Transient analysis and stability limits for synchronous reluctance motors considering saturation effects

This paper investigates the influence of the magnetic saturation on the transient performance of Synchronous Reluctance Motors (SynRMs). In addition, the stability limits for the SynRM are studied using a more accurate model. The saturation, cross-saturation and position effects on both direct (d) and quadrature (q) axis flux linkages are considered. A Finite Element Method (FEM) is used to obtain an accurate representation for the dq-axis flux linkages relations. In order to reduce the calculation time of the finite element analysis, a look-up table (LUT) for the dq-axis flux linkages is generated based on the FEM to be used for simulating the SynRM characteristics. It is found that the magnetic saturation in the adopted motor results in an enlarged region of stable operation of the SynRM. The torque increases by about 200 % compared with the unsaturated case, which proves that it makes no sense to model this type of motor without saturation. The results show the importance of including the saturation factors on the performance of the SynRM and its stability limits. Hence, the magnetic saturation effect will not only affect the stability of the motor but also on the whole drive system.