Novel Flux-Regulatable Dual-Magnet Vernier Memory Machines for Electric Vehicle Propulsion

In this paper, two novel flux-regulatable dual-magnet vernier memory machines (DM-VMMs), which incorporate the flux-memorizable concept and vernier structure, are proposed and implemented as in-wheel motor drives for electric vehicle (EV) applications. The proposed dual-magnet configurations employ flux-modulated poles to perform large torque production in low-speed region, namely the “magnetic gearing” effect. Moreover, the flexible flux-controllability can be readily achieved to expand high-speed constant-power region by temporarily applying current pulse to magnetize/demagnetize aluminum-nickel-cobalt (AlNiCo) magnets. The configurations and operating principle of the two DM-VMMs with similar dimensions are discussed. The electromagnetic characteristics of the machines are comprehensively analyzed and quantitatively compared by time-stepping finite element method (TS-FEM) coupled with nonlinear parallelogram hysteresis model (NPHM), which verifies the feasibility of the proposed machine topologies.