Power smoothing using a flywheel driven by a switched reluctance machine

A control system for power smoothing using a switched reluctance machine (SRM) driving a flywheel is presented in this paper. Power smoothing is achieved by controlling the SRM to operate as a motor/generator, storing or retrieving energy from a rotating flywheel. In order to increase the rotational energy stored in the flywheel, the SRM operates at high rotational speed, and the machine phase current is controlled using single-pulse mode. To control the SRM output power, a two-dimensional lookup table is used to store the switching angles. The control strategies proposed in this paper have been experimentally implemented in a 2.5-kW prototype based on an 8/6 SRM. Experimental results are presented and discussed.