Stepped rotor type 12/14 bearingless SRM for self-starting and torque ripple reduction

A 12/14 bearingless switched reluctance motor (BLSRM) with hybrid stator poles has been proposed due to the outstanding decoupling characteristics between the torque and suspending force. However, the motor is a two-phase motor. The output torque of the motor has torque dead zone and high torque ripple. Hence, the motor cannot self-start at some rotor positions. To solve the self-starting problems and reduce the torque ripple, a stepped rotor is proposed in this paper. The motor with the stepped rotor is optimally designed. In the new designed motor, the majority parameters are kept the same with those of original motor; only the torque pole arc and rotor pole shape are optimally designed. The characteristics of the redesigned motor, such as inductance, torque and suspending force, are analyzed and compared with those in the original motor. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by the simulation results.