Winding Inductances of Brushless Machines with Surface-Mounted Magnets
Z.Q. Zhu and D. Howe
Depart.ent of Electronic and Electrical Engine@, University of Sheffield,
Mappin Street, Sheffield SI 3JD, UK
-
.ibstract 2-6 analytical models have been developed and
I ahdated for the calculation of the airgap and slot components of
t! e self- and mutual-winding inductances of brushless motors,
having either overlapping or non-overlapping stator windings and
curface-mounted permanent magnets. They can account for the
effcct of curvature and the large effective airgap, the slot openings
and aspect ratio, and the disposition of the coils. The models are
wed to investigate the effect of design parameters on the winding
inductances.
I. INTRODUCTION
The stator winding inductances can have a significant effect
on the dynamic performance characteristics of permanent
magnet brushless machines [11-[4]. For example, high
iiductances can cause the torque-speed curve to depart
sigmficantly from the ideal linear characteristic, which may
necessitate advancing the commutation in order to increase the
high-speed torque, whilst low inductances can result in
excessive ripple current in P W M controlled drive systems,
\vhichincreases the motor losses and torque ripple.
In blushless motors in which ;he magnets are mounted
adjacent to the airgap, the airgap conpnent of the inductances
may account for only a small portion of the total self- and
mutual-windinginductances,the slot component dominatingas
z consequence of the large effeciive airgap. However, in
r.w-hmes having non-overlapping stator windings, Fig.1, the
ccds are disposed asymmetrically in the slots. Therefore, it is
ite~:ssary to use 2-d models to calculatethe components of the
a indinginductancesinboththeslotandairgaphagnetregions.
Iii the paper, the developed 2-d models, which canaccount for
:UA~&UE and the large effective airgap, the slot opening and
aspect ratio, andthe dispositionof the coils, are described.They
are validated against both measurements and finite element
analyses,andused to investigatethe effect of designparameters
on the winding inductances.
11. AIRGAP COMPONENT OF INDUCTANCES
In the analytical calculationof the winding inductances, the
effect of s m t i o n is accounted for a saturation factor, while
separate 2-d analyses are used for the effective airgap (i.e.
airgap/ma%t), and slot regions. For the calculation of the
airgap components, a polar co-ordinate model is employed, in
which the winding mmfs are distrimted over the stator slot
openings. The airgap components of the self- and
mutual-winding inductances are given by:
LS = 2 PO ref w 2 / f @ qA) L ~ (1)
Ms = 2 yo leff W%pq) AMs (2)
where the permeance coefficients, ?a,
AH, can be derived as
(3)
0-7803-3946-0/97/S10.00 Q 1997 IEEE.
where po is the permeability of free space, p is the number of
pole-pairs, Zef is the effective axial length of the stator
hmination stack, q is the number of slots per pole per phase.
W is the number of series turns per phase, 8 is the ei;'ective
airgap length,zis the polepitch, Kip is the windmg faclor. and
Ksovis the slot-opening factor given by:
bo bo
Ksov = sinv- /v-
2Rs 2Rs
Clearly,ifthe slot-openingbo is very small,i.e. bo + 0, then
KSOV= 1. Fv(r) is a function dependent on the radius and
harmonic order, and is given by:
where Rs and& are the stator and rotorbore radii, respectively.
If the effective airgap 6 is small, FY ( r )=1. The 2-d mocel then
becomes a 1-d model, and the results will be identical to those
givenin [l],andare the sameforbothexternalandintemdrotor
motors since flux focusing is neglected and the field is
independent of the radius. However, because the effective
airgap of permanent magnet motors is relatively large, the
calculation of the winding inductances should, in genual, be
based on the 2-d analysis, in which the function Fv(r) accounts
for the influence of the effective airgap on the hamonic
components of the field produced by wkdings.
III. SLOT COMPONENT OF INDUCTANCES
The slot and end-winding components of inductance for
brushless machineswithoverlappingwindingscanbe e\ aluated
by the standard method which is employed for induction
machines [6]. However, in machines having non-overlapping
windings, two different phase windings are accommodated at
the sides of a slot, as shown in Fig.2. As a consequence, the
magnetic field distribution in the slot exhibits significant
asymmetry. However, a 2-d analysis has beendeveloped.which
accounts for the slot aspect ratio, the slot opening and the coil
widths. The slot Components of self- and mutual-indcaances.
Ls,Ms, can be derived as [7]:
LS =2 ~ Ief
0 W' / p ALS (7)
Ms = - 2yo leff w2/ p AMs (8)
where the permeance coefficients, Ab, AM, are given tg.:
8
--*bob
m
E (2) 4
cos, nx sin-sin-
nxd
b
nxbo
2b
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 m 2m . \ from the fact that in non-overlapping winding machines one
side of a phase 'a' coil is accommodated in the same slot as one
side of a phase 'b' coil, while the other side of a phase 'a' coil
is accommodated in a slot together with one side of a pkase 'c'
\
and J
coil. Thus, only half the flus produced by any one phase
r M 4 2 winding llnks with another phase winding. It is clear from
equations (9)-(12) that, in general, the ratio of the
mutual-inductance to the self- inductance will depend on the
slot dimensions, in particular, the slot aspect ratio. Indeed. it
L m should be noted that it is the existence of the tlxrd terms in
4
equations (11) and (12) that make the ratio of the mutual- to
-- 8
1...(i)
nn nxd . nxbo
dhbob "7sin-su'
b 2b self-inductances in non-overlapping winding machines differ
n=2,4,6 from 112.
IV. VALJDATIONS A I D XVESTIGATION

