An alternative PM machine configuration suitable for low speed and
beyond - rated speed applications
<ĂŵĂůĂŬĂŶŶĂŶƵƌĂŝƌĂũƵ͕<ƌŝƐŚŶĂsĂƐƵĚĞǀĂŶ͕͖sĂƌĂĚĂ/LJĞŶŐĂƌEĂƌĂLJĂŶĂŶ͕E^ZĂŵĂŶĂƚŚĂŶ
Abstract
Permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSM) are
being used in numerous applications. Some of
requirements need a single machine to operate, below
and above the rated speeds. As there is no direct field
control method in a permanent magnet (PM) rotor,
injection of negative direct axis current is done to
implement a flux weakening, which in turn, helps to
achieve speeds beyond the rated speed. An alternative
method for flux weakening is of great interest currently
and different variable flux permanent magnet (VFPM)
configurations have been proposed. A new method of
VFPM arrangement is proposed in this paper. Further,
the design of components associated with VFPM
assembly is also discussed. The performance comparison
of conventional PMSM and VFPM is carried out. With
the help of variable flux arrangement, operating speed of
machine is extended to 2600 rpm from 1100 rpm. Further
very good improvement in power factor and efficiency is
observed in variable flux arrangement.
Introduction
PMSM is used in many applications such as electric
vehicle, home appliances and industrial drives due to its
compact size and high efficiency. The load requirements
of these applications vary over a wide operating speed
ranges. The low speed and high torque operation is
normally met by the voltage control method. The speed
above the base speed is realized with the flux weakening
control [1]. In this method a negative direct axis current
is injected in the stator winding and flux linkage due to
the PM is reduced. This method is mostly preferred for
its advantage of achieving speed beyond the base speed
with the available standard motor and controller. But this
method has few draw backs like additional copper loss
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due to negative direct axis current, reduction in
percentage of torque producing current and risk of
permanent demagnetizing of magnet [2].
Mechanical ways of controlling PM flux linkage are
possible and various methods of flux control are
discussed in this paper. Various concepts of controlling
PM flux have been implemented in several applications.
Each concept has its own merit in its area of application.
It is difficult to distinguish a single, unique and
advantageous concept from all the other concepts, as the
requirements for various applications are different from
each other. However, critical parameters like the
additional devices used for flux weakening, their power
consumption, percentage of PM flux reduction, size,
complexity, reliability and cost of the system are a matter
of concern[3] – [12]. There is an urge towards finding
out a better method for PM flux weakening, which is
simple, reliable and cost effective. In this paper an
alternative method of mechanical flux weakening has
been proposed. This method uses a simple worm gear
and DC motor arrangement which is reliable in the
automotive industry and is being used for quite some
time.
As the Surface mounted PM rotor (SPM) has a very good
advantage of low leakage flux and better magnet
utilization, it is preferred in the applications that require
below-rated speed operation. Normally, it is difficult to
reduce the PM flux of SPM with the conventional PMSM
control, beyond a certain value of flux. Hence, interior
permanent magnet (IPM) rotor replaces where high flux
weakening is required. However some percentage of PM
flux will leak in the rotor iron. Thus, the need of concept
for better flux weakening of SPM is a necessity and it is
proposed in this VFPM arrangement. Chapter 2 discusses
the necessity of alternative flux weakening method. The
review of mechanical way of PM flux control is done in

chapter 3. The proposed machine arrangement of VFPM, Rotor field control
worm wheel design and sample motor for performance
comparison has been discussed in chapter 4. The results, The arrangement diagram of rotor field control is shown
observations and conclusion are presented in chapter 5 in fig. 1. It consists of a stator, claw pole rotor with PM,
and 6. rotor yoke, shaft, armature coil, stationary field winding
and field winding holder [3]. PMs are placed over the
external surfaces of the claw pole as well as between
them. Due to the presence of the field winding, the motor
Necessity of alternative field weakening
airgap field is able to be controlled. By controlling the
magnitude and direction of field current, the required
This operating region of this machine is characterized
airgap magnetic field is obtained. It is observed that the
into two regions (i) until the base speed it operates with
airgap flux density, with only PMs is 0.8T. The flux
voltage control (ii) beyond the base speed it operates
density increases to a value of 1.1T for an aiding field
with field weakening control [9]. The induced emf in the
current and decreases to 0.6T for an opposing field
stator of the PM machine increases with speed and
current. By this method of field control, it is possible to
reaches the voltage constraint (applied voltage) at the
achieve 50% of the maximum air gap flux density.
base speed. As the flux from the PM rotor is constant,
Normally claw pole rotor assembly has the advantage of
high speed operation is achieved only with the flux
simple construction, low cost and operation reliability.
weakening control. The PM flux linkage is controlled by
On the contrary, this arrangement occupies more space
the application of negative direct axis current. This
for claw pole and field windings. Also the power density
additional current reduces the available current for torque
and efficiency of claw pole is low, when compared to the
production i.e quadrature axis current for a fixed
PM rotor machine.
maximum current limit. However, this negative direct
axis current creates an additional copper loss which
reduces the machine efficiency and increases the winding
temperature. The risk of demagnetization of permanent
magnets is also point of concern.

