Introduction to Permanent

Magnet Machines

Dr. Lakshmi Varaha Iyer, PhD

EV Powertrain Architecture
 Architecture and Types of
Permanent Magnet Machines
Sample 3 in 1 e-Drive – Magna – Permanent Magnet Machine
Inverter

PM Motor

Gear box

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Sample Nissan Leaf PM Machine - 2014

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Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine Configurations

[1] P. Niazi, H. A. Toliyat, D. H. Cheong, and J. C. Kim, “A Low-Cost and Efficient Permanent-Magnet-Assisted Synchronous Reluctance Motor Drive,” IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 43, no.2,
2017. [2] Infolytica Corporation. [3] K. T. Chau, “Electric Vehicles Machines and Drives”, IEEE Press, 2015. [4] C. H. T. Lee, J. L. Kirtley, and M. Angle “A Partitioned-Stator Flux-Switching Permanent-Magnet
Machine With Mechanical Flux Adjusters for Hybrid Electric Vehicles,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 2017.
Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine Parts
Summary of Features of Permanent Magnet Synchronous
Machines compared to other electric machines
• Advantages - By using high-energy PMs as the field excitation mechanism, a PM machines can
be potentially designed with high torque density, high power density, wide constant power speed
region, and high operation efficiency
• Speed - Frequency of stator fundamental voltages/currents dictates speed of motor:
Rotor Speed= Synchronous Speed=120 x Frequency /Poles
• Control - Armature windings are powered through a conventional power electronic inverter,
whose switches are switched in synchronism with the rotor position feedback
• Losses – Due to use of permanent magnets (PMs) in the rotor of PMSM, ideally there are no
rotor losses which means substantial increase in the efficiency
• Cost - Rare-earth magnets are much more expensive than other magnets and materials and
result in an increased motor cost
• Magnet demagnetization - Magnets can be demagnetized by large opposing magnetomotive
forces and high temperatures.

R. Krishnan, Permanent Magnet Synchronous and Brushless DC Motor Drives, CRC Press, 2010
Classification of PMSM based on PM shape
and position in the Rotor
• The three common arrangements of the rotors are surface mounted,
inset and interior or buried.
• The difference between surface mounted and inset magnets is that the
magnets in the latter are inside the rotor surface, but still exposed to the
air gap. The surface mounted and inset rotor PMSMs are often
collectively called the surface mount PMSMs.
• In the surface-mounted PMSM, the magnets are epoxy-glued or
wedge-fixed to the cylindrical rotor. Non-magnetic stainless steel or
carbon fiber sleeves are also used to contain the magnets.
• The manufacturing of this kind of rotor is simple, although the
mechanical strength of the rotor is only as good as that of the epoxy
glue.
• In the inset PMSM, the magnets are put into the rotor surface slots,
which make the magnet more secured.
Classification of PMSM based on PM shape
and position in the Rotor
• The third type of PMSM is the interior PMSM (IPMSM), so named
because the magnets are embedded inside the rotor.
• The manufacturing process is somewhat complex for the interior PMSM
since the magnets has to be inserted after the lamination stacking of the
rotor and then magnetized.
• However, the IPMSM has become the electric machine of choice for
electric and hybrid vehicle applications due to the high power density
and high efficiency offered by the design of these electric machines.
• The rotor structure is also robust since the magnets are buried inside
and does not have the disadvantage of chipping off such as in SPMSMs.
• For electric and hybrid vehicle applications, the motor size is relatively
large compared to the other smaller power applications of PM motors,
which amplifies the cost problem due to the high cost of rare-earth
magnet materials used in traction IPMSMs.
 Radial
Radial vs Axial Flux PM Machines Flux
PMSM
• Machines are constructed that have flux flow along
the axial direction of the shaft and they are known as
axial flux machines or pancake machines
• The stator iron is laminated in the radial direction and
resembles concentric rings that usually have a
constant slot width and tapered teeth because the
magnets are pie-shaped and its area of cross-section
facing the air gap grows along the radial direction.
• Such an arrangement of the slots and teeth makes
the radial flux density in the teeth constant.
• Unquestionably, the radial field machines are
superior in the simplicity of manufacture and
assembly and hence their overwhelming popularity
and presence in the market place.
Axial Flux
PMSM
Radial vs. Axial Flux PM Machines
• Dimensional advantage: Axial flux machine can produce high torque if the diameter is increased.
There is a striking advantage in reduced length of the axial flux machines in comparison to radial
flux design. This translates into reduced active volume, weight and core losses.
• Magnet weight and cost: An important consideration in design is to minimize the weight of the PMs
and performance with the advantage going to radial flux machines.
• Losses: There are no significant differences between the radial and regular axial flux machines in
terms of combined resistive and core losses versus output power
• Torque per unit inertia: This indicates acceleration capability of the machine and hence its
capability for speed of response to commands. In this case, the axial flux machines reign supreme
compared to radial flux machines.
• Given the same diameter, input currents and voltage limits, axial flux PM machines need higher volume of Magnet
and hence are found expensive compared to radial flux PM machine.
• Moreover, their maximum speeds are limited by higher diameters. High speed is a requirement for PM traction
motors to have an optimal powertrain system.
• Axial flux PM machines are used high performance vehicles (aerospace, aviation, marine, formula electric, as
direct drive motors.
 Operation of Permanent Magnet
Synchronous Machines (PMSM),
Windings, EMF and Flux Densities
Operation of PMSM
• PMSM has a stator with a set of three-phase sinusoidally
distributed copper windings similar to the windings.
• A balanced set of applied three-phase voltages forces a
balanced set of sinusoidal currents in the three-phase
stator windings, which in turn establishes the constant
amplitude rotating mmf in the air gap.
• The stator currents are regulated using rotor position
feedback so that the applied current frequency is always
in synchronism with the rotor.
• The permanent magnets in the rotor are appropriately
shaped and their magnetization directions are controlled
such that the rotor flux linkage created is sinusoidal.
• The electromagnetic torque is produced at the shaft by
the interaction of these two stator and rotor magnetic
fields.
MMF in a Coil
• Consider a stator with one turn of a coil, air gap, and rotor shown in
Figure to illustrate the concept of mmf of the winding.
• The magnetic flux produced by the coil has a distribution, resulting in a
north and a south pole.
• Instead of only one turn, if the coil has Tph turns, then the total mmf is
TphI (in units of amp-turns) where I is the current in the coil.
• The mmf versus rotor angle position can be drawn with the convention
that positive mmf is required to produce a north pole and a negative mmf
for the south pole.
• Only one half of the coil mmf is utilized to produce one pole.
• The mmf produced by a coil has a rectangular distribution with a
dominant fundamental component. But it is also rich in harmonics that
are significant in comparison to the fundamental component.
• The harmonics do not contribute to useful torque and, in addition,
produce only losses. Hence it is important to minimize the harmonics in
the stator mmf.
Distributed Winding
• The number of conductors in each slot
is the same and also the coil pitch is
constant for all coils.
• There are five slots per pole per phase
and its coils carry a positive current I
under one pole and negative current,
−I, in the adjacent pole.
• The mmf of coils in each connecting
pair of slots is drawn as a rectangle
with a magnitude of 0.5 TI, positive for
first 180 electrical degrees and negative
for next 180 electrical degrees.
• The resultant mmf of the phase coil is
derived from summing the individual
mmfs of the coils.
Distributed Winding
• The number of conductors in each slot
is the same and also the coil pitch is
constant for all coils.
• There are five slots per pole per phase
and its coils carry a positive current I
under one pole and negative current,
−I, in the adjacent pole.
• The mmf of coils in each connecting
pair of slots is drawn as a rectangle
with a magnitude of 0.5 TI, positive for
first 180 electrical degrees and negative
for next 180 electrical degrees.
• The advantages of this distributed winding are better utilization
• The resultant mmf of the phase coil is of the slot volume and a higher effective turns of the winding.
derived from summing the individual
mmfs of the coils. • It has the disadvantage of low copper utilization, resulting from
longer end turns and higher resistive loss.
Induced EMF
• As the coils in the stator experience a change of flux linkages caused by the moving magnets, there is
an induced emf in the windings.
• The waveform of the induced emf is very dependent on the waveform of the flux linkages. The flux
linkages are the product of the flux in the air gap and the number of turns associated with the flux
lines.
• The air gap flux is directly influenced by the rotor magnet flux density and the configuration of the
stator, air gap, and the rotor construction.
• If the rotational speed of the machine in electrical radian is ωr and the air gap flux is sinusoidal then it
can be expressed as

