Improving the Efficiency of Switched Reluctance Motors using a Step-Skewed Rotor

Abstract

This paper discusses how to improve the efficiency of switched reluctance motors (SRMs) by means of a step-skewed rotor (SSR). The cross-sectional configuration of the tested SRM with SSR, including the size and shape of the salient poles, was nearly identical to that of a conventional SRM. The tested SRM was divided into three stacks, of which only one rotor was skewed. The skewed angle was designed to reduce both the torque ripple and the radial force. Experiments were carried out to confirm the effectiveness of efficiency improvement of the SRM with SSR: a maximum efficiency of more than 90% was achieved. Compared with the efficiency of a conventional SRM, the efficiency of the proposed SRM with SSR was greater by more than 10 percentage points.

A research trend of electric machines with development of finite element analysis

“…In Ref. [10], the authors propose an SRM with the step skewed rotor to improve the motor efficiency. The proposed motor construction is divided into three stacks.…”

“…These achievements have been highlighted by many researchers who have proposed novel approaches to improve motor performance. Three groups of topics will be introduced in this paper: optimal design methods [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9], novel motor structures [10][11][12][13][14][15][16], and novel control methods [17][18][19][20].…”

New Drive Circuit for Reducing the Switching Current Ripples in Switched Reluctance Motors

“…The first group implies improvement of SRM structure based on results of electromagnetic field analysis [1][2][3][4], and includes providing stator's and rotor's salient poles with toothlets [2], modifying the shape of rotor's salient poles [3], or using rotors with step skew [4]. The first group implies improvement of SRM structure based on results of electromagnetic field analysis [1][2][3][4], and includes providing stator's and rotor's salient poles with toothlets [2], modifying the shape of rotor's salient poles [3], or using rotors with step skew [4].…”

“…Methods to control SRM torque ripple can be divided into two groups. The first group implies improvement of SRM structure based on results of electromagnetic field analysis [1][2][3][4], and includes providing stator's and rotor's salient poles with toothlets [2], modifying the shape of rotor's salient poles [3], or using rotors with step skew [4]. However, this approach presumes a new SRM design, and cannot be applied to existing designs or to motors in service.…”

Study on a Motor Driver for an Improved SRM by Using Constant Current Power Supply

“…The driving method of the novel motor is similar to that of Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) (8,9) . Disadvantages of the SRM are torque ripple, laud noise during the operation and so on.…”