Electrical Drives Research Group

The Electrical Drives Research Group has vast experience in research, development, and characterization of electrical drives. An electrical drive comprises the electrical machine, the converter, as well as the corresponding control strategy. ISEA takes a leading role in the development of drives with switched reluctance machines (SRM). This type of electrical machine has several favorable characteristics. It is a brushless machine, the rotor is only made of iron, and the stator carries concentrated windings. Theses characteristics lead to low production costs and high reliability. However, the SRM can only be operated with a semiconductor-based converter. Advances in the converter and control technology enable the switched reluctance machine to compete with conventional drives using synchronous, asynchronous, or DC machines. The ISEA has contributed to this development in numerous projects.