IET Electric Power Applications

Review Article

Permanent magnet vernier machine: a review ISSN 1751-8660

Received on 30th July 2018
Revised 14th October 2018
Accepted on 12th November 2018
E-First on 22nd January 2019
doi: 10.1049/iet-epa.2018.5474
www.ietdl.org

Fan Wu1 , Ayman M. El-Refaie1

1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Marquette University, 1637 West Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee 53233, USA
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Permanent magnet vernier machines (PMVMs) gained a lot of interest over the past couple of decades. This is mainly
due to their high torque density enabled by the magnetic gearing effect. This study will provide a thorough review of recent
advances in PMVMs. This review will cover the principle of operation and nature of magnetic gearing in PMVMs, and a better
understanding of novel PMVM topologies using different winding configuration as well as different modulation poles and rotor
structures. Detailed discussions on the choice of gear ratio, slot–pole combinations, design optimisation and role of advanced
materials in PMVMs will be presented. This will provide an update on the current state-of-the art as well as future areas of
research. Furthermore, the power factor issue, fault tolerance as well as cost reduction will be discussed highlighting the gap
between the current state-of-the art and what is needed in practical applications.

1 Introduction mechanical-port MGMs. A good example of this category is the

double-rotor machine used in power split systems such as the
Vernier machine (VM), flux-reversal machine, flux switching continuous variable transmission devices [4].
machine as well as the transverse flux machine can be regarded as Fig. 2 shows a simplified evolution from MGMs with a fixed
a synchronous machine integrated with a magnetic gear [1–3]. All FMP to VMs with either split-tooth or non-split tooth. The inherent
those machine topologies can be grouped into a unified relationship of the three variables, i.e. no. of stator winding MMF
classification of magnetically geared machine (MGM) family, as pole pairs (ps), no. of rotor pole pairs (pr), and no. of FMPs (pFM),
given in Fig. 1.
should meet a constraint of pr = pFM ± ps.
The classification of the MGM is based on the number of
mechanical ports. The four electrical machines mentioned above The first VM dates back to 1960 when it was referred to as a
belong to the sub-category of single mechanical-port MGMs in reluctance-type inductor synchronous motor [5]. Interest in VMs
which only one of the three parts of an MGM ((i) coil-wound core, has been revived with advancements in PMs and PM brush-less
(ii) flux-modulation-pole (FMP) and (iii) permanent magnet (PM) machines [6]. Several publications focused on providing a generic/
rotor), is able to spin. The other sub-category includes multiple unified torque production analysis for the surface PMVM
(SPMVM). This helped to provide a better understanding of the
principle of operation as well as laying a solid foundation for
designing permanent-magnet vernier machines (PMVMs) [7, 8].
In regular electric drives, mechanical gears address the speed/
torque mismatch between the high-speed motor shaft and the low-
speed prime-mover/process shaft. Gear lead to high maintenance
cost as well as lifetime challenges because its lifetime is typically
shorter than electrical machines. On the other hand, low-speed
high-torque direct-drive systems result in physically large
Fig. 1 Classification of magnetically geared machines machines. PMVMs, some topologies of which have torque
producing capability that exceeds that of a conventional electrical
machine by 2–3 times, can be a good solution for this well-known
trade-off.
Due to the significant low-speed high-toque advantages, VMs
are undoubtedly a key potential enabler for direct-drive
applications. Typically, torque ripple of a VM is fairly small, which
is also a desirable feature that reduces acoustic noise and vibration.
Based on all these perceived advantages, VMs are being
considered as potential promising alternatives to conventional
electrical machines for a wide range of applications [9–13]. Such
applications include

• Wave energy extraction: either rotary or linear machine, ∼0.5 

m/s and >1 MW.
• Wind turbine: direct-drive generator, speed: 15–30 r/min, 10–
100 kW (small), and2–5 MW (large).
• In-wheel motor: outer-rotor machine, ∼75 kW (consumer
Fig. 2 PMVMs derived from fixed FMP magnetically geared dual electric vehicles), rated/max. speed: 500/1800 r/min.
mechanical port machines • Auto-focusing lens: axial-flux motor, <100 r/min and 1–2 W
(a) Non-split-tooth, distributed winding (DW), (b) Split-tooth, FSCW • Free-piston generator: linear machine, 10–20 m/s and ∼10 kW.

