Design of a Novel Reluctance Motor for Industrial Applications

A novel reluctance motor topology, termed the Johnson-Currie Reluctance Motor (JCRM), has been developed and described in this thesis. The JCRM topology and analysis is based upon the traditional switched reluctance motor (SRM) topology although there are significant modifications.

The flux path of the JCRM topology is such that it passes through the rotor and stator in three-dimensions. This topology with three dimensional flux paths allows for the removal of discrete stator windings giving rise to vastly superior maintance to the traditional SRM and arguably to most electric motors. In addition, the usage of three-dimensions for flux paths gives rise to increased energy density compared to other motor topologies, SRM or otherwise.

However, the new topology also gives rise to increased complexity in design and control. The topology creates a host of new motor constraints that must all be optimized for successful design.