Modeling of synchronous reluctance motors aided by permanent magnets with asymmetric rotor poles

The design of Synchronous Reluctance motors with asymmetric flux barriers has been recently used to reduce torque ripple. Finite element models are necessary tool to find the right place and dimensions of the flux barriers as well as to predict the torque harmonics. However, it is time consuming to analyze the model since periodicity and symmetry conditions cannot be used to reduce the model to a single pole. Therefore, in this paper an analytical model is presented to rapidly and accurately study the effect of such asymmetry of rotor poles on the torque ripple. The proposed approach is validated against a finite element model.