Validations have been made against measurements and finite

Thefirsttwo terms inequations (9) and (IO) accountforthe flux
which passes straight across the from tooth to tooth, the third
terms result from the asymmetry in the field as a consequence
of the coil width d being less thanb, the fourth terms result from
the interaction of the asymmetrical coil disposition and the
transition of the slot width from bo to b, while the fifth tenns
are due to the transition of the slot width alone.
When d = 0 . 3 , i.e. the slot is completely filled by two
identical phase windings, the slot permeance coefficients,
equations (9) and (lo), can be simplified as:
\ / \
and
In equations (11) and (12) it will be noted thatthe third terms
include the ratio of b/h which is attributedto the cross-slotflux
component of the asymmetrical field which passes from the
tooth tip to the bottom of the slot. Their comiution to the
resultant slot leakage components of inductancedepends on the
slotaspectratio. Thefactor 1/2 inequations(lO)and(12)arises
A C B A r B
element predictions for a range of brushless motors, with
overlapping and non-overlapping stator windings. Some of the
results are shown in Tables I and 11. The main parameters for
the 3-phase, 4-pole, 6/12-slot motor are Rs = 29.75 mm,
bo = 2.03 mm, ley= 20 mm, W = 300, and 6 = 5.51 mm o r
2.115 mm according to whether the rotor has femte or NdFeB
magnets, while those for the 3-phase7&-pole,9/18-slot motor
with ferrite magnets are Rs = 28.75 mm, bo = 2 mm.
lef= 200 mm, W = 222, and 6 = 8.1 mm. A comparison of the
measured and predicted self- and mutual-winding inductances
is given in Table I for the 4-po1e76/12-s1ot motor, and in Table
II for the 6-p01e, 9/18-slot motor. For comparison, results are
also included for both machines without a rotor. Figs.3 and 4
show field distributions when only one phase is excikd, and
highlights the 2-d nature of the field distribution in the
airgaphagnet and especially the slot regions.
The results given in Tables I and I1confirmthe high ac curacy
of the developed 2-d analytical models. It is noted that (i) the
ratio of the mutual to self-inductance, i.e. M/L, varies
sigmficantly with the motor design, while a I-d model always
predicts a constant ratio, viz. M/L=1/3 or 112 according to
whether the stator wlnding mmf distriiution is rectangular or
sinusoidal; (ii) the inductances do not always vary in proportion
to 1/6 as predicted from a 1-d model; (iii) unlike intxction
machines, which have a small effective airgap, the slot leakage
component of inductance in surface-mounted magnet machmes
can be comparable with the airgap component of inductance,
depe"g on the radial thickness of the magnets. Thus, it is
clear that the 1-d model is inappropriate.
In order to further highlight the effect of the slot aspect ratio,
the coil w i d a and the width of the slot opening, Figs.5 and 6
show thevariationof the slot component of self-inductance with
the coil width and slot opening, for a single coil in a slot for
whch b=30mm, h=lOmm, and b=12, h=20mm, respectively.
A g a b it demonstrates the need to use a 2-d model to calculate
the slot Component of inductance.
V. CONCLUSIONS