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 Despite the fact that PMVM is superior at slow speeds in terms slots. The second term of (1) indicates that both (pFM ± pr)-pole-
of torque performance and efficiency, a comparative study between pair flux density components can be obtained as a result of the flux
an optimised nine-stator-slot/27-FMP/48-rotor-pole PMVM and modulation effect.
the 2010 Toyota Prius IPM motor shows that the PMVM might According to the generic torque equation derived by Toba and
have limitations for adjustable-speed applications due to extremely Lipo [7], the average torque can be written as follows:
narrow constant power speed range (CPSR) as well as lower
efficiency within that range [14]. However, another recent case 3 2 P1FPM1 pr
study demonstrated that an outer-rotor PMVM is quite appealing in T= Ψlef prkd1kp1NsI P0FPM1 ∓ , (2)
π 2 ps
terms of wide CPSR in contrast to its fractional slot concentrated
winding (FSCW)-surface PM (SPM) counterparts [15]. Those where ‘–’ is applied when pr = pFM – ps; ‘ + ’ is applied when pr = 
conflicting results raise concerns about previous attempts to
propose this type of machine for in-wheel motors [16, 17]. pFM + ps; Ψ is the flux linkage; lef is the effective axial length of
Furthermore, this type of machine also suffers from fairly low- the machine; kd1 and kp1 are winding distributed and pitch factor,
power factor compared with regular PM synchronous machines respectively; Ns is the series turns per phase; I is the stator winding
[18, 19]. This undesired feature is identified as a result of excessive current.
harmonic leakage flux in the air gap. To maintain a reasonable As can be seen from (2), the choice of pr = pFM – ps leads to
inverter capacity, this issue should be carefully addressed. higher torque production. The so-called ‘harmonic coupling’,
Even though PMVMs have been receiving the major attention, which refers to the interaction between the harmonic component of
non-magnet VMs are of great interest to either low-cost or safety- the PM field and the slot harmonic component of the coil MMF, is
critical applications. An example is a stator DC winding excited the reason why VMs enjoy a higher torque density. Specifically,
vernier reluctance machine that takes advantages of its doubly there are two torque components in a PMVM rather than only one
salient structure as well as stator DC field windings [20–24]. component in a conventional permanent magnet synchronous
As a summary, the on-going research activities related to VMs machine (PMSM): (i) the first one is the synchronous reaction
are focusing on three primary areas: torque produced by PMs as well as stator MMF, of which the
electrical angular speed is defined by the pole pitch of the stator
• High torque density: pursue novel topologies to achieve higher winding; (ii) the second one is the reluctance torque produced by
torque-density. the PMs and the fundamental slot harmonic component of MMF
• Higher power factor: (i) reduce leakage flux path through better- which rotates at a higher synchronous speed [26].
designed magnetic circuits and/or advanced materials; (ii) utilise A general instantaneous torque equation for PMVMs has been
MMF harmonics as useful torque-producing components. developed to analyse average and ripple torque [27, 28]. This
• Lower cost: Reduce/eliminate rare-earth materials through enables quantitative verification of PMVMs’ inherent features of
optimised novel topologies and advanced materials. low-torque ripple (<0.2%) and high-average torque (40% larger)
when compared to regular PM machines.
This study presents a survey of PMVMs. The focus will be on The Maxwell stress tensor method is used to show that the
the research activities that took place over the past 5–10 years. The improvement of tangential flux density plays a significant role in
paper is organised as follows: Section 2 covers efforts addressing the high-torque-density feature of VMs [29].
torque production in PMVMs. Section 3 provides an analysis of Liu and Zhu [30] provide a more comprehensive air gap flux
torque production in PMVMs based on winding function density analysis with consideration of both FMP and slotting
approaches. Section 4 covers the design aspects of the three major effects. The analytical results show that VMs, such as regular
components of a VM, i.e. winding, FMP as well as a rotor, while synchronous machines, are mono-harmonic machines, meaning
Section 5 covers a variety of PMVM novel topologies and their that only one air gap harmonic contributes to torque production. An
evolution. Section 6 covers design issues and optimisation. Section finite element analysis (FEA)-based equivalent current sheet model
7 covers the low-power factor issue and highlights the available has been used for quantitative verification of the radial and
solutions. Section 8 discusses the use of advanced materials and tangential flux density spectrum. In [31], expanded analyses reveal
their potential impact on VMs. Reliability-related issues are that the magnetic gearing effect could be a significant resource of
covered in Section 9 followed by conclusions. torque production in open-slot FSCW machines.
In [32], a unified bond graph model has been developed for
2 Torque production hybrid-excited and PMVMs. A generic power flow-based electric
machine model has been highlighted for its fitness for an
There have been lots of research efforts dedicated to the unconventional machine such as PMVM.
understanding of torque producing principle in PMVMs. Analytical Elaborate analytical modelling of PMVM has been carried out,
modelling of VMs generally starts with the influence of air gap which can significantly reduce computational time at an early stage
permeance on winding MMF and PM field, establishing a of design. Since VMs can have complicated geometries, reluctance
mathematic description of the so-called ‘flux modulation’ or network analysis with improved mesh generation methods is used
‘magnetic gearing effect’ [25]. to achieve high accuracy [33]. As a refinement to the existing
The magnetic gearing effect is essentially the flux modulation approach, nonlinearity and end effects have been considered [34].
effect of the specific permeance (P) as a function of stator
mechanical angle (θ) introduced by stator slotting on PM-generated 3 Torque production analysis through winding
MMF (FPM). For simplicity, if only the first-order component of P
and FPM are considered, the air gap flux density can be derived as
function approaches
Electromagnetic torque of any PMSM is produced by the
BPM = P θ FPM θ, θm interaction between stator MMF generated by armature winding
and rotor MMF generated by PMs. From this point of view, either
≃ P0 − P1cos pFMθ FPM1cos pr θ − θm the higher stator or rotor MMF is required for achieving a higher
1 torque capability. In addition, PMVMs typically have large slot
= P0FPM1cos pr θ − θm − P1FPM1 opening or split teeth, which generally results in larger equivalent
2
air gap length compared to conventional PMSMs with the semi-
× cos pFM − pr θ + prθm + cos pFM + pr θ − prθm ,
close slot opening design. Therefore, the outstanding torque
(1) capability of PMVMs cannot be fully explained by the magnetic
gearing effect. This section provides a winding-function-based
where θ is the stator mech. angle; θm = ωt is the rotor mech. angle; method to analyse and compare MMF production in PMVMs as
ps and pr are pole pair of stator and rotor MMFs, respectively; pFM well as PMSMs, highlighting the impact of no. of pole pairs on
is the number of FMPs which is exactly the number of slots or split MMFs.

