Influence of Magnet Pole Arc Variation on the

Performance of External Rotor Permanent Magnet

Synchronous Machine Based on Finite Element
Analysis

P. P. Ling* Dahaman Ishak T. L. Tiang

School of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, Universiti Sains
Malaysia, Engineering Campus
Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia
lingpohping@gmail.com
School of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, Universiti Sains
Malaysia, Engineering Campus
Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia
dahaman@usm.my
School of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, Universiti Sains
Malaysia, Engineering Campus
Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia
TL.tiang.ee@gmail.com

Abstract—Cogging torque is a common design issue in
Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines (PMSMs). Altering
the magnet shape is one of the solutions in reducing the cogging
torque. This paper addresses the variation in the rotor magnet
pole arc which would affect the cogging torque of the external
rotor permanent magnet synchronous motor (ERPMSM).
Analytical calculations to design a three-phase, 12slot/8pole
(12s/8p) ERPMSM with consideration of major parameters and
material properties are presented. A two-dimensional (2D)
layout of the ERPMSM is constructed and analysed. The
variation in reducing the magnet pole arc is modelled and
simulated in a commercial finite element software i.e. OPERA
2D, to illustrate its effects on the cogging torque generated in the
machine. After which, the paper describes the possible reasons
behind the trend of the changing cogging torque exhibited by
variation of the magnet pole arc, and its effects on the phase-
back electromotive force (EMF) produced by the ERPMSM.
Keywords—exterior rotor; permanent magnet; cogging torque;
finite element; magnet pole arc; phase-back EMF; synchronous
motor.
I. INTRODUCTION
Permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) have
gained great attention in the past two decades due to their high
efficiency in comparison to other types of electric machines.
This is also due to higher power and torque density in contrast
to machines that require externally induced field current [1].
PMSM can be categorised into different types according to its
magnet configurations, such as: i) Buried or interior PM
(IPM); ii) Surface-mounted PM (SPM); iii) Surface inset PM;
and iv) Bread-loaf PM.
However, PMSM has its major downfall i.e. cogging
torque. The cogging torque occurs when there is a need for the
rotor magnets to re-align themselves to the best position with
the stator teeth which exhibits the maximum amount of
ferromagnetic material, independent of current influence [1].
Since the cogging torque contributes to shaft vibrations,
acoustic noise and decrease of lifespan of the machine,
electrical machine designers and researchers are constantly
investigating methods to improve the efficiency of the existing
PMSM designs [2-16].
J. De La Ree et al. presented that the cogging torque was
able to be reduced significantly by skewing either the stator
teeth or the rotor magnets in the PMSM, but stated that it has
several disadvantages such machine complexity and higher
losses [2]. By using a backward solution method relating the
Fourier harmonics suppression to the structure of the PMSM
[3] and introduction of control on the air-gap presence
function [4], it would also affect the cogging torque produced.
Previous researches have also agreed that the shape and the
size of rotor magnet do affect the PMSMs’ cogging torque [5-
11].
Numerous methods can be employed on magnet shapes
and size variance to reduce the cogging torque present in a
PMSM. Zhao et al. [7] proposed a design of asymmetrical
rotor structure to improve the cogging torque and its magnetic
torque. Magnetic edge inset variation technique had been
suggested because of its positive influence in reduction of
cogging torque [8]. On the other hand, magnet pole shaping
technique [9] has also been considered to reduce the torque
ripple without affecting the optimised PMSM performance.
There are also researches [10, 11] on the application of
segmented PM which would allow improvements on the
operation of the PMSM. However, in many previous works,
the PMSMs’ configuration utilised in the magnetic structure
variation applied only to interior rotor PMSMs. Although
there are many performance analysis documentation done on
exterior rotor PMSM (ERPMSM) [12-14], and despite given
the possibility of the most cost effective of ferrite magnets
usage in ERPMSM [15], there is little research publication on
cogging torque minimization and its optimisation methods in
ERPMSMs. It has also been noted that the effects of inter-pole
on the magnetic flux generated [16] was less documented.

