Proposal of a test bench for switched reluctance motors and fractional-horsepower single-phase induction motors

This study addresses a proposal of a bench to test single-phase induction motors and switched reluctance motors with rated power up to 1 hp. The bench was set up so that single-phase induction motor tests meet requirements of IEEE Std. 114-2001 and the Brazilian related Standard (ABNT NBR 5383-2/2008). In addition, the test procedures for reluctance motors comprise sequential steps in order to determine the motor performance under different switching angles with constant speed. The measurement system is completely computer automated using virtual instrumentation based on LabVIEWtrade platform in order to process information sampled via data acquisition board. Besides the development and implementation of a virtual test environment, one important contribution of the proposed methodology is the utilization of an induction motor, whose rated power is at least ten times greater than that of the prospective motor under test. This larger motor acts as a driver for the motor under test, yielding a flexible system able to quickly carry out torque and current measurements and to assess motor performance along the entire torque-speed characteristic curve of the motors under test.