Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare different types of electric motor drives for high-efficiency applications: an induction motor (IM) drive, a synchronous reluctance motor drive and a permanent magnet-assisted synchronous reluctance motor drive. An innovative field-oriented analysis technique is applied to estimate the performance of the IM drive. This method of analysis is particularly advantageous in comparing the IM performance to those of synchronous machines.
Design/methodology/approach – The comparison among the capabilities of the three electric drives is carried out combining both analytical and finite element methods.
Findings – From the analysis, it results that the REL motor exhibits higher torque density than IM, but lower losses since there are no Joule losses in the rotor. On the contrary, the REL motor exhibits a very power factor, which corresponds to a high-volt-ampere ratings of the inverter that supplies the motor itself.
Originality/value – A new analysis technique is adopted to investigate and compare the energy efficiency performance of different machines.
Keywords Electrical machines, Finite element modelling