Design and Prototyping of a Novel Line-Start Permanent Magnet Assisted Synchronous Reluctance Motor for Fan Application

The induction motor is by far the most used motor type in the industry due to its low cost, robustness, and line-start ability. However, different alternatives to induction motors have been investigated in recent years because of global warming concerns, demands for energy saving, and meeting the new international efficiency (IE) standards. One suitable candidate for fan and pump applications is the line-start synchronous reluctance motor (LS-SynRM). In these applications, the moment of inertia of the load is relatively low and does not have a destructive effect on the synchronization capability of LS-SynRM. In line-start applications, the value of the power factor has great importance. Ferrite magnets could be used in the structure of an LS-SynRM to improve its power factor. The resulting motor is a line-start permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance motor (LS-PMaSynRM). In this article, a novel LS-PMaSynRM for fan application is presented considering a benchmark three-phase 400W–1400 rpm induction motor. It is verified that the proposed motor can reach higher efficiency classes than the benchmark induction motor for the same output power by prototype test. Two LS-PMaSynRMs considering copper and aluminum as conductive materials for the rotor core are prototyped, and performance results have been presented.