An enhanced direct instantaneous torque control of switched reluctance
motor drives using ant colony optimization
Fahad Al-Amyal a,⇑, László Számel a, Mahmoud Hamouda b
a Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Department of Electric Power Engineering, Egry József utca 18, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary
b Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 9 May 2022
Revised 29 July 2022
Accepted 3 September 2022
Available online 17 September 2022
Keywords:
Switched reluctance motors
Direct instantaneous torque control
Torque profile improvement
Multistage ant colony optimization
a b s t r a c t
The highly nonlinear characteristics of switched reluctance motors (SRMs) are the drawback that complicates
their control and modeling. Hence, obtaining the best performance becomes a challenging task.
Therefore, this paper presents an upgraded methodology of the ant colony optimization (ACO) technique.
The proposed multistage ant colony optimization (MSACO) enhances the search capability of the classical
ACO. Therefore, it helps to find the best switching angles without violating pre-specified constraints. The
optimized angles are used to implement an improved high-performance direct instantaneous torque control
(DITC) drive. This work focuses on reducing torque ripple, improving motor efficiency, and preventing
generating a considerable amount of negative torque. Moreover, a current detector is used to provide
information about negative torque production and thus helps to find optimal angles and avoid the set of
solutions that give a considerable amount of negative torque. Furthermore, a new switching strategy is
utilized to implement an efficient hysteresis torque controller, where the selection of the switching mode
of the power converter is entirely determined based on the inductance profile of the SRM. The utilized
switching strategy guarantees accurate torque tracking over the entire phase excitation period; thus,
the machine’s torque profile is improved further. The simulation results showed the superiority of the
proposed control method over the traditional control method. In addition, the experimental measurements
have been carried out to verify the simulation findings using a three-phase 750 W, 12/8 SRM
prototype.
2022 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by-nc-nd/4.0/).