Investigation of Different Rotor Configurations of a Hybrid-PM Variable Flux Machine

Permanent Magnet (PM) machines with rare-earth magnets have been widely used in electric vehicle applications in contemporary times. However, there are many challenges associated with the utilization of PM in these machines. The Variable Flux Machines (VFMs) have the potential to overcome or mitigate some of these challenges. This paper investigates a hybrid-PM VFM with various rotor configurations. The hybrid-PM VFM will be examined twice using two different Low-Coercive Forced (LCF) PMs in each time. A comparison between the different configurations will be conducted before and after the optimization process. The main goal is to explore the behavior of the LCF PMs in each topology and their impact on the VFM.