A New Unified Design Environment for Optimization of Electric Machines Based on Continuum Sensitivity and B-Spline Parametrization

Abstract

In this paper, a unified design environment is developed for the optimization of electric machines based on continuum sensitivity. For electromagnetic (EM) system analysis, COMSOL scripting environment is used. Optimization module is developed by MATLAB programming, which can be combined with COMSOL script commands. The modules are combined into one MATLAB project, and iteration process necessary for the optimization of EM system can be performed efficiently. During the design process, visual feedback of the current design status is given to the designer. In addition, the B-Spline parametrization of the nodal points is implemented to obtain smooth boundary of the device. The developed software is applied to the problem of finding uniform flux density distribution at the air gap of an electromagnet to verify its feasibility and effectiveness.