Semi-analytical framework for synchronous reluctance motor analysis including finite soft-magnetic material permeability

Due to the increasing demand for high-efficiency electric motors and the maturity of vector-controlled motor drives, the Synchronous Reluctance Motor (SynRM) has received an increasing amount of attention over the past few years. Classically, SynRMs are analysed using analytical models which require little computation time and provide the designer with significant insight into the behavior of the machine, which can be very helpful in making initial design choices. For accurate analysis of the motor performance, however, numerical methods such as Finite Element Analysis are often used, although this significantly increases the computation time per design iteration. To limit the number of FEA simulations, a systematic design procedure for SynRMs, based on a combination of analytical models and FEA simulations, was proposed by Moghaddam et al. As an alternative to FEA, Harmonic Modeling Technique (HMT) can be used to obtain an accurate prediction of the magnetic field distribution inside an electric motor. In this paper, a frame-work is proposed for the analysis of SynRMs, based on the HMT method. The model is implemented for the benchmark topology and validated against FEA predictions. It is shown that the results are in relatively good agreement.