Cálculo y diseño de motores eléctricos de tracción ferroviaria. Comparativa de máquinas de inducción y de imanes permanentes

Resumo

The great versatility and toughness of traction electric motors has lead to its use for industrial applications. Moreover, they have also been employed in the current advances achieved in power electronics, and in the research field of new materials. In the railway sector, the tendency moves towards the reduction of the required motor volume. Besides, a high-energy-efficiency is also desired. In addition, the specific instructions provided by the manager of the infrastructure required for the correct function of the motor, together with the mechanical and electrical restrictions imposed by the railway vehicle manufacturer, must be fulfilled. Overall, all these restrictions imply that traction motors have to operate under heavy electromagnetic and thermal conditions. Fortunately, the computational progress achieved over the last decade, made possible the generation and implementation of different mathematical models toaccurately calculate the machine performance taking into account the different electromagnetic phenomena that occurs at such demanding conditions. Throughout the course of this doctoral thesis, asynchronous and synchronous machines within the family of the railway traction machines with surface and interior mounted permanent magnets rotor topology have been deeply studied. Moreover, a sizing and calculating methodology is generated for each of the above mentioned machine families. Complex algebraic approaches are subsequently proposed, guaranteeing the correct performance of the motor in spite of the demanding operation points of the application. Furthermore, and focusing on motor efficiency, loss calculations have been deeply studied. Hence, an analytical tool gathering the different methodologies proposed in this doctoral thesis has been developed. Interestingly, this tool allows the design of traction motors that adequately adjust to the requirements of the application. Specifically, motor design of the different families based on a set of tram operating specifications and restrictions is further described following this analytical tool. The two main goals of the study are as follows; (i) the design of motors with a given volume and optimized efficiency and (ii) to obtain the minimum motor volume assuring a minimum level of efficiency. Next, several designs accomplishing metro application specifications are presented. Within these designs, the use of different amount of motors based on the powertrain configuration employed is also considered. Finally, a comparative analysis of the motor designs presented for each railway application is carried out. The advantages and disadvantages that might be encountered during the use of each of the different motor families described in this doctoral thesis are listed to complement the study.