Novel switched reluctance propulsion motor drives for electric and hybrid electric powertrains

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

There is an evolving paradigm shift in transportation toward more environmentally friendly vehicles with electric and hybrid powertrains. In fact, powertrain electrification results in more efficient, higher performance, cleaner, and safer vehicles. However, major technical challenges for the mass commercialization of electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (EVs, HEVs, and PHEVs) include the development of electric propulsion motor drives that are low cost, reliable, rugged, fault tolerant, and scalable. The proposed research program is focused on a novel family of switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives to overcome these major challenges. The proposed research objectives are aimed at developing SRM drives with excellent traction performance and lower cost compared to the currently used permanent magnet brushless and induction motors. The absence of windings or permanent magnets on the rotor and simple machine construction make SRMs lower cost and their high peak torque-to-inertia ratio and wide speed range make them well suited for propulsion applications. However, high torque ripple, acoustic noise, and vibration have prevented the widespread use of SRMs. Furthermore, conventional SRMs have lower power density compared to the permanent magnet brushless machines. Therefore, there is a desire to reduce torque ripple and acoustic noise and improve torque production of SRMs. The proposed new SRMs have a higher number of rotor poles than stator poles. Such novel stator and rotor pole combinations provide SRM designs with higher torque, lower torque ripple, and better performance while also being inherently less expensive for high volume production. The proposed SRM technology has several advantages compared to the conventional known SRMs. These benefits include higher power density, lower torque ripple, higher efficiency with lower copper loss, and improved thermal performance. It is expected that these significant improvements will lead to the development of advanced low cost, reliable, and fault tolerant SRMs for propulsion applications of EVs, HEVs, and PHEVs.