Comparison of Winding Arrangements of Three Phase

Switched Reluctance Motor under Unipolar Operation

Ruchao Pupadubsin, Nattapon Chayopitak, Santipong Karukanan, Prasit Champa
Pakasit Somsiri and Kanokvate Tungpimolrut
National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, Thailand
Email: ruchao.pupadubsin@nectec.or.th

C4

B1

C4

B1

B3

C2
C2

AbstractChanging winding arrangement is a simple method

that does not require machine structure to be redesigned and
substantial increase in efficiency or performance can be achieved.
The goal of this paper is to present a comparative analysis of three
types of winding arrangements for a three-phase 12/8 switched
reluctance motor (SRM), where short-, fully- and fractionallypitched winding arrangements under unipolar operation are considered. In this paper, the comparison of average torque for equal
copper losses shows that the fully-pitched and the short-pitched
windings are efficient and can enhance the torque density; the
comparison of the total winding weights and current level with the
same copper losses are discussed.

B3

Index Terms- Switched reluctance motor, winding arrangement,

short-pitched, fully-pitched, fractionally-pitched.
(a) Short-pitched winding 1

INTRODUCTION

B4

(b) Short-pitched winding 2

C1

B2

C3

B4

C1

B2

The switched reluctance machine (SRM) [1], [2] is a double

salient machine having simple magnetic structure. It has only
concentrated windings on the stator and without any coil winding or permanent magnet on the rotor, resulting in cost saving
for manufacturing process. Other advantages of SRM include
high starting torque, fault tolerant, high efficiency over wide
speed range and broad choice of converters depending on the
application requirements; these make SRM an attractive alternative to conventional drive in numerous applications.
Many modern applications require higher efficiency and higher performance machines with reducing production cost.
Changing winding arrangement is a simple method that does
not require machine structure to be redesigned and substantial
increase in efficiency or performance can be achieved. For
example, with fully-pitched winding arrangement, as reported
in [3], [4] and [5], torque can be increased over 30%, resulting
in higher efficiency than the conventional winding arrangement.
The fully-pitched winding which can operate with either unipolar or bipolar operation uses the mutual-coupling among the
phase for torque production and enhancement of torque density.
In [6] and [7], an analysis, design and SRM operation of the
fraction- ally-pitched winding arrangement which also utilizes
the mutual-coupling between phases are discussed. Another
early investigation on winding arrangement [8], uses finite
element analysis to study short- and long-flux paths using single-phase and double-phase excitation for a three-phase 12/8
SRM; the studies also reveal that the maximum torque can be
increased.

C3

I.

(c) Short-pitched winding 3

Fig. 1. Short-pitched winding arrangement.

The objective of this paper is to investigate a winding arrangement of a three-phase 12/8 SRM under unipolar operation by
considering the torque density comparison base on the same
copper losses, neglecting the hysteresis and eddy current loss
effects as well as total winding weight to use each winding arrangements. The Finite Element Method Magnetics (FEMM) [9]
and PC-SRD [10] software are used mainly for calculation of
static torque and structure of winding; winding weight, slot-fill
factor etc.

II. WINDING ARRANGEMENT

A. Short-Pitched Winding
Fig. 1 shows three diagrams of the short-pitched winding
configuration and flux paths of the three-phase 12/8 SRM when
single phase (phase A) is excited with unipolar operation.
For the short-pitched winding, each coil is wound around a
single stator pole. The winding's polarities are arranged in the
stator to give magnetic pole when each phase is excited, resulting in the stator poles act as a north (N) or south (S) magnetic
pole that is the main cause of magnetic-flux path direction. The
12/8 SRM's winding polarities of short-pitched winding are
modified to change the magnetic poles. In a particular phase,
Fig. 1 (a) shows the magnetic-flux paths when the sequential
magnetic poles are the same e.g. N-N-N-N and S-S-S-S. The
sequential magnetic poles are such that two poles have the same
polarity e.g. S-N-N-S and N-S-S-N in Fig. 1 (b). The opposite
of sequential magnetic poles e.g. N-S-N-S and S-N-S-N is
shown in Fig. 1 (c).
The torque of SRM with short-pitched winding is produced
due to the self-inductance variation, the mutual-inductance between the phase windings are ineffective and therefore neglected,
resulting in

(a) Fully-pitched winding 1

(b) Fully-pitched winding 2

Fig. 2. Fully-pitched winding arrangement.

