Inverter Volt-Ampere Capacity Reduction by Optimization of the Traction Synchronous Homopolar Motor

Abstract

The synchronous homopolar motor (SHM) with an excitation winding on the stator and a toothed rotor is a good alternative to traction induction motors for hybrid mining trucks. The main problem in the design of the SHM electric drives is that the magnetic flux forms three-dimensional loops and, as a result, the lack of high-quality optimization methods, which leads to the need to overrate the installed power of the inverter. This article discusses the procedure and results of optimization of a commercially available 370 kW traction SHM using the Nelder–Mead method. The objective function is composed to mainly improve the following characteristics of the traction SHM: total motor power loss and maximum armature winding current. In addition, terms are introduced into the objective function to make it possible to limit the voltage, the loss in the excitation winding, and the maximum magnetic flux density in the non-laminated sections of the magnetic core. As a result of the optimization, the motor losses and the maximum current required by the motor from the inverter were significantly reduced. The achieved reduction in the maximum current allows the cost of the IGBT modules of the inverter to be reduced by 1.4 times (by $ 2295), and also allows the AC component of the DC-link current to be reduced by the same amount.