Improving Torque Analysis and Design Using the Air-Gap Field Modulation Principle for Permanent-Magnet Hub Machines

The Double Permanent Magnet Vernier (DPMV) machine is well known for its high torque density and magnet utilization ratio. This paper aims to investigate the torque generation mechanism and its improved design in DPMV machines for hub propulsion based on the field modulation principle. Firstly, the topology of the proposed DPMV machine is introduced, and a commercial PM machine is used as a benchmark. Secondly, the rotor PM, stator PM, and armature magnetic fields are derived and analyzed considering the modulation effect, respectively. Meanwhile, the contribution of each harmonic to average torque is pointed out. It can be concluded that the 7th-, 12th-, 19th- and 24th-order flux density harmonics are the main source of average torque. Thanks to the multi-working harmonic characteristics, the average torque of DPMV machines has significantly increased by 31.8% compared to the counterpart commercial PM machine, while also reducing the PM weight by 75%. Thirdly, the auxiliary barrier structure and dual three-phase winding configuration are proposed from the perspective of optimizing the phase and amplitude of working harmonics, respectively. The improvements in average torque are 9.9% and 5.4%, correspondingly.