1 2 dLa
1 dL
1 dL
(1)
ia
+ ib2 b + ic2 c
2 d
2 d
2 d
where the subscript a, b and c denote the phase; i , L and are
the phase current, self-inductance and rotor position, respectively.
T =

B. Fully-Pitched Winding
Two diagrams of the fully-pitched winding configuration and
flux paths in a three-phase 12/8 SRM when two phases (phase
A and B) are excited with unipolar operation are shown in Fig.
2. In the fully-pitched winding arrangement of the three-phase
12/8 SRM, each coil spans the surrounding three adjacent stator
poles. For Fig. 2 (a) show the fully-pitched winding diagram
when it's the number of turns per pole is the same as the number
of turns per pole of the short-pitched winding, while Fig. 2 (b)
show the fully-pitched winding when it is wound double the
number of turns per pole of short-pitched winding. The fullypitched winding can operate with either unipolar (double-phase
on at a time) or bipolar operation (double-phase on at a time
and all three phases on at a time) [3], [4] and [5].
The torque of the fully-pitched winding is only produced due
to the rate of change of the mutual-inductances among phases
and torque production can be achieved by excited two phases
simultaneously instead of only one phase in the short-pitched

Fig. 3. Fractionally-pitched winding arrangement.

winding. The self-inductance of an individual phase is constant

and has the same value as the maximum phase inductance at
any rotor position and so that the self-inductance of the fullypitched winding is independent of the rotor position and ineffective for torque production. The torque equation of the fullypitched winding can be expressed by

T = iaib

dMab
dMbc
dMca
+ ibic
+ icia
d
d
d

(2)

TABLE I
DIMENSIONS OF THE 12/8 SRM

C. Fractionally-Pitched Winding
Fig. 3 shows the fractionally-pitched winding configuration
and flux paths of the three-phase 12/8 SRM when two phases
(phase A and B) are excited with unipolar operation. In the
fractionally-pitched winding arrangement of a three-phase 12/8
SRM, each coil spans surrounding two adjacent stator poles,
which make self- and mutual-inductance, vary as functions of
the rotor position. The fractionally-pitched winding can operate
with either unipolar (double-phase on at a time) or bipolar operation (double-phase on at a time and all three phases on at a
time) [6] and [7].
The torque production of the fractionally-pitched utilizes the
rate of change of both self- and mutual-inductance to improveement torque density, while the short-pitched winding uses only
self-inductance and the fully-pitched winding uses also only
mutual-inductances to produce torque. The self-inductance value of the fractionally-pitched is not constant as the fully-pitched
winding but varies as a function of the rotor position. The
torque equation for this winding is given in

T =

1 2 dLa
1 dL
1 dL
ia
+ ib2 b + ic2 c
2 d
2 d
2 d
dMab
dMbc
dMca
+ iaib
+ ibic
+ icia
d
d
d

Parameter
Stator outer diameter
Stator inner diameter
Stator pole arc
Rotor pole arc
Shaft diameter
Air gap
Stack length
Wire diameter
Number of strands

Value
95 mm
84 mm
15
16
35 mm
0.3 mm
120 mm
0.914 mm (SWG 20)
2

TABLE II
WINDING ARRANGEMENT DETAILS
Winding
arrangement
Short pitch 1
Short pitch 2
Short pitch 3
Full pitch 1
Full pitch 2
Fractional
pitch

Number of
turns per pole
97
97
97
97
194
97

Number of
coils
12
12
12
6
6
12

Excitation type
Single phase
Single phase
Single phase
Double-phase
Double-phase
Double-phase

(3)

where M is the mutual-inductance.

