Optimal design of wound-field flux switching machines for an all-electric boat

This paper presents design feasibility studies, analysis and optimization of nonoverlapping wound-field flux switching machines (NWFSM) with non-rare-earth magnet for the electric propulsion of an all-electric boat. The initial structures and design characteristics of NWFSM are discussed and compared with existing permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM). Since, the initial designs fail to achieve the target torque, the performance of proposed machines are enhanced by deterministic optimization and Genetic Algorithm (GA) methods, to be further employed in an all-electric boat. Results based on 2-dimensions finite element analysis (FEA) show that the proposed design has achieved better performances in terms of flux linkage, average torque, power and efficiency. The optimized design has achieved average torque greater than PMSM at armature current density, J
a
of 30A
rms
/mm
²
, and maximum field current density, J
e
of 30A/mm
²
. The 2D FEA predicted back-EMF of NWFSM is validated by experiments.