Power distribution within an electric machine

A wound field rotor synchronous machine, comprising:

• a stator defining multiple stator poles with associated stator windings;
• a rotor defining multiple rotor poles, the rotor configured to rotate synchronously with the stator, the rotor comprising rotor windings associated with each of the rotor poles, the rotor windings configured to be energized by a magnetic field produced by the stator windings, wherein the energized rotor windings produce a rotor field;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• energize the stator windings with a stator current having a magnitude and a phase angle measured relative to a closest one of the rotor poles;
• and
• achieve a target operational output of the wound field rotor synchronous machine by:
• determining a rotor performance that achieves the target operational output of the wound field rotor synchronous machine;
• adjusting a first one of the phase angle of the stator current or the magnitude of the stator current to achieve the target operational output of the wound field rotor synchronous machine;
• receiving a signal indicative of a current operational output of the wound field rotor synchronous machine;
• comparing the current operational output of the wound field rotor synchronous machine to the target operational output of the wound field rotor synchronous machine;
• and
• adjusting a second one of the phase angle of the stator current or the magnitude of the stator current to achieve the target operational output of the wound field rotor synchronous machine.