Review of variable flux PM machines

As discussed in many papers and patents, there are lots of

mechanical concepts for controlling the PM flux linkage
in PMSM such as, Figure 1. Rotor field control

(i) Rotor field control

Stator/rotor displacement
(ii) Stator/rotor displacement
A concept of mechanical movement of rotor parts for
(iii) Leakage flux path establishment in the rotor flux weakening is shown in fig. 2. In this arrangement [4]
stator has a three phase winding. The rotor arrangement
is inclusive of two sets of PMs, having an angular
displacement with respect to each other. Flux weakening
is achieved by displacing the PM sets with respect to
each other, thereby making them opposed to the stator

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pole polarity. The above required displacement is
achieved with the help of soline, thrust bearing, stopper
and actuator. The advantage with this arrangement is
that, it is possible to vary the effective flux from the
maximum value to very low value closer to no flux.
However this concept increases the machine size and
cost.
Figure 2. Rotor misalignment (full and weaken
flux condition)
The next method of flux weakening is done by stator -
rotor displacement and is shown in fig. 3. The magnetic
flux linkage is controlled by providing the relative
movement between stator and rotor [5]. With this
arrangement it is shown that 50% of flux reduction is
possible. To achieve the axial displacement, a special
housing for stator, a DC motor and a linear bearing are
required.
Figure 3. Rotor misalignment
A mechanical way of flux weakening in axial flux,
coreless machine is shown in fig. 4. A coreless axial flux
PM machine has a two set of armature winding placed in
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between two rotor PM disks [6]. Flux linkage is
weakened by rotational displacement of either of the sets
with respect to the other. Due to the absence of iron part
in the stator, its weight and the force required for
rotational displacement are reduced thereby requiring a
small size actuator. This arrangement has an impact on
overall torque density, weight and cost.
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ĨůƵdžĐŽŶĚŝƚŝŽŶͿ
In another axial flux arrangement, two slotted stators
sharing a common rotor is shown in fig.5. The stator has
a concentrated wound coil and like phases of each of the
stators are connected in series [7]. Stators are displaced
with respect to each other to control the PM flux linkage
at high operating speeds. On having higher no of pole
pairs, the required angular displacement of the stator with
respect to each other for achieving minimal flux linkage
is reduced. The stator core is made of amorphous
material which has extremely low core loss at very high
operating frequencies. The selection of core material,
actuator rating, complexity and system cost are of high
importance.
Figure 5. Stator misalignment

 In another proposed work, a movable iron is inserted in
the flux barrier as shown in fig. 8. The flux leakage path
Another way of achieving field weakening is by
is formed when the iron pieces are inserted and armature
adjusting the airgap between the stator and rotor (Fig. 6).
flux linkage is reduced [10]. The amount of PM flux
This concept allows the machine to operate at a very high
decreases as the function of increasing percentage of
speed [8]. It facilitates to change torque constant of the
insert length of iron piece in the flux barrier.
PM machine which results in variable rotor and stator
Experimental mechanism utilizes a centrifugal force for
losses. However the variable airgap arrangement
inserting the iron piece. The rotor speed and the weight
involves a complex mechanism of moving setup.
are the determining factors of insert length of iron piece.
The merit of this method is that, it does not use any
electrical power for insertion of iron pieces. However
there is a complexity involved in selection of weight, for
having smooth and reliable insertion. On
experimentation, 25% of PM flux linkage is observed to
be reduced, when the iron pieces are totally inserted.