128 IET Electr. Power Appl., 2019, Vol. 13 Iss. 2, pp. 127-137
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Fig. 3 Impact of no. of pole pairs on stator MMF in ISDW-PMSMs
(a) 48-slot/eight-pole scheme, (b) 48-slot/four-pole scheme (assumptions: both designs have identical current density, no. of series turns and stator geometry, only half of the whole
model is shown for simplicity)

Fig. 4 Impact of no. of pole pairs on stator MMF in PMVMs (best viewed in colour online)
(a) ps = 2/pFMP = 48/pr = 46, (b) ps = 1/pFMP = 48/pr = 47

Fig. 5 Comparison of stator MMFs

(a) 48-slot/40-pole FSCW-PMSM, (b) ps = 5/pFMP = 48/pr = 43 or ps = 7/pFMP = 48/pr = 41 PMVMs

3.1 Stator-winding-produced MMF show the resulting air gap MMF generated by SPMs (pole arc
coeff.: 1.0) in ISDW-PMSM, FSCW-PMSM, and ISDW-PMVM,
(i) Integral-slot distributed winding (ISDW): As can be seen in respectively.
Fig. 3, under the assumptions that stator geometry, current density Unlike winding-produced MMFs, the peak or integral value of
and no. of series turns per phase are identical, the winding- PM-produced MMFs are independent of the no. of pole pairs. It is
produced MMF and the resulting air gap flux density are inversely determined by PM remanence, thickness as well as equivalent air
proportional to the no. of pole pairs (pS). Besides, winding gap length. In this regard, all three rotor schemes shown in
inductance is inversely proportional to the square of no. of pole Figs. 6a–c can have identical energy (0.5 BH) installed in the
pairs, since the area under each pole pair reduces with more poles magnetic field.
as well. Therefore, if the rotor MMF remains unchanged, torque is The intensity of the magnetic field generated by rotor sides are
inversely proportional to pS. similar to each other while the spectra of the PM-generated field
For a low-speed/high-pole-number machine design, VMs generally are different:
have lower no. of poles, compare to ISDW PMSM, which allows
higher air gap flux density with comparative design assumptions. • Little flux modulation effect is shown in either ISDW-PMSM or
As shown in Figs. 4a and b, both schemes have four split teeth on a FSCW-PMSM while a lower-pole-number sinusoidal MMF can
major tooth. As the no. of stator-winding pole pairs goes down, be observed in ISDW-PMSM.
winding-produced MMF is getting higher. Moreover, only 0.5 p. u. • Open-slot design results in low utilisation of rotor PMs. Semi-
current density is required for producing that amount of MMF. If closed or closed slots are preferred in ISDW-PMSM as well as
the winding is replaced by concentrated tooth coils wound around FSCW-PMSM, which reduces equivalent air gap length,
the split teeth (green parts in Figs. 4), 12 or 20 times amp-turns offsetting the disadvantages of regular PMSMs against PMVMs.
values are required to achieve the same MMF distribution. • Higher no. of rotor poles generally results in higher flux leakage
(ii) FSCW: As can be seen in Fig. 5, since PMVM can excite four between two adjacent magnet pieces.
split teeth by one major tooth, the MMF value of FSCW-PMVM is
higher than that of FSCW-PMSM. Besides, PMVMs are easier to enter the saturation region than
For the purpose of having the same no. of rotor pole pairs (pr), regular PMSMs. For an aggressive design, the advantage of
regular PMSMs have to significantly increase the no. of stator pole PMVMs can be offset to some extent.
pairs (pS), so that the winding-produced MMF and winding
inductance will be much lower than their counterparts (PMVMs). 4 Winding, flux modulation pole, and rotor design
This section covers design details of the three components of a
3.2 PM-produced MMF VM,
Under the assumption that there are 48 open slots on the stator side,
the same air gap length and PM remanence/thickness, Figs. 6a–c

