No. 1073
	Novel Technologies and Applications of Adjustable Speed Drives of AC Machines
	Investigating R&D Committee on AC Machine Drives and Its Application Technologies
	Adjustable speed AC drives are widely used in industry. These technologies are now being used in home appliances and automobiles, because the problems about the earth environment receive much attention. The technologies for high efficiency and high performance AC drives are also being developed. For example, IGBTs with reverse blocking ability have been developed. Matrix converters using these devices have advantages such as high efficiency and small size. For rail traction systems, adoption of interior permanent magnet synchronous machines, IPMSMs, are investigated. IPMSMs have more power than induction machines when the sizes are the same. For high power drives, high voltage inverters without output transformers are being developed. The advantages of these inverters are high efficiency and small size. In the report, the technologies and the advantages of adjustable speed AC drives for rail tractions, automobiles, industries, and home appliances are surveyed in detail. Furthermore, novel technologies for AC drives are also surveyed.
	©2006. The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan