Polyphase machine fed by a pulse-controlled a.c. converter

Claim 1

An arrangement comprising: a polyphase machine having a divisible number of phase windings m, where m≧4, and a number of slots q; switchable couplings arranged between at least two of the phase windings which switchably couple the phase windings in series; a main voltage supply having one positive and one negative terminal; a first and second series of half-bridges, each of said half-bridges coupled between the positive and negative terminals of said main voltage supply, each of said phase windings being coupled between one of said first series and one of said second series of half-bridges, wherein each of said first series of half-bridges are coupled between one of said phase windings and one of said switchable couplings; an a.c. converter coupled to the phase windings and the half-bridges of the machine, the converter having a current controller which adjusts the torque of the machine by changing a current waveform to be rectangular or sinusoidal in dependence on the torque of the machine such that the maximum value of the current in each half-cycle corresponds to a permissible load capacity of the a.c. converter, and further having a coupling controller coupled to the switchable couplings which controls the switchable couplings in dependence on the rotational speed of the machine, whereby the number of phase windings m is effectively divided into m* effective phase windings and the number of slots q is multiplied into q* slots, with the product of m·q equal to the product of m*·q* and is constant, said coupling controller further being coupled to said half-bridges which controls said half-bridges by blocking said first half-bridges in dependence on the rotational speed of the machine.