A DOUBLY SALIENT DOUBLY-EXCITED VARIABLE-RELUCTANCE MOTOR

A new variable reluctance motor is introduced to help solve the energy circulation problems which exist during commutation in conventional v ariable reluctance motors (VRM's). The new motor design enables the en ergy stored in the magnetic field to be retained and utilized within t he motor, instead of being returned to the source. The operating princ iples of the motor and associated converters are presented. The analys is shows that by employing both short pitch and full pitch windings, t his new motor can eliminate the two problems without extra conductors in the slots. As a result, the new motor has the following important p erformance advantages over conventional VRM's: (1) It allows a signifi cant improvement in the turn-off process and therefore allows higher s peed capacity; (2) it has higher output with the same or higher effici ency with the same output because of the improvement on the turn-off p erformance and due to the utilization of the trapped energy; (3) the m achine can have a higher output with the same power converter because of the improvement of the energy conversion ratio.