Active Saturation Method for Rotor Magnetic Bridges in Synchronous Reluctance Machines

Synchronous reluctance machine, permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance machine, and interior permanent magnet synchronous machine share the same kind of rotor topology. Comprehensive investigations on the correlation between the amount and function of the permanent magnets buried in the rotor have been carried out to reveal the intricate relationship of these machine types. Both circumferential and radial flux bridges are commonly employed to provide dependable rotor integrity in these machines. However, the flux bridge width has a tremendous bearing on both electromagnetic performance and mechanical ruggedness, especially for synchronous reluctance machine. In this paper, the active saturation method is hence applied in synchronous reluctance machine to strike the right balance between manufacturability and electromagnetic performance. A SkW@3000rpm synchronous reluctance machine with flux bridge width of 1mm has been optimized to realise the active saturation method. Moreover, the influence of permanent magnet location patterns on the active saturation method has been investigated in detail.