Multi-Inverter Linear Motor Based Vehicle Propulsion System for a Small Cargo Transportation

Abstract

The paper provides an analysis of a transportation system with a long stator linear drive. The presented analysis for an in-house transportation system may be easily scaled into large transportation systems like maglev and hyperloop. It investigates the impact of the division of the stator into shorter parts which are sequentially supplied. Then it compares the concept of single-inverter and multi-inverter drive systems. The presented research includes the analysis of drive system power parameters. The drive system characteristics depending on the length of the active part of the linear motor are presented for each configuration, followed by a description of differences in the required inverter power and the obtained average thrust force. The paper proposes a new arrangement of the multi-inverter drive system incorporating multi-level inverters, which allows decreasing voltage oscillations in the DC circuit of drive inverters. The operation of the transportation system is presented in a simulation study. The paper is concluded with the verification of the concept in an experimental study in a 50 m test track.

Keywords

• linear motor
• transport electrification
• PMLSM
• linear drive system
• multi-level inverter
• long stator