Performance Evaluation of an Axial Flux Machine with a Hybrid Excitation Design

Abstract

Variable speed, permanent magnet synchronous machines with hybrid excitation have attracted much attention due to their flux-control potential. In this paper, a design of permanent magnet axial flux machines with iron poles in the rotor and an additional electrically controlled source of excitation fixed on the stator is presented. This paper shows results pertaining to air-gap flux control, electromagnetic losses, electromagnetic torque, back emf and efficiency maps obtained through field-strengthening and weakening operations and investigated by 3D finite element analysis. Moreover, the temperature distribution of the machine was analyzed according to the fluid–thermal coupling method. The presented machine was prototyped and experimentally tested to validate the effectiveness of numerical models and achieved results.