An educational tool to assist the design process of switched reluctance machines

• Published in: International journal of electrical engineering & education Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 35 - 56
• Main Authors: Riba, Jordi-Roger, Garcia, Antoni, Romero, Itamar
• Format: Journal Article Publication
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.01.2017; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: College students; Computer simulation; Computer-aided design; Design engineering; Disseny assistit per ordinador; Education; Electric machinery; Electrical engineering; Enginyeria elèctrica; Enginyeria mecànica; Finite element analysis; Graduates; Hybrid electric cars; Maquinària i aparells elèctrics; Mathematical analysis; Motors; Motors de reluctància; Motors elèctrics; Màquines elèctriques; Reluctance machinery; Reluctance motors; Simulation; Students; Vehicles elèctrics híbrids; Àrees temàtiques de la UPC; electrical engineering; switched reluctance motor; Computer-aided design; sizing equations
• ISSN: 0020-7209; 2050-4578
• DOI: 10.1177/0020720916659502

The design of electric machines is a hot topic in the syllabuses of several undergraduate and graduate courses. With the development of hybrid and electrical vehicles, this subject is gaining more popularity, especially in electrical engineering courses. This paper presents a computer-aided educational tool to guide engineering students in the design process of a switched reluctance machine. A step-by-step design procedure is detailed and a user guide interface programmed in the Matlab® environment developed for this purpose is shown. This user guide interface has been proved a useful tool to help the students to validate the results obtained in their lecture assignments, while aiding to achieve a better understanding of the design process of electric machines. A validation of the educational tool is done by means of finite element method simulations.