Advancing Structural Optimization of an Electric Motor Rotor through Mesh Morphing Techniques

Abstract

The electric motor has been one of the most important inventions of the last two centuries and has become increasingly important in the last 10 years thanks to its efficiency and its ability to reduce pollution. Given this increasing importance of electrical motors, an interest in design and optimization approaches for motor components is arising. Given the different physics involved in the transformation from electrical to mechanical energy, a valuable and reliable approach has to be applied in the optimization process. In past years, Mesh Morphing based on Radial Basis Functions (RBF) has largely proved its validity in generating shape modification for Finite Element Method (FEM) models. In this work, authors will demonstrate the advantages in applying two opposite approaches for shape optimization using RBF Mesh Morphing applied to electrical motors rotors. These components need to be accurately designed in order to guarantee an adequate life duration by reducing stresses in the rotating components. The two approaches that will be described are the parameter based one, in which a set of design parameters will be varied to generate shape modification used to feed a meta-model that will be used to identify an optimal configuration, and a parameter-less approach, in which the shape modification will be driven by FEM analysis results, with the aim to reduce stress hot-spots.