• Given the number of turns per phase is Tph, then the flux linkages are equal to the product Tphφ. The
induced emf is equal to the rate of flux linkages and it is derived as
Induced EMF
• The rms value of the induced emf is given by

where fr is the frequency of the emf or rotational frequency. A number of observations are made based on
this emf equation. They are given below:
• The emf is proportional to the product of the rotational frequency and air gap (or mutual flux assuming
that the entire air gap flux is linking the stator),as the number of turns is a constant.
• This equation also gives the basic concept behind the control of the machine.
• Assuming that the air gap flux is constant, it is seen that the emf is influenced only by the rotational
frequency of the synchronous machine.
• Therefore, the excitation frequency of the voltage directly controls the speed of the machine and
which also lends itself to very precise speed control as the excitation frequency in the stator can be
minutely regulated.
Induced EMF
• Beyond a certain speed known as base speed, an increase in stator frequency will entail voltage
demand exceeding the supply capability.
• During that operation, keeping the voltage constant an increasing the excitation frequency reduces the
air gap flux, thus allowing to go to higher speed over and above the base speed. This operation is
known as flux weakening..
• To obtain a sinusoidal voltage, it is important to have a sinusoidal distribution of flux in the air gap.
That is achieved with the rotor magnet pole shaping.
• If the air gap flux contains harmonic components, thus distorting the air gap flux from the fundamental
sinusoid, then the quality of the induced emf waveform is poor. Stator slots contribute to these
harmonics.
• It is assumed in the derivation that the number of turns per phase is Tph and in final expression it
needs to be modified to take into account for conductor distribution over a number of slots, for having
a coil pitch other than the pole pitch and for skewing the stator to mitigate some harmonics in air gap
mmf.
• It is incorporated by modifying the actual number of turns with effective turns with the help of a factor
known as winding factor.
Case Study - Induced EMF
• A 3-phase machine with one coil per phase and two rotor poles is
shown in Figure to illustrate the emf induction.
• The three-phase windings are spatially displaced by electrical
120° from each other.
• If the mutual flux, i.e., the air gap flux neglecting leakage flux, is
plotted for the current position, then it produces a maximum flux
linkage with the phase a winding.
• Assuming that the mutual flux is sinusoidal, the air gap flux
density, Bgs and mutual flux linkages for the three phases are
plotted.
• Note that the phase shift between the flux linkages is the same as
the winding phase shift. The induced emfs are obtained by taking
the derivatives of the mutual flux linkages and their illustrative
waveforms are shown in the Figure
• They are a set of three-phase balanced sinusoidal voltages and
correspond to the PMSMs.
Case Study – Open circuit Air-gap flux density
Interior PM machine Surface PM machine
Winding Distribution Factor
• To obtain a desired mmf distribution, such as a sinusoidal distribution, it has been seen that the
winding is spread or distributed over a number of slots
• Such a distribution of coils in various slots to obtain a single winding has direct consequences on
the induced emf as well as mmf.
• Consider a phase with three coils distributed over three slots under each north and south poles
and it is taken that they are connected in series.
• The slot pitch is the mechanical angle between two slots multiplied by pole pairs so as to
express the slot pitch in electrical degrees
• Consider a winding phase with three coils distributed over three slots under each north and
south poles and it is taken that they are connected in series.
• When voltages induced in two adjacent slot coils, which are two phasors with a phase shift of the
slot pitch are added to obtain their resultant voltage, note that it is less than algebraic sum of
their individual magnitudes.
Winding Distribution Factor
• Consider the slot pitch angle is γ in electrical degrees and the
induced emfs in the three coil sides with series connected coils
as E1, E2, and E3 and note that these voltages are equal in
magnitude.
• Note these emfs are phase-shifted from each other by the slot
pitch angle. Their resultant voltage is obtained by the phasor
summation shown in Figure.
• The resultant voltage is less than their arithmetic sum of coil
side voltages is obvious from the figure. Hence the need for a
attenuation factor.
• This attenuation factor is derived in general case with the coils
distributed in q-slots under one pole for a phase winding.
• Then the attenuation factor named as distribution or breadth where
q is the number of slots per pole per phase
