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Fractional slot permanent magnet (PM) brushless machines having concentrated non‐overlapping windings have been the subject of research over last few years. They have already been employed in the commercial hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) due to high‐torque density, high efficiency, low‐torque ripple, good flux‐weakening and fault‐tolerance performance. The purpose of this paper is to overview recent development and research challenges in such machines in terms of various structural and design features for electric vehicle (EV)/HEV applications.

In the paper, fractional slot PM brushless machines are overviewed according to the following main and sub‐topics: first, machine topologies: slot and pole number combinations, all and alternate teeth wound (double‐ and single‐layer windings), unequal tooth structure, modular stator, interior magnet rotor; second, machine parameters and control performance: winding inductances, flux‐weakening capability, fault‐tolerant performance; and third, parasitic effects: cogging torque, iron loss, rotor eddy current loss, unbalanced magnetic force, acoustic noise and vibration.

Many fractional slot PM machine topologies exist. Owing to rich mmf harmonics, fractional slot PM brushless machines exhibit relatively high rotor eddy current loss, potentially high unbalanced magnetic force and acoustic noise and vibration, while the reluctance torque component is relatively low or even negligible when an interior PM rotor is employed.

This is the first overview paper which systematically reviews the recent development and research challenges in fractional‐slot PM machines. It summarizes their various structural and design features for EV/HEV applications.

Permanent magnet (PM) brushless machines equipped with fractional‐slot concentrated‐windings (FSCW) have been receiving considerable attention over the past few years, due to the fact that they have short end‐windings, a high‐slot fill factor, a high efficiency and power density, and good flux‐weakening and fault‐tolerance capabilities. A key design parameter for such machines is the phase winding inductance since this has a significant impact on the performance, as well as on the magnitude of any reluctance torque. The purpose of this paper is to describe a detailed investigation of the various components of the winding inductance in machines equipped with both overlapping and non‐overlapping windings and different slot/pole number combinations. It also examines the influence of key design parameters, which affect the inductance components, with particular reference to the inductances of machines in which all the teeth are wound and those in which only alternate teeth are wound.

The paper analyzes and compares various inductance components which result from different winding configurations.

It is shown that the main component of the winding inductance is the relatively large slot‐leakage component. Both analytical and finite element models are employed and predicted results are validated on several prototype machines.

Such a thorough investigation of the various inductance components for these type of machines has not been presented before. The paper will serve as a good reference for engineers and researchers designing PM machines equipped with FECW.

The purpose of this paper is to apply a fast analytical model of the acoustic behaviour of pulse‐width modulation (PWM) controlled induction machines to a fractional‐slot winding machine, and to analytically clarify the interaction between space harmonics and time harmonics in audible electromagnetic noise spectrum.

A multilayer single‐phase equivalent circuit calculates the stator and rotor currents. Air‐gap radial flux density, which is supposed to be the only source of acoustic noise, is then computed with winding functions formalism. Mechanical and acoustic models are based on a 2D ring stator model. A method to analytically derive the orders and frequencies of most important vibration lines is detailed. The results are totally independent of the supply strategy and winding type of the machine. Some variable‐speed simulations and tests are run on a 700 W fractional‐slot induction machine in sinusoidal case as a first validation of theoretical results.

The influence of both winding space harmonics and PWM time harmonics on noise spectrum is exposed. Most dangerous orders and frequencies expressions are demonstrated in sinusoidal and PWM cases. For traditional integral windings, it is shown that vibration orders are necessarily even. When the stator slot number is not even, which is the case for fractional windings, some odd order deflections appear: the radial electromagnetic power can therefore dissipate as vibrations through all stator deformation modes, leading to a potentially lower noise level at resonance.

The analytical research does not consider saturation and eccentricity harmonics which can play a significant role in noise radiation.

The analytical model and theoretical results presented help in designing low‐noise induction machines, and diagnosing noise or vibration problems.

The paper details a fully analytical acoustic and electromagnetic model of a PWM fed induction machine, and demonstrate the theoretical expression of main noise spectrum lines combining both time and space harmonics. For the first time, a direct comparison between simulated and experimental vibration spectra is made.

Nowadays, to simplify manufacture process and improve fault-tolerant capability, more and more modular electrical machines are being applied in industrial areas. The purpose of this paper is to investigate a novel modular single-sided flat permanent magnet linear synchronous motor (PMLSM), which adopts segmented armature with the required flux gaps between segments to enhance the performance.

