IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 43, NO.

6, JUNE 2007

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A Study on the Optimal Design of SynRM for the High Torque and Power Factor
Ki-Chan Kim1 , Joon Seon Ahn1 , Sung Hong Won1 , Jung-Pyo Hong2 , and Ju Lee1
Energy Conversion Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Korea Department of Automotive Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Korea
This paper presents the optimal design method of synchronous reluctance motor (SynRM) for the high torque and power factor. It is difcult to design optimal barrier shape of rotor by analytical method because of leakage ux between barriers and saturation in the core. Therefore, the optimal design of SynRM including rotor structure is proposed in this paper by using nite element method (FEM) and simulation design of experiment (DOE). Finally, the characteristics of optimal model are compared with those of the worst one. Index TermsHigh torque and power factor, optimal design, simulation design of experiment (DOE), synchronous reluctance motor (SynRM).

I. INTRODUCTION HE synchronous reluctance motor (SynRM) has an advantages of low cost, high-speed capacity, and durability to temperature. Because the reluctance torque is the main operation source of SynRM, it is important to design the optimal rotor by using appropriate barriers which decide - and -axes magnetic ux paths. Analytical design method for the optimal barrier of SynRM has been researched, but it cannot consider the leakage ux between barriers and the saturation effect in the rotor core exactly; so, the analysis method by using nite element method (FEM) has been studied recently including rotor structure [1]. However, there are few papers on the design process for SynRM. In this paper, the design process including optimal rotor design for hightorque and high-power factor is proposed. The reluctance torque of SynRM is proportional to saliency of rotor which is related to difference between - and -axes inductances. Moreover, the power factor is also related to the salient ratio which means the ratio of -axis inductance to -axis inductance. In order to design the optimal barrier structure in the rotor, we analyze the -axis inductance and -axis inductance by FEM and perform the simulation design of experiment (DOE). After that, the stator winding is designed with the optimal rotor so that the design results satisfy the rated point. Finally, we compare the characteristics of optimal model with worst ones to verify the improvement in capacity. II. DESIGN PROCESS The application of the SynRM is the driving motor for electrical power steering (EPS) of a vehicle. Table I shows the design specication for EPS. It is necessary to design the dimension mm. within 90 Fig. 1 shows the owchart on the design process for SynRM considering optimal rotor design. First, we decide the air-gap to get the outer diameter and length of rotor. volume We calculate this from the ratio of rotor diameter to stator diameter (0.573) generally used in conventional induction motor. After that, we design the stator slot with initial dimension [2]. Next, we perform the simulation DOE by using 2-D FEM in

TABLE I SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE DESIGN MODEL

Fig. 1. Flowchart on an optimal design process of SynRM.

order to optimize the rotor shape including barriers. The stator winding should be designed to satisfy the rated specication with optimal rotor structure. Because we already decided the initial slot dimension, it is necessary to modify the slot dimension according to the current density of winding. Finally, if the SynRM cannot satisfy the target efciency or torque, we should change the length of stator and rotor and redesign the windings. III. OPTIMAL ROTOR DESIGN The reluctance torque and power factor are calculated by using -axis inductance and -axis inductance as follows [3]: (1) (2) In order to analyze which design variables affect the reluctance torque and power factor critically and design the optimal rotor structure, we perform the Taguchi design out of simulation

Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TMAG.2007.893302

0018-9464/$25.00 2007 IEEE

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 43, NO. 6, JUNE 2007

TABLE II SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE DESIGN MODEL

Fig. 4. Main effect analysis by Taguchi design. (a) Main effect plot for the difference between d- and q -axes inductance. (b) Main effect plot for the ratio of d-axis inductance to q -axis inductance.

Fig. 2. Design variables for rotor design by simulation DOE.

Fig. 5. Voltage, back emf, and current waveform at maximum torque angle (turns per slot: 44, input current: 10.5 A, speed: 1000 r/min).

