ARTICLE IN PRESS

Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 304 (2006) e430–e432

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Influence of pole and slot combinations on cogging torque in fractional

slot PM motors$
C.C. Hwang, M.H. Wu, S.P. Cheng
Department of Electrical Engineering, Feng Chia University, 100 Wenhua Road, Taichun, 407 Taiwan, ROC
Available online 3 March 2006

Abstract

This paper investigates the influence of the pole and slot combinations on cogging torque for motors with a number of slots per pole
per phase between 1/2 and 1/4. Criteria for selecting the motor with the lowest cogging torque among any valid pole and slot
combinations are proposed. A technique for reducing cogging torque in surface-mounted permanent magnet motors is also presented.
The finite-element analysis method is used for the calculation of the cogging torque.
r 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

PACS: 84.60.Bk

Keywords: Pole and slot combinations; Cogging torque; Fractional slot PM motors

1. Introduction ing motor structures, simply by selecting appropriate pole

In recent years, permanent magnet (PM) motors with
slotted laminations have been widely used in high-
performance applications [1,2]. However, in the slotted
PM motor, cogging torque is generated due to the
interaction between the rotor magnets and the stator slots.
This torque produces vibration and noise, which is
considered detrimental in most PM motors. Hence,
techniques to reduce cogging torque in motor design have
been proposed [3–6].
Most published works in reducing cogging torque have
concentrated on modifying motor structures, such as
skewing stator slots or rotor magnets [3–5], varying the
magnet arc [3–5], bifurcated teeth [3–5], varying the
magnetization of magnets [3], varying the stator slot
opening [5], and shifting the position of magnets [6].
However, these cogging torque reduction techniques often
contribute to a motor with weaker performance. In fact, it
is possible to achieve low cogging torque without modify-
$
This work was sponsored by the National Science Council, Taiwan,
ROC under Grant NSC-93-2213-E-035-048.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 4 2451 7250x3805;
fax: +886 4 451 6842.
E-mail address: cchwang@fcu.edu.tw (C.C. Hwang).
and slot combinations.
This paper investigates the influence of pole and slot
combinations on cogging torque for fractional slot motors
[7], where the fractional part of the number slots (Ns) per
pole (Nm) per phase (Nspp) is between 1/2 and 1/4. More
specifically it focuses on providing guidance in selecting a
pole and slot combination that will give a low cogging
torque. A technique which is different from previous works
for reducing cogging torque in a surface-mounted PM
motor is also presented. The finite-element analysis
package, FLUX2D, is used for the calculation of the
cogging torque.
2. Analysis of cogging torque
The cogging torque can be described using a Fourier
series expansion as [7]
X
1
T cog ðyÞ ¼ ðT n Yn S 2n Þ ejn2y , (1)
n¼
1
where the Fourier series coefficients Tn can be determined
by means of analytical or numerical methods, such as the
finite-element method. However, the specific values of Tn
are not essential in the following discussion. S2n is the skew

0304-8853/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jmmm.2006.01.207
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
C.C. Hwang et al. / Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 304 (2006) e430–e432 e431

Table 1
Comparison of results

Nm Ns Nspp ncog GCD LCM Tpp (mN m)

16 15 0.313 15 1 240 1.8

14 15 0.357 15 1 210 2.0
10 9 0.3 9 1 90 4.0
8 9 0.375 9 1 72 6.0
14 12 0.286 6 2 84 10.3
10 12 0.4 6 2 60 18.9
8 6 0.25 3 2 24 32.2
12 9 0.25 3 3 36 37.6
6 9 0.5 3 3 18 46.6
16 12 0.25 3 4 48 51.2
8 12 0.5 3 4 24 65.2
Fig. 1. Cross section of 8-pole, 12-slot motor with and without skewing 10 15 0.5 3 5 30 77.0
the stator slot opening.
Tpp is the peak to peak value of cogging torque.

