IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 40, NO.

4, JULY 2004 2053

A Study of the Design for the Flux Reversal Machine

Tae Heoung Kim and Ju Lee, Member, IEEE

Abstract—The three-phase flux reversal machine (FRM) is

a doubly-salient stator-permanent magnet machine with flux
linkage reversal in the stator three-phase concentrated windings.
It can operate in both motoring and generating modes. In this
paper, we identify stator/rotor geometrical design variables that
influence the cogging, interaction torques, and winding flux
linkage using a two-dimensional finite-element method and the
flux-magnetomotive force diagram technique. Also, the novel
design to improve the performance of the FRM is studied both
theoretically and experimentally.
Index Terms—Brushless, doubly salient permanent-magnet
motor (DSPMM), finite-element method, flux-magnetomotive
force (MMF), flux reversal machine (FRM), permanent magnet
(PM), switched-reluctance motor (SRM).

I. INTRODUCTION Fig. 1. Configuration of prototype FRM.

T O RETAIN the advantages of both switched-reluctance

and permanent-magnet (PM) machines, the flux reversal
machine (FRM) has been proposed [1], [2]. The FRM is a
glued onto the stator pole using Locktite 326 anaerobic super-
glue. The air gap was designed to be 0.5 mm to obtain a reason-
doubly salient machine with PMs on the stator. The PM flux able permeance coefficient value. The stator and the rotor pole
linkage in the stator phase concentrated coils reverses polarity arcs were designed to be 45 and 22.5 , respectively. Table I
with the rotor traveling. Its simple structure makes it cost summarizes the important FRM design specifications.
effective and suitable for mass production. It has low self- and
mutual inductances, hence a low electrical time constant and III. CALCULATION OF PHASE FLUX LINKAGE AND
high fault tolerance. With these advantages, the FRM can have COGGING TORQUE BY FE ANALYSIS
a considerable potential in automotive generators. However,
there is notable PM flux leakage (fringing) caused by its A. Governing Equation and Discretization
structure [3]. This flux leakage deteriorates the performance of The two-dimensional governing equation for the FRM is ex-
the FRM in terms of power density and torque constant. pressed in a magnetic vector potential as
In this paper, stator/rotor geometrical design variables that
influence the cogging, interaction torques, and winding flux
linkage are identified. To calculate cogging torque, a flux-MMF
diagram technique is used. Also, we propose the new design
(1)
to improve the performance of the FRM by reducing the flux
leakage in the air gap. To reduce its flux leakage, a concave-type
where
stator pole and a rotor pole with a flux barrier are used. By com-
component of magnetic vector potential;
paring with the experimental results, it is shown that the pro-
current density;
posed FRMs have an improved performance.
magnetization of the permanent magnet.
Applying the Galerkin method to (1), we can obtain the finite-
II. INITIAL PROTOTYPE FRM
element equation in a first-order triangular element as follows:
Fig. 1 shows the prototype FRM. It has a six-pole stator and
eight-pole variable reluctance rotor. Nd–Fe–B magnets were

Manuscript received October 15, 2003. This work was supported by the Min-
istry of Commerce, Industry, and Energy through the Energy and Industry Re-
search Centre Program.
The authors are with the Energy Conversion Laboratory, Department of (2)
Electrical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Korea (e-mail:
ktheoung@dreamwiz.com; ktheoung@ihanyang.ac.kr; julee@hanyang.ac.kr).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2004.832488 where stands for shape function.
0018-9464/04$20.00 © 2004 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: Balochistan University of IT Engineering and MS. Downloaded on November 30,2022 at 20:15:19 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 2054 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 40, NO. 4, JULY 2004