Using 2D finite element analysis, the performances, such as open-flux linkage, back-EMF, average thrust force, thrust ripple, etc., are compared in different values of flux gaps, as well as different slot/pole number combinations (mainly odd numbers of poles). Finally, to show the difference of linear motor from rotary one, the detailed comparison is made between modular PMLSM and rotary PMSM.

Due to flux gaps, it is found the electromagnetic performances are worsened along with flux gap width increasing to modular PMLSMs having slot number higher than pole number, but some aspects of performances such as winding factor, open-circuit flux linkage, back-EMF and average thrust can be improved to those having slot number lower than pole number. Due to the end effect of linear format, the thrust ripple is not significantly improved.

It is concluded the proper flux gaps can be chosen to improve the performance of PMLSM with certain slot/pole combinations. A new structure of 12-slot-13-pole (hereinafter referred to as 12s/13p) PMLSM with fractional slot and alternative-teeth wound winding is designed.

The purpose of this paper is to deal with several approach to recover the torque production capability of a five phase double-layer fractional-slot PM machine under faulty operation. The considered fault is an open-circuit coil in a given phase.

In a first step, the mean futures, such as the phase back-EMFs and the electromagnetic torque, are computed by finite element analysis under healthy operation, and are taken as references. Then, they are investigated, under a faulty coil, for different approaches to recover the torque production capability.

A comparison of the potentialities of the torque recovery approaches has clearly highlight the superiority of the approach consisting in the re-adjustment of the current initial phases, in an attempt to equilibrate the resulting air gap MMF.

This work should be extended by an experimental validation of the predicted results regarding the back-EMFs and the electromagnetic torque.

The investigation of the considered five phase fractional-slot PM machine under faulty operation should be extended to several faulty scenarios in order to fulfill the requirements of many applications such as the propulsion systems.

The paper proposes different approaches to recover the torque production capability of a five phase fractional-slot PM machine under faulty operation.

For a given rotor, the study of the impact of stator MMF from different winding distributions is usually carried out using analytical model under some simplifying hypotheses to limit time computation. To get more accurate results, finite element model is thus more suitable. However, testing different combinations of stator windings with the same rotor can be tedious when considering the stator slots. Indeed, this introduces mesh constraint, reluctance variation of the air gap and possibly taking into account of the connection between stator coils. To avoid this, a current sheet supplied such to represent the stator MMF and spread all around the inner slotless stator surface can be used. In addition, such an approach can be very useful to didactically assess the effect of each winding space harmonic on machine performance separately. The purpose of this paper is to use a current sheet coupled to an external analytical tool in order to easily test different windings or to quantify the effect of a given spatial harmonic of the winding.

In the proposed approach, the current sheet supply is obtained from an analytical tool that allows determining the spatiotemporal stator MMF of any winding considered. Moreover, stator teeth height is not modelled, and only the thickness of the stator yoke is considered along with the same air gap thickness. Results with the proposed approach are compared to the real stator modelling for two different winding configurations. Last, linear and non-linear magnetic material behaviours are investigated to validate the proposed approach in term of magnetic distribution.

For both studied cases, results in term of local and global physical quantities show good agreement between the real stator modelling and the proposed approach.

Current sheet is used with finite element model to study the inherent effect of different winding configurations on local and global physical quantities of an AC electrical machine. The proposed approach avoids the constraints in terms of stator slot geometry and electrical circuit definition. This is very useful to quickly test different winding configurations or to isolate a specific winding space harmonic to quantify its effect on the electrical performances. This cannot be performed using classical modelling as all space harmonics are taken into account.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the performance of a proposed machine design for an in‐wheel motor with the required torque‐speed characteristic.

Calculation of the winding factor of the machine with the star of slots theory is performed first. The field weakening capability of the machine is investigated and the operating speed range is determined. The tooth contour modeling method for calculating the performance of the machine with a limited number of elements is introduced. The method is used to construct two models of different complexity and the results obtained with the models are compared with the results obtained by finite element models.

The 14 pole 12 slot in‐wheel PMSM discussed in this paper is able to meet the stringent performance requirements. The results obtained with the tooth contour models show good agreement with the results obtained with finite element models despite the limited number of elements. Increasing the number of elements in the model allows for modeling of armature reaction and increases the accuracy of the model.

