No abstract

Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine (IPMSM) are high torque density machines that usually work under heavy load conditions, becoming magnetically saturated. To obtain properly their performance, this paper presents a node mapping criterion that ensure accurate results when calculating the performance of a highly saturated IPMSM via a novel magnetic reluctance network approach. For this purpose, a Magnetic Circuit Model (MCM) with variable discretization levels for the different geometrical domains is developed. The proposed MCM caters to V-shaped IPMSMs with variable magnet depth and angle between magnets. Its structure allows static and dynamic time stepping simulations to be performed by taking into account complex phenomena such as magnetic saturation, cross-coupling saturation effect and stator slotting effect. The results of the proposed model are compared to those obtained by Finite Element Method (FEM) for a number of IPMSMs obtaining excellent results. Finally, its accuracy is validated comparing the calculated performance with experimental results on a real prototype.

In the last few years, the reduction of the dependency on rare-earth magnets has been one of the main concerns for electrical machine manufacturers. Synchronous reluctance machines (SynRMs) and ferrite permanent magnet-assisted synchronous reluctance machines (PMa-SynRMs) are emerging as alternatives to permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) in several applications. In low-speed high-torque applications, PMSMs with large amounts of rare-earth magnets are commonly employed. Thus, it is of particular interest to replace PMSMs by SynRMs or PMa-SynRMs. This article studies the feasibility of using SynRMs and ferrite PMa-SynRMs for a direct-drive elevator system. The challenge lies in obtaining performance characteristics comparable to those of PMSMs, but without resorting to the use of rare-earth permanent magnets. The main criteria for designing SynRMs and PMa-SynRMs for low-speed high-torque applications are presented. Afterwards, a SynRM and a ferrite PMa-SynRM are designed for 160 rpm 200 Nm rated conditions, and a performance and cost comparison between these machines and a commercial PMSM is conducted. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.