Fractional-Slot Permanent Magnet Brushless Machines with Low Space Harmonic Contents

The paper is concerned with new winding configurations and associated pole-slot combinations for permanent magnet (PM) machines that lead to improved performance and facilitate cost reduction. Compared to the current state of the art, the salient feature of the proposed designs is elimination and/or reduction of undesirable space harmonics which result from the existing fractional-slot per phase per pole permanent magnet machines with concentric windings. This will bring the benefits of significant reduction of the eddy current loss in the rotor permanent magnets, short end-winding and hence reduced copper loss and copper usage, increased power/torque density, reduction in manufacturing cost, and improved energy efficiency. Although the proposed technique is primarily aimed for brushless permanent magnet machines, it is also applicable to synchronous reluctance machines, induction machines and synchronous wound field machines. The proposed technique is applied to the design of an interior mounted permanent magnet machine for electric vehicle traction applications, and demonstrated by the measurements on a prototype machine.