Figure 6. Air gap adjustment method

Leakage flux path establishment in the rotor

The PM flux linkage is adjusted with the help of end Figure 8. Leakage flux path with iron piece 

plates placed at both sides of the rotor. The gap between

the end plates and the rotor is varied to control the airgap
One more technique of controlling the PM flux linkage in
flux [9]. The end plates are adjusted with the help of two
the spoke type PM rotor configuration is described in fig.
actuator and spring arrangement. It is shown that 30% of
9. The rotor has a slot for PM, main and secondary PMs,
PM flux linkage in the air gap is controlled due to the
and a non-magnetic conductor [11]. The main PM will be
flux shorting at the end plates. The rotor and end plates
in initial position (closer to the shaft surface) when the
arrangement is illustrated in fig. 7.
speed is less than or equal to the rated speed. The
centrifugal force on the main PM increases when the
speed increases above the base speed and the main PM
moves along the PM slot radially. The distance of
movement of main PM from its initial position decides
the percentage of reduction in the PM flux linkage. The
secondary PM provides a repulsive force on the main
PM, when the main PM comes very close to it, thereby
helping in achieving a smooth movement. This
configuration reduces the PM flux linkage by 44.4%

Figure 7. Leakage flux path with end plate from the initial value.

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Figure 9. Moving magnet arrangement
In a similar spoke type PM rotor machine, PM flux
linkage is reduced in an alternate way wherein the flux
path is short circuited with the help of ferromagnetic
friction pad as shown in fig. 10. A ferromagnetic
cylindrical shaped friction pad is connected to the rotor
by a spring [12]. At low speeds, the friction pads are at
the initial position (closer to the shaft) and have high PM
flux linkage. As the centrifugal force increases at high
speed, friction pad moves in radially outward direction
and establish a partial magnetic short circuit between PM
ends. Centrifugal clutches are used for the flux
weakening devices. The reduction in airgap flux density
with this method is 27%.
Figure 10: Flux weakening with back iron (full and
weaken flux condition)
Page 5 of 9

Proposed variable flux PM machine
Machine arrangement
The VFPM consists of two identical stator sets and the
windings of like phases are connected in series. A set of
two simple surface mounted PM rotors are placed
beneath each of the stator. Control over the flux linkage
at the airgap is achieved by rotating one of the stator with
respect to other. Figure 11 shows the proposed VFPM
arrangement. The stators 1 and 2 are fixed to the brackets
6 and 7. Bracket 7 (stator 2) is rotated with respect to
bracket 6(stator 1) by the worm wheel 8 and DC motor 9.
The rotors 3 and 4 are driven onto the shaft 5 and are
supported by bearing arrangement 10 and 12. Bearing
arrangement 11 provides mechanical support to the
bracket 7 for achieving rotation. Angular displacement of
the stator is achieved by the worm wheel – DC motor
mechanism. The DC motor drives the worm wheel which
in turn rotates the stator 2. During the normal operation
of the machine, the displaced stator tends to rotate which
is avoided by the worm wheel which has a special self-
locking mechanism. The net stator flux linkage is
controlled by varying the stator shift angle, ȕ. Shifting
angle vs PM flux linkage variation plot is shown in fig
12. It is observed that flux linkage is maximum at ȕ=0
and decreases as the ȕ increases and reaches a minimum
value at pole pitch i.e ȕ=180deg.
Figure 11. VFPM – machine arrangement

 a worm wheel is designed and its critical parameters are
tabulated in the table 1 below.

dĂďůĞϭ͗tŽƌŵǁŚĞĞůĚĞƐŝŐŶ

Description Worm Worm wheel

No. of teeth 2 60
Gear ratio 30
Centre distance 104.6
Normal module 2.5
Pressure angle 20
Lead angle 5
Figure 12. VFPM flux linkage function of ȕ
Hand of gear RH LH
Tip diameter 62.3 156.8
Worm wheel design and motor drive
Root diameter 51.3 145.8

The rotation of the stator 2 is realised with a simple

worm wheel and a DC motor mechanism. The worm is For the above design, Įn =20°, ࢢ =5°, ȝ = 2°,

connected to DC motor shaft and the worm wheel is ( cos Įn sin ࢢ – ȝ cos ࢢ ) <=0.

mounted over the bracket 7. The clockwise and anti-

clockwise rotation of the stator is realised with the help
of DC motor. A unique property of worm wheel is the
self-locking feature of the worm mesh which does not
allow the worm to drive the worm wheel. Hence the
force produced on the stator will not effect in any turning
movement against worm. In order to achieve the feature
of self-locking, the following condition needs to be
satisfied [13].
As seen above, the condition for self-locking is met.
A simple DC motor with the characteristics of 12 V, 100
rpm, 2 Nm can be used to drive the worm wheel. The DC
motor is driven by a H-bridge PWM controller. The
suitable drive voltage applied on the motor, is based on
the shift angle requirement. A commonly used
automotive product like a wiper or a power window
motor can be used as a drive motor.

