Design Optimization, Prototyping, and Performance Evaluation of a Low-Speed Linear Induction Motor With Toroidal Winding

In this paper, a study of the performance and experimental results for a low-speed linear induction motor (LIM) with toroidal winding is presented. The main idea behind the proposed winding is to provide better performance and efficiency in space-constrained applications where a LIM with much higher primary length in comparison with the primary width is required. The LIM with toroidal winding in this case enjoys the advantage of short end-connection length, which can provide more superior performance than a distributed winding linear induction motor (DWLIM). Also, as the motor is designed to operate at low speed, the output power, and thus efficiency, would be low, and then the performance of such machines cannot be evaluated in terms of output power or efficiency. However, an improvement in performance, and thus efficiency, may be achieved when the low-speed motor is fed from a low-frequency supply. This paper mainly focuses on the design optimization, prototyping, and performance evaluation of a low-speed LIM with toroidal winding, and also provides a detailed comparison between the LIM with toroidal winding and a DWLIM.