Product Overview
Reuland’s inverter-driven permanent-magnet motors are the high-power, high-speed end of the synchronous line: interior PM (IPM) to 1,000 HP and 20,000 rpm, and surface-mount PM (SPM) to 500 HP and 30,000 rpm, at frequencies to 2,000 Hz. They run slip-free at exact synchronous speed from a flux-vector drive — the IPM rotor combining reluctance and magnet torque, the SPM mounting high-energy neodymium magnets on the rotor surface. Built on Reuland liquid-cooled frames with encapsulated rotors and ABEC-7 precision bearings, engineered to order. The choice for test stands and dynamometers, high-speed spindles, and energy-recovery drives — where a drive is a given and power density is paramount.
Related Reuland synchronous & high-speed motors
Line-Start & AC Synchronous PM — across-the-line PM efficiency retrofit — to 200 HP water-cooled
AC Synchronous Reluctance — exact speed with no magnets — no rare-earth dependency
High-Speed Test Stand & Dyno — drive-matched test-cell motors to 60,000 rpm and 1,500 HP
Key Features & Benefits
- Exact speed under load — zero slip — a synchronous machine locks to the supply frequency and holds rated speed regardless of load, where an induction motor always slips a few percent. The reason to choose synchronous: the process speed does not wander as the load changes.
- Built to your exact spec, not pulled off a shelf — every Reuland synchronous motor is engineered from the ground up to your electrical and mechanical requirements — voltage, speed, frame, mounting, shaft, enclosure — and built foundry-to-test in-house. No minimum quantity: one motor or a production run.
- Process synchronization and tension control — because every motor on a line holds the same exact speed, multiple drives stay in step section to section — the basis for web-tension and line-synchronization control in fiber, glass, wire, and converting. What you reach for when several drives must track one another precisely.
- High-speed-capable construction — M-19/M-36 laminations, hand-wound stators, Class H insulation, and ABEC-7 precision bearings give the platform the headroom for high-speed and high-duty service (the speed envelope is in the specifications). The same construction that serves test-stand and spindle duty.
Specifications
- Operating principle
- Synchronous AC machine — runs at exact synchronous speed under load (no slip). IPM rotors combine reluctance and permanent-magnet torque; SPM mounts the magnets on the rotor surface. Both are inverter-driven high-power, high-speed machines.
- Rotor & excitation
- Permanent magnets — interior-buried (IPM) or surface-mounted (SPM). The IPM rotor combines reluctance and permanent-magnet torque; both run slip-free at synchronous speed.
- Power range (HP)
- IPM: up to 1,000 HP. SPM: up to 500 HP.
- Speed range
- IPM: up to 20,000 rpm. SPM: up to 30,000 rpm. Higher speeds available — consult factory.
- Voltage
- Up to 600 V.
- Phase
- 3-phase.
- Frequency
- Up to 2,000 Hz.
- Control method
- Flux-vector control, with rotor-position feedback (resolver or encoder) for the closed-loop IPM build.
- Drive / operation
- Inverter-driven — no across-the-line operation. These are variable-speed machines run from a vector drive; specify the drive model at order.
- Stator construction
- M-19 or M-36 electrical-steel laminations (other lamination grades on request), hand-wound for balanced, symmetrical windings.
- Rotor construction
- M-19 or M-36 electrical-steel laminations (other grades on request) with an encapsulated rotor design for ultra-high speeds.
- Magnet material
- High-energy neodymium iron-boron.
- Frame
- Reuland liquid-cooled frames 140S–360L.
- Enclosure / cooling
- Water-cooled (TEWC); oil-cooled (TELCW) available on IPM. Lubrication options: pre-lubricated sealed/shielded, re-greasable open, oil-jet, or oil-cooled.
- Insulation class
- Class H insulation throughout — the high-temperature class Reuland uses on its synchronous and high-speed machines for thermal headroom and for the voltage stress a fast-switching inverter waveform imposes.
- Bearings
- High-precision ABEC-7 — steel-ball, ceramic-ball, or roller bearings, selected to the speed and duty.
- Frame & end-bell construction
- Heavy-duty steel frame and end bells.
- Build & lead time
- Every Reuland motor is custom-built to your exact electrical and mechanical requirements — foundry through final test in-house, with no minimum quantity (one motor or thousands). No published price list; quote-only, lead time set per job. Expedited lead times are available based on factory capacity.
Common Applications
- Automotive and aerospace test stands and dynamometers — vehicle traction and driveline test
- High-speed spindles and machine tools
- Energy-recovery and high-power process drives
- Speed-control systems requiring exact, slip-free speed at high power density
Fit guide: these are inverter-only, liquid-cooled high-power/high-speed machines — choose them when a vector drive is a given and power density matters. Where the motor must start across-the-line, see the line-start PM class; where a magnet-free rotor is required, see synchronous reluctance.
Design & Selection Considerations
- Decide the start method before the rotor type — a line-start PM motor starts across-the-line on its die-cast cage and then pulls into synchronism; a pure-synchronous, IPM, or SPM machine needs an inverter to start and run. Settle whether the motor must start direct-on-line or will always run on a drive — it determines the class. The single question that picks PM line-start vs. inverter-driven.
- Inverter-fed windings see extra voltage stress — a VFD’s fast-switching waveform stresses winding insulation; Reuland’s Class H system is specified for it, and on a drive the motor can be wound for the drive’s actual output voltage rather than full line voltage to cut drive and feeder cost. Use the input form to tell us the drive model and how it will be operated.
- Protect bearings against VFD shaft currents — inverter operation can drive circulating currents through the bearings; bearing protection — and where needed insulated or ceramic bearings — addresses it, which is why the bearing option is specified with the drive. Easy to overlook on a high-speed PM machine, expensive to discover as fluting.
- Match the cooling to the power density — fan-cooled (TEFC/DPFC) and non-ventilated (TENV/ODP) builds suit the air-cooled NEMA-frame classes; water-cooled (TEWC) and oil-cooled (TELCW) builds are how the high-power IPM/SPM classes shed heat in a small frame. Power density and the available coolant set the enclosure, not the other way round.
- Rare-earth supply is a design input — PM classes depend on samarium-cobalt or neodymium magnets; where magnet supply, cost, or temperature is a concern, the synchronous-reluctance class gives exact speed with no magnets at all. If a magnet-free rotor matters to you, say so up front — it changes the class, not just the price.
To spec the right Reuland inverter-driven PM motor:
Use the input form to send your horsepower and speed (or poles), the voltage, phase and frequency available, the duty cycle, mounting and frame constraints, the enclosure environment, and how the motor will be driven (across-the-line or on a specific VFD/drive model) — plus any governing standards — and we’ll spec the right Reuland synchronous motor & control package for your application.
Specialty Motors Application Sheet ›Talk to an engineer directly — Scott Prater, Principal · 917-580-0878 · scott@pratertechnical.com
Specifications compiled by Prater Technical Partners from Reuland Electric published product specifications.