Prediction of Torque Pulsations in Brushless Permanent-Magnet Motors Using Improved Analytical Technique

Torque pulsations have prominent effects on the performance of brushless permanent- magnet (PM) machines. There are different sources of torque ripples in PM motors. These torque pulsations depend on the shape of the flux density distribution in the airgap region. For predicting the open-circuit airgap field distribution in brushless PM motors, a two dimensional (2-D) analytical method, in which the direction of magnetization, either radial or parallel and the effect of the stator slot-openings are taken into account, is used. The method uses an improved 2-D permeance model. In order to evaluate the accuracy of this method, a 2-D time-stepping FEM coupled with the two motion equations is used. A 3-phase, 36-slot, 4-pole, 5 HP, brushless PM motor is modeled by two methods. In this analysis both, the radial and parallel magnetization of the brushless motor are considered. The results obtained by the analytical method are compared with those obtained by FE analysis that shows the valuable accuracy of the analytical method for performance calculations in design and optimization processes.