The aim of this book is to help engineers understand, design and evaluate the switched reluctance motor (SRM) and its controls. The SRM is a relative newcomer to the family of electric motors and is unusual both for having salient teeth on rotor and stator and for its complete dependence on its power electronic controls. It is however remarkably versatile.

Part of the design problems is that the switched reluctance motor does not conform to the established design techniques used for classic DC and AC electric motors. The practical design engineer is confronted with a machine that has no steady state, has extreme localized saturation and requires an unfamiliar power-electronic converter to make it work at all. The geometry is beguilingly simple and everything about the motor and its control seems at first sight to be a gift to the production engineer. Yet the attainment of good designs and satisfactory performance is practically impossible by traditional design methods.

TJE Miller is Lucas Professor of power electronics and the director of the SPEED Consortium at the University of Glasgow U.K. He has 20 years experience in the U.K. and General Electric Research in Schenectady, New York plus teaching/research at the University of Glasgow.