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Refurbishing electrical machines to have a higher performance and/or reliability is a clear trend in the circular economy. This paper investigates the gain in efficiency, torque density and reliability with replacing the windings and the iron of the stator of existing three-phase synchronous reluctance machines (SynRMs), resulting in a multiphase machine. The stator housing, shaft, bearings and the rotor are not changed, to keep the cost of refurbishing low. As the housing and rotor are kept, logical constraints are to have the same inner and/or outer stator diameters, air gap length and axial length. In the new windings, an identical copper volume is considered as a constraint. An optimization technique is coupled to 2D finite element method to select the optimal slot dimensions. Case studies showed that it is possible to replace the stator of existing three-phase SynRMs with a better performance multiphase one. It is found that the average torque, efficiency and power factor of the five-phase SynRM are increased by 11.78%, 0.72% and 5.54%, respectively, compared to a three-phase SynRM at rated conditions. At higher speeds (three times rated value), the efficiency and average torque are greatly improved by about 3.64% and 33.67%, respectively, compared to the three-phase SynRM. Moreover, a faulty case of one phase opened is also investigated. The five-phase SynRM works at 75.45% of the healthy rated torque of the three-phase SynRM, whereas the three-phase SynRM works at only 43%. Measurements on an existing 5.5-kW, three-phase SynRM confirm the observed results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new structure of a linear switched reluctance motor is proposed in this paper. With the permanent magnet inserted in the movers, the performance of the original motor is improved. An electromagnetic analysis is done by using the finite element analysis. The influence of the permanent magnets in different positions of the movers on the electromagnetic force is investigated. Furthermore, a theoretical analysis is made, based on the Schwarz–Christoffel transformation and the Maxwell stress tensor method. The mathematic model is also made with the consideration of the end effect and the cogging effect. The theoretical result of the electromagnetic force is compared with the simulation result. The comparison shows that the error is limited. The analysis of the flux, the magnetic field, and the inductance is then made. The results confirm that the new structure makes the motor more linearized. The new structure of linear switched reluctance motor can contribute to reducing the ripple in the electromagnetic force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a model of a drivetrain for an integrated design of a light electric vehicle (EV). For the drivetrain of each front wheel of the single-person, battery-powered EV tricycle consists of a battery, an inverter, and an outer rotor permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM), which is connected to an in-wheel gearbox. The efficiency of the inverter, motor, and gearbox is analyzed over the New European Driving Cycle. To calculate the losses and efficiency of the PMSM, the power electronics in the inverter and gearbox are used. The analytical models provide a fast, but less accurate result, useful for optimization purposes. To accurately predict the efficiency of the PMSM, a finite element model is used. The models are validated by test setups. Correspondingly, a good agreement between the measurements and the calculated results is achieved. A parameter study is performed to investigate the influence of the detailed component parameters (i.e., outer rotor radius, gear ratio, and number of pole pairs and stator slots) on the average efficiency of the drivetrain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]