TABLE I
SPECIFICATIONS OF THE PROTOTYPE FRM

; D , and D ).
Fig. 2. Flux-MMF diagram for a permanent magnet.
B. Phase Flux Linkage Calculation
The phase flux linkage can be calculated from the average
vector potential over each winding cross section [4]
(3)
where is the stack length, and and represent the total
areas of an -turn winding carrying the positive current and
negative current, respectively.
C. Cogging Torque Calculation
Fig. 2 shows a typical flux-MMF diagram for a permanent
magnet that is constructed using a combination of flux-MMF
data obtained from the finite-element analysis and the demag-
netization characteristic. Using finite-element solutions, values
of total flux emanating from the permanent magnet for any one
pole are obtained at each rotor position. The corresponding
MMF values are obtained using the demagnetization curve as in
(4)
where is the magnet length in the direction of magnetization,
and is the magnet pole area.
Variation of flux is then plotted against the variation of MMF
over one cogging torque cycle. Once the flux-MMF diagram for
any one pole is obtained, predicting cogging torque becomes an
Authorized licensed use limited to: Balochistan University of IT Engineering and MS. Downloaded on November 30,2022 at 20:15:19 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
Fig. 3. Stator/rotor geometrical design variables (; ;
Fig. 4. Variation rate on each ratio among variables.
Fig. 5. Phase peak-to-peak flux and cogging torque variation.
easy matter of calculating instantaneous torque for every incre-
mental rotor position using the rate of change of coenergy with
displacement as in
MMF
(5)
Finally, total cogging torque is obtained by simply adding
together the cogging torques for the individual poles [5].
IV. EFFECT OF DESIGN VARIABLES
Fig. 3 shows stator/rotor geometrical design variables. Fig. 4
gives the variation rate of winding flux linkage and cogging
torque to each ratio among the variables. From this graph, we
know that magnet arc and rotor pole arc are the most im-
portant geometrical dimensions of the FRM. Fig. 5 shows the
phase flux peak-to-peak variation and cogging torque against
the ratio of magnet arc to rotor pole arc . The maximum
 KIM AND LEE: STUDY OF THE DESIGN FOR THE FLUX REVERSAL MACHINE
Fig. 6. Configuration of the proposed FRM.
Fig. 7. Constructed stator and rotor assembly.
Fig. 8. Flux lines in the radial cross section.
flux variation occurs when is approximately equal to 1.2.
However, the minimum cogging torque occurs when is
equal to 1.1. Tradeoffs may be made between the cogging torque
and flux linkage. If we reduce the cogging torque by choosing a
proper , there will be a little reduction in the flux linkage.
V. NEW DESIGN
In the FRM, there is notable PM flux leakage (fringing)
caused by its structure. This flux leakage deteriorates its per-
formance such as phase peak-to-peak flux variation. To reduce
the flux leakage, we propose the new FRM that has a concave
stator pole and rotor salient pole with a flux barrier in its edge
as shown in Fig. 6. The prototype stator and rotor assembly
are shown in Fig. 7. These flux barriers play a very important
role in the flux path. Fig. 8 shows the flux lines in the proposed
FRM. The flux barrier and concave stator pole increase the
Authorized licensed use limited to: Balochistan University of IT Engineering and MS. Downloaded on November 30,2022 at 20:15:19 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
2055
Fig. 9. Generated EMF of the conventional FRM at 2000 r/min.
Fig. 10. Generated EMF of the proposed FRM at 2000 r/min.
effective flux linkage in the stator phase concentrated windings.
Figs. 9 and 10 show the generated EMF in the conventional
and the proposed FRM, respectively. The measurements were
carried out at no-load by driving the FRM using a brushless
PM motor. From these experimental results, we can see that
the proposed FRM has about 15% more generated EMF. The
proposed design is effective to increase a torque density and
efficiency.
VI. CONCLUSION
A new design to improve the performance of the FRM has
been proposed and studied both theoretically and experimen-
tally. The experimental results show that the proposed design
is effective to decrease the flux leakage in the FRM. Also, we
identified stator/rotor geometrical variables that influence the
cogging torque and winding flux linkage through a two-dimen-
sional finite-element method. As a result, magnet arc and rotor
pole arc are the most important geometrical dimensions of the
FRM.
REFERENCES
[1] Y. Liao, F. Liang, and T. A. Lipo, “A novel permanent-magnet motor
with doubly-salient structure,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 31, pp.
1069–1078, Sept.-Oct. 1995.
[2] R. Deodhar, S. Anderson, I. Boldea, and T. J. E. Miller, “The flux-
reversal machine: A new brushless doubly-salient permanent magnet
machine,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 33, pp. 925–934, July-Aug.
1997.
[3] C. Wang, I. Boldea, and S. Nasar, “Three phase flux reversal machine,”
IEE Elect. Power Applicat., vol. 146, no. 2, pp. 139–146, 1999.
[4] L. Chang, “In improved FE inductance calculation for electrical ma-
chine,” IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 32, pp. 3237–3245, July 1996.
[5] R. P. Deodhar, D. A. Staton, T. M. Jahns, and T. J. E. Miller, “Prediction
of cogging torque using the flux-MMF diagram technique,” IEEE Trans.
Ind. Applicat., vol. 32, pp. 569–576, May-June 1996.