Design, Analysis, and Testing of a Novel Permanent Magnet Compulsator

In electromagnetic launch (EML) applications, a compensated pulsed alternator is an effective form of pulsed power supply because of its high energy density and power density. The basic advantages of compensated pulsed alternators for EML applications are their higher energy density than capacitors and their export ac output that is suitable for transmission and transformation. In general, external excitation is adopted as a form of self-excitation or pulse excitation in compensated pulsed alternators with an iron core or air core. Using this form not only results in heavy and bulky components but also complicates and reduces the reliability of the system. This paper proposes a novel compensated pulsed alternator that is excited by permanent magnets (PMs) and equipped with an iron core or air-core stator. This system does not require any excitation converter or brush-slip ring, thereby making it more reliable, less massive, and less voluminous than the system with self-excitation or pulse excitation. In addition, analytical models are introduced to simulate the air-gap magnetic distribution, back-electromotive force, pulsed current wave, discharge torque, and energy exchange of this machine. A scale-model prototype of the PM-compensated pulsed alternator is designed, fabricated, and tested. The actual output voltage waveform and pulsed current waveform are sampled and compared with the predicted ones. The results show that the design of the PM compulsator is feasible and reliable.