Co-simulation of an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor with segmented rotor structure

Accurate simulation of electric drives has always been desirable, as it allows the machine designer a deeper insight into the whole design. It is known that a co-simulation of Finite-Element-Analysis, circuit and control simulation can give much more accurate results than conventional simulation approaches. The effects of rotor segmentation, however, cannot be accurately modeled in two dimensions. Through introduction of a multi-slice approach to the co-simulation motors with segmented rotor structures can be analyzed even with a two-dimensional Finite-Element-Method approach. This publication presents a co-simulation of a permanent magnet synchronous drive, also taking the rotor segmentation into consideration with a two-dimensional multi-slice approach. The comparison of the simulation results with test bench measurements shows a good correspondence. Accuracy improvements of the results of the multi-slice approach in comparison to an unsegmented rotor structure as well as simulations with fundamental wave models are obvious.