Multi-layer axial and radial flux vernier permanent magnet motor
11502564 · 2022-11-15
Assignee
Inventors
- Lei Zhou (Cambridge, MA, US)
- Bingnan Wang (Cambridge, MA, US)
- Chungwei Lin (Cambridge, MA, US)
- Dehong Liu (Cambridge, MA, US)
- Yebin Wang (Cambridge, MA)
- Koon Hoo Teo (Cambridge, MA, US)
Cpc classification
H02K21/24
ELECTRICITY
H02K9/22
ELECTRICITY
International classification
H02K7/00
ELECTRICITY
Abstract
A motor comprising a shaft, an array of stator assemblies rigidly attached to the shaft, each stator assembly includes a stator yoke having a toroid shape fixed around the shaft and having a number of slots at radial and axis directional faces with windings within the slots of the stator yoke, and a rotor assembly rotatively attached to the shaft to enclose the array of stator assemblies, the rotor assembly has a rotor drum with sections, each section embraces one stator assembly, each section has two axial-flux permanent magnet arrays attached on axial-directional inner surfaces of the section and has one radial-flux permanent magnet array attached on a radial-directional inner surface of the section furthest from the shaft, wherein the axial-flux and the radial-flux permanent magnet arrays with the number of pole pairs equals the number of the stator slots plus or minus the number of stator winding pole pair.
Claims
1. A motor, comprising: a shaft; an array of stator assemblies rigidly attached to the shaft, wherein the array of stator assemblies includes multiple stator assemblies, each stator assembly includes a stator yoke having a toroid shape fixed around the shaft and having a number of slots at radial and axis directional faces with windings of a stator assembly within the slots of the stator yoke; and a rotor assembly rotatively attached to the shaft to enclose the array of stator assemblies, the rotor assembly has a rotor drum with sections, a section embraces one stator assembly with walls thinner than walls of the rotor drum thereby placing the stator assemblies in the array of stator assemblies in proximity of each other, each section has two axial-flux permanent magnet arrays attached on axial-directional inner surfaces of the section and has one radial-flux permanent magnet array attached on a radial-directional inner surface of the section furthest from the shaft, wherein each of the axial-flux permanent magnet arrays and the radial-flux permanent magnet array has the number of pole pairs equals the number of the stator slots plus or minus a number of pole pairs for the windings of the stator assembly, wherein one or a combination of the axial-flux and the radial-flux permanent magnet arrays of the stator assemblies in different sections have a Halbach structure.
2. The motor of claim 1, wherein the axial-flux and the radial-flux permanent magnet arrays have alternative polarity.
3. The motor of claim 1, wherein the rotor assembly is rotatively attached to the shaft using bearings.
4. The motor of claim 1, wherein the windings are thermally connected to the shaft.
5. The motor of claim 4, wherein the shaft includes at least on cooling channel.
6. The motor of claim 4, wherein the thermal connection of the windings and the shaft is implemented using a thermally conductive while electrically insulating epoxy.
7. The motor of claim 1, wherein the windings of the slot include multi-phase windings.
8. A system including the motor of claim 1, further comprising: a digital controller configured to generate control signals specifying values of one or a combination of multi-phase voltages and multi-phase currents of the motor for tracking a reference trajectory of torques of the motor; and an inverter configured to supply the multi-phase voltages and currents generated according to the control signals to multi-phase windings of the motor to reduce an error between the reference trajectory and measured torque of the motor.
9. The system of claim 8, further comprising a load positioned by the motor.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) The presently disclosed embodiments will be further explained with reference to the attached drawings. The drawings shown are not necessarily to scale, with emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the presently disclosed embodiments.
(2)
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
(10) In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, apparatuses and methods are shown in block diagram form only in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure.
(11) As used in this specification and claims, the terms “for example,” “for instance,” and “such as,” and the verbs “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and their other verb forms, when used in conjunction with a listing of one or more components or other items, are each to be construed as open ended, meaning that that the listing is not to be considered as excluding other, additional components or items. The term “based on” means at least partially based on. Further, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of the description and should not be regarded as limiting. Any heading utilized within this description is for convenience only and has no legal or limiting effect.