factor can be derived as the ratio between the phasor sum and the product qγ represents the total breadth of the coil of a phase
under one pole in the illustrated case here, q = 3
the algebraic sum of the coil voltages:
Winding Distribution Factor
• The distribution of the windings
consequently carries over to the
harmonic components of the
mmf and induced emf and note
in that case, the distribution
angle becomes proportional to
the harmonic of the fundamental
frequency.
• Accordingly, the distribution • The lower the number of slots per pole per phase, higher is the
factor for the harmonic of order n harmonic distribution factor, resulting in very little harmonic
may be derived from the attenuations.
fundamental distribution factor as • For good sinusoidal mmf distribution and induced emf
generation, it is critical that slots per pole per phase is kept as
high as possible.
• There are other design limitations in achieving this for a given
machine dimension as well as other factors such as
manufacturing costs of the coil winding and its insertion.
Winding Pitch Factor
• If the coils are not separated by 180 electrical degrees but by ξ, which is the coil pitch, then the
voltage induced in the coil under south pole will be phase shifted by (180−ξ) and it is the angle by
which the coil is short chorded, i.e., by the amount its displacement is reduced from 180°.
• This is shown in Figure for a turn under north and south poles with a coil pitch shorter than the pole
pitch. The attenuation due to pitch factor is derived as

• The winding arrangement under discussion is known as

fractional pitch winding.
• Short chording is used to reduce or eliminate harmonics
in the induced emf and also to minimize the length of the
end turns required to connect the coils in series between
the north and south poles.
• Minimization of end turn length also reduces the amount
of copper and winding resistive losses.
Pole pitch: It is defined as number of armature slots per pole.
For example, if there are 36 conductors and 4 poles, then the
pole pitch is 36/4=9.
Winding Pitch Factor
• Elimination of a particular harmonic is achieved by choosing the coil pitch such that the pitch factor
for that harmonic is equal to zero.
• For example, consider a coil pitch of 120°, which may be expressed as 2/3 of the pole pitch or simply
as 2/3 coil pitch, eliminates all triplen harmonics such as 3, 6, 9, 12, …, etc.

Coil span or coil pitch: It is the distance

between the two sides of a coil measured in
terms of armature slots.
Skew Factor
• The stator windings are placed in slots that are skewed by half a slot
or a slot pitch over its axial length.
• To accommodate that, the stator laminations are stacked
progressively with a phase shift from each other by a small measure
so that the angle between the first lamination’s slot and its
corresponding slot in the last lamination along the axial direction is the
desired skew angle, θsk shown in Figure.
• The winding is skewed so that certain harmonics in the induced emf
are eliminated and for mostly the mitigation of cogging torque that is
generated in the machine due to the effects of slotting. In that process,
it also reduces the resultant fundamental voltage and other
harmonics.
• If the length of the coil side is divided into very small segments, then
the voltages induced in these segments are displaced from each by a
small phase shift corresponding to skew angle divided by the number
of segments.
Winding Factor
• Distribution, pitch, and skew factors reduce the
available voltage in a phase winding.
• The effects due to skew, pitch, and distribution
factors are combined into a single variable
termed winding factor and that is given by:
• Equivalently, the effective number of turns in
the phase winding can be thought of as
attenuated by the winding factor and then that
effective turns are substituted in the emf
equation. Therefore, the induced emf for actual
Tph turns per phase is given by:
Case Study: Design Toyota Prius Motor
• Pole = 8
• Slot = 48
• N of slot per pole = 48/8 = 6
• No slots occupied by each phase = 6/3 = 2
• Slot/pole/phase = 48/(3*8) = 2
• Mech. angle occupied by each pole = 360/8 =45 deg
• Mech angle occupied by each slot = 45/6 =7.5 deg
• Electrical angle occupies by one slot = Mechanical angle * pole pair =
7.5 * 4 = 30 deg
• Full pitch coil = 6*30 deg = 180 deg elec
• No of slots between two sides of coil in slots A- and A+ = 5
• Coil Span = 5 (150 deg elec = short pitch coil)
• Elec. Angle between A+ and A- = 5*30 = 150 deg (chorded)
Case Study: Design Toyota Prius Motor

• Number of turns/coil = 9
• Number of coils/phase = 8
• Number of tuns/phase (Tph) = 9*8 = 72
• Total number of conductors = 2*no of
phase*coil/phase*turns/coils = 2*3*9*8 =
432
• No of conductors/slot = 9
• Number of layers/slot = 1
• Current density = Current (A) /Area of
copper (mm2)
• Slot fill factor = Copper Area/Slot Area ~
60%
Case Study: Steps in Winding a Stator

Varnishing step is missing !

