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Study of Retaining Sleeve and Conductive Shield and Their Influence on Rotor
Loss in High-Speed PM BLDC Motors

Article  in  IEEE Transactions on Magnetics · November 2006

DOI: 10.1109/TMAG.2006.879434 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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3398 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 42, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2006

Study of Retaining Sleeve and Conductive Shield

and Their Influence on Rotor Loss in
High-Speed PM BLDC Motors
Fengzheng Zhou, Jianxin Shen, Weizhong Fei, and Ruiguang Lin
College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, 310027, China
Rotor eddy-current loss is usually significant in high-speed permanent magnet brushless dc (PM BLDC) motors. On the other hand,
the rotor is usually protected with a nonmagnetic retaining sleeve. The influence of the conductivity of the retaining sleeve on the rotor
eddy-current loss is analyzed in this paper. Furthermore, utility of a conductive copper shield between the sleeve and magnets is demon-
strated. Although eddy current is induced in the copper shield, causing additional loss, its magnetic field can smooth the varying field in
the rotor and reduce the overall eddy-current loss dramatically. The relationship between the thickness of copper shield and the rotor
eddy-current loss is also examined.
Index Terms—Conductive shield, high-speed motor, permanent magnet brushless dc (PM BLDC) motor, retaining sleeve, rotor eddy-
current loss, temperature rise.

I. INTRODUCTION

H IGH-SPEED permanent magnet brushless dc (PM BLDC)

motors have been extensively developed. However, there
are some aspects needing further investigation. By way of ex-
ample, the eddy-current loss in the rotor, particularly in the mag-
nets and yoke, is usually negligible in low- or moderate-speed
PM BLDC motors, but appears significant in high-speed motors
[1]–[7]. The rotor eddy-current loss can decrease the motor effi-
ciency, and more importantly, it may demagnetize the magnets
due to overheating. Furthermore, the rotor is usually protected
against the centrifugal force with a nonmagnetic retaining sleeve. Fig. 1. Motor structure.
Eddy-current will also exist in the sleeve if it is conductive.
Some techniques have been proposed to reduce the rotor TABLE I
eddy-current loss, by decreasing the time harmonics of arma- MOTOR PARAMETERS
ture current and increasing the airgap length [1], segmenting
the magnets [2], using multiphase windings [3]. However, these
techniques may bring some drawbacks, such as decreasing the
EMF coefficient, distorting the airgap field, and complicating
the manufacturing. On the other hand, [3] proposed to use a
copper shield around the magnets to reduce the loss in the
rotor yoke. However, it assumed that there was no loss in the
magnets, which is not the case in a practical motor.
Materials with low conductivity are often suggested for the
rotor in order to reduce the eddy-current [4]. However, modern
magnets, such as sintered NdFeB and SmCo, are usually con-
ductive. The influence of the sleeve conductivity on the rotor
loss will be analyzed in this paper. Furthermore, utility of a con-
ductive copper shield between the sleeve and the magnets is pro-
posed, and the shielding effect of its eddy current will be used
to reduce the overall rotor loss. Fig. 2. Rated phase current. (a) Waveform. (b) Spectrum.

