Optimizing the Cogging Torque Reduction of

Integral Slot Number in Permanent Magnet

Machine
1stMarsul 2ndTamer
Siregar Zaki Fouad Mohamed
Dept. of Electrical Engineering Faculty of Engineering Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology
Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia Taiwan
Jakarta, Indonesia da51g206@stuts.edu.tw
marsul.siregar@atmajaya.ac.id
3rdDolly Ramly Wohon 4thTajuddin Nur

Graduate Student of EE, Faculty of Engineering Dept. of Electrical Engineering Faculty of Engineering
Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia
Jakarta, Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia,
dollywohon@yahoo.com nasirtan415@gmail.com

Abstract—Optimize the cogging torque reduction in
permanent magnet machine was investigated in this paper, with
the proposed machine of 48 stator slots and 6 poles. The slot
opening proposed model width has been fixed to 2 mm. The two
steps of slotting have been employed and assessed to reduce the
cogging torque of the proposed model. In this study, the
finite element method tool was implemented to investigate the
magnetic flux distribution and the cogging torque reduction of
the proposed model. The Response Surface Method (RSM) as
one optimization technique has been implemented. By applying
the finite element method, simulation results showed that the
cogging torque of the PMMs proposed model could decrease
effectively. In this study, the cogging torque reduction for the
proposed model as much as 98.8 % compared with the initial
model.
magnet strength [1],[7] to vary the pole arc length and offset
[1],[10],[11], to employ dummy slot in stator core [11]-[12],
to shape magnet edge[12]. However, the most effective
technique to reduce the CT in PMMs is employing the two
steps of slotting the magnet edge.
By slotting the two steps of slotting in the magnet edge, it
could promise to provide a new flux barrier in the magnet
surface and optimize the magnet flux distribution in the air
gap of the PMMs.
II. PMM MODEL PROPOSED
The Initial model, one of step model and the two steps
model of PMMs studied in this paper as illustrated in Figures
1, 2, and 3, respectively.

Keywords—cogging torque, finite element, model, permanent

magnet machine, Slotting

I. INTRODUCTION
Permanent magnet machines (PMMs) have widely used
in many applications nowadays since they have some
advantages of performance compared with the other electrical Stator
machine type. The advantages of the PMMs such as compact slot
structure, simple, small size mechanical construction, easy to
maintain, and good reliability, high torque density, and higher Magnet edge Magnet center Magnet edge
efficiency [1-2]. However, the PMMs usually generate a
negative torque, i.e., cogging torque (CT). The presence of
Fig. 1. Original model
CT in PMMs can reduce the performance of the PMMs in an
application, particularly in a particular application such as in
In Figure 1, it observed that the magnet structure of the
robotics, numerical control CNC, renewable energy system,
PMMs adopted the conventional model. In the model, the
and many more. This paper developed and proposed a new
height of the magnet was homogenous in all parts of the
technique to reduce the CT in PMMs. In this study, the CT
magnet structure. Thus, the height in the edge of the magnet
reduction was investigated in the stage of design. The CT in
is the same as the height in the center.
PMMs is the circumferential component of an attractive force
Figure 2 shows the one step slot employed in the magnet
that attempts to maintain the alignments between the slot
edge. By using one step slot causes the magnetic flux
opening width of the stator teeth and the permanent magnets
distribution to become changing and decreasing in the edge
[1]. Many CT reduction techniques have been developed and
of the magnet. Also, the total magnetic flux flowing into the
proposed to minimize the CT in PMMs for the last two
air gap becomes reduced.
decades. The reports related to the CT reduction technique
Figure 3 represents the magnet model of PMM proposed
and its achievement also have been documented worldwide.
studied in this paper. In this model, a-two steps slot was
Some of the well-known CT reduction techniques such as
employed in the magnet edge to achieve and reduce the total
such to shift or segment of the magnet pole [1]-[3], to
magnet flux flowing into the air-gap of the PMM. Using the
optimize the magnet pole arc [2],[3],[4],[7] to skew or
two steps slot in the magnet edge might expect the reduction
step skew in magnet or stator core [3],[8],[9], to reduce the
of the amplitude of the CT. All the CT of PMM models

