Winding Switching and Turn Switching in Permanent Magnet Vernier Machines for Wide Speed Range Operation and High Efficiency

This paper proposes to turn to switch along with winding switching for high-efficiency of permanent magnet vernier machines (PMVM) during wide speed range operation for electric vehicles application. For winding switching, the three-phase winding of the machine is divided into two sets of windings, namely, winding set A, B, C and winding set X, Y, Z. For turn switching, the number of turns for one set of winding is changed. With the different number of turns for winding set X, Y, Z, the efficiency of the machine can be significantly improved. Initially, the basic electromagnetic characteristics, such as the flux linkage, back electromotive force (EMF), torque, and phase voltages of the machine are investigated using winding switching and turn switching. Then, the output power, torque-speed curve, core losses, efficiency, and power factor of the machine are analyzed in detail using a different number of turns. In addition, the transient effects of winding switching and turn switching have been analyzed. Finally, a control strategy is proposed which combines turn switching and winding switching to ensure high-efficiency of PMVMs during wide speed range operation. A PMVM is designed and driven in accordance with the proposed control strategy (PCS) to show the characteristics of PCS. The PMVM driven with PCS is compared to a recently presented PMVM. The recently presented PMVM is driven by a different control strategy and is analyzed with two different kinds of steel laminations that are general steel (50TW470) and special steel (20JHF1300).