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(i) Winding patterns: the two major winding patterns, i.e. ISDWs Table 1 provides a summary of design details regarding the
and FSCWs are adopted in VMs. In addition, DC field windings mentioned three components in existing literature.
can be inserted in either the rotor or the stator to substitute for the
PMs or achieve hybrid excitation. 4.1 Winding patterns
(ii) FMPs: the stator teeth of a VM are referred to as the FMPs.
Various geometrical designs of FMPs are applied for tuning the The distributed-winding design shows its short-coming with long
MMF spectrum. overlapping end windings [35]. Other alternatives to reduce the
(iii) Rotor design: One of the important aspects of rotor design is copper usage as well as joule losses in the end region have been
the choice of PM disposition and shape, where SPM, spoke PM, pursued. One alternative is to use FSCWs [36].
Halbach PM, consequent pole PM, and hybrid PM are used. Also, However, the gear ratio and winding factor are in conflict with
there have been designs with salient-pole rotors that place the PMs torque production in an FSCW PMVM. It has also been shown that
on the stator. the flux modulation effect can be offset by a reduction of constant
air gap permeance and increased flux leakage. However, fractional-
slot PMVMs having two-slot coil pitch are promising candidates in
terms of higher gear ratio and winding factor. Their torque
capability is lower than that of the distributed-winding PMVMs but
still higher than conventional FSCW PM machines [37, 38]. Even
though these comparisons are useful, they do not provide insights
and a comprehensive evaluation in terms of other major
performance metrics such as machine losses and efficiency within
a wide speed of range.
There are also attempts to replace rotor PMs with stator DC
windings while the salient-pole rotor poles can be regarded as
modulation poles. An example is shown in Fig. 7 where the
superconducting DC field windings are wound around the
previously non-wound tooth in an alternate-tooth-wound FSCW
machine while the outer rotor has salient poles [39].
The toroidal winding has been adopted in a dual-rotor axial-flux
PMVM [40]. Compared to concentrated windings and distributed
windings, the length of end windings can be significantly reduced.
A parallel-hybrid-excited VM has been proposed [41, 42]. As
shown in Fig. 8, the stator is axially separated into two parts to be
able to insert a DC coil in between the two parts. A similar
structure has been adopted in a linear PMVM to improve power
factor [43].

4.2 Flux modulation Poles (FMPs)

The magnetic gearing effect offered by FMPs is a major difference
between VMs and conventional synchronous machines. The
distribution of the air gap MMF spectrum is determined by the
design of FMPs. As a result, leakage inductance and working
MMF harmonics can be adjusted based on the design of FMPs.
It appears that PMVMs with concentrated windings suffers
more from low-power factor (high-leakage inductance). An S-
shaped side line of FMP is proposed based on a multi-objective
genetic-algorithm-based optimisation [44]. Torque density and
power factor are the two optimisation objectives. It has been shown
Fig. 6 PM produced MMFs in 48-slot machines
that the rectangular shape is not the optimal shape for the FMP in a
(a) ISDW-PMSM with two pole pairs, (b) FSCW-PMSM with 20 pole pairs, (c)
PMVM with the concentrated winding. In addition, a general
ISDW-PMVM with 46 pole pairs
analytical model has been developed to calculate the power factor

Table 1 Summary of design details including winding, FMPs, and rotor

Winding patterns FMPs Rotor design
• armature winding: ISDW [35], FSCW [36– • novel FMP shapes: S-shape, concave-shape • SPM: radially-magnetised [49] or Halbach [50,
38]; • DC field winding: inserted between FMP [44, 45] • non-uniform FMP: adjustable 51] • consequent-pole PM [52] • interior PM:
teeth [39], in stator slot (toroidal winding) pitch ratio [46], (Fig. 9) • impact of FMP design spoke-type [53–59], V-shape, U-shape [60] •
[40], between axially separated stators on radial force: noise & vibration analyses [47, hybrid PM (diff. PM materials) [61]
(parallel-hybrid-excited) [41–43]. 48]

Fig. 7 Cryostat topology for wind power [39] Fig. 8 Hybrid-excited homopolar/consequent-pole VM [41]

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 proposed methods help in reducing acoustic noise and vibrations
during operation.

