Modular switched reluctance machines to be used in automotive applications

In the last decades industry, including also that of electrical machines and drives, was pushed near to its limits by the high market demands and fierce competition. As a response to the demanding challenges, improvements were made both in the design and manufacturing of electrical machines and drives. One of the introduced advanced technological solutions was the modular construction. This approach enables on a hand easier and higher productivity manufacturing, and on the other hand fast repairing in exploitation. Switched reluctance machines (SRMs) are very well fitted for modular construction, since the magnetic insulation of the phases is a basic design requirement. The paper is a survey of the main achievements in the field of modular electrical machines, (especially SRMs), setting the focus on the machines designed to be used in automotive applications

Investigation on Multi-Physics Modelling of Fault Tolerant Stator Mounted Permanent Magnet Machines

This thesis investigates the stator mounted permanent magnet machines from the point of view of fault tolerant capability. The topologies studied are switched flux (and its derivatives C-Core, E-Core and modular), doubly salient and flux reversal permanent magnet machines. The study focuses on fault mode operation of these machines looking at severe conditions like short-circuit and irreversible demagnetization. The temperature dependence of the permanent magnet properties is taken into account. A complex multi-physics model is developed in order to assess the thermal state evolution of the switched flux machine during both healthy and faulty operation modes. This model couples the electro-mechanical domain with the thermal one, thus being able to consider a large range of operating conditions. It also solves issues such as large computational time and resources while still maintaining the accuracy. Experimental results are also provided for each chapter. A hierarchy in terms of fault tolerant capability is established. A good compromise can be reached between performance and fault tolerant capability. The mechanism of the magnet irreversible demagnetization process is explained based on magnetic circuit configuration. It is also found that the studied topology are extremely resilient against the demagnetizing influence of the short-circuit current and the magnet demagnetization is almost only affected by temperature

Permanent-magnet brushless machines with unequal tooth widths and similar slot and pole numbers

This paper presents a comparative study of three-phase permanent-magnet brushless machines in which the slot and pole numbers are similar, with reference to conventional brushless dc machines in which the ratio of the slot number to pole number is usually 3 : 2. Three different motor designs are considered. Two have equal tooth widths, with one having a coil wound on every tooth and the other only having a coil wound on alternate teeth, while the third machine also has coils wound on alternate teeth but these are wider than the unwound teeth while the width of their tooth tips is almost equal to the rotor pole pitch in order to maximize the flux linkage and torque. Analytical and finite-element methods are employed to predict the flux-linkage and back-electromotive-force waveforms, and the self- and mutual-inductances, and these are shown to be in good agreement with measured results. It is also shown that the third machine is eminently appropriate for brushless dc operation

Comparative Study of Fault Tolerant Switched Flux Permanent Magnet Machines

The fault tolerant capabilities are compared in this paper for the conventional double layer switched flux permanent magnet machine and its single layer counterparts, i.e. C-core, Ecore and modular. The comparison includes the inter-turn shortcircuit and irreversible demagnetization faults. A combination of Simulink and finite element models is used in the study. Based on the predictions, it is found that the modular topology produces the lowest short-circuit current and also has the best demagnetization withstand capability while the conventional one produces the highest short-circuit current and has the worst demagnetization withstand capability. The frozen permeability method is employed to separate the flux produced by armature current and magnets, and the results showed that, besides the influence of short-circuit current, the available magnet volume and magnetic circuit configuration play an important role in the demagnetization process. It is also found that removing half of the magnets, such as using C-core, E-core and modular topologies, generally improves the demagnetization withstand capability and also increases the torque per magnet volume. Measured results are also presented to validate the short-circuit current predictions and magnet demagnetization

Switched Flux Permanent Magnet Brushless Machines for Electric Vehicles

This thesis investigates different topologies of switched flux permanent magnet (SFPM) machines and variable flux (VF) methods for high speed applications. Although several novel topologies of SFPM machines have been proposed and investigated recently, their torque-speed capability has not been studied systematically. Therefore, the torque-speed capability as well as the open circuit and electromagnetic performance of conventional SFPM machines with three different stator/rotor pole combinations, i.e. 12/10, 12/13 and 12/14, and three novel SFPM machine topologies, i.e. multi-tooth, E-core and C-core are analysed and investigated by the finite element (FE) method and experiments. Moreover, in order to improve the flux-weakening capability of these machines a variable flux method using flux adjusters (FAs) is employed and the corresponding electromagnetic performance of the machines are investigated, analysed and compared. Both FE and measured results show when the FAs are used the torque-speed capability of the three conventional machines can be improved significantly, while no improvement is shown in the three novel topologies primarily due to the large winding inductances. The technique of using flux adjusters has been improved by reducing the number of FAs. Thus, a new mechanical variable-flux machine topology, which uses only half of FAs outside the stator at alternative stator poles, is proposed, developed and analysed. Open circuit results, electromagnetic performance and torque- and power-speed curves of the 12/10, 12/13 and 12/14 stator/rotor pole SFPM machines with alternative FAs are predicted and compared by 2D and 3D-FE, and experimentally validated. Furthermore, a novel SFPM machine topology with radial and circumferential PMs is proposed, investigated and optimized. This topology reduces the stator flux leakage and offers high magnetic utilization. Moreover, this topology can also be developed as a mechanical variable flux machine. Finally, three SFPM machines with variable flux techniques, i.e. mechanically movable flux adjusters (MMFA), mechanically rotatable permanent magnet set (MRMS) and hybrid excitation with backside DC coils (HEBC) are analysed. Their open circuit results and electromagnetic performance with emphasis on torque-speed characteristic are investigated and compared. Additionally, the required power to switch between flux weakening and strengthening states, flux weakening capability and permanent magnet demagnetization withstand capability are predicted, analysed and compared. The influence of end-effect on the torque-speed capability in the conventional, multi-tooth, E-core and C-core SFPM machines is investigated. Measurements and 3D-FE are performed to obtain the torque-speed curve in order to validate the findings of the research. The 3D-FE predicted results match well with the measured results, while the 2D-FE predicted results are lower due to the high end-effect in the SFPM machines

