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Homopolar inductor machine (HIM) has caught much attention in the field of flywheel energy storage system (FESS) due to its merits of robust rotor, brushless exciting, and high reliability. Compared with permanent magnet HIM (PM-HIM), the HIM with field winding (FW-HIM) can effectively eliminate the idling loss caused by the no-load magnetic field by cutting off the excitation current, while the charge/discharge efficiency of the HIM would be decreased due to the copper loss of field winding. To address this contradiction, a novel PM-HIM with a mechanical flux modulator (MFM-HIM) is proposed to achieve low idling loss and high charge/discharge efficiency. First, the special structure and operation principle of the MFM-HIM are investigated. Afterwards, the characteristic of the equivalent magnetic circuit of the MFM-HIM is analyzed and the key structure parameters of it are derived and optimized. Moreover, the electromagnetic performance indexes of the MFM-HIM, including back electromotive force, flux weakening ability, losses, etc. are fully analyzed. Finally, a prototype of the MFM-HIM is designed, manufactured, and tested. Experiment results confirm those obtained by simulations. Results show that the proposed MFM-HIM inherits the merits of high charge/discharge efficiency of PM-HIM and almost no idling electromagnetic loss of FW-HIM. The MFM-HIM could be a promising candidate for the application of FESS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Permanent magnet (PM) machines have attracted much attention in the field of flywheel energy storage system (FESS) due to their merits of high power density and high efficiency. However, the flux generated by the PMs would cause large stator core loss during the idling state of FESS, which would reduce the energy conversion ratio and limit the application of FESS in long-term energy storage occasions. Addressing this issue, a novel dual-rotor single-stator coreless PM machine (DSSCPMM) with dual-flywheel is proposed in this article. The stator of the DSSCPMM is made of ceramic material, which can effectively eliminate the stator core loss. The rotor of the DSSCPMM contains inner and outer rotors, which are used as the flywheels and can be helpful to improve the energy storage density. First, the structure and operation principle of the proposed DSSCPMM are illustrated. Then, the influences of the key structure parameters and arrangement of PMs, winding configurations, and magnetization method on the electromagnetic performance of the proposed DSSCPMM are investigated. Finally, the optimized structure of the DSSCPMM is obtained and the efficiency is calculated. The result shows that the proposed DSSCPMM is a promising candidate for the application of FESS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homopolar inductor machine (HIM) has been applied in the field of flywheel energy storage system (FESS) due to its merits of simple structure, high reliability, and low idling losses. However, the HIM features unipolar air-gap flux density, which makes its power density lower than that of the electrical machine with bipolar air-gap flux density. Addressing this issue, a novel outer rotor homopolar inductor machine (OR-HIM) is proposed in this article. First, the special structure and operation principle of the OR-HIM are illustrated. Then, the unit motors of the OR-HIM are obtained and investigated based on the magnetic equivalent circuit method to facilitate the design. Moreover, the performance indexes, including power density, output characteristics, losses, and rotor stress of the OR-HIM, are fully analyzed. Finally, a 13-kW prototype is designed, manufactured, and tested. The back electromotive force, load voltage, output torque, and efficiency are measured and compared with those obtained by the finite element analysis. The results indicate that the proposed OR-HIM is a promising candidate for the application of FESS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brushless structure is beneficial for air-core compensated pulsed alternator (ACPA) because its field current and rotation speed are too large for the slip rings and carbon brushes. To achieve the brushless structure, a cascaded brushless self-excited ACPA (CBSACPA), which consists of an exciter and a generator in cascade, is proposed, in this article. The exciter and generator have a common rotor. A novel squirrel-cage rotor winding (SCRW), which can eliminate the end winding compared with conventional wound rotor winding (WRW), is proposed to simplify the rotor structure and improve the performance. First, the structure of the CBSACPA with the SCRW is introduced. Second, the operation principles of the machine are elaborated. Third, the dynamic mathematical model is presented. Fourth, the operation principles are demonstrated by the finite-element method. In addition, the performance of the SCRW is compared with the WRW as well. Finally, a prototype of CBSACPA is developed and tested to validate the analyses and