Permanent magnet reduction by current harmonics injection for surface permanent magnet machines

This paper presents the analysis of multi-harmonic current injection in multi-three phase surface permanent magnet (SPM) machines. An analytical model, extended to a generic harmonic order, is used to describe and determine the no load flux density, the back electromotive force (BEMF) and the electromagnetic torque produced. These are analysed as a function of the permanent magnet span. Based on the BEMF, the harmonics injection technique is adopted to increase the torque in the machine, while keeping the RMS current constant, thus without affecting the Joule losses. In order to understand how the torque is affected by the harmonics injection, considering different PMs rotor span, a comparison with and without injection is presented. It is shown how, thanks to specific harmonics injection, it is possible to reduce the permanent magnet content in SPM machines while generating the same torque performance of a motor with higher PM content, without harmonic injection. The analytical results are finally validated by means of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) considering two different PM rotor span, as a case study, highlighting the benefits of the proposed method.