The tangential driving force of worm, Machine parameters

Fu1 = Fn ( cos Įn sin ࢢ – ȝ cos ࢢ ) A PMSM with surface mounted rotor configuration is
considered for the study. The stator and rotors are made
Where,
as per the requirement of VFPM arrangement. A machine
Fn = Normal driving force of worm with the output power of 375W is designed and its
critical parameters are described in table 2. The effective
Įn = Normal pressure angle
length of machine is 80mm and is divided into two sets,
each of 40mm length for achieving variable flux
ࢢ = Lead angle of worm
arrangement.
ȝ = Coefficient of friction

If Fu1 > 0, there is no self-locking effect at all. Therefore,

Fu1 <= 0 is the critical limit for self-locking.

The basic design guide lines of worm are derived from

the mechanical dimensions and generated torque on the
moving stator of VFPM. With this available information,

Page 6 of 9 


 Table 2: Machine parameters 2600rpm, whereas it is limited to a mere 1100rpm in its
counterpart. The power factor is very low in flux
Parameter Values
weakening region in conventional PMSM control
Stator outer diameter, mm 150
whereas, the machine arrangement with VFPM has a
Rotor outer diameter, mm 71.8 uniform power factor throughout the speed range. The
Equivalent stator length, mm 80 efficiency of conventional PMSM declines after the base

Equivalent rotor length, mm 80

speed, due to the increase in d axis current whereas in
VFPM, a consistent higher efficiency is achieved
No of stator slots 12
throughout the speed range.
Number of poles 8

Rated phase voltage, V (rms) 120

10.00

No of turns per coil 300 8.00

Torque (Nm)
6.00
Rated phase current, A (rms) 1.3
4.00
Base speed, (rpm) 400
2.00

Base torque, (Nm) 9 0.00

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

Speed (rpm)
Conventional PMSM
VFPM

(a) Speed vs Torque
Performance prediction

The performance of PMSM is predicted based on the

450
vector diagram approach [14] - [16] . The necessary 400
Power output (W)

350

parameters for performance calculations are extracted 300

250
200
from FEM simulation model. The commercial available 150
100
FEM tool, MagNet, the product of Infolytica, is used for 50
0
the analysis. Motor runs in voltage control method up to 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
Speed (rpm)
Conventional PMSM
the base speed and beyond the base speed, speed control VFPM

is done by current angle i.e negative direct axis control
(b) Speed vs Power output 
method. The performance characteristics of two
machines, one with airgap PM flux linkage controlled
(VFPM) and the other without (Conventional PMSM),
are compared. 1.20
1.00
Power factor

0.80
Results and discussions 0.60
0.40
0.20
Parameters like speed, torque, power output, power
0.00
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
input, efficiency and power factor are predicted for the
Conventional PMSM
Speed (rpm)
VFPM
specified voltage and current limit of the machine. The 
performance comparison of the conventional PMSM and
(c) Speed vs power factor
VFPM is shown in fig 13. With the conventional PMSM
control, maximum operating speed is 1100 rpm whereas
in its counterpart it is possible to achieve the speed of
2600 rpm. In VFPM, 6.5 times the rated speed (400rpm)
is achieved. In the machine with VFPM, the power
delivering capability is extended to a speed range of
Page 7 of 9 


 2. L. Ma, M Sanada, S. Morimoto, Y. Takeda and N.
Matsui, “High efficiency adjustable speed control of
100
IPMSM with variable permanent magnet flux
Efficiency (%ge) 80
linkage”, Proceedings of IEEE IAS Annual meeting,
60

40
pp 881, 1999.
20

0
3. Y. Chengfeng, L. Heyun and G. Jian, “ Magnetic
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
Speed (rpm) Conventional PMSM
field analysis of hybrid excitation brushless claw-
VFPM

 pole motor with three dimensional finite element

(d) Speed vs efficiency method”, Proceedings of the eighth international

conference on electrical machines and system,
Figure 13. (a) (b) (c) (d) Performance comparison
ICEMS, 2005, Vol. 1, pp. 664 -66, Sep 2005.
of conventional PMSM and VFPM

4. G. Zhou, T. Miyazahi, S. Kawamata, D. Kaneko and

Conclusion
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank to Lucas-TVS

management for providing the facilities to carry the

necessary works.

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