II. INFLUENCE OF RETAINING SLEEVE CONDUCTIVITY
In this paper, a 2-pole 3-phase high-speed PM BLDC motor
with a rating of 3 kW@150 000 rpm has been designed. Fig. 1
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2006.879434
0018-9464/$20.00 © 2006 IEEE
shows the motor structure and Table I gives the design param-
eters. Fig. 2 shows its rated phase current and corresponding
harmonic spectrum.
It should be pointed out that the airgap field in a 2-pole ma-
chine with parallel magnetized ring magnet is nearly sinusoidal.
However, the field is distorted by the armature MMF, containing
space harmonics. Furthermore, the airgap permeance variation
ZHOU et al.: STUDY OF RETAINING SLEEVE AND CONDUCTIVE SHIELD AND THEIR INFLUENCE
TABLE II
SKIN DEPTHS IN DIFFERENT ROTOR MATERIALS
Fig. 3. Rotor loss with different sleeves.
due to slot openings also causes field harmonics in the airgap
and rotor. These two factors vary in different stator structures
and will cause rotor eddy-current losses. However, such losses
are minor, especially when the airgap is large, while the time
harmonics in the armature current play a much more important
role in generating the rotor eddy-current loss [7]. The major
time harmonics are 5th, 7th, 11th, 13th, 17th, and 19th orders
[Fig. 2(b)], which will cause 6th, 12th, and 18th harmonics in
the rotor. The skin depths in different rotor materials related to
these time harmonics are listed in Table II.
It is desirable to use low-conductivity materials in the rotor.
Since the steel rotor yoke and the SmCo magnets are conductive
(conductivity being s/m and s/m,
respectively), two low-conductivity materials are used for the
retaining sleeve. One is carbon fiber ( s/m), and
the other is Titanium alloy SP700 ( s/m).
Under the rated condition, the eddy-current losses in the sleeve,
magnets, and rotor yoke are calculated with a two-dimensional
(2-D) time-stepping FE method. The results are shown in Fig. 3.
It is shown that there is little eddy current in the carbon fiber
sleeve, and the varying field enters the conductive magnets,
causing eddy current and loss. On the other hand, eddy current
and loss increase significantly in the Titanium sleeve, since the
sleeve is conductive, while the eddy current loss in the magnets
decreases. This is because the eddy current in the sleeve acts as
a magnetic shield, reducing the amplitude of the varying field
to which the magnets are exposed. Consequently, the overall
rotor eddy-current losses in the two cases are almost the same.
Moreover, the eddy current in the steel yoke is negligible in
each case. As can be seen from Table II, the skin depths of the
magnet related to the major field harmonics are less than the
magnet thickness, hence, the harmonics hardly enter the yoke,
due to the shielding effect of the eddy current in the magnets.
III. INFLUENCE OF CONDUCTIVE SHIELD
If the varying field is isolated from the rotor with a shield,
there will be no rotor eddy current. The simplest way is to use a
3399
TABLE III
ROTOR LOSS WITH CARBON FIBER SLEEVE
TABLE IV
ROTOR LOSS WITH TITANIUM ALLOY SLEEVE
magnetic retaining sleeve [4]. However, this causes significant
leakage of the magnet flux, therefore, it is not practical. Another
way is proposed in this paper, which uses the shielding effect
of the eddy current in a part of the rotor, such that the eddy
currents in the other parts are significantly reduced. In particular,
a conductive shield can be placed outside the retaining sleeve.
The shield has a very low resistance ( ), hence, the eddy current
( ) in the shield may be significant, but the loss will be
low. However, such a conductive shield may not be sufficiently
strong, therefore, it is moved between the retaining sleeve and
magnets. Ideally, if a superconducting shield is used in
FE analysis, it is shown that the rotor eddy current loss becomes
zero. This proves that the eddy-current in the shield can smooth
the field in the retaining sleeve, hence, the shield does not have
to be placed outside the retaining sleeve.
Practically, a copper shield is used. Its conductivity (
s/m) is nearly 100 higher than that of the Tita-
nium alloy. The rotor eddy-current loss with different thickness
of copper shields is then calculated with finite-element method
(FEM), in which the outer diameters of the retaining sleeve and
magnets keep constant so that the airgap field harmonics are un-
changed. The results are given in Tables III and IV. It is shown
that no matter what material is used for the retaining sleeve, the
overall rotor loss decreases significantly if the copper shield is
used.
Although eddy current is induced in the shield, causing addi-
tional loss, its magnetic field can smooth the varying field in the
sleeve and magnet, as in the shielding effect. Therefore, losses in
the sleeve and magnets are reduced dramatically. Furthermore,
the thicker the shield is, the stronger the shielding effect, hence,
the lower the field harmonics in rotor (see Table V). There-
fore, the eddy-current loss in each rotor part decreases when
the shield becomes thicker, until it approaches the skin depth
related to the lowest-order field harmonic (0.55 mm).
In result, it is effective to reduce the overall eddy-current loss
in the rotor by using a proper copper shield.
3400
TABLE V
FIELD HARMONICS AT OUTER SURFACE OF ROTOR PARTS
Fig. 4. Steady-state temperature distribution in motor with Titanium alloy
retaining sleeve and copper shield.
IV. ANALYSIS OF ROTOR TEMPERATURE
From the analysis in the preceding sections, it is shown that
the rotor eddy-current loss is relatively low when compared with
the motor power. However, it may cause rather high temperature
rise in the rotor, such that the magnets may be demagnetized.
Therefore, it is crucial to reduce the rotor loss.
When the conductive shield is not used, the overall rotor
eddy-current losses with the carbon fiber retaining sleeve and
Titanium alloy sleeve are similar. However, the Titanium alloy
has a much higher thermal conductivity, thus, it is easier for the
heat to transmit from the rotor to the stator. Therefore, Titanium
alloy sleeve would be preferred.
On the other hand, when the conductive shield is used, al-
though the overall rotor loss is significantly reduced, most loss
occurs in the shield, where the shield is thin. Therefore, an-
other consideration arises, i.e., the shield may be overheated
and the adjacent magnets may be demagnetized locally. To ex-
amine this, a thermal FE analysis is also made with the following
assumptions.
• The air between the stator and rotor is motionless.
• The windage loss is neglected.
• The bearing is cooled with lubricating oil flow (20 C,
100 W/m C).
• The stator iron loss and copper loss is distributed evenly
in the stator stack.
The temperature distribution in the motor, both with and
without the copper shield, is analyzed. By way of example,
Fig. 4 shows the temperature distribution under rated operation
condition when the copper shield and Titanium sleeve are used.
There is no locally overheated area observed in the shield or
magnet. Fig. 5 shows the transient variation of the maximum
rotor temperature. Clearly, the steady-state temperature in the
rotor with Titanium sleeve and without copper shield is lower
than that in the rotor with carbon fiber sleeve and without
shield, demonstrating the effect of the thermal conductivity of
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 42, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2006
Fig. 5. Transient variation of maximum rotor temperature.
the sleeve. Furthermore, when the copper shield is used, the
maximum rotor temperature drops significantly, from about
240 C to about 70 C. Under such a condition, even the NdFeB
magnets, which have higher energy but much lower operation
temperature than the SmCo magnets, can also be utilized.
V. CONCLUSION
The influence of the conductivity of retaining sleeve on the
rotor eddy-current loss in high-speed PM BLDC motors is ana-
lyzed with FEM. The loss in the Titanium sleeve is much higher
than that in the carbon fiber sleeve. However, the eddy current
in the Titanium sleeve smooths the field in the magnets, hence,
reduces the loss in the magnets. In result, the overall rotor loss
is similar for both sleeve materials. Furthermore, the influence
of the copper shield between the retaining sleeve and magnets is
inspected. Although eddy-current loss occurs in the shield, the
losses in the other rotor parts are dramatically reduced, resulting
in a much lower overall rotor loss. Moreover, there is no locally
overheated area in the rotor, and the rotor temperature drops sig-
nificantly by utilizing the copper shield.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation
of Zhejiang Province (Y104 442) and the Chinese Education
Department’s Foundation for Professionals from Overseas.
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Manuscript received March 4, 2006 (e-mail: j.x.shen@ieee.org).