Design and analysis of an induction motor for an enhanced constant power region with electronic pole changing

Pole changing motors can be very useful for traction applications, which require high torque at low speeds and an extended speed range of operation. The dual pole operation can be used to extract high torque during starting with a high pole configuration and an increased constant power region with a lower pole operation. Although pole changing motors have been studied in the past, there is essentially no research related to how a motor can be optimized for improved performance in terms of the overall torque-speed characteristics of operation. In this paper, we discuss the design and analysis of a 4-pole/2-pole induction motor using the Finite Element Analysis and analytical computation tools in Motor-CAD software. An induction motor is designed and optimized for improved performance for the entire range of operation. Torque and power characteristics of the pole changing motor are shown to have enhanced performance in the constant power region in comparison to the baseline motor.