Design of Electric Motors and Power Drive Systems According to Efficiency Standards

The focus of this article is the design of high efficiency electric motors adopted in power drive systems (PDS). The last efficiency standards are considered as constraint for the motor and drive design: they are introduced and described and their impact on the choice made during the design process are highlighted. As a particular case, the perspective of a motor manufacturer is adopted in order to understand which is the proper efficiency level of the motor required to fulfil the efficiency requirements of the PDS. This is not always clear and easy to understand because different standards apply in the two contexts. A design example of an industrial motor with 3 kW power is included, showing also experimental results on a prototypes. Also the standards related to the experimental tests, in particular those prescribing instrument accuracy, are considered and commented in the article.