Design and Performance of Reluctance Motors with Unlaminated Rotors

The paper describes the design of reluctance motors having unlaminated rotors and gives test results for a range of motors which demonstrate the very satisfactory levels of performance which have been attained. Two types of design are described having, respectively, salient-pole rotors and rotors with flux barriers. The theoretical basis of their design is presented and is substantiated by the exprimental work. A particularly notable result is that good synchronising performance is obtained, without using embedded squirrel-cage windings, by incorporating either simple low-resistance sections in the rotor or by machining narrow axial slits in the rotor surface.