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studied and compared in this paper. They are the structure of
48 slots /6 poles.
One step of slot
Fig. 2. One step model
Two steps slot
Fig. 3. Proposed Model
Figure 3 represents the magnet model of PMM proposed
studied in this paper. In this model, a-two steps slot was
employed in the magnet edge to achieve and reduce the total
magnet flux flowing into the air-gap of the PMM. Using the
two steps slot in the magnet edge might expect the reduction
of the amplitude of the CT. All the CT of PMM models
studied and compared in this paper. They are the structure of
48 slots /6 poles.
In the beginning, to achieve the CT reduction of the
proposed model, the structure of the proposed model was
designed using Response Surface Method (RSM). Based on
the RSM, there were 5 (five) parameters with 4 (four) ranges
of the magnet were considered to be restructured. Based on
the number of parameters and range of the model, there 16
machine models have been assessed. With the RSM, 5 (five)
parameters of the magnet restructured, as shown in Table 1,
i.e: A1 is the First length of magnet edge Slotting, A2 is the
first height of magnet edge slotting, A3 is the second length
of magnet edge slotting, A4 is the second height of magnet
edge slotting, and A5 is the pole arc of magnet edge slotting.
The physical parameters of 48 slot/6 pole of the PMMs, as
shown in Table 1.of 48 slot/6 pole of the PMMs as shown in
Table 1.
The Cross-section area of the slotted edge of the magnet
poles compared with the original model as well as one step
slotting, shown that the magnet poles cross-section area of the
two steps slotting decreases to 0.000437468 m2, the one-step
slotting to 0.000444829 m2 while the original structure is
0.000529741 m2. And since the magnets poles occupy the
same place in the rotor core, consequently, the air gap of two
steps slotting increases to be 0.00189735 m2. The increasing
of air-gap cross-section leads to reduce the air gap reluctance,
which intern effects of reducing the peak value of CT and
increasing the frequency of CT. The physical parameters of
48 slot/6 pole of the PMMs, as shown in Table 2. .
TABLE II. TESTED PARAMETERS FOR PROPOSED MODEL
PMM

TABLE I. RESPONSE SURFACE METHOD (RSM)

III. COGGING TOURQUE CALCULATION

In this paper, the CT of the PMMs have been calculated
with assumption that there is no current in the stator winding
of the machines. As a consequence, the effect of conductor in
stator slot in stator core and armature saturation was also
negligible. In this study, the magnetic flux density saturation
in the machine core was negligible and the magnet flux
distribution have assumed to be radial magnetization. The
formulae related to calculate the CT of PMMs have been used
[2], [3]. In the following section of this paper, author have
used this formula (1) [2].
1 𝑑𝑅𝑔
𝑇𝑐 = − ∅2𝑔 (1)
2 𝑑𝜃
where ∅𝟐
𝒈 is the magnet flux in the air-gap, Rg is the air-gap
reluctance through which the passed, and θ is the rotor
position of the PMMs. It can be observed in equation (1), the
CT of PMMs might be minimized by declining the air gap
magnetic flux and or air gap reluctance. However, the
solution to reduce the CT by declining the magnetic flux air

