Development of an Advanced AC Drive for the Heating Circulation Pumps with Dry-Rotor Using a Synchronous Reluctance Motor

AbstractThis study presents an enhanced AC drive for the SynRMs coupled with a circulation pump (CP) and an improved control system based on the field orientation. A grid-fed 900 W motor driver consisting of an electromagnetic interference filter (EMI), power factor correction (PFC), and three-phase inverter is designed to drive 0.75 kW SynRM. A boost PFC converter is designed as an interface between the AC power line and the motor drive. PFC is used to recover the bad power factor performance of the SynRM. In addition, the boosted and well-regulated DC-link voltage improves the motor driving performance. Control strategies and practical implementation based on the field-oriented control of synchronous reluctance motors are presented. Dynamic and steady-state responses of the CP SynRM drive in various conditions are verified experimentally. Low current and voltage ripples, unity power factor, maximum torque per ampere with low fluctuation and low EMI noise are achieved with the low cost efficiently. All of the improvements are obtained by fewer circuit elements and higher energy conversion efficiency. The advantages of using SynRMs in dry-rotor circulation pumps for heating applications have been demonstrated experimentally.Keywords: dry-rotor circulation pumpsfield-oriented controlpower factor correctionsynchronous reluctance motor Additional informationNotes on contributorsSelami KeslerSelami Kesler received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey, in 1991, 1999, and 2006, respectively, all in electrical engineering. He worked as a lecturer at the same university from 1991 to 2004. He has been working as associate professor at Pamukkale University, in Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Denizli, Turkey. He established the Power Systems Application and Research Center at this university in 2013 and was the director of this center for 10 years. In this process, he was the founder and director of a technical vocational school affiliated to the same university for 3 years. His research areas include electrical machines, power electronics, ac drives, electrical vehicles, renewable energy, and AI based control methods.Arda KılıçArda Kılıç received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey, in 2015, and now continues to pursue the Ph.D degree in electrical engineering in Pamukkale University. His research areas include ac drives and electrical vehicles.