Case Studies – Airgap Magnetic Field
3-phase, 2Pole Sinusoidal 3-phase, 8 pole Sinusoidal windings 3-phase, 4 pole Sinusoidal windings
stator with 24, 48 and 72 Slots stator with 12, 24, 36 and 48 Slots

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Rotating Magnetic Field
• A rotating magnetic field is produced in a machine with • It is from the direction of the
balanced polyphase winding when it is injected with a currents in the coils of the phases
balanced polyphase current. and the flux distribution that both
the magnetic axis as well as the
• A balanced three-phase winding has equal number of
direction of the mmf are derived.
turns in each phase and has a spatial displacement of
120° electrical between successive phase windings. Let
these phase currents also be balanced in that they
have equal peaks, Im, have an angular frequency ωs
and shifted in phase from each other by electrical 120°.
Then these stator currents are written as
Rotating Magnetic Field
• The resultant stator mmf is given by the sum of the individual phase mmfs. Prior to that the individual
phase mmfs are decomposed into forward and backward rotating components as

• When these phase mmfs are summed up to obtain the resultant mmf of the machine, the backward
rotating components add to zero and the sum of the forward rotating components result in

• The resultant stator mmf has a constant magnitude but varies cosinusoidally. It is maximum when the
stator position and angular position of the current phasor coincides. This satisfies a necessary
condition for electromagnetic torque generation.
Graphical illustration of the revolving magnetic field in a
three-phase machine
• The phase sequence is abc for the current phasors and the direction of rotation of the current phasors
is in the clockwise direction as defined in the equations for currents. Because of the resultant mmf’s
rotation at a speed equal to the angular frequency of the input currents, the fi eld is termed as revolving
or rotating magnetic field in literature.
Effect of Magnet on Induced EMF
• The magnet’s thickness, its arc or width and its operating flux density are the variables that play a
crucial role in the determination of the air gap flux density and in the induced emf.
• Consider the magnet has an arc of 2β in the machine. Its fl ux density will have a constant magnitude
of Bm over 2β in the positive half cycle and −Bm over 2β in the negative half cycle as shown in Figure
1.58 for a surface mount magnet rotor. Its fundamental, which is a sinusoid will have a peak, Bm1,
obtained by using Fourier analysis as

• The peak-induced emf is given by

Effect of Magnet on Induced EMF
• where m1 is the peak fundamental flux in the machine

• where D is the bore or inner diameter of the stator lamination and L is the effective length of the stator
laminations assembled in a stack.
• Substituting for peak fl ux density in terms of the magnet flux density in the flux equation and then
using that in the induced emf equation gives
 Back EMF test - Strength of PM and Back EMF (Voltage)

Induced
voltage
across three
phases
Prime mover – Induction motor PM machine open-circuit
3 Nm torque on shaft at 910 rpm (no current) 8 pole machine

2k w1T ph K f Bav DLst

E pk = mr m =
P
Tph – effective turns per phase of copper wire in the stator
D – stator bore diameter
Lst – stack length
Kw1 – fundamental winding factor,
Kf – ratio between the amplitude of the fundamental wave and the average value (under lone pole-
pitch) of the air-gap flux density (Bav); this can be approximated with 4/pi for IPM and pi/2 for SPM.
P – Number of poles

D. M. Ionel, J. F. Eastham, T. J. E. Miller and E. Demeter, “Design Considerations for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors for Flux- weakening
Applications,” IEEE Proc. Electric Power Applications Pt. B, vol. 145, pp. 435–440, 1998.
Losses
Core Losses
• Only stator core losses are being dealt in the treatment.
• The rotor core losses are not taken up for the simple reason that ideally there are no flux reversals in
the back iron and therefore no significant losses can occur in it and in the small teeth section of the
interstice between the magnets facing the air gap.
• But such is not the case in high-speed applications for it not only has core losses but also has pole
face losses due to current harmonics injected in the stator windings, which get reflected on the
magnets.
• Usually for low-speed machines with low pole numbers, it is not unusual to ignore them for the initial
design or sizing.
• Then it is incorporated during fine-tuning of the final design either by analytical or finite element
techniques.
• The core losses in the machine have two components, i.e., hysteresis and eddy current losses. The
core losses occur due to time variations in flux density experienced in the core.
Core Losses
• The hysteresis loss is the result of the inherent B–H material characteristics and is proportional to the
product of frequency and flux density with the flux density raised to a power n, generally termed as
Steinmetz constant.
• When the lamination cores experience a change in the flux density because of a change in the flux and
hence flux linkages.
• Note that the flux is equal to the product of the flux density and the area of the cross- section of the
core. As the flux linkage changes with time, the cores have an emf induced in them. The induced emf
generates a current in the core depending on the resistance of the core, resulting in losses that are
termed the eddy current losses.
• To evaluate the eddy current losses, it is important to find the emf induced in the core and hence
necessary to calculate flux densities in the various parts of the core.
• The eddy current losses are then proportional to the square of the induced emf and hence proportional
to square of the product of frequency and flux density. Then the eddy current loss is
Core Losses
• which then can be written as