factor. Since skew is not used, S 2n ¼ 1. The term Yn can be

written as [7]
(
s ;N m Þ
N s for ncog ¼ q LCMðN Nm ; 10P9S
Yn ¼ (2)
0 otherwise;
where LCM(x, y) is the least common multiple of its
arguments and q is any nonzero integer that results in an
integer ncog. The ncog is the first cogging torque harmonic
and has a significant effect on the level of cogging torque.
The higher ncog is, the lower the resulting cogging torque
should be.
In Eq. (2), the LCM (Ns, Nm) represents the period of
cogging torque in one revolution. It can be used as an index
to identify the level of cogging torque. In some cases, the
higher the LCM is, the less the cogging torque will be [4].
In addition, the greatest common divisor (GCD)
between Ns and Nm is also an index for checking the level
of cogging torque. When Ns and Nm share a common
factor, i.e., GCD(Ns, Nm) is equal to some integer p,
structural periodicity exists around the air gap every 360/p
(mechanical degrees) and ncog ¼ Ns/p. Hence, the smaller
the GCD is, the less the cogging torque will be [5,7].
Besides the selecting of pole and slot combinations for a
low cogging torque motor, a design technique is considered
for reduction of cogging torque: skewing the stator slot
opening in the direction of rotation as shown in Fig. 1.
Skewing the stator slot opening would distribute the effects
of interaction of the PM edge and slot opening during a
rotation of a slot pitch, and smoothes out the cogging
torque ripple.
3. Results and discussions
In order to have a reasonable comparison, a three-phase
surface-mounted PM motor with any valid pole and slot
combinations and identical dimensions is used, as shown in
Fig. 1. Table 1 gives a list of results for various valid pole
and slot combinations. It is seen that increasing the ncog is
the most significant way to minimize the cogging torque. It
0.02
14P12S
0.01
Cogging Torque (N.m)
12P9S
0.00
-0.01
-0.02
0 2 4 6 8 10
Position (Mech. deg.)
Fig. 2. Comparison of cogging torque curves for three pole and slot
combinations.
is also seen that when the ncog of any two pole and slot
combinations is equal, the GCD becomes an index for
cogging torque comparison. The smaller the GCD is, the
smaller the cogging torque as shown in Table 1.
Furthermore, when both ncog and GCD of any two pole
and slot combinations are equal, the LCM can be used as
another index for cogging torque comparison. The larger
the LCM is, the smaller the cogging torque. Fig. 2
compares the cogging torque curves for three pole and
slot combinations.
Fig. 3 compares the cogging torque curves for the 8-pole,
12-slot motor with and without skewing the stator slot
opening. It can be observed that skewing stator slot
opening has a significant effect on the magnitude of
cogging torque curve. The predicted cogging torque curve
against measured points for the skewed case is also shown
in Fig. 3. It shows a close match between the two. Table 2
compares the peak to peak values of cogging torque for
three pole and slot combinations with and without skew of
the stator slot opening. It is seen that skewing stator slot
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
e432 C.C. Hwang et al. / Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 304 (2006) e430–e432

0.03 Table 2
Without skew Comparison of cogging torque between skewed and unskewed slot
Skew opening (with S2n ¼ 1)
0.02 Measured (skew)
Cogging Torque (N.m)

Nm Ns Tpp (mN m) Tspp (mN m) Reduced rate (%)

0.01
6 9 46.6 34.9 25.1
8 12 65.2 47.4 27.3
0.00 10 15 77.0 56.1 27.1

-0.01 Tspp is the peak to peak value of cogging torque for skewed slot opening
motor.
Reduced rate (%) ¼ (Tpp–Ts,pp)/Tpp  100%.
-0.02

-0.03
0 5 10 15 (3) The LCM has much less significant role than the ncog
Position (Mech. deg.) and GCD in minimizing the cogging torque. The larger
the LCM, the smaller the cogging torque.
Fig. 3. Comparison of cogging torque curves for 8-pole, 12-slot motor (4) Skewing the stator slot opening has a significant effect
with and without skewed stator slot opening.
on reducing the magnitude of cogging torque.

opening can reduce the peak to peak cogging torque over
25% for each case.
The results presented in this paper lead to the following
conclusions.
(1) Increasing the ncog is the most significant way to
minimize the cogging torque.
(2) The GCD has less significant role than the ncog in
minimizing the cogging torque. The smaller the GCD,
the smaller the cogging torque.
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