4.3 Rotor design

Many types of PM rotor topologies have been adopted and
compared in PMVMs. At the very beginning, SPM rotor was
adopted. Although an SPMVM is able to produce 2–3 times the
back-electromotive force (EMF) of a regular synchronous PM
machine with the same volume, the inductance tends to be much
larger, resulting in poor power factor [49]. A typical power factor
value for SPMVM could be 0.66 or even lower.
The large winding inductance is primarily due to harmonic
Fig. 9 Non-uniform FMP design leakage components resulting from the flux modulation effect. A
double-stator spoke-type PMVM has been proposed to boost power
factor, as shown in Fig. 10 (schematic diagram). The key enabling
design is to have spoke-PM rotors as well as unaligned stators
shifted by half tooth pitch that helps in guiding the flux path and
achieving a high utilisation of magnets [53–56]. As a complement
to this work, Kim and Lipo [57] provide a comprehensive
analytical modelling of both single and double air gap spoke-type
PMVMs, suggesting that the increased vernier effect can be
significantly reduced by the magnetic potential oscillation in the
rotor core piece while this issue can be addressed by a design with
a double air gap.
Spoke-type PM with a flux focusing effect can increase the air-
gap magnetic loading to improve the power capability of a PMVM
[58]. A spoke ferrite magnet VM has been developed for achieving
lower active material cost as well as higher power density than its
Fig. 10 Spoke-PM with the double stator
counterpart – a 3 kW, 350 r/min, NdFeB wind turbine synchronous
generator [59]. However, it has also been found that the rotor flux
barrier of a spoke-type PMVM may weaken the modulated
magnetic field as well as torque capability, especially for designs
with a high pole ratio (pr/ps) numbers [52].
Consequent-pole PMVMs have been proposed for reducing
rare-earth materials (Fig. 11). An optimised consequent-pole
toroidal-winding axial-flux PMVM is able to reach a PM usage
reduction of ∼66% as well as back EMF/torque boost of ∼20%,
compared to a regular SPMVM [50]. This is due to the reduced
leakage flux as well as interactions with the salient rotor structure.
Halbach array helps improve the torque capability of PMVM
[51]. One major benefit is the reduced rotor yoke thickness. It has
been shown that a topology without yoke iron can reduce the
Fig. 11 Consequent-pole design leakage flux albeit with a sacrifice of toque density [61].
The hybrid PM concept, which uses different PM materials in
an individual design, helps in reducing cost while meeting
performance requirements [62]. Moreover, the rotor MMF
harmonics can be reduced without complicated geometrical
shaping.

5 Evolution of topologies
To achieve performance improvements specially in terms of torque
density, power factor, or cost reduction, complicated magnetic
circuit designs have been proposed, resulting in a number of
PMVM topologies with compound structures.
An alternating flux barrier spoke-type VM using ferrite PMs
has been proposed [60, 63]. As shown in Fig. 12, the proposed
design having an alternating flux barrier below the rotor PMs
Fig. 12 Alternating flux barrier scheme results in three major rotor magnet flux paths linking with phase A
coil. A torque density improvement of 57% has been reported
of concentrated-winding PMVM with different slot/pole which can even surpass its counterpart with rare-earth PMs.
combinations [45]. Inherently, the rotor can be segregated as a spoke PM rotor and a
By adjusting the circumferential position of FMPs, the MMF salient-pole rotor, each with ten pole pairs.
harmonic spectrum can be regulated. Multi-working harmonics in a Axial flux pattern, spoke-array, and toroidal coil are adopted in
six-stator-slot/ten-rotor-pole VM with 12 non-uniform FMPs has a triple-rotor PMVM, enabling dramatic improvements in power
been achieved. By adjusting the pitch ratio of FMPs, a torque factor (0.96) as well as torque density (24.2 kNm/m3) [64]. This is
improvement of 20% has been reported in [46]. Fig. 9 provides a primarily attributable to an aggressive usage of PM materials.
sketch that illustrates the non-uniform distribution of FMPs. As a result of FMPs, PMVMs generally introduce a large slot
The influence of the FMP width on the radial magnetic force opening area. Inserting the Halbach PM array at the stator slot
spectrum has been analysed in a six-stator-slot/22-rotor-pole VM opening helps in enhancing the torque capability of the VM (see
with 24 FMPs [47]. The vibration analysis has also been carried Fig. 13).
out for both distributed-winding and FSCW PMVMs [48]. The