• where
• ke is the loss proportionality constant that accounts for volume to weight conversion and all other
particular constants associated with magnetic materials
• B is the peak fl ux density and fundamental angular frequency of applied voltage is ωs
• Based on Equation 1.130, the steel manufacturers provide eddy current loss per unit weight, say in
W/kg, versus peak fl ux density for various frequencies.
• From these manufacturer’s graphs and data, the eddy current loss proportionality constant can be
computed for a given fl ux density and frequency.
Core Losses
• Hysteresis loss arises from energy lost in core material in its B–H loop for each cycle of operation and
therefore it is directly dependent on operating frequency.
• But the area enclosed in the core material’s B–H loop from fundamentals is known to be energy loss
density per unit volume and it is proportional to the operating fl ux density as well as to frequency.
• Then the hysteresis loss, in general, can be represented in Watts per unit weight, say, W/kg, in line with
the manufacturer’s data sheets, as

• kh is hysteresis loss density proportionality constant; n is known as Steinmetz constant

• The value of n ranges from 1.5 to 2.5 and is dependent on peak operating fl ux density and material
characteristics.
• The total core loss/unit weight (which is core loss density) is the sum of the eddy current and hysteresis
loss components
Core Loss Measurement in the Machine
• The test machine requires an auxiliary motor to drive it in this
method.
• The no load loss of the auxiliary motor is measured by running it
alone and its input power is measured for each speed. Its copper
losses are evaluated separately.
• Then the test machine is coupled to the auxiliary motor and driven
on no load with its stator windings open circuited.
• Measuring the torque output of the auxiliary motor and multiplying
with the rotor speed gives the test machine’s core, friction, and
windage losses.
• If the torque transducer is not available, then the input power to the
auxiliary motor is measured and the no load losses excluding the no
load copper losses of the auxiliary motor is subtracted from it and
then its own present copper losses are subtracted to obtain the sum
total of the core, frictional, and windage losses of the test machine.
Core Loss Measurement in the Machine
• To separate the core losses from the frictional and windage losses
of the test machine, the test machine’s rotor is replaced with an
identical test machine rotor but without the magnets on it and filled
preferably with equivalent nonmagnetic material of same weight in
the place of magnets and driven by the auxiliary motor repeating the
measurements.
• The measured power output of the auxiliary motor gives the
frictional and windage losses of the test machine.
DC Test – Stator Resistance
• DC test is used to measure the stator resistance Rs/phase of the stator winding
• Apply DC voltage across one of the 3 Phases and Neutral terminal of the machine when the rotor
is stationary
• Measure the current flowing to the phase wire via an ammeter connected in series with the phase
wire
• Measure the voltage applied across one of the 3 Phases and Neutral terminal of the machine
• If you know the voltage and current, you can calculate Rs by the formula V=IR
• If you have access to only phase terminals and not the neutral terminal of the machine, then apply
the voltage across two phase terminals and measure current and voltage. Now V=IR and divide the
resistance calculated by two Rs/2 to calculate one phase stator resistance
• Use of DC voltage ensures reactance/inductance is zero during the measurement process
Cogging Torque
Cogging Torque
• An electromagnetic torque exists in PM machines even when there
is no excitation of the stator windings.
• This arises due to the interaction between the rotor PM fi eld and
the stator teeth.
• As the rotor magnet is approaching or leaving a tooth, the field
around it is changing, resulting in a change of coenergy in the air
space between the magnet and tooth. The change in coenergy
results in a net torque.
• This torque is sometimes referred to as detent or cogging torque in
the literature.
• The cogging torque may also be thought of as a reluctance torque
due to the reluctance variation presented by the tooth and slot to
the magnet current source.
• The cogging torque is alternating and almost symmetric about its
angular axis.
Cogging Torque
• Improper design of the machines results in cogging torque that may be as high as 25% of the rated
torque.
• But in many commercially available machines, it has a nominal value of 5%–10% of the rated torque.
• A number of high-performance applications necessitate cogging torque not to exceed 1% or 2% of the
rated torque.
• Therefore, methods of analysis and computation of the cogging torque and an understanding arising
out of such analysis are required to design optimally machines meeting the specifications.
Cogging Torque
• For the case under consideration, assume that the stator windings
are not excited and rotor is fitted with two magnets with their
magnetization as shown.
• Counterclockwise direction of rotation is considered here for
illustrating the generation of cogging torque. When the rotor is in
reference position at 0°, it may be surmised that the force and
hence the torque on the rotor is zero. It is known as a detent
position.
• It is known as unstable detent position because the rotor cannot
stay in this position because of its attraction to a minimum
reluctance position.
• Such a minimum reluctance position corresponds to rotor magnets
in alignment with the stator teeth at rotor positions of 90° and 270°.
• This attraction force between the magnets and the teeth has a
component that produces circumferential force, resulting in a
torque.
Cogging Torque
• It is rising nonlinearly from a reference position and reaches a
maximum not at 45° but closer toward the stator teeth and
becomes zero at 90° where the rotor reaches a stable detent
position, as shown in.
• It is stable in the sense that rotor can stay in this position
indefinitely provided there is no significant external load applied
on the rotor. When disturbed around the stable detent position,
the rotor tends to align with stator teeth so as to be in a
minimum reluctance position.
• To move the rotor beyond 90°, force has to be exerted. Hence it
corresponds to a negative torque generation by convention and
it is shown in the second half cycle.
• Note that the cogging cycle has achieved a full cycle in 180°,
i.e., half the revolution for the machine with two stator teeth and
two PMs. The cogging torque cycles per revolution Nco is two
for this machine.
Cogging Torque

