Design of synchronous reluctance motor with multilayer AC winding

This paper presents a new synchronous reluctance motor (SynRM) design with multilayer AC winding to take the advantages of shorter end-winding length and lower stator MMF harmonics compared to the conventional distributed winding. The multilayer winding concept is described along with a discussion on the winding configuration selection. A multi-barrier rotor is designed for the SynRM using finite element analysis (FEA) based multidimensional optimization. Machine rated performances are compared with a commercial squirrel cage induction motor (SCIM) and a conventionally wound SynRM. Significant efficiency gains were achieved with SynRMs compared to the benchmark SCIM. Compared to conventional wound SynRM, the designed SynRM with multilayer winding yields higher torque output with the same copper loss, lower torque ripple, and better power factor, thereby improving the overall SynRM performance. A prototype SynRM with multilayer winding has been built and FEA results have been experimentally verified.