A Modular Permanent-Magnet Flux-Switching Linear Machine With Fault-Tolerant Capability

We propose a new topology for a permanent-magnet flux-switching (PMFS) linear machine. We describe its unique structure and compare it with the conventional PMFS linear machine. Finite-element analysis (FEA) shows that the proposed machine not only inherits advantages from the conventional PMFS machines, but also possesses many new merits such as more efficient usage of magnets, high fault tolerance, and easy assembly. These positive features make the proposed machine suitable for many applications. We prototyped both the conventional and proposed machines for verification and found good agreement between FEA and the experimental results.