• Higher cogging cycles are preferred since

cogging torque magnitude decreases with
increasing cogging frequencies.
• Note that the concentrically wound machine (say
S = 12, P = 10) has almost the same cogging
cycles as the machine (S = 36, P =8) with finely
distributed windings.
• Factors affecting Cogging Torque:
• Magnet strength
• Slot width
• Manufacturing irregularities
• Manufacturing impact on materials
Cogging Torque – Mitigation Methods

• Skewing of the stator laminations or rotor magnets,

The disadvantages of skewing are (a) that it reduces the
fundamental-induced emf as seen earlier, hence
reduces output power, which in turn reduces the output
torque, (b) increases leakage inductance and stray
losses, and (c) increases the manufacturing complexity
by increasing the number of operations involved in the
fabrication of the stator.
• Varying slot width,
• varying magnet width,
• shifting alternate pair of poles,
• notching of teeth
• A. Krings and C. Monissen, "Review and Trends in Electric Traction Motors for Battery Electric and Hybrid Vehicles," 2020 International Conference on Electrical
Machines (ICEM), Gothenburg, Sweden, 2020, pp. 1807-1813, doi: 10.1109/ICEM49940.2020.9270946.
• H. Dhulipati, S. Mukundan, K. L. V. Iyer and N. C. Kar, "Skewing of stator windings for reduction of spatial harmonics in concentrated wound PMSM," 2017 IEEE
30th Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE), Windsor, ON, Canada, 2017, pp. 1-4, doi: 10.1109/CCECE.2017.7946834.
Skewing and Segmentation

• Skewing reduces cogging torque

• Magnet segmentation reduces
magnet loss
Permanent Magnets
Permanent Magnets
• The magnetic flux density in the magnets can be considered
to have two components.
• One is intrinsic and, therefore, due to the material
characteristic depends on the permanent alignment of the
crystal domains in an applied field during magnetization. It is
referred to as the intrinsic flux density characteristic of the
PMs.
• The flux density component, known as intrinsic flux density,
Bi, saturates at some magnetic field intensities and does not
increase with the applied magnetic field intensity.
• The other component of the flux density in the magnet is a Flux density (Tesla) in the
very small component due to the magnetic fi eld intensity in magnet material is given by:
the coil in vacuum, Bh.
• In all magnetic materials, this component is very small
compared to the intrinsic flux density Bi
Permanent Magnets
• The excitation component Bh is directly proportional to
magnetic field intensity, H, and given by:

• The magnetic flux density in the second quadrant is a

straight line and it can be represented in general as

• where μrm is the relative permeability of the magnet. It

is seen that at H = 0, the intrinsic and normal induction
flux densities pass through the point known as
remanent flux density, Br.
Demagnetization Characteristics
• The materials that retained magnetism are known as hard magnet
materials.
• The ability to retain permanent magnetism is found in cobalt, iron,
and nickel, and they are referred to as ferromagnetic materials.
• Various materials such as alnico-5, ferrites (ceramics), samarium-
cobalt, and neodymium boron iron are available as PMs for use
in machines.
• The most popular ones in practice are samarium cobalt and
neodymium-type magnets.
• The generic B–H demagnetization characteristics of these materials
are shown in Figure for second quadrant only
• Second quadrant is considered here because the magnets need not have an external excitation once
they are magnetized and any magnetic field strength that may be applied through coils in an
electromagnetic device is by design usually intended to reduce its flux density. Therefore, the
operation of the machine and the magnets lies in the demagnetization domain.
Demagnetization Characteristics
• Alnico-5 has the highest remanent flux density but has a
nonlinear characteristic.
• The flux density at zero excitation is known as remanent
flux density, Br (referred to as remanence also in some
texts) shown in Figure for a generic hard PM.
• The low-grade magnet has a curve, usually termed as
knee at low flux density and around this point, it sharply
dives down to zero flux density and reaches the
magnetic fi eld strength of HcI known as coercivity. The
magnetic fi eld strength at the knee point is Hk.
• If the external excitation acting against the magnet flux
density is removed, then it recovers magnetism along a
line parallel to the original B–H characteristic.
Demagnetization Characteristics
• In that process, it reaches a new remanent flux
density, Brr, considerably lower than the original
remanent flux density.
• The magnet has irretrievably lost a value equal to
(Br − Brr) in its remanent flux density.
• Even though the recoil line is shown as a straight
line, it usually is a loop and the average of the
looping flux densities is represented by the straight
line.
• In the case of a high-grade magnet, the B–H
characteristic is a straight line and its coercivity is • The slope of this line is equal to μ0μrm as
indicated by Hch. derived from the relationship between the flux
density and magnetic field intensity and where
• The line along which the magnet can be
μrm is relative recoil permeability for the high-
demagnetized and restored to magnetism is known
grade magnets.
as recoil line.
Datasheet of Typical NdFeB Magnet
Operating Point and Air Gap Line
• The flux crosses from the north pole of the rotor where
magnet to stator through an air gap and then • Hm and Hg are magnetic fi eld intensities or
closes the flux path from stator to rotor south strengths in magnet and air,
pole, via air gap. • respectively
• ℓm and ℓg are the length of the magnet and
• In the process, the flux crosses two times the air gap, respectively
magnet length and two times the air gap, as
shown in Figure.
• The mmf provided by magnets is equal to the
mmf received by the air gap if the mmf
requirement of stator and rotor iron is
considered negligible.
• Then
(Eq.1.6)
Operating Point and Air Gap Line
• The operating flux density on the • Neglecting leakage flux leads to:
demagnetization characteristic can be written
No leakage flux (Eq.1.10)
assuming that it is a straight line as:

