Edge Effect and Independently Supplied Slot Currents in Tubular Linear Induction Motor

Abstract

The linear induction motor (LIM) is structurally divided into the flat and the tubular-type. In this paper, we study one kind of tubular linear induction motor which has the primary configuration composed of four pieces of flat-type core. We call this type of motor “the square tubular LIM”. The square tubular LIM has various merits of the cylindrical tubular LIM, in addition to those of the usual flat-type LIM. There are two remarkable features of the square tubular LIM that the flat-type LIM doesn't have.
The first feature is that it has no edge effect, the second is the normal force in secondary conductor is cancelled by the that of the opposite side of the secondary conductor. Comparing with the cylindrical tubular LIM, moreover, the square tubular LIM is easy to manufacture and maintain it. The tubular LIM also has such a feature that its primary winding is a kind of ring winding, so we can independently supply the primary currents in each slot and hence easily obtain the various winding schemes.
In this paper, we study the features of the square tubular LIM. After analyzing our experimental model numerically, the motor is driven by the independently controlled slot currents, resulting expected performance.