simulations. In conclusion, this study gives detailed introduction, analyses, and validation about the CBSACPA, which provides a new solution to achieve a brushless structure for the ACPA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The compensated pulsed alternators (CPAs) have good applications in high-energy lasers, electromagnetic rail guns, and other electromagnetic launch devices. Among various electrical machine topologies, homopolar inductor alternators (HIAs) have attracted interest as CPAs due to their merits of simple and reliable structure, brushless excitation, and high-speed operation. However, the length of the conventional HIA is difficult to expand because it is limited by the rotor diameter, and the rotor diameter is restricted by the maximum speed of rotor tip, which results in low-energy storage capacity of a single machine. Besides, HIA suffers from the relatively low-power density due to its unipolar air-gap flux density (UAFD). To solve these problems, two novel HIAs with multistage stator cores (HIA-MSCs) are proposed in this paper. One is HIA with UAFD (HIA-UAFD) and the other is HIA with unipolar and bipolar air-gap flux density (HIA-UBAFD). First, the structure and operation principle of HIA-MSCs are illustrated. Then, the key parameters of HIA-MSCs are derived, and the corresponding models are built. Finally, the electromagnetic performances of HIA-MSCs are investigated by 3-D finite-element analysis method. Compared with HIA-UAFD, HIA-UBAFD has relatively higher discharge current and output power, which indicates that HIA-UBAFD is a better candidate for the pulsed alternator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulsed power technology is widely used in medical treatment, military, and scientific research, such as laser burst and electromagnetic launch. Compensated pulsed alternator (CPA) is a kind of device generating that pulsed power. One of the shortages for the air-core pulsed alternator is the huge excitation loss. In order to solve the problems, a multidisk axial flux CPA (MAFCPA) is proposed, which replaces the excitation windings with permanent magnets, saving the self-excitation process. In addition, multidisks are designed, especially to reduce subtransient reactance when the CPA discharges, which contributes to increasing the discharging current. This paper mainly focuses on researching the feasibility of MAFCPA in aspects of thermal issues, rotor statics, and dynamics problems. First, the topology and principle of MAFCPA are introduced, and the properties of the materials are listed as well. Second, the loss of discharging is calculated and the temperatures of both stator and rotor are solved. Then, the maximum stresses of different materials are obtained. Afterward, the critical speeds are researched in order to avoid resonance. Finally, the conclusion is made that MAFCPA can work safely under a speed of 10000 r/min and supply a pulse of over 50 ms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homopolar inductor machines (HIMs) are promising candidates of the pulsed alternator for the application of high power pulsed supplies. However, a single HIM can hardly serve as both a pulsed alternator and a motor, because the voltage and frequency of the pulsed alternator are usually much higher than those of the motor. Thus, a prime motor is needed to drag the pulsed alternator, which makes the pulsed alternator system rather complex. To simplify the structure of the system, this paper proposes a novel four-stator-core HIM (FSCHIM) consisting of an alternator and a motor. First, both the configuration and operation principle of the FSCHIM are introduced. Second, the sizing equations of the FSCHIM are deduced to obtain its primary size parameters. Third, the armature reaction is investigated and the influences of main structure parameters on key output indices are studied by using finite-element analysis (FEA). Finally, the optimized scheme is validated by three-dimensional FEA and experimental results on the subelectrical machines. The results demonstrate that the FSCHIM can serve as a combination of the motor and the pulsed alternator, which enjoys the merits of high-voltage and high-frequency discharge performance with a lower voltage and lower frequency driving system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The homopolar inductor machine (HIM) is of particular interest in the field of flywheel energy storage system, where it has the potential to significantly reduce self-discharge associated with magnetic losses. However, the conventional HIM suffers from low power and torque density due to its unipolar air-gap flux density. Besides, the air-gap flux density of HIM is limited by the cross section of rotor, and the rotor diameter is limited by the maximum tip speed of the rotor. Thus, the maximum effective length and diameter of rotor should be within a certain range, which constrains the output power and stored energy of the HIM. To solve these problems, a novel multi-unit out-rotor HIM (MO-HIM) with bipolar air-gap flux density