(Eq.1.7) • Substituting Equation 1.10 into Equation

1.9, the operating magnet flux density is
derived as
• The air gap flux density in terms of its magnetic No load
operating point
field density is: (Eq.1.11)

(Eq.1.8)

• Substituting for Hm from Equation 1.6 into • This clearly indicates that the operating flux
Equation 1.7 and then substituting for Hg in terms density is always less than the remanent flux
of Bg from Equation 1.8 gives: density because of the air gap excitation
requirement
(Eq.1.9)
Case study
• What happens if air gap flux density needs to be equal • There will be leakage fluxes between the
to remanent flux density of the magnet? magnets in the air gap without linking the
stator part of the machine and it will be
• In eqn 1.11, thickness of the magnet has to be much
significant when the gap between adjacent
higher than the product of the air gap length and
magnets is smaller compared to the
relative permeability of the magnet.
thickness of the magnets.
• Approximating the relative permeability of a high-
• Therefore, the practical ratio encountered
grade magnet to be 1, the thickness of the magnet has
between the thickness of the magnet and air
to be much larger than air gap length to equal the air
gap length is from 1 to 20.
gap flux density to magnet’s remanent flux density.
• The lower this ratio is, the volume of the
• This will result in a large magnet, which is not feasible
magnet and cost will be lower and so also
in a practical machine from viewpoints of cost and
the power output and power density of the
compactness of the rotor and hence the machine
machine.
overall.
Increasing the ratio does not lead to proportional benefits due to factors such as leakage fluxes
and increasing volume and weight of the rotor, resulting in lower power density of the machine.
Load Line and Permeance Coefficient
• If the stator is electrically excited to produce
demagnetization, then the load line moves toward
the left and parallel to the load line as shown in
the figure. The operating flux density is further • The variations in the remanent flux density
reduced from Bm. due to temperature changes as well as the
impact of the applied magnetic field
• Note that the permeance coefficient is derived for
intensity (armature reaction), are clearly
an operating point defined by Bm and Hm as
seen from this formulation of μc.
• As demagnetizing field is introduced by
• where Hm is the magnet field intensity due to external operating conditions, it is seen that
stator current excitation in the machine. the permeance coefficient will decrease as
the external permeability also decreases for
• The permeance coefficient is then derived as
that operating point.
• In hard PMs, the external permeability is in
the order of 1–10 in the nominal operating
region.
Case Study – Permeance Coefficient
• Consider an example with a high-grade PM having a remanent flux density of 1.2 T and corresponding
coercivity of −9 × 106 A/m.
• Let the air gap line produce, say, a flux density of 0.8 T.
• To find the permeance coefficient, the relative permeability of the magnet has to be evaluated, which is
obtained from:

• For operating flux density of 1 T, the permeance coefficient is 5.32. As the operating flux density is
lowered to zero, the permeance coefficient goes to zero and for higher flux densities, the permeance
coefficient increases, and for realistic operating points up to 1.1 T (that is, nearly 92% of remanent flux
density), it stays within a value of 10.
• For high-grade PMs, the permeance coefficient is in the range of 1–10 and hence it may be used as an
indicator of the magnet’s operating flux density.
Demagnetization of Permanent Magnets

Voltage from Back EMF test on

IPMSM at 250C and 750C
winding temperature
250C 750C

Br = -0.12 % / deg C
Hc = -0.65 % / deg C

Br and Hc change as a
function of temperature.
Energy Density of Magnets
• The energy density of the magnet is found by taking the product of its magnetic field strength and
operating flux density.
• The peak energy operating point is optimal from the point of view of magnet utilization. Higher values
preferred for high-power density machines.
• The maximum energy density, Emax, for a hard high-grade PM shown in Figure 1.5 is derived as
follows:
• The energy density, Em, in terms of the product of magnet flux density, Bm, and its field intensity,
Hm, is found and then taking its derivative with respect to fi eld intensity and equating it to zero gives
the condition that leads to maximum energy density. The steps to fi nd maximum energy density are

(Eq.1.16) (Eq.1.17) (Eq.1.18)

• Substituting Equation 1.18 into Equation 1.16, the

maximum energy density is derived as:
Energy Density of Magnets
• Substituting Equation 1.18 into the expression for
magnet flux density inserted in Equation 1.16, the
flux density at which the maximum energy density
available is found to be at half the remanent flux
density, 0.5Br.
• The operating line for this flux density is shown in the
figure giving the required magnetic field strength.
• Note that this operating point for maximum energy
density requires a considerable amount of
demagnetizing field strength from the stator excitation
of the machine.
• Moreover, it is not practical to maintain this operating
point in a variable speed machine drive as the stator
currents will be varying widely over the entire torque
speed region
Case Study - Alnico
• For a low-grade PM such as alnico, the magnet flux
density and energy density characteristics are shown
in Figure.
• The flux density corresponding to maximum energy
density is higher than half the remanent flux density
in contrast to the high-grade PM characteristics.
• The maximum energy density is around one-tenth of
the high-grade magnet’s energy density is to be
observed.
• Therefore, for high performance applications
requiring small motor weight and volume, these
magnets are not preferred for use in electromagnetic
devices.
Magnet Volume
• The volume of magnet embedded in the • Using Equation 1.6 and substituting for Hg in
rotor determines cost of the PM electrical terms of Bg
machine, particularly in the case of the high-
power density magnet machines.
• It is critical in all applications to minimize the
volume of the magnets among other things
to minimize the cost of the machine as well
as to have a smaller and lighter rotor.
• The magnet volume is found in terms of
operating energy density and air gap
Vg is the air gap volume, Em is the magnet operating energy density, Am and
volume as follows. Ag are the magnet and air gap area

