Dynamically Reconfigurable Synchronous Motors and Generators

A system comprising:

• a motor having a plurality of phase windings located in a stator and a rotor magnetically coupled to the stator through an air gap, wherein:
• the plurality of phase windings is configured to generate a first magnetic field in the air gap;
• a group of permanent magnet poles and a group of wound poles are located in the rotor and configured to generate a second magnetic field in the air gap, wherein:
• a wound pole has a field winding around its body;
• and
• a d-axis magnetic barrier is placed in or around the body so a d-axis magnetic reluctance of the wound pole is approximately the same as that of one of the permanent magnet poles;
• a plurality of power inverters coupled to the plurality of phase windings and configured to control currents of the plurality of phase windings;
• and
• a field current regulator coupled to the group of wound poles and configured to control currents in the field windings.

A method comprising:

• magnetically coupling a stator to a rotor through an air gap;
• arranging the rotor to have a group of permanent magnet poles and a group of wound poles, wherein each wound pole has a field winding around its body;
• adding a d-axis magnetic barrier in a body of the wound pole to increase its d-axis magnetic reluctance so that a first magnetic field generated by the permanent magnet poles and the wound poles in the air gap has a similar spatial distribution around each of the permanent magnet poles to that around each of the wound poles in an operation mode;
• and
• placing a plurality of phase windings in the stator and configuring the phase windings to generate a second magnetic field in the air gap when currents flow through the phase windings, wherein the second magnetic field has a similar spatial distribution around one of the permanent magnet poles to that around one of the wound poles in the operation mode.