This work can be continued with investigating the possibilities to model the armature reaction more accurately.

This paper proposes a modeling method which accurately describes the performance of a PMSM with limited number of elements. With this method, the calculation procedure can be easily used for optimization of the machine design.

This paper presents the design techniques applied to a novel fractional-slot 6/4 pole permanent magnet brushless direct current (PMBLDC) motor, for cogging torque reduction. The notable feature of this motor is the simplicity of the design and low production cost. The purpose of this paper is to reduce the peak cogging torque of the motor. The focus is put on the stator topology tuning, and a new design for the stator poles is proposed. By determining the optimum stator pole arc length and the best pole shoe thickness, the cogging torque is significantly reduced. This new optimised motor design has been analysed in detail. The validation of the results is documented with respective figures and charts.

At the beginning, the design data for the 6/4 pole PMBLDC motor with concentrated three phase windings and asymmetric stator pole arcs is presented. In the study, this motor is taken as a reference model (A₀, T₀). A full performance finite element analysis of the reference motor has been carried out, and the weak points in the motor design have been identified. By simple design techniques, tuning the stator pole geometry, a two-stage design optimisation for cogging torque minimisation has been performed and the solution array has been derived. The optimised model is selected and proposed (A_opt, T_opt). The comparative analysis of the reference and optimised motors show the advantages of the proposed novel design and prove the methodology.

The results of the work demonstrate how simple design techniques can minimise the peak of the cogging torque profile, while maintaining the specified electromagnetic torque value. The sensitivity of the cogging torque profile because of changes of the stator pole design inside the prescribed constraints is apparent. The stator poles of the reference motor have an arc length of 85° and pole shoe thickness of 6 mm. The newly shaped stator poles have an arc length of 78.5° and pole shoe thickness 4.8 mm. The peak-cogging torque has been reduced from 0.158 Nm to a respectable value of 0.066 Nm. However, to reduce electromagnetic torque ripple and pulsations, further investigations are required.

The paper presents an approach to cogging torque reduction for a 6/4 PMBLDC motor. A two-step original design procedure is introduced and an optimised stator pole geometry is defined. The minimised cogging torque has been demonstrated with improved usage of the active materials. This work could serve as a good basis for further optimisation of the motor design.

This paper aims to propose a spoke-type fractional-slot concentrated windings (FSCW) PM machine for EVs driving system to improve torque density. To further improve electromagnetic performance, the multi-objective optimization design is processed based on response surface (RS) model and simulated annealing cuckoo search (SA-CS) algorithm.

The spoke-type FSCW PM machine is designed and optimized to meet the requirement of EVs driving system. First, a spoke-type FSCW PM machine is designed and some of key parameters are obtained based on equivalent magnetic circuit (EMC) method. Then, the RS model and modified SA-CS algorithm are proposed to obtain higher torque, lower torque ripple and higher efficiency.

After verification by finite element method for no-load and load performance, the optimal machine has higher torque density, lower torque ripple and higher efficiency compared with initial machine. Finally, a 20 kW prototype is manufactured and tested to verify the validity of the proposed optimization design method.

This paper designs a high torque density spoke-type FSCW PM machine, which is superior for EVs driving system. Meanwhile, a novel modified SA-CS algorithm is applied to the field of electrical machine multi-objective optimal design.

The purpose of this paper is to present a general review of design guidelines and analytical models for permanent‐magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) with non‐overlapping concentrated windings, including the authors' own experience.

The design features specific to three‐phase PMSMs with non‐overlapping concentrated windings are presented following the proposed chronology for the different choices to be made by motor designers.

It is shown that the selections of the stator core manufacturing method, the number of winding layers, the combination of pole and slot numbers, and the geometry of the tooth tips are crucial during the design stage of the machine. Comprehensive lists of references introducing useful analytical models and prototypes presented in literature are provided.

By following the guidelines provided in the paper, motor designers are able to avoid the known drawbacks of PMSMs with non‐overlapping concentrated windings, and have a ready list of sources describing useful analytical models.

PMSMs with non‐overlapping concentrated windings have recently been widely investigated. This paper provides an overview of the main results, pinpointing the choices encountered by the motor designers.