PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF AXIALLY-LAMINATED ANISOTROPIC (ALA) ROTOR RELUCTANCE SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS

Axially laminated anisotropic (ALA) rotor reluctance synchronous motor s (RSMs) for use in variable speed drives, have relatively a very high ratio of L(d)/L(q) and high L(d) - L(q) values, and carry not rotor c urrent. Consequently, an ALA rotor RSM has a high torque density, powe r factor, and efficiency, and its vector control is fairly simple. Thi s paper presents an approach to the performance analysis of RSM and th e test results on a prototype ALA-rotor RSM. The theory is based on th e machine parameter determination by field computation via analytical and finite element methods. Design criteria derived from theoretical a nalysis and the nature of magnetic field obtained from finite element analysis for the ALA-rotor RSM are presented. Test results on a protot ype are presented to validate the theoretical calculations and to demo nstrate the high performance of the ALA-rotor RSM. High L(d)/L(q) rati o of 16 under rated magnetic saturation conditions, high power factor of 0.91, and above 84% efficiency are obtained for a 2-pole, 2.0 hp la boratory ALA-rotor RSM.