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 The DC coils between split stator teeth can also be replaced by
radially-magnetised PM or Halbach PM array with variable PM
arrangements [70–74]. Fig. 14 shows one of those arrangements
with the radially-magnetised PM inserted in split teeth. In [75], a
comparison of three different armature-side-PM arrangements in a
linear VM has been conducted, showing that the circumferential-
magnetised arrangements result in a torque improvement of 68%
compared to the basic model. The PMs can also be mounted on the
surface of the stator tooth (see Fig. 15) [76]. In this case, the salient
rotor poles are regarded as the FMPs. It should be noted that
Fig. 15 exactly represents a flux reversal machine. The relationship
between flux reversal machines and VMs is mentioned in [77].
A stator-PM, consequent-pole VM with DC-biased sinusoidal
Fig. 13 Stator-PM inserted in slot-opening
current has been reported [78, 79]. Fig. 16 shows that the PMs in
this type of machine are buried in the stator tooth pole while the
rotor is formed of robust salient ferromagnetic poles. Again, either
the stator teeth or the rotor poles can act as modulation poles. In
addition, dc-biased current injection helps in reducing PM usage as
well as increasing torque density for the same copper losses.
Either radial-flux or axial-flux dual-stator spoke-array PMVMs
have been proved to be a promising candidate for torque-density
improvements [55, 56, 80]. A key challenge is that heat generated
by the inner stator windings can hardly dissipate radially through
two air gaps. The inner stator windings can be removed while
salient poles are retained in the inner stator. The so-called ‘single-
winding, dual-stator, spoke-array VM’ shows slight reduction in
torque density as well as power factor [81, 82]. A similar structure
has been adopted in a linear PMVM with reshaped sinusoidal PMs
Fig. 14 Stator-PM inserted in split-tooth [83].
Some specific applications require high-torque as well as
adjustable-speed ability. One way to accomplish this goal is to
introduce the flux-variable concept, in which Alnico magnets are
adopted for multiple degree-of-freedom magnetisation [84].
Table 2 shows a comparison of different topologies in terms of
their torque density, maximum efficiency and power factor. Testing
results based on machine prototypes are preferred. Since the design
constraints vary from one design to another, the values included in
Table 2 provide a summary of the state-of-the-art PMVMs built
and tested in labs rather than an absolute comparison among
designs. It can be seen from Table 2 that while very high torque
density can be achieved compared to conventional PMSMs, the
maximum efficiency and power factor are much lower. This is
usually a classical trade-off in most machine topologies but might
Fig. 15 PM mounted on the tooth surface be more significant in PMVMs.

6 Design issues
6.1 Gear ratio
In a VM, the gear ratio is defined as the ratio of the number of
rotor pole pairs to that of the stator winding pole pairs, representing
the magnetic gearing effect. Gear ratio can be an important design
index for the choice of slot/pole combinations during the early
stages of the machine design [85].
Increasing gear ratio basically enhances torque capability.
While high-torque can be achieved with a high number of rotor
poles, this typical leads to higher leakage flux. So there is a
fundamental trade-off between increasing gear ratio/torque and
Fig. 16 Stator-PM inserted in the tooth power factor/leakage flux. Torque ripple of a PMVM is insensitive
to design parameters. During design optimisation, it has also been
This has been reported in both linear and rotary PMVMs [65– found that the split ratio as well as slot opening ratio increase as
67], in which the Halbach PM array helps in intensifying the main gear ratio or winding pole number increases [86].
flux path as well as reducing slot leakage flux while the Design optimisation for PMVMs is supposed to begin with gear
consequent-pole rotor introduces a doubly-salient structure. ratio analysis while a comprehensive optimisation should take into
Therefore, either the stator teeth or the rotor poles can be account stator winding pole number.
modulation poles. The back EMF and output torque are
dramatically increased compared to a regular PMVM with the 6.2 Design and optimisation
same geometry but SPM rotor. Due to the multipole configurations, VMs can suffer from severe
Another example is to add DC coils between the split stator tooth-tip flux leakage. In [87], an analytical modelling of tooth-tip
teeth [68]. As a result, adjustable hybrid field excitation is achieved flux leakage has been developed and verified with numerical
without sacrificing torque density. However, it turns out that this results. Then, a practical design procedure for leakage flux
topology suffers from severe temperature rise due to the DC coils reduction can be realised.
[69].

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Table 2 Summary and comparison of different machine topologies
Topologies Regular Dual rotor, Non- Double- Consequent Alternating Magnets in Triple- DC-biased
12-S/22-P toroidal uniform stator pole, toroidal flux barrier, stator slot rotor current
[27] coil, axial FMP spoke-PM, coil (Fig. 11) (Fig. 12) [63]a opening [66] axial-flux (Fig. 16)
flux [40] (Fig. 9) (Fig. 10) [50] (Fig. 13) spoke-PM [78]
[46] [53] [64]
torque density, 57b 31.9 20.5 66b 28.6 19.4 23.1 24.2 12.0
kNm/m3
maximum 85 90 76.7 85 85 — — 85 63
efficiency, %
power factor 0.6 0.57 0.6 0.83 0.76 0.62 0.89 0.93 0.53
aBased on finite element results, others: based on testing of prototypes.
bTorque per rotor stack value, others: torque per machine volume.

6.3 Feasibility for practical applications

Although PMVMs have many advantages over conventional
PMSMs, few practical applications can be seen in the industry at
the moment. The potential technical reasons are as follows,

(i) Loss of flux modulation effect: Since direct-drive machines

generally have a large size, the air gap length basically gets larger
with the increase of machine size. As a result, the flux modulation
effect, which is essential for the torque-producing capability of
VMs, can be significantly reduced. This prevents PMVMs from
being adopted in applications such as large direct-drive wind
Fig. 17 Assembly of a modular PMVM [88] turbines and turbines for wave energy extraction.
(ii) Complicated physical design for power factor improvements:
There are certain ways to address the low-power factor issues of
the VMs. However, most of those approaches result in either
complicated mechanical structure (e.g. dual stator design) or
material processing (e.g. super conducting materials), which is not
desired from a manufacturing point of view.
(iii) Other design issues: (i) Most of the PMVMs use SPMs which
is not good for protection against demagnetisation; (ii) reluctance
torque, which is commonly utilised for achieving wide CPSR
operation, cannot be taken advantage of in PMVMs.