III. COMPARISON BASE ON EQUAL CONDUCTION LOSS

Table I shows the dimension of the three-phase 12/8 SRM.
Table II shows the winding details of each winding configurations. The number of turns per pole of the short- and fractionallypitched winding is the same but it is increased in the fullypitched winding 2 case. The number of windings of the shortand fractionally-pitched winding for the three-phase 12/8 SRM
generally is the same as the number of stator poles, at 12 coils,
while the number of windings in fully-pitched are decreased to
6 coils. In term of the slot-fill factor which is the ratio of the
actual cross-section of copper in a stator slot to the total stator
slot area, the fully-pitched winding 1 has the lowest slot-fill
factor, while other winding arrangements have the same slot-fill
factor.
Total winding weights of the fully-pitched winding 2 are the
highest, while the total weight of windings of the fully-pitched
winding 1 is the lowest. The slot-fill factor, total weight of windings and phase resistance of each winding arrangement are
shown in Table III. Total winding weights of all short-pitched
winding arrangements are lighter than the total winding weights
of the fractionally-pitch winding. The high value of phase winding resistance is the fully-pitched winding 2.
The winding loss per phase equation in the short-pitched
winding SRM is given in
1 2
(4)
LossSp = I Sp
RSp
3
it is assumed that each phase conduct approximately one third
of one electrical cycle. Similarly, in the fully- and fractionallypitched winding, it is assumed that each phase conduct approximately two-thirds of one electrical cycle, and then the winding

TABLE III
ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL DETAILS
Winding
arrangement
Short pitch 1
Short pitch 2
Short pitch 3
Full pitch 1
Full pitch 2
Fractional
pitch

Slot-fill
factor
0.37
0.37
0.37
0.18
0.37
0.37

Total weight of
windings [kg]
5.1
5.1
5.1
4.5
9.0
7.1

Phase resistance
[]
1.9
1.9
1.9
1.7
3.4
2.6

TABLE IV
PHASE WINDING CURRENT COMPARISON FOR THE SAME COPPER LOSS
Winding
arrangement
Short pitch 1, 2, 3
Full pitch 1
Full pitch 2
Fractional pitch

Phase winding current at

the same copper loss
15
11.27
7.98
9.02

loss per phase equation in the fully- and fractionally-pitched

winding SRM are given in (5) and (6).
2 2
(5)
Loss Full = I Full
RFull
3
2 2
(6)
Loss Frac = I Frac
RFrac
3
where the subscript Sp, Full and Frac denote the short-, fullyand fractionally-pitched winding; I and R are the phase current,
and phase resistance, respectively.
To compare the three winding arrangements of a three-phase
SRM based on the same copper losses for the same motor
structure, phase current of each winding arrangement are selected according to equation (4), (5) and (6) for the short-, fullyand fractionally-pitched winding, respectively. The phase current of each winding arrangement are shown in Table IV, base on
equal copper losses. The phase current of each winding arrange-

IV. COMPARATIVE RESULTS

The effective torque regions which are positive torque
production zone of the three-phase 12/8 SRM are 22 mechanical degrees. Fig. 4 shows the effective static phase torque
profiles of each winding arrangement based on equal copper
losses. From Fig. 4, the fully-pitched winding 2 which is
double-phase excitation can produce the highest peak torque, at
44.08 Nm, while the fractionally-pitched winding which requires double-phase excitation can produce the smallest peak
torque, at 20.56 Nm. For short-pitched winding arrangements,
the short-pitched winding 1 which requires single phase excitation can generate a peak torque of 35.18 Nm, but it produces
negative torque at some position and the short-pitched winding
2 and 3 which are single phase excitation can generate a peak
torque of 40.47 Nm and 41.4 Nm, respectively. In other fullypitched winding arrangement, the fully-pitched winding 1
which uses double-phase excitation can produce the peak torque
of 29.3 Nm.
Table V lists the average value of the effective torque on the
basis of the same copper losses according to the torque profiles
in Fig. 4. It is clear that the fully-pitched winding 2 can
generate the highest average torque, while the short-pitched
winding 1 can produce the lowest average torque.