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978-1-5090-2547-3/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE

 This paper presents the methodology for the initial design TABLE II. PRIMARY VARIABLES OF THE ERPMSM
stage of a three-phase, 12slot/8pole (12s/8p) ERPMSM with Variables Values
consideration of limitations such as pre-set dimensions and Stator slot number, Ns 12
material constrains. The design is then constructed and Rotor pole number Np 8
simulated in two-dimensional (2D) motor model using a Outer radius of rotor, Rro (mm) 25.0
commercial finite element analysis program, OPERA 2D. Magnet thickness, lm (mm) 2.5
Additionally, variation on the magnetic pole arc is further Air-gap thickness, lg (mm) 1.0
Rotor back iron thickness, hrbi (mm) 2.0
simulated and analysed using OPERA 2D to test its effect in Axial length, la (mm) 50.0
reducing the cogging torque in the ERPMSM. From the results Permanent magnet remanence, Br (T) 1.12
of the simulation, the magnet pole arc which corresponds to Permanent magnet relative permeability, μr 1.05
the lowest cogging torque produced is considered for future Slot opening width, bo (mm) 2.0
applications. Further analysis such as harmonics content and Winding gross fill factor 0.4
phase back-emf on the reduced magnet pole arc are discussed.
II. MODEL DESIGN Secondary variables are variables that require calculation
by using mathematical models and sizing equations [1]. The
The first stage in designing this 12s/8p ERPMSM model is secondary variables correspond to the changes made in
to generate all the required values for variables based on primary variables and also guarded by machine constrains
specifications and ratings given. Fig.1 illustrates the partial such as material saturation values. The calculation begins with
view 2D layout of a three-phase external rotor surface- the determination of the optimal split ratio of the PMSM rotor
mounted PMSM. The geometrical design variables can be and stator’s outer diameters. An optimal split ratio between the
defined such as outer radius of the external rotor Rro, outer outer diameters or both rotor and stator is important for
radius of the stator Rso, rotor back-iron thickness hrbi, magnet PMSM machine designs, as it can reduce copper loss [18].
thickness lm; air-gap thickness, lg, tooth body thickness Wtb, The amplitude of air-gap flux density, Bg(λ) is first sought
stator yoke thickness, Wsy, and; slot opening width, bo. before proceeding to other dimension calculations. From [19],
The arrows’ directions in each magnet pole indicate it has been found out that (1) is used to obtain an ERPMSM’s
polarity of the magnet. Bg(λ).
Br
Bg ( O )
Pr lg
K (1)
§ hrbi O ·
Dro ¨ 0.5   W ¸
© Dro 2 ¹
where the split ratio, λ, constants τ and η are defined as:
Dso
O (2)
Dro
lg
W (3)
Dro
Fig. 1. Geometrical design variables for 12s/8p ERPMSM. 2
§ O W ·
The design variables can be separated into primary and K ¨ ¸ (4)
© O  2W ¹
secondary variables [17]. The primary variables are
independent design variables, pre-determined accounting to
machine specifications as shown in TABLE I, expected In (1), the variables such as thickness of the rotor back
product design, and fabrication process limitations and iron, hrbi and air-gap thickness, lg must be defined prior to the
tolerances. These variables can be altered without causing air-gap magnetic flux density calculation. For (2), Dso is
changes in other primary variables. defined as the outer diameter of the stator, and Dro is the outer
diameter of the rotor.
TABLE I. SPECIFICATIONS OF THE ERPMSM
After evaluating the primary variables, secondary variables
Variables Values of the machine are calculated with consideration on each
Rated voltage (V) 12
machine component limits and fabrication tolerances. The
Rated power (W) 100
Rated speed (rpm) 750 final values are as shown in TABLE III.
Magnetisation Pattern Radial Magnetisation
TABLE III. THE SECONDARY VARIABLES OF THE ERPMSM
Variables Values
The primary variables required for the calculation of the Tooth body thickness, Wtb (mm) 4.5
secondary variables of the machine design are as shown in Tooth tip thickness, Wtt (mm) 2.0
TABLE II. Stator yoke thickness, Wsy (mm) 5.0
Number of turns/coil 18

