A Novel Vernier Reluctance Machine Excited by Slot PMs and Zero-Sequence Current for Electric Vehicle

This paper proposes a new Vernier reluctance machine (VRM) drive for electric vehicle. The key is to incorporate both stator-slot permanent magnets (PMs) and zero-sequence current as the excitation source to establish a parallel magnetic field and interact with armature winding. In this way, two different machines, namely, slot-PM-excited VRM and dc-excited doubly salient machine, are artificially integrated into a single structure, which contributes to enhance the torque density. Moreover, flexible flux control can be realized by regulating zero-sequence current. In this paper, the machine structure and operation principle are introduced, with its feasibility verified by both finite-element analysis and prototype experiments.