Effect of the Distribution of the Laminations in an Axially Laminated Relactance Motor

This paper discusses the benefits for an Axially Laminated Reluctance (ALAREL) motor deriving from a non-uniform distribution of the rotor laminations and from use of grainariented steel. It is shown that higher torque-to-current ratios m y be obtained by rearranging the rotor laminations. An analyhcal model is firstly presented, for a preliminary analysis. The Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is used for better estimation of the motor inductances. A comparison between calculated and measured inductances confirms the FEA accuracy. Thus, FEA is adopted to investigate the effect on motor performance of a non-uniform distribution of the laminations in the rotor as well as the effect of the magnetic material quality. The study proves that with non-uniform distributed and grainariented steel lamination higher flux linkage (up to 30%) can be obtained, Conseqnently, lower current is required to develop the same motor torque.