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 pole arc to be reduced is only up to 15°mech. before causing it
to be smaller than the slot pitch. This is due to any further
The construction of the machine structure also requires the reduction in the magnetic pole arc will affect its rated machine
slot pitch and pole pitch. Slot and pole pitches obtained are the performance.
mechanical angles to define each slot and pole’s width in the
machine. Both can be calculated using the equations (5) and IV. RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS
(6) [1].
The machine operational aspects for each of these reduced
360q magnet pole arc variances is simulated and analysed using
T slot (5) OPERA 2D to obtain its cogging torque. The dimensions of
Ns
the machine used for simulation was constructed based on the
360q variables as shown in TABLE II and TABLE III.
T pole (6)
Np

III. REDUCTION OF PERMANENT MAGNET POLE ARC

From equation (6), a full pitch permanent magnet pole arc
for a 12s/8p ERPMSM is 45°mech., as shown in Fig. 1.
Throughout the experiment simulations, each of the magnet
pole arcs is varied by reducing the arcs in steps of 2°mech.
The gap between two magnet poles after the reduction would
be filled with a protrusion of a 1.5mm thick interpole from the
rotor back-iron.
In reality, the interpoles are present in machines to allow
an easier fitting of permanent magnet onto the rotor back-iron
during the fabrication stage of the PMSM. Fig. 2 shows the
thickness of the interpole protruded from the rotor back-iron.

Fig. 4. Cogging torque waveform produced by 12s/8p ERPMSM with

variation of reduced magnet pole arc across different rotor position.

Fig. 2. Thickness of the interpole between two half-poles with different

polarity.

Fig. 3 illustrates the example of variation of the magnet

pole arc reduction (only shown in half-poles) in full pitch and
with 12° gap in the ERPMSM, respectively.

(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Magnet pole arcs with partial of the stator in 12s/8p ERPMSM at (a)
full pitch (b) 33°mech.
The thickness of the magnet is 2.5mm. Although the
structure may resemble an inset PMSM, but contrary to an
inset PMSM, the height of the interpoles is lower and do not
align with the magnets’ height.
As there is a limit on the magnet pole arc reduction, it is
calculated that the reduction can only be done until magnet
pole pitch is the same as slot pitch. The limit of the magnetic
Fig. 5. Cogging torque produced by 12s/8p ERPMSM when magnet pole
arc is varied.
The cogging torque was simulated for each reduced
magnet pole arc from full-pitch down to 31°mech., in steps of
2°mech. Hence, the results generated would show that the
cogging torque obtained from full pitch (45°mech. arc),
43°mech. arc, 41°mech. arc, 39°mech. arc, 37°mech. arc,
35°mech. arc, 33° mech. arc, and lastly 31°mech. arc.
Fig. 4 shows all of the cogging torque waveform obtained
from the varied magnet pole arcs versus rotor position, under

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open circuit condition. It can be observed that the full pitch in de-alignment. On the other hand, in Fig. 6(b), the magnetic
magnet pole arc produces the highest cogging torque with fields are more widely spread across the opposing poles due to
peak of 0.29Nm. the presence of the interpole. The interpole which is an
electromagnetic conductive material allows the field to spread
The cogging torque is not a desirable condition and has into its region, also reducing the amount of saturation focused
normally been considered to be kept to a minimal value in between two magnet poles. This causes the less effect of two
PMSM designs via various methods. After the FE simulation, magnet poles in the act of pulling the stator teeth, allowing the
an evaluation on the peak values of each cogging torque ease of moving away, and creating less cogging torque in the
generated from different magnet pole arc was conducted. machine.
Fig.5 shows all of the cogging torque of the different
magnet pole arcs. It can be observed that the cogging torque
has a decreasing trend when the magnet pole arc is
incrementally reduced. The smallest cogging torque can be
seen at 33°mech. magnet pole arc amongst all eight variances
of magnet pole arc simulated which is 0.0264Nm. The drop in
cogging torque compared to full pitch magnet pole arc is about
91.03%.
Therefore, judging from Fig. 5 the best reduced magnet
pole arc for the minimum cogging torque for this 12s/8p
ERPMSM would be 33°mech.

