Parasitic effects in PM machines with concentrated windings

PM machines using concentrated windings are gaining in popularity at the expense of distributed windings in various applications, mainly due to cost savings. The result is an increased amount of parasitic effects like ripple torque, alternating magnetic fields in the rotor, unbalanced radial forces and magnetic noise. This paper describes the reasons for the parasitic effects, which machine topologies that are especially sensitive and suggests measures in order to reduce their importance. Both traditional and modular concentrated windings are analyzed, as well as double layers and single layer windings. Measurements on a prototype motor and three commercial servomotors have demonstrated that modular motors are favorable regarding ripple torque minimization.