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This paper formulates the difference in base frequency and maximum torque between distributed and concentrated windings taking into account the air-gap modulation of concentrated-winding permanent magnet (PM) motors. The design superiority is typically confirmed for each winding type during a development period by using time-consuming finite element analysis (FEA). We propose a quantification that enables motor designers to easily judge, at the initial design stage, a superior winding type and to shorten a design period. Throughout our formulation, we found that the distributed-winding PM motors, in principle, have larger q-axis inductance and smaller d-axis inductance than the concentrated-winding motors, which leads to a decrease in the base frequency. On the other hand, the distributed winding inherently has higher winding factor and needs shorter stack length of core than the concentrated winding for identical torque output, which results in an increase in the base frequency. And also, we theoretically quantified the difference in reluctance-torque contribution between the two winding types and found that it was too small to have much impact on practical design. We applied the proposed formulae to a 0.2-kW concentrated-winding Nd-Fe-B magnet motor and were able to quantify the base frequency, the maximum torque, and the minimum stack length of core for a distributed-winding motor with high accuracy without having to rely on FEA. The FEA and measurement results demonstrated the validity of the proposed approach for the fabricated distributed-winding PM motor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel criterion for the utility of reluctance torque in permanent magnet (PM) motors is developed. The criterion, reluctance torque ratio α, can be quantified by using the PM flux linkage Ψp of the stator phase windings, the current I, and the direct- and quadrature-axis inductances Ld and Lq, respectively. It has been shown that the conventional salient-pole ratio is not helpful in clearly judging the utility, while the ratio α can be used to make such judgements across various types of motors with different applications and outputs. Through both theoretical consideration and experiments, it has been proved that a motor with large PM flux linkage utilizes little reluctance torque even if the salient-pole ratio Lq/Ld is over 2.0 and that a large Lq/Ld increases iron loss, thus decreasing motor efficiency. We have also shown that the above-mentioned loss increase is caused by the significant superposition of q-axis flux due to the large Lq and have concluded that, in the above-mentioned case, selecting a rotor geometry with less saliency can improve the efficiency. Results are given for two types of four-pole prototype motors with an output power of 0.6 kW, a rated rotation number of 3600 min−1, and Y-connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]