• Energy Research

A novel asymmetric spoke-type interior permanent magnet (AS-IPM) machine is proposed in this paper. It utilizes the magnetic-field-shifting (MFS) effect to improve the torque performance, which achieves a high utilization ratio of both permanent magnet (PM) torque and reluctance torque. In addition, a general pattern of rotor topologies is proposed to represent all possible machine structures. Various rotor structures can be obtained by changing the design parameters of the general pattern. A non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) is adopted to automatically search for optimal rotor configurations. With the aid of the optimization program, an asymmetric spoke-type rotor structure with improved performance is obtained. To showcase the advantages of the proposed machine, the electromagnetic performance is compared between a conventional spoke-type interior permanent magnet (S-IPM) machine and a proposed AS-IPM machine. The finite-element simulation results show that the optimal design of the AS-IPM performs a 7.7% higher output torque ripple due to the MFS effect while the total PM volume remains the same. Meanwhile, the torque ripple of the proposed structure is significantly reduced by 82.1%.

At present, the majority of electric machine design software employs its own unique machine data structure. However, when users need to transfer their designs between software, they are often faced with significant obstacles or cannot obtain a parametric model suitable for optimization. In order to solve this issue, a universal parametric modeling framework is proposed for electric machine design. The geometric structure is strictly constrained to ensure that the model will not interfere with each part because of the randomness of input parameters. A data structure consisting of points, lines, and surfaces is constructed, and a conversion interface for parametric modeling with different software is established. Consequently, this universal framework can automatically generate parametric models appropriate for different finite element analysis (FEA) software according to the input parameters. The framework is especially convenient for users who need to design or optimize an electric machine, particularly when FEA software is required for verification. Numerical verification is performed using different software based on interior permanent magnet (IPM) synchronous machines to demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework.

In this article, the optimal configuration of the stator for the dual-permanent-magnet vernier machine (DPMVM) is investigated. A novel numerical model used to perform the optimization and compare the performances between different permanent magnet (PM) arrangements on the stator part is first presented in this article. According to the proposed numerical model, the effects of the location of PMs at different positions of the stator are studied in terms of output torque, torque ripple, efficiency, and power factor (PF). It is found that the PMs at stator slots contribute more to the output torque than PMs on stator teeth. Moreover, it is found that the stator PMs will add extra cogging torque to the machine compared with the rotor-PM machine. The PF of the dual-PM machine with the combination of the selected stator slots and rotor poles can be higher than 0.9, which is relatively higher compared with both the rotor-PM machine and stator-PM machine.

A dynamic core loss model is proposed to estimate core loss in both soft ferromagnetic and power ferrite materials with arbitrary flux waveforms. The required parameters are the standard core loss coefficients that are either directly provided by manufacturers or extracted from the loss curve associated with sinusoidal excitation. The model is applied to calculating core loss in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional transient finite element analysis, and the results are compared with measured data.

Recently, the interest in consequent-pole flux-switching permanent magnet (CP-FSPM) machines has been increasing because of the flux-focusing PM arrangements and the removal of the flux-barrier effect. A simple and rigid outer-rotor salient pole rotor structure can be adopted in CP-FSPM machines, making them applicable for in-wheel direct-drive applications. In this study, three CP-FSPM machines with II-shaped (II-PM), V-shaped (V-PM), and straight U-shaped PM (SU-PM) arrays are analyzed and compared. Moreover, a CP-FSPM machine with inclined U-shaped PM (IU-PM) arrays is proposed to improve the flux-focusing effect and stator slot utilization. The working principles of CP-FSPM machines are analyzed by adopting a semi-analytical model. Combining the finite element analysis (FEA) results of air gap flux density and the analytical model of phase back electromotive force (EMF), the contributions of multiple working harmonics to the back EMF are quantitatively analyzed. Additionally, 6/16 and 6/17 CP-FSPM machines with different PM arrangements are globally optimized. Both the no-load and on-load performance of the optimized machines are included in the performance comparison. The results illustrate that the 6/16 and 6/17 machines exhibit their respective merits, and the IU-PM machine shows the best torque production ability in these CP-FSPM machines with the same design criteria.

A generalized multiconductor transmission line (MTL) model is developed for modeling of wide frequency transient response on busbars, cables and core-type transformer windings. Different from the traditional MTL model, the equations of the generalized MTL model are built in the cylindrical coordinate system beside rectangular coordinate system. Based on further discussion, it is found that generalized MTL model could be changed to MTL model where all lines have the same length as to the core-type transformer windings. Then, the optimized solution based on Time domain finite element method (TDFEM) is developed for the above MTL equations. It avoids numerical oscillation of the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. The numerical results are in agreement with ones calculated by Bergeron's method and FDTD method.

As asymmetric interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (AIPMSM) has excellent performance but complicated topological structure, a novel high-resolution encoding and edge smoothing method is proposed for topology optimization of the asymmetric rotor of interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) in this study. This method aims to solve complex electromagnetic design problems with time-dependent performance through a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) integrated with a high-resolution encoding and edge smoothing method. The complex structure is represented by a high-resolution image-like matrix and then vectorized by the edge smoothing method. Therefore, the commonly used discrete binary encoded variables related to the finite element (FE) model are replaced with a vectorized topological structure and other control variables. In this sense, high-resolution matrix and edge smoothing methods are used for the first time to represent the rotor topology of AIPMSMs. Compared with the traditional topology optimization method, the proposed method has the advantage of expressing more complex and vectorized topological structures; meanwhile, the obtained performance is accurate and trustworthy using conventional FE simulation. Numerical results show that a stable convergence is achieved with the avoidance of checkerboards and material overlapping. It is shown that the proposed method can find solutions with better performances, in comparison with the reference model.

Vernier reluctance machine with DC field coils in stator is a competitive rare-earth-free design for variable-speed industrial applications due to its robust structure and controllable excitation, while its torque density is relatively disadvantageous. To address this issue, this paper proposes a new armature winding design method for VRM with DC field coils across two stator teeth. The key is to break the traditional winding design principle based on the flux modulation effect of fundamental DC field harmonic, and instead, reconstruct a novel harmonic winding to enhance the utilization factor of the modulated high-order DC field harmonics. By this means, the torque density can be improved by 75.6% compared to the existing poor counterpart. In this paper, the machine structure and operation principle are introduced, with emphasis on the high-order DC field harmonics distribution rule and its influence on the armature winding design. By finite element design and optimization, a comparative study is performed to evaluate the machine performance using two different winding configurations with variable slot pole combinations. A prototype is fabricated and tested, and the results agree well with finite element analysis, which verifies the feasibility and advantages of the proposed winding design method.