Improving the efficiency of switched reluctance motors using a step-skewed rotor

Abstract

This paper discusses how to improve the efficiency of switched reluctance motors (SRMs) by means of a step-skewed rotor (SSR). The cross-sectional configuration of the tested SRM with SSR, including the size and shape of the salient poles, was nearly identical to that of a conventional SRM. The tested SRM was divided into three stacks, of which only one rotor was skewed. The skewed angle was designed to reduce both the torque ripple and the radial force. Experiments were carried out to confirm the effectiveness of efficiency improvement of the SRM with SSR: a maximum efficiency of more than 90% was achieved. Compared with the efficiency of a conventional SRM, the efficiency of the proposed SRM with SSR was greater by more than 10 percentage points.