Hydraulic pump units are widely used to operate hydraulic actuators. In a typical machine shop, conventional constant speed hydraulic pump units consume more than 20% of the total electric power necessary to operate CNC machine tools. Most of that energy are wasted to run the axial piston pump at idle. This paper describes a variable speed hydraulic pump unit using a switched reluctance motor (SRM), which saves energy drastically. SRM was selected as the most suitable motor for this application. Design and control strategy of this motor are described. Application examples to machine tools shows the effectiveness of the new hybrid pump system in saving energy and in reducing acoustic noise.
