Performance analysis of a rare earth magnet based NEMA frame Permanent Magnet assisted Synchronous Reluctance Machine with different magnet type and quantity

Permanent Magnet assisted Synchronous Reluctance Machines (PMa-SynRM) have several advantages such as rigid structure, low cost, and high speed capacity in comparison with the other PM machines. Although the reluctance torque is the major component of the developed torque in this machine, the permanent magnets inside the rotor can create additional magnet torque and improve the power factor of the machine. A low cost permanent magnet machine such as PMa-SynRM can be a proper replacement for variable speed applications such as fan and constant speed-variable torque loads especially when an induction machine with variable frequency drive (VFD) is considered. In this paper a NdFeB based PMa-SynRM originally optimized for the stator of a specific NEMA frame induction machine is evaluated experimentally under these type of loads. Also, the effect of using different types and quantities of magnet on this PMa-SynRM is studied to determine the energy savings while driving fan or constant speed-variable torque type of loads.