Magnetic Equivalent Circuit Simulations of Electrical Machines for Design Purposes

New developments in power electronics technology, materials, and changing application requirements are driving advances in electric machines. But limitations of standard motor design, particularly induction machine design, limit performance capabilities in drive applications. Computer-aided design tools are not available to overcome these limitations. This paper presents a magnetic equivalent circuit modeling approach geared towards design. Magnetic equivalent circuits are flexible in terms of size and accuracy, have moderate computational complexity, are easily parameterized, and can be extended readily to three-dimensional analysis. Comparisons with results from finite element models and measurements indicate that magnetic equivalent circuits, corrected for local saturation, are a promising option for a design tool.