A system level comparison of drive topologies for high speed electrical machines

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive comparative study among five different converter topologies all designed to drive a 8.5kW-120krpm surface permanent magnet synchronous machine. The study aims at comparing the considered systems in terms of converter complexity, control complexity and overall efficiency. The assessment of the subsystems’ efficiencies is based on a set of decoupled converter-electrical machine simulations. First the designed converters are simulated in Matlab-Simulink environment in order to estimate the converter losses and the current waveforms. Then the latter are used to supply the FE model of the electrical machine so to estimate all the loss components present in the real scenario. The results of the carried out study gives a wide understanding of the interaction between the two subsystems and some general design considerations needed to select the converter topology