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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS 1

Brushless Operation of a Wound-Field Synchronous

Machine Using a Novel Winding Scheme
Muhammad Ayub 1, Asif Hussain 1, 2 , Ghulam Jawad 1, and Byung-Il Kwon 1

1 Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Hanyang University, Ansan 15588, South Korea
2 Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Management and Technology, Lahore 54400, Pakistan

This paper proposes a novel winding scheme to generate an additional sub-harmonic magneto-motive force (SH-MMF) component
for the brushless (BL) operation of a wound-field synchronous machine. The existing SH generation schemes for BL operation use
a dual inverter or a single inverter with asymmetrical winding and low slot fill factor in half of the stator. The proposed scheme
comprises a single inverter with symmetrical stator winding distribution and the same fill factor for all stator slots. The generated
additional SH-MMF component in the proposed scheme is induced in the harmonic winding wound on the machine rotor. A rotating
bridge rectifier mounted on the rotor periphery connects the rotor harmonic winding with the rotor field winding, and rectified dc
is supplied to the rotor field winding. The 2-D finite-element analysis (FEA) was carried out to analyze the principle, and the FEA
predictions were experimentally validated.
Index Terms— Brushless operation, sub-harmonic magnetomotive force (SH-MMF), winding scheme, wound-field synchronous
machine (WFSM).

I. I NTRODUCTION

T HE growing research and development in the field of

permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) have
significantly destabilized the prices of rare-earth permanent
magnets (PMs). Consequently, this situation has encour-
aged research toward alternative solutions without PMs and
hybrid excitation machines, such as wound-field synchronous
machines (WFSMs) and PM-assisted synchronous reluctance
machines.
In [1], a WFSM was analyzed and compared with a PMSM
for an electric vehicle (EV) application. It was found that a
WFSM could be a practical alternative to a PMSM for EV
applications. Generally, the following are the advantages of
WFSMs over PMSMs.
1) A rotor without PMs reduces the machine cost.
2) WFSMs have more degrees of freedom for machine
control (Id , Iq , and If ).
3) The machine has no PM losses.
4) The machine features improved safety through direct
field control during inverter fault conditions.
5) No de-magnetization problem in WFSM.
The disadvantages of WFSM versus PMSM include the
following.
1) Conventional WFSMs have an inherent problem associ-
ated with the rotor brushes and slip rings. In the long run,
the brushes usually wear out from the continuous oper-
ation of the machine, creating a maintenance problem.
2) The rotor has the excitation system loss.
3) The rotor has copper loss.
4) Additional field exciter increases the cost of the system.
To eliminate the disadvantages associated with a conven-
tional WFSM, several brushless (BL) topologies have been
proposed in [2]–[5]. The BL topologies replace the brushes,
slip rings, and exciter assembly in conventional WFSMs.
The power is transferred to the rotor field winding by an
Manuscript received November 10, 2018; revised December 27, 2018,
January 10, 2019, and January 11, 2019; accepted January 11, 2019.
Corresponding author: B.-I. Kwon (e-mail: bikwon@hanyang.ac.kr).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2019.2893883
0018-9464 © 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
Fig. 1. Brushless excitation.
additional harmonic (such as sub, third, and fifth) magneto-
motive force (MMF) component, as shown in Fig. 1.
In [2], a spatial third-harmonic MMF was generated with a
stator open winding scheme by means of two inverters; one
inverter was used to supply the fundamental current, and the
additional inverter was employed to inject the single-phase
third-harmonic current into the three-phase open-stator wind-
ing terminals. The disadvantage associated with this topology
is the utilization of two inverters, which increases the cost and
size of the overall system. In [3], two inverters were utilized to
supply different amplitude currents to two different sets of the
stator windings. The disadvantage of this topology is cost and
size because of the two inverters. In [4], a time-controllable
third-harmonic zero-sequence current was generated. Although
this topology using a single inverter, but six extra thyristor
switches were needed to generate time-harmonic currents.
The switching losses and high-torque ripple were the other
drawbacks. In [5], a BL topology was proposed to generate
an additional sub-harmonic magneto-motive force (SH-MMF)
component using a specially designed stator winding, where
the coils in a phase were divided into two sets, i.e., ABC
and XYZ. The number of turns in the XYZ coil set was kept
at half that of coil set ABC. Although a single inverter was
used, the topology had the drawback of asymmetrical windings
because of different number of turns in the stator slots, which
caused the slot fill factor of the machine to be low in half of
the stator slots.
This paper proposes a novel winding scheme for generating
an SH-MMF alongside the fundamental MMF component to
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2 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS

Fig. 2. Proposed machine. (a) Machine topology. (b) Machine winding layout. Fig. 4. Machine air-gap MMF harmonic component.

