High speed test bench for electric traction drives

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Electrical drives with adjustable speed are of substantial importance for a successful energy transition. The latter aims to achieve a continuous transition from fossil fuels to regenerative energy. In the mobility sector, this means in particular the replacement of the internal combustion engine with zero-emission vehicles. Regardless of whether the regeneratively generated energy is stored in an accumulator or via power-to-gas in a fuel gas, an electric drive (e-drive) will be used as a traction drive in the vast majority of means of transport in the future. The main reasons for this are the high energy efficiency over a wide speed range paired with the considerable power density that can be achieved with electric drives. The research group “Innovative Antriebstechnik” (AG IA) at the University of Applied Sciences Flensburg, founded in 2020, is already working on several research projects within the field of high-speed drives. Specifically, alternative drive concepts for electric vehicles and diesel-electric ships that use novel magnetic materials are being investigated. In this context, the AG IA also examines new manufacturing processes for magnetic materials, which facilitate completely novel degrees of design freedom for future generations of electric drives. So far, however, there is no appropriate facility available for the comprehensive investigation of the stationary and transient operating behavior of electrical three-phase drives with a connected load of 50 kW to 630 kW at speeds of up to 25,000 rpm. Accordingly, the researchers cannot carry out any studies of their machine designs independently, which makes application-related research very difficult or even impossible. The test bench applied for in the present proposal is intended to close this gap and enable the enhancement of current research work. Its establishment will also continuously promote the cooperation with other universities and industry partners so that parts of the planned research activities can be financed by third-party funds in the future. The large-scale research equipment consists of a recovery capable mains current converter, a general-purpose inverter to supply the load machine, a machine bed along with the required safety features, a load machine and the measurement technology for recording the mechanical values. A special characteristic of the planned test stand is that the test specimen and the load machine are directly connected to one another in a torsionally rigid manner without an interposed gearbox. This shortens the axial length of the drive train, reduces its inertia and avoids mechanical slackness. Furthermore, with this new type of test setup, transient phenomena can also be examined, which play an important role in the optimization of high-speed drive systems with many load changes.