Rotor loss in permanent-magnet brushless AC machines

The eddy-current loss in the permanent magnets of brushless AC machines is usually neglected, since the fundamental air-gap field usually rotates in synchronism with the rotor, and time harmonics in the current waveform and space harmonics in the winding distribution are generally small. However, an important category of brushless AC machine design is emerging in which the fundamental component of the stator MMF has fewer poles than the rotor, the torque being developed by a higher order MMF harmonic. The fundamental and lower order MMF harmonics can then give rise to significant rotor eddy currents. An analytical model is developed to predict rotor-induced eddy currents in such machines, and to quantify the effectiveness of circumferentially segmenting the permanent magnets in reducing the rotor loss.