Performance improvement of a solid rotor line start permanent magnet motor by copper coating

This paper presents the design, transient finite element analysis, and prototyping of a line start permanent magnet motor in two cases: with solid rotor, and with a composite rotor. In the composite rotor, the solid rotor is coated with a thin layer of copper. The thickness of the thin layer of copper is about 0.05 mm. Results of finite element analysis show that with the composite rotor, both starting torque and synchronization capability are improved significantly in comparison with the solid rotor. To verify simulation results, two prototypes of line start permanent magnet motors have been fabricated and tested. The experimental results confirm the simulation results.