Influence of armature reaction on electromagnetic performance and pole shaping effect in consequent pole Pm machines

Consequent pole permanent magnet (CPPM) machines can improve the ratio of average torque to PM volume, but suffer from more serious armature reactions. In this paper, the variations of electromagnetic performance of surface-mounted PM (SPM), conventional CPPM machines, and pole-shaped CPPM machines with armature reaction at currents up to 5 times overload are analyzed and compared. The flux densities, flux linkages, back EMFs, inductances, torque characteristics, and demagnetization withstand capabilities are analyzed by the finite element method (FEM) and frozen permeability method. It is validated that the third order harmonics in inductances for CPPM machines tend to be reduced as current rises since the saturation in iron pole is prone to reducing the saliency effect. But the armature reaction tends to result in the increase of torque ripple components for all the machines. It is also found that the overall torque ripple of asymmetric pole-shaped machine tends to increase significantly under overload conditions. On the contrary, the symmetrical pole-shaped machine can maintain a relatively stable torque ripple under overload conditions which is similar to the SPM counterpart. Additionally, due to the large armature reactions, CPPM machines suffer from weaker demagnetization withstand capabilities and weaker overload capabilities than their SPM counterparts. Four CPPM prototypes with and without pole shaping are tested to confirm the FEM analysis.