is proposed in this paper. First, the structure and operating principle of MO-HIM is illustrated. Then, the characteristics of the proposed machine are analyzed, indicating that MO-HIM can be regarded as a superposition of multiple unit machines. Finally, to verify the superior performances of the proposed MO-HIM, it is compared with a unipolar out-rotor HIM with multi-segment stator cores in terms of air-gap flux density, back electromotive force, and output torque. Results show that the proposed MO-HIM has larger fundamental air-gap flux density, higher power, and torque density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An automobile generator has stringent requirements on its weight and volume. As a combination of permanent magnet and electric excitation motor, hybrid excitation machine has the merits of small size, lightweight, and adjustable output voltage, which can meet the requirements of the vehicular generator. In this paper, a novel axial flux stator partition hybrid excitation brushless synchronous generator (ASHG) is proposed. First, the structure and the operating principle of ASHG is illustrated. Afterward, the shape of the magnetic pole is optimized to obtain the air-gap flux density with low harmonic component. Finally, the regulation performance of the magnetic field and output voltage are investigated by using the 3-D finite-element analysis method. The result indicates that the ASHG has a good ability to adjust the terminal voltage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulsed alternators have the merits of high energy and power densities, which are applied to a wide range of applications, such as the electromagnetic launch, the pulsed laser, and the pulsed high magnetic field. A new type of high-speed and high-frequency pulsed alternator integrating an alternator and a motor, is proposed in this paper. A solid rotor which is made of high-strength alloy steel with high yield strength is used in the pulsed alternator, so it can work at a high tip speed. This machine consists of two alternators and a motor which share one rotor and one field winding. According to different voltage levels and operation frequencies, the motor and the alternators with different stack lengths and pole-pairs are designed, respectively. Therefore, it has the abilities of being driven by low-frequency current and discharging high-frequency pulses. In this paper, the basic structure and fundamental of the pulsed alternator are introduced, the specific parameters of the prototype are given, and the performances are verified by the simulation. The results show that the machine proposed in this paper is suitable for the applications that require high-frequency pulsed discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Homopolar inductor alternator (HIA) has been widely used as a high-speed pulsed alternator in the electromagnetic launch field due to its merits of high-speed operation, power density, and reliability. To achieve the above-mentioned merits, a high-strength and high-stiffness solid rotor is usually adopted in the HIA. However, the solid rotor would be subject to high eddy current loss. Some works have been done to analyze the rotor eddy current of the HIA, while the research on analytic calculation and reduction of rotor eddy current loss is relatively few. In this paper, an analytic calculation method is established to calculate no-load rotor eddy current loss for HIA, which is validated by the finite-element analysis and corresponding experiments. Besides, to minimize the rotor eddy current loss, a simple method, by slitting the rotor tooth, is proposed. Moreover, the influence of circumferential and axial slits on the rotor eddy current loss and air friction loss is comparatively studied. Finally, the influence of the width, depth, and number of slits on the eddy current loss is investigated. It is shown that the circumferential slits have better performance than that of axial slits to reduce the eddy current loss. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The pulsed high-power supplies in this paper employs a homopolar inductor alternator (HIA) as the motor/generator integrated energy storage pulsed alternator. Lumped parameter design equations are developed, which is used to establish the mathematical model of the HIA, and the analytic calculation method of inductance matrix is derived. Prototype flywheel energy storage was built, and the basic structure of HIA is analyzed by using finite-element method (FEM). This paper proposes a simplified equivalent 2-D salient-pole synchronous generator model to simplify the 3-D FEM of HIA and investigates the motor control method of HIA based on the simplified 2-D equivalent model. The experiments were conducted for speed up to 8000 rpm and the six-step inverter drive strategy presented in this paper achieves the motor/generator integrated control on inductor energy storage pulsed alternator (IESPA). Most experimental results were in line with designed value. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]