Analysis of Stator/Rotor Pole Combinations in Variable Flux Reluctance Machines Using Magnetic Gearing Effect

The torque production of variable flux reluctance machines (VFRMs) is explained by the “magnetic gearing effect” in recent research. Based on this theory, this paper concludes the general principles for feasible stator/rotor pole selection and corresponding winding configuration for VFRMs. The influence of stator/rotor pole combination on torque performance is comprehensively investigated not only in terms of average torque and torque ripple, but also in terms of each single torque component. It is found that the synchronous torque is proportional to the fundamental rotor radial permeance component and has the dominant contribution in average torque for all the VFRMs. The stator slot number and rotor pole number should be close to each other to achieve the highest output torque. Meanwhile, the 6-stator-slot/(6i ± 2)-rotor-pole (6s/(6i ± 2)r) and their multiples are large torque ripple origins for VFRMs due to the large reluctance torque ripple. Also, it is proved that a lower stator slot number is preferable choice to obtain higher torque/copper loss ratio, whereas a higher stator slot number is more suitable for large machine scale scenario. Finally, the analyses and conclusions are verified by finite element analysis on the 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-stator-slot VFRMs and by experimental tests on a 6s/7r and 6s/8r VFRMs.