Hopefully, those potential challenges can be addressed, and we

can see more adoption of PMVMs in commercial applications.

7 Power factor
Fig. 18 Phasor diagram of a PMVM (stator resistance is neglected for
simplicity) 7.1 Reasons for low-power factor
The low-power factor is one of the well-known issues for PMVMs.
Modular design is desired for easy fabrication, replacement, and
This issue was pointed out in one of the pioneer papers, in which a
integration with drive modules. In [88], a VM with modular
typical power factor for a VM can be as low as 0.4 [18]. The
armature cores has been proposed (Fig. 17). By having two
understanding of the power factor is usually based on the phasor
adjacent coils per phase, the stator has been segmented into six
diagram shown in Fig. 18.
modules, which enables fast manufacturing and replacement.
Here the power factor refers to the angle between E0 and US
Unlike conventional PM synchronous machines, PMVMs show
no or minimum reluctance torque even if they have a salient rotor instead of the angle between I and US. For a constant torque speed
structure. This is because the rotor saliency is filtered by the flux- range, these two angles are exactly the same when Id = 0. For
modulation effect. Furthermore, this type of machine shows a poor CPSR when field weakening is applied, the angle between I and US
power factor which requires high inverter capacity. Based on this, may be lower (power factor is higher). When Id = 0, the definition
there have been concerns regarding the CPSR capability of all of the power factor is given as follows:
types of magnetically geared machines. Thus, a hybrid field
excitation from both rotor PM and stator DC coils is commonly 1
used for better flux-weakening capability [89]. cos θver = , (3)
1 + LsI /ΨPM
In [90], the impact of the gear ratio and tooth width ratio on the
back EMF has been investigated. The optimisation results show where Ls is the synchronous inductance, I is the phase current, and
that VMs with a large gear ratio exhibit a remarkable feature of
ΨPM is the PM-generated flux linkage.
sinusoidal back EMF. Li et al. [91] present the optimisation of
stator tooth pole (both depth and width) for pursuing higher thrust The low-power factor feature of a PMVM can be mainly
force in a linear tubular VM. By adjusting the tooth pole shape, the explained by
maximum amplitude of a specific MMF harmonic component can
be realised. In [92], Latin hypercube sampling, Kriging method as (i) Poor utilisation of PMs and leakage flux: As can be seen from
well as the generic algorithm has been used for the optimal design Fig. 6c, for a typical PMVM, only half of the PMs contributes to
of a rotor-overhang axial PMVM. Thus, a refined design can be the synchronous rotor MMF while the other half produce leakage
obtained, aiming at a real application. components, which jointly results in high-winding inductance (Ls)
and low PM flux linkage (ΨPM) [53].

IET Electr. Power Appl., 2019, Vol. 13 Iss. 2, pp. 127-137 133
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2018
The stator teeth, which act as FMPs in a PMVM, feature wide slot The importance of advanced materials has been more recognised
opening, resulting in low Carter's coefficient (large equivalent air especially in the design of VMs as well as other members of the
gap length). In addition, rotor pole numbers are usually high. MGM family. An overview of the potential merits of advanced
Therefore, the flux leakage between two adjacent magnets is materials and manufacturing in machine design is given by El-
relatively high. Refaie [97]. It should be noted that cost and availability could
(ii) High-electrical frequency and high slot per pole per phase always be an issue for advanced materials.
number: Compared to a conventional PMSM, the increased number
of rotor PMs in a PMVM leads to high-electrical frequency, and 8.1 High-temperature superconductor (HTS)
therefore a much higher inductive reactance [49]. The relationship
of the power factor angle for PMVMs (θver) and PMSMs (θc) is To reduce the leakage flux in stator tooth, a design with high-
given as follows: temperature superconductor (yttrium barium copper oxide) bulks
inserted between modulation poles is reported [98–101]. The
1 1 inherent magnetic shielding effect of HTS materials results in a
cos θver = = , (4) significant power factor improvement from 0.4 to 0.6 in a double-
1 + pr / pske 2tan2θc 1 + 6q − 1/ke 2tan2θc stator spoke-type linear PMVM for wave energy extraction.
Besides, thrust force density is increased by 34% albeit with higher
where pr = ps (6q–1) (q is the slot per pole per phase number); ke is force ripple as well as joule losses. A similar investigation has been
the coefficient of voltage boost which represents the voltage boost conducted in a tubular PM linear VM.
capability of PMVMs over conventional PMSMs. The HTS material has also been used to build rotor field
winding as well as stator windings in VMs for megawatt direct-
Based on (4), it is clear that the power factor is significantly drive wind turbines [102]. Advantages include high efficiency,
reduced with a higher value of q. It is recommended to have q < 3 high-torque density, and low-short-circuit current. Another
in order to achieve a power factor >0.7. Obviously, this will limit example is to use the HTS DC winding in parallel-hybrid-excited
the maximum gear ratio that can be achieved. VMs. Since the DC winding is placed between two segmented
stators, this helps to reduced copper losses as well as heat
7.2 Approaches to improve power factor generated by the DC winding [103].