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gap might be not a good choice if in PMMs design address in
this parameter, since the magnetic flux is one of important
parameter to increase the PMM output. The most effective
technique to reduce CT is to optimize the magnet pole
structure. In this study, a-two steps of slotting in magnet edge
slotting were proposed. The advantages of this technique is
laid in the fact that by employing the two steps of slotting
magnet edge slotting, could compounded with another
existing CT reduction technique. It can be observed that the
air-gap reluctance in equation (1) varies periodically, thus
causes the CT of the PMM to be periodic. The magnetic flux
in air-gap is influenced by the normal flux density and cross
section area of air-gap as shown in equation (2):
Fig. 4. Initial/Original Model
∅𝑔 = ∫ 𝐵. 𝑑𝐴 (2)
The CT of the PMMs also can be formulated as a Fourier
series shown in equation (3):
𝑇𝑐 = ∑∞
𝑘=1 𝑇𝑚𝑘 𝑠𝑖𝑛 (𝑚𝑘𝜃) (3)

where m is the least common multiple (LCM) of the

number of stator slot (Ns) and the number of pole (Np), k is an
integer and Tmk is a Fourier coefficient. For the PMM with 48
slots/6 poles. In integral slot number, each pole of the PMMs
see a whole number multiple stator teeth so that the CT
effects of each magnet are in phase and added [3]. The CT
contribution for each magnet can be described by equation
(4):
Fig. 5. One step sloting model
𝑇𝑐 = 𝑁𝑝 ∑∞𝑘=1 𝑇𝑝𝑁𝑠 𝑘 𝑠𝑖𝑛 (𝑁𝑠 𝑘𝜃) (4)
where TpNsk is a per magnet CT coefficient. The air-gap
reluctance in equation (1) also can be analyzed by using
equation (5):
𝑔
𝑅𝑔 = 𝜇 (5)
0 𝐴𝑔
where Rg, g, Ag are the air gap reluctance, air gap length,
air-gap cross section area and µ0 magnetic permeability in air
gap respectively.
IV. SIMULATION USING FEMM 4.2
1. Magnetix Flux Distribution
Using the FEMM 4.2 and coupled with LUA 4.0 scripting,
the PMMs characteristics were investigated [7],[11],[12]-[14].
By the combination of FEMM and LUA 4.0 could increase a Fig. 6. Two steps slotting model (Proposed Model)
quick execution for the implementation of a complete
simulation of a specific PMMs. Another advantage of LUA Figures 4, 5 and 6, shows that the value of the flux
application is the capability of parallel computation can be distribution due to the changing in the magnet structure will
achieved. At the beginning of each simulation, the simulated not destroy the value of the machine's core losses, as it could
of PMMs structure were generated in Auto-CAD then be observed that all the value of the flux density
exported to the FEMM file. Comparisons of air gap magnetic approximately 1.436 Tesla. It has been found that if it
flux distribution and CT for the PMMs studied were implemented to the proposed method, it will not change the
investigated. This means that the proposed PMM model (two- core losses of the proposed model.
steps slot) was promising for the presence of two steps of
2. Normal Flux Density
slotting in the magnets that do not distort the balance of
magnetic force in the air gap of the machine of one-step The Simulation result shows for the air gap normal flux
model. density in every magnet shown as follows: Two Steps
Slotting is 0.539500 Tesla, One steps of slotting is 0.538946
Tesla, Original Model is 0.674042 Tesla
The distribution of air gap normal flux density at different
mechanical rotor positions of the studied PMM can be
predicted by numerical analysis based on the finite element,
as shown in Fig. 7. It is noted that the air gap magnetic density

