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.