Study of drive system for linear induction motor using magnetic energy recovery switch

This paper proposes a power supply suitable for driving linear induction motors. The power Supply consists of a voltage source inverter (VSI) and a magnetic energy recovery switch (MERS). Circuit configuration and operation principles of the power supply are described. Power factor correction by MERS can increase the Output power. Technical advantages of using MERS compared with increasing the rated voltage of VSI are discussed. Some experiments with a linear induction motor were conducted. The results confirm that MERS can reduce the capacity of the VSI or increase the output with the same VSI capacity. The number of devices and magnitude of losses are evaluated on a large-scale drive system. A half-bridge type of MERS is provided and discussed. The half-bridge MERS mitigates disadvantages of using MERS. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 169(4): 65-74, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.20832