Modern PWM drives and high speed machines

Nowadays a growing demand for high speed motors and drives in different industry sectors can be observed. Designing these high speed machines is a known task. But beside the machine design, the connected PWM drive has a significant impact on the motor performance due to its switched supply signal. This signal evokes harmonic losses in the machine leading to considerable rotor heating while the rotor temperature limits the machine performance. This paper gives an overview of state of the art drives and machines used for high speed application and focus on the interference between drive and motor. Furthermore the impact of choke and switching frequency on the motor performance is analyzed. Finally the measurement results are summarized and findings are presented.