Performance analysis of a reluctance synchronous motor under abnormal operating conditions

In recent years, the application of reluctance synchronous motors to AC drives has been gaining importance. In this paper, the performance of such motors under abnormal operating conditions (such as voltage unbalance) is analyzed and compared to their performance under normal conditions by means of motor current signature analysis. In order to permit an objective comparison of the simulation and experimental results, the influence of the supply time harmonics and constructional asymmetries of the machine is also considered. Detailed mathematical proofs are provided to support the results. Such analysis will be helpful for understanding and identifying stator inter-turn faults unambiguously. To the best knowledge of the authors, such an analysis has not been carried out previously.