Hybrid excited synchronous machines (HESMs) combine permanent-magnet (PM) excitation and wound field (WF) excitation. The goal of hybrid excitation is to combine the advantages of PM excited machines and WF synchronous machines. HESM have been identified as one of the emerging technologies for modern energy conversion systems. They have been the subject of many review articles. The principle of hybrid excitation allows solving many drawbacks related to PM electric machines operation: flux weakening, energy efficiency, and PMs price fluctuation. It helps to introduce an additional degree of freedom in the design of synchronous machines, and allows therefore an easier adaptation of PM synchronous machines to a wider applications scope. To this additional degree corresponds the possibility of adjusting the contribution of the two magnetic field sources: PM and WF. The use of this technology for electric traction has been the subject of many scientific and technical contributions. In this contribution, the emphasis will be put on the use of these machines as generators in transportation applications and renewable energy applications. The design and operation of three particular structures will be presented. Two of them have been designed as generators for transportation applications, and the third one has been designed as generator for renewable energy conversion. All of them are flux switching hybrid excited synchronous machines (FSHESM).

Industry is increasingly adopting high-speed electric machines due to their high-power density and low cost. However, increasing the speed leads to many challenges that are worth to study since they have relevant impact on the design of the machine. One of these challenges is the losses in stator winding assembly. At low frequency, losses in windings are usually assumed equal to DC losses. However, at high frequency some phenomena become noticeable and worth evaluating since they lead to noticeable losses. AC losses in windings are due to skin effect, proximity effect, and circulating currents. The main models of AC losses in windings in the literature are presented for both circular and rectangular wires. These models are compared using both interior and surface-mounted permanent magnet synchronous machines. Results show that for proximity effect, analytical model is convenient when considering armature reaction only, however, when considering on load case, hybrid model with simple FEA is suitable thanks to its interesting trade-off between accuracy and computation time, which makes it suitable for large-scale optimization. For circulating currents effect, finite element model is unavoidable. Moreover, two important properties concerning circulating currents are stated as well as their mathematical proofs.

This paper deals with a parallel hybrid excitation synchronous machine (HESM). First, an expanded literature review of hybrid/double excitation machines is provided. Then, the structural topology and principles of operation of the hybrid excitation machine are examined. With the aim of validating the double excitation principle of the topology studied in this paper, the construction of a prototype is presented. In addition, both the 3D finite element method (FEM) and 3D magnetic equivalent circuit (MEC) model are used to model the machine. The flux control capability in the open-circuit condition and results of the developed models are validated by comparison with experimental measurements. The reluctance network model is created from a mesh of the studied domain. The meshing technique aims to combine advantages of finite element modeling, i.e., genericity and expert magnetic equivalent circuit models, i.e., reduced computation time. It also allows taking the non-linear characteristics of ferromagnetic materials into consideration. The machine prototype is tested to validate the predicted results. By confronting results from both modeling techniques and measurements, it is shown that the magnetic equivalent circuit model exhibits fairly accurate results when compared to the 3D finite element method with a gain in computation time.

This article focuses on a 2D analytical model for a fast computation of magnetic losses due to eddy currents in the permanent magnets as well as iron losses in the ferromagnetic parts within coaxial magnetic gears. The magnetic field distribution is computed in yokes and permanent magnets by solving both Maxwell's equations, whereas for pole pieces the magnetic field is computed by coupling the previous analytical model with a reluctance network model. Both the eddy current losses and iron losses are determined from this hybrid analytical model. The iron loss model takes into account the temporal and spatial variations of flux density. The eddy current loss model takes into account the magnet splitting. Results of this magnetostatic eddy current loss model are then compared to the results obtained with a 2D magnetodynamic finite element model. A verification of validity limits is also proposed. The final function of this analytical model is to ensure integration into a set of models in the aim of a global mechatronic optimization of magnetic gears, for their insertion into a multi-megawatt wind turbines. A preliminary bi-objective, mass-efficiency optimization protocol is subsequently proposed along with an analysis of the computation time reduction via the presented models.

The need of compact machines increased in recent years due to increases in raw materials’ price. Hence, many studies are currently being conducted on high-speed challenges to propose an optimal design methodology. AC losses in windings are often not included in the optimization process and are treated in post-processing by choosing a suitable conductor’s diameter to mitigate skin and proximity effects. This paper presents an optimization and design methodology for high-speed electric machines considering these losses, using models with an interesting trade-off between computation time and accuracy, which is helpful for large-scale optimization, in which more than 9,600,000 machines are evaluated. Optimizations are conducted on 100 kW high-speed one-layer V-shaped interior permanent magnet synchronous machines, widely used in vehicles thanks to their high power density, based on the specifications of the Peugeot e208, for different values of pole pairs and maximum speed. The influence of lamination thickness, fill factor, and maximum current density on the optimal design is also investigated. This paper concludes the utility of increasing speed to achieve high power density and proposes best alternatives regarding automotive constraints. Results show that the number of pole pairs is not always a key parameter in obtaining the lowest volume, especially at high speed.