Magnetic saturation and end effects in LSRMs modelling

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a method to estimate the magnetic saturation and end effect of linear switched reluctance machines (LSRMs) with fully pitched winding configuration used in the wave energy conversion.

Design/methodology/approach

The magnetic saturation and strong coupling make it very difficult to derive a comprehensive mathematical model for the behavior of the LSRMs. Meanwhile, the various end effects could not be comprehensively considered in the two‐dimensional model which is widely studied. Therefore, the magnetic equivalent circuit model including the three‐dimensional (3‐D) effects is presented in this paper and 3‐D finite element analysis (FEA) is used to validate the mathematical model.

Findings

The results from 3‐D FEA are in good agreement with the numerical simulation, which validates the accuracy of the magnetic equivalent circuit modeling method.

Practical implications

This technique helps one to know the influence exerted by the magnet saturation and end effect of LSRMs and provides a powerful computer‐aided analysis tool. Meanwhile, this modeling method supplies accurate values for the following study of reliable control algorithm.

Originality/value

The paper presents a magnetic equivalent method to estimate the magnetic saturation and end effect of LSRMs with fully pitched winding configuration used in the wave energy conversion.

Citation

Du, J., Liang, D. and Li, Q. (2012), "Magnetic saturation and end effects in LSRMs modelling", COMPEL - The international journal for computation and mathematics in electrical and electronic engineering, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 140-153. https://doi.org/10.1108/03321641211184878