High-speed switched reluctance drives: A promising alternative to power electric vehicles

Since electric vehicles are becoming increasingly popular, there will be a large market for electric machines to power them. The typically applied rotating field machines, however, are not cost-efficient. Thus, the aim of this paper is to present an inexpensive alternative to power future electric cars using high-speed switched reluctance drives. Hereby, a conventional medium-speed and a high-speed switched reluctance machine were both designed to study the influence of high speed on power density, efficiency and acoustics. It was found that the proposed high-speed drive enhances power density and acoustics. Moreover, the simulated efficiencies of the FTP72 drive cycle of both the medium-speed and high-speed drive were comparable. In conclusion, the power density of high-speed switched reluctance drives is comparable to that of conventional drives. Importantly the decrease in drive-cycle efficiency of high-speed switched reluctance drives is negligible. Consequently, these new drives offer a promising alternative to power future electric cars.