Switched Reluctance Machine for Transportation and Eco-Design: A Life Cycle Assessment

The ultimate goal of this research is to design switched reluctance electrical motors for circular economy. Within this paper, which represents a first step towards the main objective, the authors provide an environmental impact evaluation of a switched reluctance motor, designed for an automotive application through a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment. The absence of permanent magnets makes this technology appealing from a cost perspective, and yet it is still not used in the transportation field as it is conventionally considered lower efficiency and performances with respect to other widely adopted technologies. In this paper a switched reluctance motor is compared with a permanent magnet synchronous motor on a like-for-like basis, although the magnet free configuration is not specifically designed for installation on the vehicle selected for this analysis. Furthermore, the paper provides a life cycle assessment of an eco-design strategy application to the magnet-free use case, through substitution of copper with aluminum within the stator winding. This research shows that a solution chosen to ensure cost sustainability, could also meet environmental sustainability at an acceptable performance level, if properly integrated in the end-user application.