Fig. 3. FEM analysis result for the calculation of L and L of SynRM.

and the segment thickness according to each layer have different inuence on the characteristic of torque and power factor. However, the effect is not signicant. IV. DESIGN OF STATOR WINDING Winding design is very important because characteristics of voltage as well as torque are varied according to the number of winding turns. In order to calculate the back emf by exact linkage ux according to turn number, we also use the FEM. The coil diameter due to different winding design is determined on a basis of limited slot ll factor40%. The voltage is calculated by current source FEA with load angle of maximum torque , and at rated speed as shown in Fig. 5. The voltage equation of SynRM is as follows: (5) is back emf at maximum torque operation, is the where give rated current, and is the end turn leakage inductance. We neglected because it is small compared with . Fig. 6 shows the vector plot of SynRM with regards to voltage equation. Finally, we can get the winding design corresponding to rated voltage level, and calculate the characteristics including efciency of SynRM. Table III shows the winding design results according to the number of conductors per slot. Here, parallel circuit is chosen as four for the use of thin coil. The SynRM for EPS by proposed design method is manufactured as shown in Fig. 7.

DOE [4], [5]. The object functions are the maximization of both and from (1) and (2). The design variables are composed of six factors with two levels and one factor with three levels. Table II shows the design variables and each level, respectively. The design variables are represented in Fig. 2. The -axis inductance and -axis inductance are calculated by FEM. As inputting the xed three-phase current at the maximum current point of A-phase, we rotate rotor constantly; so, we can get linkage ux of each phase winding. Fig. 3 shows the results of this analysis. Because the winding for rated voltage is not yet designed, we use arbitrary ampere turns satisfying the given ux density in the segment. We can calculate - and -axes inductance by using (3) (4) where is the root-mean-square (rms) input current for inductance calculation. Fig. 4 shows the main effect plots for torque and power factor according to the rotor design variables. The design variables of average ux density in segment, thickness of air-gap, and the ratio of barrier-to-segment thickness are main factors for the optimal design. The factors of rib thickness, position of barrier,

KIM et al.: A STUDY ON THE OPTIMAL DESIGN OF SYNRM FOR THE HIGH TORQUE AND POWER FACTOR

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Fig. 6. Vector plot for SynRM on maximum torque angle. Fig. 9. Comparison of rated torque between experiment and simulation. TABLE III CHARACTERISTICS OWING TO WINDING DESIGN TABLE IV SPECIFICATIONS BETWEEN OPTIMAL ROTOR AND WORST ROTOR

TABLE V COMPARISON RESULTS ACCORDING TO ROTOR STRUCTURE (44 TURNS)

VI. CONCLUSION This paper presents the optimal design method for SynRM with high-torque and -power factor by using of simulation DOE and FEM analysis. The characteristics with optimal rotor structure are compared with worst one in order to verify the validation of proposed design method. ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work was supported in part by the Korea Energy Management Corporation under the Energy Technology R&D Program. REFERENCES
Fig. 8. Comparison of the ux distribution at rated torque generation point. (a) Optimal rotor design. (b) Worst rotor design. [1] A. Vagati, A. Canova, M. Chiampi, M. Pastorelli, and M. Repetto, Design renement of synchronous reluctance motors through nite-element analysis, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 10941102, Jul./Aug. 2000. [2] C. G. Veinott, Theory and Design of Small Induction Motors. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959, pp. 373389. [3] T. Matsuo and T. A. Lipo, Rotor design optimization of synchronous reluctance machine, IEEE Trans. Energy Convers., vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 359365, Jun. 1994. [4] D. Liu and Y. Cai, Taguchi method for solving the economic dispatch problem with nonsmooth cost functions, IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 20062014, Nov. 2005. [5] J. H. Choi, S. Kim, Y. S. Kim, S. D. Lee, and J. Lee, Multi-objective optimization of the switched reluctance motor, KIEE Trans. EMECS, vol. 4B, no. 4, pp. 184189, 2004.

Fig. 7. Rotor plate, stator, and rotor of SynRM.

V. DISCUSSION In order to verify the characteristics owing to rotor structure, we compare the characteristics of optimal rotor model with those of the worst rotor model among Taguchi cases. Table IV represents the brief specication. Fig. 8 shows the magnetic ux distribution for the comparison of potential owing to rotor design. Table V shows the comparison results of SynRM according to two kinds of rotors. Finally, in order to verify the validity of design method by FEM, we compare the analysis results of torque with experimental one as shown in Fig. 9. We can see the FEM analysis gives good agreement with experimental one.

Manuscript received October 31, 2006; revised January 29, 2007 (e-mail: channykim@ihanyang.ac.kr).