TABLE I
M ACHINE D ESIGN PARAMETERS

Fig. 3. Machine air-gap MMF at t = 0.

excite the rotor field winding of a WFSM. The proposed

winding scheme for BL operation was verified by the 2-D
finite-element analysis (FEA). A prototype was manufactured
and analyzed to validate the FEA predictions

II. P ROPOSED T OPOLOGY, W ORKING P RINCIPLE ,

AND M ACHINE C ONFIGURATION
A. Proposed Topology However, from 90° to 180° and 270° to 360° (mechanical
The proposed topology is shown in Fig. 2(a). Each phase of degrees), the winding coil groups 2 and 4 produce the lower
the stator winding is divided into four coils having the same peaks of MMF because half of the rated current flows in those
number of turns, i.e., for phase A: A1, A2, A3, and A4. The coil groups. The machine air-gap MMF shape clearly shows
A2 and A4 coils of phase A are connected in parallel, and a significant amount of SH-MMF alongside the fundamental
this parallel coil arrangement is connected further in series MMF component, by ignoring higher order MMF harmonics
with coils A1 and A3. An inverter supplies balanced three- because of their low peaks. The Fourier decomposition is
phase sinusoidal currents to the proposed stator winding. The given as
current divides between the parallel branches in each phase   
ϕ  3ϕ
and sums in the series coils according to Kirchhoff’s current
f (ϕ) = −1.544cos + 5.345sin(ϕ) + 0.87cos
law. The stator winding arrangement creates an additional 2 2
air-gap SH-MMF component. On the rotor side, the harmonic    
7ϕ 9ϕ
winding is wound to collect SH-MMF; the harmonic winding + 0.0063cos + 0.0085cos + 0.076
2 2
is connected to the rotor field winding through a rotary bridge    
rectifier. 11ϕ 13ϕ
× sin(5ϕ) + 0.0017cos − 0.015cos
2 2

