Voltage Harmonic Impacts on Line Start permanent Magnet Motor

Permanent magnet motors are a strong candidate to replace the conventional induction motor in many industrial applications. The presence of permanent magnets inside the rotor results in considerable improvements in relation to consumption, operational temperatures, and noise. However, it is currently a still immature technology with great challenges in relation to power quality, and applications with frequent starts/stops. This work presents a study on the performance of the line-start permanent magnet motor (LSPMM) in the presence of voltage harmonics, through experimental tests, as well as through computational simulations. The results show how the presence of harmonics results in considerable increases in consumption and therefore in general efficiency, according to the present harmonic and its degree of distortion.