Due to the large effective airgap and asymmetnz field

Fig.2 Slot structure and winding distributim for brushless motor
with non-overlapping winding
&stxibution in the slots, 2-d models are required for predicting
the inductance components in the airgaplmagnet and slot
regions. Analytical models have been developed and validated
against both finite element analyses and measuremems on a
range of machines with various slot and pole number
combinations, winding topologies, and slot aspect ratios. It has
been shown thatthe slot leakage components of inductance are
comparable to the the airgap components, while the rati:, of the
mutual-inductance to the self-inductance may vary
signrfimtly, and depends on the motor design.

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 TABLE I
COMPARISON OF WINDING INDUCTANCES FOR +POLE MOTOR
Self-inductance (mH) Mutual-inductan~e(mH)
rotor stator
measured analytical finite element measured analytical finite element
Bonded NdFeB overlappingwinding (12 slots) 15.03 15.44 16.64 -4.56 -4.61 -5.12
rotor non-overlapping winding (6 slots) 17.0 16.1 15.87 -6.13 -6.58 -6.28
sintered ferrite overlappingwinding (12 slots) 9.4 8.64 10.24 -2.28 -2.1 -2.77
rotor non-overlapping winding (6 slots) 10.4 10.22 10.17 -3.44 -3.63 -3.9
overlappingwinding (12 slots) 7.3 6.32 7.94 -1.2 -1.07 -1.75
no rotor

TABLE I1
COMPARISON OF WINDING INDUCTANCES FOR &POLE MOTOR
Self-inductance (mH) Mutual-inductan~~
(mH)
rotor stator
measured analytical finite element measured analytical finite element
Sintered ferrite overlappingwinding (18 slots) 21.42 21.39 21.6 -208 -2.47 -2.18
rotor non-overlapping winding (9 slots) 21.63 22.6 20.88 -9.55 -9.98 -9.20
overlappingwinding (18 slots) 20.27 19.75 20.17 -1.81 -1.67 -1.73
no rotor

I -
(a) overlapping winding (b) non-overlapping winding (a) overlapping winding (b) non-overlapping winding
Fig.3 Magnetic field distributions when only one phase winding Fig.4 Magnetic field distributions when only one phase windng
is excited in epole, 6/12-slot motor is excited in &pole, 9/1%slot motor

,006 a . . . , - - - . I - ' . '

Q...

O'."". * " " " .w10

0 10 20 Jo 0 2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 12.5

Coil width, d (mm) Coil width, d (mm)

Fig5 Variation of slot self-inductance with coil width a d slot Fig6 Variation of slot self-inductmce with coil width and slot
opening for one coil in slot @ h=lOmm)
= " I , opening for one coil in slot (b=12mm, h=20")

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[3] N.A.Dermerdash, T.M.Hijazi and A.A.Arkadan, "Computation of
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[q M.LiwschitzCarik, and C.C.Whipple, A-C Machines, D.Van Nostrand
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[7l Z.Q.Zhu and D.Howe, "Magnetic field analysis and inductances of
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pp.2115-2118, 1995.

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