(12) Motor Configuration
(13)
(14) The shaft 101 of the motor 100 is a stationary motor shaft. One or multiple cooling channels 105 may be configured inside the shaft 101. A cooling liquid flows through the cooling channels 105. When the motor 100 is assembled, the stator windings (104a, 104b and 104c) are thermally in contact with the shaft 101 where the cooling channels 105 are configured inside. The stator windings (104a, 104b, and 104c) are electrically insulated from the shaft 101. As a result, the cooling liquid absorbs heat generated in the stator windings. Thereby, effectively dissipating the heat generated in the stator windings.
(15) Further, the motor 100 includes a rotor assembly 106 comprising a rotor drum 107 and multiple permanent magnet arrays. Two types of the permanent magnet arrays, namely, axial-flux permanent magnet arrays 108a-108f, and radial-flux permanent magnet array 109a-109c are used in the motor 100. Each permanent magnet (PM) array is engaged with a stator assembly and forms a torque generating air gap. Bearings 110a and 110b are arranged on the shaft 101 and supporting the rotor assembly 300. When the motor 100 is operating, outer races of the bearings 110a and 110b are fixed with respect to the rotor and rotate about an axis 111, while inner faces of the bearings 110a and 110b are fixed on the shaft 101. As a result, mechanical contact between moving part and stationary part only occurs inside the bearings 110a and 110b.
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(19)
Z.sub.r=Z.sub.s±p, (1)
(20) The motor 100 forms a vernier PM motor, where both a fundamental harmonic air gap flux and a stator teeth harmonic air gap flux are involved in the torque generation. According to an embodiment, in such vernier PM motors, an electrical speed ω.sub.e and a motor's mechanical speed ω.sub.m are related by
ω.sub.e=Z.sub.rω.sub.m (2)
where the permanent magnet pole pair number Z.sub.r is Ac referred as the magnetic gear ratio of the motor.
(21)
(22)
(23) Operating Principle of the Vernier Permanent Magnet PM Motor
(24) A model of the vernier PM motor is formulated with one or more of assumptions listed below:
(25) Magnetic resistance and saturation of steel parts are neglected.
(26) Relative permeability of magnets is assumed to be 1.
(27) Air gap length is small. The flux density, MMF, and permeance in the air gap vary only in circumference direction, and are uniform in axial and radial direction.
(28) Higher-order harmonics of permanent magnet MMF are neglected.
(29) According to magnetic circuit theory, the permanent magnet can be modeled as a constant MMF in series with a magnet reluctance. The permanent magnet MMF can be expressed as
(30)
where n is a number of harmonics, .sub.pm.sub.
p.sub.pm.sub.
(31) For permanent magnet array with magnet thickness h.sub.m, .sub.pm.sub.
(32)
(33) For simplification, consider only fundamental harmonic of the rotor MMF as
(34)
(35) Further, considering that stator saliency is due to the stator tooth, the air gap permeance can be represented by
P(θ.sub.s)=P.sub.0+Σ.sub.m=0.sup.∞P.sub.m cos(mZ.sub.sθ.sub.s), (6)
where P.sub.m is amplitude of a permeance coefficient of m-th harmonic.
(36) For m=1, i.e. considering only the fundamental harmonics of the air gap permeance,
(37)
where b.sub.0 is slot opening, t is a slot pitch, g is a mechanical air gap length, g′ is magnetic air gap length, h.sub.mag is a height of the permanent magnet. It is noticed that a ratio b.sub.0/t and t/g′ are important parameters.
(38) Further, air gap flux density generated by the permanent magnets can be calculated as
(39)
(40) For the vernier PM motors (Z.sub.r−Z.sub.s) equals ±p, so first term in (12) has spatial period equals to a fundamental component of coil MMF. In general, P.sub.0>P.sub.1, therefore B.sub.pm.sub.
(41) Considering the fundamental and the slot harmonics in stator winding N.sub.s that match with the PM array, both the fundamental and the slot harmonics are given as
N.sub.s(θ.sub.s)≈k.sub.wN cos(pθ.sub.s)+k.sub.wN.sub.h1 cos((Z.sub.s−p)θ.sub.s)−k.sub.wN.sub.h2 cos((Z.sub.s+p)θ.sub.s), (15)
where N.sub.h1 and N.sub.h2 are magnitude of the teeth harmonics in the stator winding distribution. In general, N.sub.h1=N/(Z.sub.s/p−1), N.sub.h2=N/(Z.sub.s/p+1). Both N.sub.h1 and N.sub.h2 are a lot smaller than the fundamental number of turns N.
