High-Speed Synchronous Reluctance Motors: Computation of the Power Limits by Means of Reluctance Networks

The aim of this paper is to describe the torque and power behavior of synchronous reluctance motors for high-speed applications. The design of such motors is the result of a trade-off between magnetic and mechanical aspects. In fact, the radial ribs have to be properly design limiting the quadrature flux axis and the mechanical stresses due to centrifugal forces. The rotor geometry resulting from such compromise determines an unusual flux density distribution that cannot be accurately described with simple analytical models based on restrictive hypothesis. For this reason, a nonlinear reluctance network is proposed to consider the saturation of both rotor and stator. The results of this approach are confirmed by finite element analysis.