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DC-Excited vernier reluctance machine (DC-VRM) using a 12-slot/10-pole-pair design, exhibits the advantages of small torque ripple and low cogging torque due to the inherent commentary characteristic. However, the inherent saliency is canceled out by a 12/10 pole combination of machine design driven by a traditional three-phase inverter. As a result, the sensorless operation in zero/low-speed regions becomes difficult because the position estimation methods using self-inductance detection cannot be applied. To tackle this problem, we first analyzed the saliency annihilation phenomenon through Fourier analysis that the odd-order harmonics in self-inductance are canceled. Moreover, reconstructing saliency method is proposed by splitting a phase winding into two sub-phase coils and using parallel H-bridge converters to supply sub-phase coils and achieve sensorless drive. Through this method, the saliency effect is recovered in self-inductance, thereby pulse injection sensorless drive can be applied. The constructed 12/10 DC-VRM sensorless drive shows good fault-tolerant ability and can be applied in safety-critical industry applications such as aerospace propulsion. Analysis and experiments are performed in the initial position detection, start-up and free-running stages to verify the feasibility of the proposed solution. A sector estimation accurate to 6° can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interaction of the third harmonic magnetic field with the third harmonic current in a five-phase synchronous reluctance motor (SynRM) can produce additional torque. However, it is still not clear about the SynRM power factor and its impact on the associated power converter because of the third harmonic components. Using time-stepping finite-element method, a mathematical model of the SynRM, which allows any desired harmonic component in computation, is presented. Performance of the five-phase SynRM with two rotor structures has been computed. The study finds that contribution of the third harmonic current to the output torque depends on the rotor structures. It is also shown that the required terminal voltage to regulate the desired current waveform is substantially increased, a result not reported before. Index Terms--Finite-element methods, synchronous reluctance motor, third harmonic, time stepping.

Presents a study that evaluated the performance of a five-phase synchronous reluctance motor (SynRM) with two typical rotor structures through a time-stepping finite element method. SynRM system description; Basic equations of SynRM; Computation results.