Linear Machines for Long Stroke Applications: a review

This document reviews the current state of the art in the linear machine technology. First,the recent advancements in linear induction, switched reluctance and permanent magnet machines arepresented. The ladder slit secondary configuration is identified as an interesting configuration for linearinduction machines. In the case of switched reluctance machines, the mutually-coupled configuration hasbeen found to equate the thrust capability of conventional permanent magnet machines. The capabilities ofthe so called linear primary permanent magnet, viz. switched-flux, flux-reversal, doubly-salient and verniermachines are presented afterwards. A guide of different options to enhance several characteristics of linearmachines is also listed. A qualitative comparison of the capabilities of linear primary permanent magnetmachines is given later, where linear vernier and switched-flux machines are identified as the most interestingconfigurations for long stroke applications. In order to demonstrate the validity of the presented comparison,three machines are selected from the literature, and their capabilities are compared under the same conditionsto a conventional linear permanent magnet machine. It is found that the flux-reversal machines suffer froma very poor power factor, whereas the thrust capability of both vernier and switched-flux machines isconfirmed. However, the overload capability of these machines is found to be substantially lower than theone from the conventional machine. Finally, some different research topics are identified and suggested foreach type of machine

SRM drives for electric traction

"GAECE" -- PortadaDescripció del recurs: 11 maig 2020GAECE (Grup d’accionaments elèctrics amb commutació electrònica). The group of electronically commutated electrical drives is a research team of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC BARCELONATECH), which conducts investigation in four areas: electrical drives, power electronics, mechanics and energy and sustainability. Regarding electrical drives, research focuses on the development of new reluctance, permanent magnet and hybrid electrical drives. The main goal of those electrical drives is the integration of the power converter/controller and the mechanical transmission, being specially intended for the traction of light electric vehicles. That research is carried out by using the analysis of finite elements, taking into account eco-design criteria, considering new materials and new control strategies.First editio

Fault-Tolerant Capability and Torque-Speed Measurements of Permanent Magnet Brushless AC Machines

In this paper, the fault-tolerant capability in terms of inductance profile of a dual-stator permanent magnet brushless AC machine is presented. Similarly, its power-speed and torque-speed characteristics are also predicted. Special reference is made to the impact of different rotor pole numbers. A 2D-finite element analysis (FEA) procedure is adopted in this work, and the cross-coupling effect of the machine inductances owing to the influence of direct-axis and quadrature-axis currents is also taken into consideration. The results show that, the investigated machine having odd number of rotor poles would exhibit better fault-tolerant capability compared to their counterparts with even number of rotor poles. Further, the machine having 6-stator slots and 13-rotor poles i.e. 6Slots-13P machine has the greatest field-weakening potential owing to its high full-speed to rated speed relation. The studies also show that, the investigated machines have negligible reluctance torque due to their basically unity saliency ratios obtained from the machines’ almost similar quadrature-axis inductance, Lq, and direct-axis inductance, Ld, values.Keywords: Direct-axis, Quadrature-axis, Inductance, Power, Speed, Torque, AC machines, Permanent magnet

Novel modular switched reluctance machines for performance improvement

Compared to non-modular machines, modular topologies become increasingly attractive due to their simplified manufacture process, better fault tolerant capability and potentially reduced material consumption. In order to maintain or even enhance the machine performance while achieving high fault tolerant capability, novel modular, single layer winding switched reluctance machines (SRMs) with different pole numbers are proposed, which are supplied by rectangular wave current with different conduction angles. The influences of the pole number and flux gap width between E-core segmented stators on the electromagnetic performance have been investigated in terms of self- and mutual inductances, electromagnetic torque, copper loss, iron loss, and radial force. It has been found that the modular structures with higher rotor pole numbers than stator slot numbers (12-slot/14-pole and 12-slot/16-pole SRMs) can maintain and even improve the average torque due to the nature of self- and mutual inductances. In addition, the torque ripple for modular machines are significantly reduced (below 50%), so do the iron loss and radial force, leading to higher efficiency albeit with potentially lower vibration and acoustic noise. Two prototypes with 12-slot/8-pole and 12-slot/14-pole combinations have been built with both non-modular and modular structures to validate the predictions in terms of inductances and static torques