Design considerations to maximize performance of an IPM motor for a wide flux-weakening region

Interior permanent magnet (IPM) synchronous machines result to be a valid motor topology in case of both high efficiency and high flux-weakening range. In industry applications the design of interior permanent magnet (IPM) synchronous machines requires to satisfy an increasingly number of limitations. For an IPM machine the key parameters that can be used for a performance maximization refer to many aspects: geometry, material property, cost, control strategy. According to the size and geometry limitations of an IPM motor for a very high flux-weakening speed range is required, the paper analyzes how to maximize the performance modifying the PM quantity. FE simulations, are firstly verified comparing the results with measurements on a prototype, and then they are used to evaluate the tradeoffs of the different cases.