Comparison of 48V Rare-Earth-Free Reluctance Traction Motor Drives for Mild Hybrid Powertrain

This paper provides a comparative analysis of three types of electrical drives with rare-earth- free reluctance motors for next-generation 48V mild hybrid automotive applications. The drives with switched reluctance motors (SRM), variable flux reluctance motors (VFRM) and synchronous reluctance motors (SynRM) are compared considering aspects like complexity of control algorithms and the structure of the power electronic circuits, construction of the motors and their performance characteristics, such as torque density, power factor, acoustic noise, and efficiency. The analysis is based on the results of simulation using 2D FEM and Simulink together with published research outcomes. The analyzed drives are compared to the internal permanent magnet motor (IPM) drive, selected as a benchmark.