Study of a Modular Toothed Linear Hybrid Reluctance Motor With Permanent Magnets in Translator Slots

Abstract

This article introduces an innovative modular and split-tooth linear hybrid reluctance motor (MLHRM) with embedded permanent magnets (PMs) to achieve improved performance of linear switched reluctance motors (LSRMs). First, three new motor structures are introduced, including two, three, and four teeth per pole MLHRMs (MLHRM2, MLHRM3, and MLHRM4). Then, the operating principles of the proposed motors are studied through the flux path of windings and PMs, and the impact of the PMs on the MLHRM’s performance is investigated via a magnetic equivalent circuit (MEC). Third, using the extracted relations among the motors’ parameters, classic design equations of the SRM, and the genetic algorithm (GA), the proposed motors are optimized and compared through the finite-element analysis (FEA). The results indicate the superior performance of the MLHRM2 over MLHRM3 and MLHRM4. The static and dynamic performance of MLHRM2 is compared with the modular and split-tooth LSRM (MLSRM2) and the conventional modular LSRM (MLSRM1) in the fourth step. The simulation results show the superior performance of MLHRM2 over MLSRM2 and MLSRM1. Finally, the proposed MLHRM2 is prototyped, and the experimental results are obtained in both the presence and absence of the PMs. The experimental results verify the simulation results with an acceptable agreement.