• From this relationship, it is inferred that the maximum operating energy density point of the
magnet will yield the magnet with minimum volume and hence minimum cost.
• This is a simplified relationship since the leakage flux between the magnets is ignored and even
then the result is not far off from reality for preliminary design calculation.
Effect of External Magnetic Field Intensity
• PMSMs experience a magnetic field due to the excitation
of its armature windings in the stator in addition to the fi
eld due to PMs on the rotor.
• The external excitation (due to the winding excitation) is
always intended for weakening the flux in the air gap.
Therefore, the flux due to external excitation is directed in
the opposite direction to that of the PM rotor flux.
• During design phase of the electrical machine, the PM flux
alone is set to provide the operating point near the knee
point in the B–H (or equivalently flux versus current)
characteristics of the lamination materials.
• It is not usual to cumulatively compound the fluxes as it
would strengthen the air gap flux and hence will result in
the saturation of the stator core laminations and
consequently in higher core losses.
Effect of External Magnetic Field Intensity
• The coil has Tph turns and carries a current of I. Assume that the
external current is zero and hence only the fi eld due to the PM
exists.
• That would circulate a flux in the core in the anticlockwise direction
as the magnet polarity is defined to be from left to right.
• If the winding is excited with a current, then the flux produced by it
will traverse the core in the same direction as that of the PM flux.
That would increase the flux in the core and in the air gap as
• the two fluxes due to the winding excitation and PM field are
additive.
• If the current direction in the winding is opposite to that shown in
figure, then the PM flux will be opposed by the external fi eld due
to the winding flux, resulting in the net reduction of the flux in the
core and air gap.
Determination of Load Flux Density in the Magnet
• Let the magnet operating flux density is given by
(Eq.1.26)

• MMF of the external source must be equal to that of the MMF

requirement of the air gap and magnet. The mmf around the flux
path then is written as:
(Eq.1.27) (Eq.1.28)

• But the magnetic field intensity in the air gap is related to the air
gap flux density as
(Eq.1.29)

• The useful flux, which is in the air gap, is always a fraction of the magnet flux, which is expressed in
terms of the constant of proportionality,1/k, also known as leakage factor:
(Eq.1.30)
Determination of Load Flux Density in the Magnet
• But the air gap and magnet flux in terms of the flux densities and areas of cross section are
(Eq.1.31)

• where the area of cross-section of the air gap and magnet are given as Ag and Am, respectively.
• Thus defining the flux density of the air gap in terms of the magnet flux density by combining the
equations from Equation 1.27 to Equation 1.31 and substituting in the magnet flux density equation of
the magnet (Equation 1.26), the following is obtained:

(Eq.1.32)
Numerical Problem – Pg. 20 (Need to check)

R. Krishnan, Permanent Magnet Synchronous and Brushless DC Motor Drives, CRC Press, 2010
Arrangement of PMs
• Ring form of PMs is the easiest to install as they can be slid on top
of the steel laminated rotor and held in place by suitable means.
• Then they can be magnetized in any desired direction. The
disadvantage of the ring magnets is that they are expensive
compared to individual magnets.
• Each pole may consist of several individual magnet segments
instead of one piece.
• In some cases, a single magnet per pole is not suitable for large
flux weakening range of operation. It is found that the flux
weakening capability is enhanced with multi-segment magnet per
pole structures.
• They can also be stacked one on top of another with equal or
varying widths to yield a desired flux distribution such as a
sinusoidal or trapezoidal distribution in the air gap of the PM
synchronous and brushless dc machines, respectively.
Shapes of Magnets
• The radial (a), (b) and breadloaf (c) types of magnets are ideal for surface mount-type of PMSMs.
• The air gap in the case of the radial magnets on the rotor surface is uniform, assuming that it is not
partially embedded in the rotor lamination with the result that the air gap flux density is uniform.
• Radial magnets can come with their end surfaces being radial or parallel and accordingly they are
referred to as surface radial (a) and surface parallel (b) magnets and they are shown in Fig. on the right.
• The air gap for the breadloaf magnet is nonuniform and hence the air gap flux density also being
nonuniform. That allows for shaping the flux density in the air gap, which can be other than rectangular
and constant over the magnet arc.
Magnetization of PMs
• The magnetization orientation strongly influences the
quality of the air gap flux density distribution and
indirectly affects the power density in a given
arrangement of the machine with PMs.
• The air gap flux density distribution influences in turn
the harmonic torque generation in the machine and the
presence of the harmonic torques corrodes the quality
of torque output in the machine, particularly in the case
of high-performance motor drives.
• Radial (a) and parallel (b) magnetization are prevalent
in practice.
• The normal direction to the surface is indicated by
vector n and the magnetization vector by M.
• The radial magnetization is along the radius while the
parallel magnetization is parallel to the edges as in the
case of surface parallel magnets.
Magnetization of PMs

• The radially magnetized magnets produce a rectangular

flux density distribution in the air gap

• The parallel magnetized magnets produce a sinusoidal

air gap flux density distribution.
Reference Books
• R. Krishnan, Permanent Magnet Synchronous and Brushless DC Motor Drives, CRC Press, 2010
• Electric and Hybrid Vehicles, Design Fundamentals, Third Edition by Iqbal Husain
• Thesis and papers published by Dr. Lakshmi Varaha Iyer and Dr. Narayan Kar
• Other papers from IEEE
• Ansys application notes