A New Low-Cost Hybrid Switched Reluctance Motor for Adjustable-Speed Pump Applications

This paper presents a new low-cost hybrid switched reluctance (HSR) motor intended for use in adjustable-speed pump drive systems. The motor is a single-phase motor, driven by a unipolar converter, which uses both the reluctance torque and the permanent magnet interaction torque. Compared with conventional single-phase switched reluctance motors, it has an increased torque density. The cogging torque is beneficially used in this motor for reducing the torque ripple. It is demonstrated that such a motor drive system can be a suitable candidate to advantageously compete with the existing motor drive systems for low-cost applications. Finite-element models are used to analyze and predict the motor´s performance. The proposed motor drive system has been fabricated, and its performance has been tested in the laboratory. These experimental results are also presented.