This course provides a comprehensive understanding of permanent magnet (PM) AC machines, covering fundamentals, major topologies, and advanced design techniques. Participants will learn key concepts such as field orientation, direct torque control, and flux weakening, as well as strategies for minimizing the impact of faults on drive performance. By reviewing current applications, trends, and real-world tools, this course prepares engineers to excel in PM machine design and implementation.

• Learn the principles and topologies of permanent magnet (PM) AC machines for high-efficiency applications.
• Master PM machine control methods, including field orientation, direct torque control, and flux weakening.
• Develop techniques to analyze and mitigate faults for fault-tolerant machine designs.

• Engineers involved in electric machine design and high-performance motion control systems.
• Professionals in renewable energy, vehicular propulsion, HVAC, and elevator or crane systems.
• Engineering managers and specialists aiming to optimize PM machine performance and reliability.

Applications and Technology Trends

• Review of PM machine applications
• Suitability for direct-drive applications
• High-power-density and high-efficiency applications
• Trends toward higher speed and higher power
• Trends toward higher motor-converter
  integration

Fundamentals of Synchronous Machines

• Equivalent circuit models
• d-q modeling for salient pole machine
• Magnetic circuit model
• Introduction to magnetic materials properties

Major PM Machine Topologies

• Features and comparative overview, attributes for selection
• Stator and rotor configurations, including radial and axial

PM Machine Design and Analysis, Tools, and Methods

• Electromagnetic
• Thermal and structural
• Parameter measurement
• Design for self-sensing

Drive System Issues for PM Motors and Generators

• Drive configurations and topologies
• Torque-speed characteristics

PM Drive Control

• Current regulators
• Vector control and direct torque control (DTC)
• Sensors, observers, and self-sensing control

Flux-Weakening Control

• Alternative control algorithms
• Interactions between machine design and control

Drive System Simulation

• Matlab/Simulink
• Rapid prototyping

Fault-Mode Operation

• Open-circuit and short-circuit faults
• Uncontrolled generator operation
• Demagnetization
• Fault-tolerant machine design

Ian Brown

Ian P. Brown received the B.S. degree in engineering from Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, in 1999, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 2003 and 2009, respectively. Since 2012, he has been with the Illinois Institute of Technology where he is currently an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. Previously he was with the Corporate Technology Center, A. O. Smith Corporation, Milwaukee, WI. His main research interests are high-performance electrical drives and the design of electric machines.

Thomas Jahns

Dr. Thomas M. Jahns received his bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees from MIT, all in electrical engineering.

Dr. Jahns joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1998 in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.  He served for 14 years as a Co-Director of the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium (WEMPEC), a world-renowned university/industry consortium in the electrical power engineering field.  Since 2021, he is the Grainger Emeritus Professor of Power Electronics and Electrical Machines.

Prior to coming to UW-Madison, Dr. Jahns worked at GE Corporate Research and Development (now GE Global Research) in Niskayuna, NY, for 15 years, where he pursued new power electronics and motor drive technology in a variety of research and management positions. His current research interests at UW-Madison include integrated motor drives and electrified propulsion for both land vehicles and aircraft.

Dr. Jahns is a Fellow of IEEE.  He received the 2005 IEEE Nikola Tesla Technical Field Award “for pioneering contributions to the design and application of AC permanent magnet machines”.  Dr. Jahns is a Past President of the IEEE Power Electronics Society.  He was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering in 2015 and received the IEEE Medal in Power Engineering in 2022.

James Swanke

James Swanke is an electrical machine designer with an extensive academic and professional background in electrical engineering. Graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.S. in 2014, a M.S. in 2019, and a PhD in 2023, James has developed a deep expertise in high-performance electrical machines. Prior to pursuing advanced degrees, he gained valuable experience working for Siemens specializing in the electromagnetic design of induction machines. During graduate studies, his research focused on the advancement of high-power density and fault-tolerant electrical machines for aerospace propulsion applications. Currently, James applies this extensive knowledge at H3X Technologies, where he continues to work on the development of cutting-edge permanent magnet machines.

Brent Gagas

Brent Gagas received his B.S. (2011) M.S. (2013) and PhD (2016) in Mechanical Engineering all from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was a Research Assistant in WEMPEC under Dr. Robert Lorenz, focusing his research on dynamic magnetization state manipulation and loss minimizing control of variable flux permanent magnet motors. Since graduating, Brent has worked at General Motors, currently as a Staff Systems Engineer, focusing motor and power electronic controls in automotive propulsion systems and has achieved 20 patents and the 2021 Boss Kettering award.