(42) Flux linkage in one phase windings due to flux of the PM can be given by
(43)
(44) Assuming Z.sub.r=Z.sub.s−p, the second term in the PM flux includes a matching harmonic number with the second term in the stator winding distribution. As a result,
λ.sub.s(θ.sub.s)=πRlk.sub.w(NB.sub.pm.sub.
(45) Similarly, with sinusoidal currents in the windings, the motor torque is given as
(46)
(47) In an embodiment, an assumption
(48)
is considered, which results
(49)
(50) The stator slot harmonic yields a positive contribution to T.sub.e. If Z.sub.r is selected such that Z.sub.r=Z.sub.s+p, then two terms in T.sub.e are subtracting and, thereby, decreasing the torque. Likewise, selecting Z.sub.r=Z.sub.s−p results in a larger torque generation compared to the torque when Z.sub.r=Z.sub.s+p. Also, according to an embodiment, supply speed ω.sub.e and motor mechanical speed ω.sub.r are related by ω.sub.e=Z.sub.rω.sub.r. The rotor pole pair Z.sub.r can be regarded as a gear ratio of the vernier PM motor.
(51) Estimated Torque Improvement
(52) The motor 100 of following dimensions is considered.
(53) Number of motor layers N.sub.layer=3,
(54) axial-flux PM array inner radius r.sub.i=60 mm,
(55) axial-flux PM array outer radius/radial-flux motor air gap radius r.sub.o=120 mm,
(56) stack length of each radial-flux motor t=30 mm, and
(57) shear flux of surface mount permanent magnet machine τ=10 kPa
(58) Initially it is assumed there is no vernier effect. With the given dimensions, the torque of one axial-flux motor and one radial-flux motor are
T.sub.axial≈τ∫.sub.r.sub.
T.sub.radial≈τr.sub.o.sup.2×2πt=27 Nm. (21)
(59) With three layers, total torque of the motor is
T.sub.total=6T.sub.axial+3T.sub.radial≈273 Nm. (22)
(60) Now consider the vernier effect. According to some embodiments, expected torque improvement from the vernier effect compared with regular surface PM motor is about 30%. Then, the estimated torque of the motor 100
T.sub.invented≈1.3×273=354 Nm. (23)
(61) Further, the torque capability of a regular surface PM motor with same size is calculated. The regular motor's torque can be estimated as
T.sub.baseline≈r.sub.o.sup.2×2π(3×2×t)τ=167 Nm. (24)
(62) Comparing with the baseline motor, invented motor or the motor 100 of the present disclosure yields 2.1 times torque improvement.
(63) The following description provides exemplary embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure. Rather, the following description of the exemplary embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing one or more exemplary embodiments. Contemplated are various changes that may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter disclosed as set forth in the appended claims.
(64) Specific details are given in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, understood by one of ordinary skill in the art can be that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, systems, processes, and other elements in the subject matter disclosed may be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-known processes, structures, and techniques may be shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments. Further, like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicated like elements.
(65) Also, individual embodiments may be described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process may be terminated when its operations are completed, but may have additional steps not discussed or included in a figure. Furthermore, not all operations in any particularly described process may occur in all embodiments. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process corresponds to a function, the function's termination can correspond to a return of the function to the calling function or the main function.
(66) Furthermore, embodiments of the subject matter disclosed may be implemented, at least in part, either manually or automatically. Manual or automatic implementations may be executed, or at least assisted, through the use of machines, hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middleware or microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in a machine readable medium. A processor(s) may perform the necessary tasks.
(67) Various methods or processes outlined herein may be coded as software that is executable on one or more processors that employ any one of a variety of operating systems or platforms. Additionally, such software may be written using any of a number of suitable programming languages and/or programming or scripting tools, and also may be compiled as executable machine language code or intermediate code that is executed on a framework or virtual machine. Typically, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.
(68) Embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied as a method, of which an example has been provided. The acts performed as part of the method may be ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments may be constructed in which acts are performed in an order different than illustrated, which may include performing some acts concurrently, even though shown as sequential acts in illustrative embodiments. Although the present disclosure has been described with reference to certain preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that various other adaptations and modifications can be made within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, it is the aspect of the append claims to cover all such variations and modifications as come within the true spirit and scope of the present disclosure.