Electric motors account for around 60 percent of the electricity demand in the UK industry. New developments in the evolution of the synchronous reluctance motor are helping to open up new types of application for use with IE5 motors, as ABB’s Richard Gee, UK Sales Manager, explains.

The synchronous reluctance motor (SynRM) is one of the most efficient motors on the market. Compared to an equivalent IE2 motor, a SynRM achieves 50 percent lower losses, significantly reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions. ABB’s latest generation SynRM is capable of achieving up to IE5 efficiency levels, which as recently as a decade ago were widely considered to be purely theoretical.

SynRM and drive packages achieve their high efficiency levels through the use of a specially designed cageless rotor. This removes traditional rotor losses, in turn helping to reduce overall losses by up to 40 percent compared to an equivalent IE3 motor, with significantly lower energy consumption and CO2 emissions....