Title:  Advanced Electric Motor Drive Systems for High-speed Electric Trains

Committee:

Dr. Maryam Saeedifard, ECE, Chair, Advisor

Dr. Lukas Graber, ECE

Dr. Daniel Molzahn, ECE

Dr. Santiago Grijalva, ECE

Dr. Siavash Pakdelian, UMass Lowell

Abstract: The objective of this research is to develop an advanced Electric Motor Drive System (EMDS) for high-speed electric trains. Currently, most of the electric drive systems for high-speed trains are limited to 500 km/h. However, the need of having a transportation system with higher speed, higher efficiency, and more reliability is pushing the market to come up with a more advanced solution. Hyperloop technology is considered as an innovative concept in the modern transportation era to transport people or freight at very high speeds (over 1000 km/h) using low-pressure tubes and magnetic levitation technology. The propulsion system is a key component of the high-speed trains and Hyperloop systems. In this thesis, an advanced EMDS is developed for Hyperloop application. To do this, first, a list of the requirements for the EMDS is defined. Based on the requirements for the motor, a topology is selected. An innovative optimization procedure based on the co-simulation between Ansys-Maxwell and optiSLang software is proposed. Some of the key parameters of the machine are chosen as the optimization variables to optimize the main machine design objectives. The optiSLang software then is used to run the sensitivity study and optimization of the objective functions. Subsequent to motor development, an advanced control algorithm is developed to ensure that the EMDS is stable and operates smoothly and efficiently. Due to complexity of the EMDS development for the high-speed application, a real-time simulator is needed to model and simulate the entire system. Extensive off-line and real-time simulations are carried out to evaluate the proposed EMDS performance for a typical high-speed train.