Design, Analysis and Application of Magnetless Doubly Salient Machines

This thesis investigates the key characteristics of magnetless doubly salient machines, evaluates their design philosophies, and proposes new topologies for various applications. It discusses the background of and previous research on magnetless machines, while also outlining upcoming trends and potential future developments.

The thesis begins by presenting various torque-improving structures – namely the multi-tooth structure, the double-rotor (DR) structure, the axial-field (AF) structure, and the flux-reversal (FR) structure – for magnetless machines. It subsequently addresses the idea of merging the design philosophies of two different machines to form new dual-mode machines. Thanks to a reconfigured winding arrangement and controllable DC-field excitation, the proposed machines can further extend their operating range to meet the extreme demands of applications in electric vehicles and wind power generation. Lastly, the thesis employs the finite element method (FEM) tothoroughly analyze the proposed machines’ key performance parameters and develops experimental setups to verify the proposed concepts.

For internal use only:
Education
Oct 2016‒present Postdoctoral Fellow with Croucher Fellowship
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA
Topic: Design of high-performance motors for emerging applications
Supervisor: Prof. James Kirtley
Jun 2011‒Jul 2016 Ph.D. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering
The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
Thesis: Design, Analysis and Application of Magnetless Doubly Salient Machines
Supervisors: Prof. C. C. Chan, and Prof. K. T. Chau
Sep 2005‒Jun 2009 Bachelor of Engineering with First Class Honor
The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Major in Electrical Engineering, Minor in Business
Feb 2007‒Jun 2007 University Exchange Student
The University of Melbourne Melbourne, Australia
Research Interest
Electric Machines and Drives
Magnetless machine, Axial-flux machine, Hybrid excitation machine, Dual-mode
machine, Superconducting machine, Magnetic gear, Fault-tolerant control
Renewable Energy Systems
Wind power generation, Wave power generation, Solar power generation, Smart
grid and renewable energy integration
Electromechanical Propulsion Technologies
Electric and hybrid vehicle, Electric and more electric aircraft, Electric ship
Honor

Aug 2017‒present Guest Associate Editor
IEEE Transaction on Energy Conversion Piscataway, NJ
Title: Emerging Electric Machines and Drives for Smart Energy Conversion
Promote the paper session to the specialists
Invite reviewers to review the submitted papers
Manage the logistic issues of the paper session
Jul 2017 Li Ka Shing Prize (The Best Ph.D. Thesis Award) The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
A highly competitive award to recognize the academic merits
Awarded to the best Ph.D. graduate of the year
Nominated as the outstanding theses for publishing in the Springer Theses
Oct 2016‒Oct 2018 Croucher Fellowship for Postdoctoral Research
Croucher Foundation Hong Kong
A prestigious award to support the brilliant researchers to pursue scientific research at postdoctoral level in the world-class institution
Over USD120,000 are offered as maintenance and research allowances
Mar 2015 Invited Speaker of Professional Short Course
The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) ‒ Electrical Division Hong Kong
Title: Overview of modern electric vehicle technologies
Delivered the latest knowledge to the academia and industry professionals
Prepared the lecture notes and quiz materials
Jun 2014 Best Project Award of Sichuan-Hong Kong Academic Interflow The Conference of Sichuan-Hong Kong Academic Interflow Sichuan, China
Awarded by The University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
An award offered to commend the Sichuan Reconstruction Project
Oct 2012 Best Oral Presentation Award of Special Session
The Conference of IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IECON) Montreal, Canada Awarded by offered by IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IECON 2012)
An prestigious award offered to the best representative of the special session
Jan 2012‒Sep 2016 Founding President
IEEE‒Eta Kappa Nu, HKU chapter (1st chapter outside the US region) Hong Kong
Assisted to launch the well-known honor society
Raised the student’s research awareness
Supervised and managed the academic-related activities