There was once little hope of improvingpe~ormance in a reluctance motor because of the considerably low efficiency and low power output. However, this has changed in recent years because of advances in power electronics and machining; reluctance motors have now become the focus of new studies. Research and development is pursuing two different tracks. One targets what is referred to as a switched reluctance motor which uses a pulse signal to drive a salient-pole rotor.The other targets a synchronous reluctance motor (SynRM) which uses a sinusoidal wave ro drive a rotor which is constructed with severalflux barriers. The stator winding of this latter is of the same specifications as that used in an induction motor or a brushless motor which utilizespermanent magnets. It also carries the merit of effectively utilizing a conventional inverter owing to the sinusoidal wave drive. For what regards rotor construction of this type of motor, Lipo, Miller, Boldea, Vagati and others have enthusiastically researched an axially laminated construction which features layers of electromagnetic iron plate in the rotor 3 m-al direction for the purpose of improvingsaliency ratio. However, many of these have not clanfiedthe relationship between flux barder construction and motor enciency. This paper reports on simulations and experiments using aprofotype, in which flux barrier construction and design optimization were investigated in consideration of machining distortion and otherfadors, aspart of studies into making a highly efficient multi-flux barrier SynRM. It is also reportedthat the prototype modelproved to be 6% more efficient than an induction motor with the same inverter drive.0-7803-4943 -1/98/$10.00 0 1998 IEEE
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