This paper presents a novel parametrization for the flux barrier profiles of synchronous reluctance and permanent magnet assisted reluctance machines. In literature there are several methods used to design rotor flux barriers of various types, however the vast majority use only a few parameters to characterize their shape. These approaches are proven to be effective in terms of simplicity and computational burden required to achieve an optimal design. However, simplified parametrizations certainly decrease the degrees of freedom when designing the whole barrier shape. In this paper, an attempt to increase the degrees of freedom, introducing a novel rotor flux barrier parametrization, is presented. The method proposed uses natural splines, defined by the positions of a set of control points, to form the shape of the flux barriers. The spline and state-of-the-art barrier profiles are compared from both electromagnetic and mechanical perspectives. The results of this investigation show that by increasing the degrees of freedom it is possible to obtain better performance characteristics. The proposed parametrization is applied to a 6-pole synchronous reluctance motor and its permanent magnet assisted variant, optimized for a traction application. A prototype has been manufactured and tested to experimentally validate the design methodology.
Synchronous reluctance (SynRel) machines are considered one of the promising and cost-effective solutions to many industrial and mobility applications. Nonetheless, achieving an optimal design is challenging due to the complex correlation between geometry and magnetic characteristics. In order to expand the limits formed by template-based geometries, this work approaches the problem by using topology optimization (TO) through the density method (DM). Optimization settings and their effects on results, both in terms of performance and computation time, are studied extensively by performing optimizations on the rotor of a benchmark SynRel machine. In addition, DM-based TO is applied to an existing rotor geometry to assess its use and performance as a design refinement tool. The findings are presented, highlighting several insights into how to apply TO to SynRel machine design and its limitations, boundaries for performance improvements and related computational cost.
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