagana

ABSTRACT

Switched Reluctance Generators (SRGs) have gained significant attention in recent years due to their high reliability, low cost, and simple architecture. However, one of the major challenges associated with SRGs is the occurrence of torque ripple caused by its inherent non-linearity due to excessive magnetic saturation, as well as its doubly salient pole structure, which affects the generator's performance and efficiency. In this research work, we propose a PI- tuned Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) Technique to minimise the Torque Ripple on SRGs. The proposed Optimization framework will optimize thedesign parameters of the SRG, with emphasis on: Turn-On/Off angles and Reference current. MATLAB/Simulink Programming software was used to implement this technique on a typical 60kW, 4-phase, 8/6 Generator model with parameters as shown in table 1 of this paper. The Generator model was executed for about 6 possible arrangements of Reference Currents as well as firing angles at a speed of 5500 rpm, a 240 v excitation and at a current of 200 A. A comparison on the Performance of the SRG at these instances in the context of Generator flux, Generator Current, Torque Ripple as well as Generator speed were also presented and it reveals that the first set of optimal values corresponding to Figure (8) in the text, with Iref = 145A, and firing angles, α = 61.37 0 and β = 87 0 gives the best performance with a convergence time of 0.09s and the average value of Torque during Convergence was 12.5227 Nm. It is expected that the results of this research work will provide valuable insights to researchers on the use of the Enhanced ACO for torque ripple minimization in SRGs.

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