B. Working Principle
+ 0.0005486sin(7ϕ) + · · · (1)
A three-phase balanced sinusoidal rated current is supplied
to the machine topology using a single inverter. Because
the number of turns for coil groups 1–4 is equal, the rated where ϕ is a spatial angle and the terms from left to right
current flows in coil group 1 and coil group 3, whereas half show the SH, fundamental, third harmonic of the SH, and
of the rated current flows in coil group 2 and coil group 4 fifth harmonic of the fundamental. The machine air-gap MMF
because of their parallel arrangement, according to Kirchhoff’s harmonic components are shown in Fig. 4.
current law. The machine winding layout is shown in Fig. 2(b),
where coils are shown with different colors. The proposed C. Machine Configuration
winding scheme and applied current create the MMF peak The machine design parameters for the layout of Fig. 2(b)
and shape in different regions of the machine air gap. The are listed in Table I, where an eight-pole and 48-slot WFSM
machine air-gap MMF for instant t = 0 is shown in Fig. 3. is considered; the rotor harmonic winding has four poles.
The stator slots with coil groups are also shown for better The machine design parameters are the same as those of a
understanding of the operating principle. The MMF pattern recently proposed BL topology [6] for impartial comparison.
shows that the regions from 0° to 90° and 180° to 270° The machine loadings, stator-coil current density, and slot fill
(mechanical degrees), having coil groups 1 and 3, respectively, factor were also not increased.
produce the high peak of MMF. The winding function and SH-MMF is collected by the consistent-pole harmonic
stator currents are at rated values in this region of the stator. winding mounted on the rotor. The induced voltage in the
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AYUB et al.: BRUSHLESS OPERATION OF A WFSM USING A NOVEL WINDING SCHEME
Fig. 5. Machine FEA. (a) Flux density distribution. (b) Flux lines distribution.
Fig. 6. Machine analysis. (a) Air-gap flux density. (b) Harmonic order.
rotor harmonic winding is rectified by the rotating rectifier,
and a dc is established in the rotor field winding.
III. E LECTROMAGNETIC A NALYSIS
The 2-D FEA was applied, and the electromagnetic per-
formance of the proposed topology was analyzed. Balanced
three-phase current at 4.5 A rms and 60 Hz frequency was
applied to the stator winding terminals by an inverter.
Fig. 5 shows the flux density and flux line distribution.
Fig. 5(a) shows that the flux density in the machine is higher
in the region where coil groups 1 and 3 are deployed, and
a relatively low flux density distribution can be seen around
the region where coil groups 2 and 4 are wound. Similarly,
in Fig. 5(b), the flux line distribution also verifies the principle
that shows low-flux line distribution in the region of coil
groups 2 and 4, whereas a high-flux line distribution can
be seen in the machine region where coil groups 1 and 3
are placed. The low- and high-flux densities and flux line
distributions are due to the low and high currents in the
respective coil groups. Fig. 6(a) shows the air-gap flux density
of a WFSM having the proposed winding scheme. The pattern
of the air-gap flux density verifies the MMF distribution
as shown in Fig. 3. A fast Fourier transform of the air-
gap flux density shows the harmonic spectra of the wave.
Fig. 6(b) shows a reasonable two-pole-pair SH component
alongside a strong four-pole-pair fundamental flux component.
There are some higher order harmonics, e.g., 10 and 12 pole
pairs, which are generated as expected for the pole pairs,
number of slots, and working frequencies. The two-pole-pair
SH component is induced in the two-pole pair of the rotor
harmonic winding. The induced current in the rotor harmonic
winding is rectified by a rotating rectifier, and a dc is fed
to the field winding. Fig. 7(a) shows the rotor harmonic and
field currents; a 10.29 A dc field current is established by the
BL operation. The four-pole-pair rotor field interacts with the
stator fundamental four-pole-pair MMF, and electromagnetic
torque is produced, as shown in Fig. 7(b). As the harmonic
current increases, the field current increases simultaneously.
Eventually, the torque increases during the transient period
3
Fig. 7. FEA analysis. (a) Rotor currents. (b) Electromagnetic torque.
TABLE II
FEA P ERFORMANCE C OMPARISON OF E XISTING AND P ROPOSED WFSM
Fig. 8. Manufactured prototype. (a) Stator. (b) Rotor.
gradually and reaches up to a rated value at steady state
after 150 ms. The torque in the steady-state region is 8.21 N·m
with a torque ripple of 20.75%.
The machine performance was compared with that of an
existing BL topology [6] that was recently proposed. The
machine design parameters for the proposed scheme were
kept the same as those of the referred existing topology
for fair comparison. Table II shows the FEA performance
comparison of the proposed BL-WFSM with the existing
BL-WFSM topology. The output torque and efficiency are
clearly superior for the proposed topology compared to the
exiting BL-WFSM. The torque ripple is slightly increased in
the proposed topology. The efficiency in Table II is calculated
by only machine copper and iron losses for fair comparison.
IV. E XPERIMENTAL A NALYSIS
A 1 hp prototype was manufactured to check and validate
the FEA analysis. The prototype BL-WFSM is shown in Fig. 8.
The eight-pole stator with 48 slots having four coil groups,
i.e., 1–4, is shown in Fig. 8(a). The rotor in Fig. 8(b) shows
the harmonic and field windings and a rotating bridge rectifier.
Fig. 9 shows the experimental setup, where the prototype
machine was coupled with a loaded machine and a lab-made
 This article has been accepted for inclusion in a future issue of this journal. Content is final as presented, with the exception of pagination.
4 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS
Fig. 9. Experimental setup.
Fig. 10. Experimental results: torque and phase currents.
TABLE III
C OMPARISON OF FEA AND E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS
inverter, oscilloscope, laptop, and a dc power supply. The
torque sensor was coupled with the prototype machine shaft
for torque measurement.
The machine current phase angle is properly applied once
the initial position of the rotor is identified. Because, in BL
motor topologies, the starting torque is not able to turn the
attached load, the machine is started by applying dc current
to the field winding initially. Once the machine achieves the
rated speed, the rotor dc supply is disconnected. Meanwhile,
the rotor harmonic winding collects SH-MMF, which further
creates the rotor field. Because we did not have any mechanism
to observe the induced currents in the rotor harmonic and field
winding, the output shaft torque confirmed the BL operation.
The output torque with applied current is shown in Fig. 10.
The current is shown for two phases because of a shortage
of resources, i.e., current probes. An unbalance is observed in
the phase currents which is less than 2.83% compare to the
average of peak-to-peak currents of all the three phases. The
prototype machine exhibited 8.05 N · m torque with a torque
ripple of 22.3%.
Table III shows the comparison between the FEA and
experimental results. It is shown that there is a slight deviation
in output torque, and torque ripple of approximately 1%–2%.
This deviation is mainly due to manufacturing tolerance. The
experimental result efficiency provided in Table III is calcu-
lated by considering machine copper, iron, and mechanical
losses.
Table IV shows the pros and cons among the conven-
tional brushed WFSM, existing BL-WFSM, and proposed
BL-WFSM. It is shown that the rotor field winding current
density is increased in the proposed BL-WFSM to 5.10 A/mm2
compared to 4.6 A/mm2 in the existing BL-WFSM. The
machine geometry is not fully utilized in the existing and
TABLE IV
P ROS AND C ONS B ETWEEN B RUSH , E XISTING BL, AND P ROPOSED BL
proposed BL-WFSM compared to the brushed WFSM. The
starting torque is 0 in both the BL-WFSM topologies. On the
other end, extra exciter utilization and low rotor robustness
due to the availability of brushes and slip rings are the cons
of the conventional brushed WFSM.
V. C ONCLUSION
This paper proposes a novel winding scheme for BL opera-
tion of WFSM. The proposed BL topology completely replaces
PMs. The results confirmed the viability of the proposed
topology. The proposed WFSM topology provides a more
robust structure because of the elimination of the brushes and
slip rings found in conventional WFSMs. Finally, the proposed
machine was compared with a recently reported machine.
The comparison showed superior results for the proposed BL
WFSM. Because the starting torque of BL WFSM topologies
is low, a starting torque option may be applied and analyzed in
the future for use of the proposed design in more challenging
automotive applications. Similarly, unbalance in the currents’
phases will be analyzed in the future study.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the Korea Institute of
Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) and the
Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of South
Korea (No. 20174030201780), and in part by the BK21PLUS
Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea
within the Ministry of Education.
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