V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, the comparison of the winding arrangements
for the same motor structure reveals that the total winding
weight of the fully-pitched winding 2 is the highest because of
the increased end windings. The comparison of the average
torque results on the basis of equal copper losses shows that the
fully-pitched winding 2 with double-phase unipolar excitation
and the short-pitched winding 3 with single phase unipolar
excitation are effective to enhance the torque density. The
current level of the fully-pitched winding 2 has to be reduced to
attain the same copper losses where average output torque is
still higher than any other winding arrangements. The fractionally-pitched winding cannot utilize the self- and mutual-inductance to generate output torque effectively when it is excited
under double-phase unipolar operation. Rewinding the winding
arrangement of 12/8 SRM with fully-pitched winding 2, the
increase in efficiency and output torque can be achieved.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This project was supported by the National Electronics and
Computer Technology Center, National Science and Development Agency, Thailand.

50
Short pitch 1
Short pitch 2
Short pitch 3
Full pitch 1
Full pitch 2
Fractional pitch

40
30

Static Torque [Nm]

ment in Table IV is used in Finite Element Analysis (FEA)

model to simulate the phase torque production.
The excitations under unipolar operation of winding arrangement are shown in Table II. The short-pitched winding arrangements are excited with single phase excitation at a time, while
the fully- and fractionally-pitched winding arrangement are
excited with double-phase excitation at a time.

20
10
0

-10
-20

12

16

20

22.5

Rotor Position [deg]

Fig. 4. Effective static torque of a three-phase 12/8 SRM at different
winding arrangement on the basis of equal copper loss.

TABLE V
AVERAGE STATIC TORQUE RESULTS AT THE SAME CONDUCTION LOSS
Winding arrangement
Short pitch 1
Short pitch 2
Short pitch 3
Full pitch 1
Full pitch 2
Fractional pitch

Average static torque [Nm]

9.8
19.6
21.6
15.9
23.4
12.9

REFERENCES
[1]

T. J. E. Miller, Switched Reluctance Motors and Their Control.

Magna Physics Publishing and Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1993.
[2] R. Krishnan, Switched Reluctance Motor Drives: Modeling, Simulation, Analysis, Design, and Applications. CRC Press LLC., June 2001.
[3] B. C. Mecrow, Fully-pitched winding switched reluctance and stepping motor arrangements, Proceedings of the IEE Electric Power
Applications, pp. 61-70, 1993.
[4] P. G. Barrass, B. C. Mecrow, and A. C. Clothier, Unipolar operation
of fully-pitched winging switched reluctance drives, Proceedings of
the IEE Electrical Machines and Drives Conference, vol. 412, pp.
252256, September 1995.
[5] B. C. Mecrow, New winding configurations for doubly salient reluctance machines, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol.
32, no. 6, November/December 1996.
[6] Y. Li, and Y. Tang, Switched reluctance motor drives with fractionally-pitched winding design, Proceedings of the 28th IEEE Annual
Power Electronics Specialists Conference (PESC), vol. 2, pp. 875880, June 1997.
[7] Y. Tang, Switched reluctance motor with fractionally pitched windings and bipolar currents, Proceedings of the 33rd IEEE Annual
Industry Application Conference, vol. 1, pp. 351-358, October 1998.
[8] H. Chen, and Q. Song, Windings arrangement of a three-phase switched reluctance machine, Proceedings of the IEEE Intl. Electric
Machines and Drives Conference (IEMDC), vol. 3, pp. 1665-1668,
June 2003.
[9] D. Meeker, Users Manual: Finite Element Method Magnetics,
Version 4.2, October 2010.
[10] Users Manual: PC-SRD, Version 8.8, CD-adapco, August 2011.