Fig. 7. Phase EMF in 12s/8p ERPMSM of both full- pitch magnet pole arc
and 33°mech. magnet pole arc.

(a)

Fig. 8. Breakdown of Phase EMF into its harmonics values for both full pitch
magnet pole arc and 33°mech. magnet pole arc.

(b)
Fig. 6. Magnetic field distribution across the rotor and stator region in the
12s/8p ERPMSM with magnet pole arc (a) Full pitch. (b) 33°mech.

Open-circuit magnetic fields comparison of both full pitch

and 33°mech. magnet pole arc is done as the former has the
highest cogging torque while the latter has the lowest value
from the FE simulated results, using OPERA 2D.
It is observed in Fig. 6(a) that there is highly concentrated
magnetic fields occurring between two magnet poles, and thus
more pulling forces applied onto more area of the stator teeth,
which in turn creating higher cogging torque due its resistance Fig. 9. Comparison of output torque for full pitch and 33°mech. magnet pole
arc when the rotor is excited with sinusoidal phase current of 10A peak.

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 TABLE IV. AVERAGE TORQUE, TORQUE RIPPLE & AVERAGE OUTPUT
POWER
Average Average
Torque
Magnet Arc Torque
Ripple (%)
Ouput
(Nm) Power (W)
Full pitch 1.24 35.11 97.32
33°mech. 1.26 5.64 98.39
It is known that the content of the harmonics in the air gap
flux density and the winding allocations will affect the overall
phase back EMF waveform. Fig. 7 shows the phase EMF
waveform for both full-pitch and the 33° magnet pole arc,
respectively. Whereas, Fig. 8 shows the breakdown of phase
EMF into its harmonics values for both full pitch magnet pole
arc and a 33°mech. magnet pole arc estimated by using Fast
Fourier Transform (FFT).
From Fig. 7, it is noticeable that the phase EMF waveform
for the full-pitch magnet pole arc design is more trapezoidal
compared to the 33° magnet pole arc design. However, the 33°
magnet pole arc design waveform is more sinusoidal
compared to the full pitched magnet pole arc design. This is
due to higher presence of other harmonics in the subsequent
harmonic numbers compared to the 33° magnet pole arc
design, as shown in Fig. 8. Presence of higher harmonics
would affect the sinusoidal formation after summation,
contributing to a trapezoidal waveform.
A more sinusoidal phase EMF waveform would contribute
less noise, vibration and fewer ripples during operation when
the motor is excited with sinusoidal current, compared to a
trapezoidal waveform. The 12s/8p ERPMSM was excited with
sinusoidal phase current of peak 10A for both variance of
magnet pole arc (full pitch and 33°mech.). A comparison of
the resulting torque for both magnet pole arcs is as shown in
Fig. 9. The average torque, torque ripple and average output
power of both full pitch and the 33° magnet pole arc design is
also shown in TABLE IV.
There is lesser ripple formation in the 33° magnet pole arc
design compared to the full pitch design, hence producing a
near-straight line output torque. The percentage of the torque
ripple produced by the 33°mech. magnet pole arc design has
noticeably and significantly reduced to 5.64% compared to
full pitch. The reduced magnet pole arc has also shown a rise
of average output power due to the increment of average
torque in the machine.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, the design of a three-phase, 12slot/8pole
ERPMSM was discussed in order to construct a reasonably
functional PMSM for further simulation and analysis. By
focusing on the properties of the magnet and its effect on the
cogging torque, it was found out that the magnet pole arc
plays a significant role in cogging torque reduction. After
reducing the permanent magnets’ arc in 2°mech. steps and
analysing the motor model in 2D finite element simulations, it
was determined that the best magnet pole arc is 33°mech. for
the lowest cogging torque achievable for this design. A lower
cogging torque has also shown a more sinusoidal phase back
EMF waveform compared to its original full-pitch magnet
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pole arc counterpart, which exhibits an undesirable trapezoidal
waveform. Lower torque ripple formation can also be
observed from the reduction of magnet pole arc, hence,
producing a smoother output torque.
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