Design and optimisation of a novel asymmetric rotor structure for a PM-assisted synchronous reluctance machine

Abstract

This study proposes a novel asymmetric rotor structure with tuning-fork flux barriers for a permanent magnet (PM)-assisted synchronous reluctance machine (PMA-SynRM) to improve the torque characteristics. The proposed asymmetrical rotor structure can effectively decrease the flux leakage inside the rotor, as well as ensure the maximum values of the magnetic torque and the reluctance torque are near the same current phase angle as each other to achieve better utility. To realise this, the frozen permeability method is implemented to separate the total torque into the reluctance torque and the magnetic torque via a two-dimensional finite-element method - JMAG-Designer. To achieve the optimal torque characteristics in the proposed model, the Kriging method and a genetic algorithm are used for getting the optimised model. The contribution of this investigation into motor performance is validated by comparing the proposed model with a conventional PMA-SynRM with a symmetric rotor structure. Beyond that, all machine models are the same size, have the same number of magnets and are operated under the same conditions. A prototype of the proposed model is experimentally verified, i.e. the simulation results agree with the experimental results.