Promising design approaches to improve the power factor of 8.2 Dual-phase magnetic material
PMVMs are summarised as follows.
Generally speaking, magnetic gear and magnetically geared
(i) Halbach PM array: By eliminating ferromagnetic rotor back machines suffer from higher flux leakage as well as a low-power
iron while keeping pretty much the same PM flux, the factor. This is due to their compound structures with either flux
magnetisation inductance can be significantly reduced. In [93], a modulator poles or a variety of split teeth designs. Since a PMVM
power factor value of 0.73 is supported by FEA albeit with a is specifically designed for high-torque-density applications,
sacrifice of torque by ∼50%. interior PMs with flux concentration effects, such as spoke-type, V-
(ii) Dual stator (air gaps) with surface/spoke PMs: SPM machines shape and U-shape PMs are adopted. Like many of the
with the double stator, which can be regarded as a combination of a conventional IPM synchronous machines, PMVM design is subject
regular PMVM and an inside-out PMVM, can achieve a higher to a trade-off between mechanical strength and leakage flux
power factor. This is due to lower electric loading as well as low through rotor bridges.
slot rate permeance. In [54], a power factor value of 0.85 is Since the dual-phase magnetic materials can selectively
reported by FEA. introduce magnetic or non-magnetic regions within the lamination,
Having inner and outer stators offset by a half slot pitch relative to lowering leakage flux while maintaining good mechanical strength
the spoke PM rotor that helps in guiding the flux path and becomes possible [104, 105], this can be applied in the design of
achieving a high utilisation of magnets [26]. Testing results show modulation poles as well as spoke-type PMs which leads to
that a power factor of 0.83 can be achieved [53]. significantly-reduced leakage flux as well as compact design with
(iii) Additional dc field winding: An additional dc field winding has good mechanical strength.
been used in a paralleled-hybrid-excited linear PMVM for wave
power generation, which can compensate for the PM-generated 9 Reliability and fault tolerance
flux [42, 89]. As a result, back-EMF (E0) can be boosted without
Reliability is of great significance for efforts push to adopt VMs in
an increase of PM thickness. Claimed by the paper, the power commercial applications. The fault-tolerance-related knowledge
factor for generating and motoring modes can be improved from learned from conventional PM machines and drives can be
∼0.5 to ∼0.8. However, this design results in a sacrifice of machine transferred to the analysis and design of PMVMs.
efficiency (∼12%) due to copper losses in the dc field winding.
(iv) Selection of slot/pole combinations and winding arrangements: (i) Multi-phase PM VMs: Like many other electrical machines,
By purposely choosing slot/pole combinations as well as winding multi-phase windings have been introduced in PMVMs for safety-
arrangements, winding MMF harmonics can be reduced so that a critical applications [106, 107]. Thus, phase redundancy offers
lower inductance is achieved without affecting the fundamental opportunities for post-fault operation when failures occur in one or
component. FSCW with two coil pitches have been proposed for even more phases. In addition, alternate-tooth-wound FSCWs are
improving power factor [94]. Measurements on the 18-slot/14-pole adopted to improve the isolation features [108, 109]. Among all
and 18-slot/26-pole PMVM show that the power factor can be types of winding failures, winding short circuits (terminal short
improved to 0.91 and 0.92, respectively [94, 95]. The design circuit or inter-turn short circuit) is the most severe scenarios. A
principle is given in [96]. Again, it should be noted that a sacrifice current phase-angle control method has been developed as a post-
of torque capability is expected compared to a typical PMVM fault control strategy for a 20-stator-slot/62-rotor-pole/40-FMP
design. outer rotor PMVM with winding terminal short-circuit fault [110].
(ii) Sensorless/self-sensing: Eliminating mechanical rotor position
As a brief conclusion, all those approaches will result in either a sensors such as revolvers, encoders and Hall-effect sensors has
complicated mechanical structure (A#2) or degradation of machine become a general consideration to improve the overall system
performance, i.e. torque capability (A#1, A#4) or efficiency (A#3). reliability. Either back-EMF based or high-frequency-injection
Finally, offset the advantages of PMVMs to some extent. based sensorless/self-sensing control has been carried out for
PMVM drives. Since PMVMs generally have a low-winding pole
8 Advanced materials number, they can easily get saturated even with low-winding
current density. Therefore, nonlinearity caused by saturation and

134 IET Electr. Power Appl., 2019, Vol. 13 Iss. 2, pp. 127-137
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