Driving a Symmetric Permanent Magnet Synchronous Six-Phase Machine with Consecutive Three Phases

This paper investigates a driving method for a Permanent Magnet (PM) Synchronous six-phase machine by using its consecutive three phases. The torque of PM synchronous machine is the division of instantaneous power (I-power) of the machine to the rotor speed. The I-power of a machine gives information about the torque. The torque output of a PM synchronous machine can be predicted by looking at the I-power. This study investigates the torque of a PM synchronous six-phase machine by exciting its phase coils for the combination of conventional three-phase, double conventional three-phase, consecutive three phases of six-phase machine and double consecutive three phases of six-phase machine. This paper also investigates the way of driving a six-phase machine using the balanced three-phase supply. Firstly, analytical studies have been done for these exciting combinations. These analytical results indicate that symmetric six-phase machine can be driven using these combinations. Secondly, a PM synchronous six-phase machine has been designed in a finite element analysis (FEA) software. Lastly, that designed six-phase machine excited with these combinations to observe the torque wave form of the machine. As a result of this study, a symmetric six-phase machine can be run by its consecutive three phases without torque ripple.