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flux wave is a little bit distorted. It is caused by the slot
opening in the core of the stator of all machines.
Fig. 7. Normal flux density of proposed model
Figure.8 shows that the slot at the edge of the magnet rotor
in the Proposed Model and Model 1 (one-step model) does
not affect the changing of the variation rate of magnetic flux
density wave for all experimental machines. This means that
the proposed machine Model is promising for the presence of
two steps of slotting in the magnets does not distort the
balance of magnetic force in the air gap of the machine of the
proposed Model. A PMMs machine under eccentricity,
which is the magnetic force in the air gap is unbalanced, and
the variation rate of air-gap magnetic flux density is more
frequent compared with a health PMMs machine [13].
The magnetic flux density in the core of the stator and
rotor investigated using finite element simulation. The
maximum values in the core of stator are around 1.4839 Tesla
for the Initial Model. For the reason of clear demonstration,
three of the maximum magnetic flux density in the stator teeth
shown in Fig.8. Simulation results show that the slotting in
the magnet edge does not affect the magnetic density flux in
the core of the rotor and stator. However, the proposed model
has a little bit higher density flux in the stator core compared
with model 1. For the magnetic flux density in the rotor core,
the proposed Model has the highest around 1.2 Tesla among
three machines structures, and Initial Model is 1.4839 Tesla
and for Model 1 and proposed Model is 1.20813 Tesla,
1.20968 Tesla, respectively.
Fig. 8. Flux density in the core of stator and rotor of original model
Fig. 9. Flux density of one step slotting model
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Fig. 10. Flux density of proposed model
Considering the limit of density flux magnet in the core
of the rotor is around 1.5-1.6 Tesla, it can be noted that the
presence of slot at the edge of the magnets may affect to
decreasing of magnetic flux density in the rotor core. If the
density magnet flux in the core of the rotor above 1.6 Tesla,
the performance of the machine is bad and the cross-section
of the core must be resized. The density flux in the stator
shown in Fig. 8 can be observed that the slot at the edge of
the magnet rotor does not affect or only a little bit the
increasing of magnetic flux density in stator core and rotor
core for the three machines. Based on the fact, it can be
concluded that the proposed model can be accepted. It should
be noted that the material of stator and rotor core this paper
is M-19 which can operate at about 1.5-1.6 Tesla. By using
the finite element analysis, the cogging torque was
investigated within 180 mechanical degrees with 1(one)
degree every step rotor rotation. For clear demonstration,
only 60 rotor mechanical degrees are depicted in Fig 8. It was
found that the cogging torque for all machines has two
pulsations for every 600 rotors mechanical degree. The CT
for Initial Model is around 0.02 N-m (peak value). It is
acceptable since the original model has the largest air-gap
reluctance among the tested models. The CT peak for model
1 is 0.015 N-m, which is lower compared with Initial
Structure. The decrement sourced from the effect of rotor
slotting in magnet and the air-gap reluctance. The CT peak
for the proposed model is 0.01 N-m; it is the lowest torque
among three experimental models.
3. Cogging Torque Comparison
The proposed model with 6 poles and 48 slots reduces the
cogging torque effectively. The significant improvement of
performance for the proposed model, as shown in Fig. 11 can
be identified by the smallest cogging torque in the beginning
15 tested points in the mechanical rotor degrees (00~150),
and the last 15 tested point in the mechanical rotor degrees of
(450~600). The maximum cogging torque of the proposed
model is 0.007031968 Nm. While the maximum CT at the
rotor rotates for the original model is 0.5830463 Nm, then we
got the CT reduction as much 98.79%. Compare with the one-
step slotting model. It is observed that the CT Reduction as
much 93.90% with the maximum CT for this one step slotting
is 0.556849257 Nm. It means that the proposed model is
highly accepted in this research. At the beginning of rotation
from motionless or at low speed, the original model and the
model 1 need more mechanical energy to attain the same
speed rotation compared with the proposed model (two-steps
model). The fluctuation distribution of cogging torque for the
proposed model.

Fig. 11. Comparisons of the CT at different mechanical angular position
V. CONCLUSION AND REMARKS
The influence of the slot opening width on the pole
magnet area was investigated in the paper. From the
simulation results, it can be concluded that the smaller cross-
section area of magnet pole results in the decrement of
cogging torque and air gap normal flux density in the Inset-
PMMs. Additional slotting in the magnet edge reduces the
magnet pole cross-section and the cogging torque. The
novelty of the proposed Model achieves to adjust the magnet
pole arc and distance without changing the rotor diameter and
stator construction.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank PT PLN for the support, so this
paper can be presented and accepted at ICT-PEP 2019 with a
free registration fee. Also thanks to the Graduate Engineering
School of the Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia for
supporting the success of this research.
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