2021 Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies (i-PACT)
Investigations on Finite Element Analysis of
Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Using
ANSYS RMxprt and Maxwell for Electric Vehicle
Applications
Subha Lakshmi N
Department of EEE
2021 Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies (i-PACT) | 978-1-6654-2691-6/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/I-PACT52855.2021.9696899
Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology
Coimbatore, India
nsubhalakshmi90@gmail.com
Abstract—As the current scenario of research is on Permanent
Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) which play a vital role
in Electric Vehicles (EV). This paper emphasize on 2.2 kW
PMSM suitable for EV applications. The machine geometry is
constructed in RMxpert based on the theoretical calculations and
validated. The performance of the validated machine has been
simulated and the results are presented. Further Finite Element
Analysis of PMSM is carried out using ANSYS Maxwell 2D and
the flux distribution in stator and permanent magnet has been
presented and analyzed. The machine performance under loaded
condition is analyzed for enhancement.
Index Terms—Finite Element Analysis (FEM), Permanent
Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM), flux distribution, ANSYS
Maxwell 2D.
I. I NTRODUCTION
The widely used motor in electric vehicles is Permanent
Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSM) and in regulating speed
drives. As the efficiency, energy concentration and torque –in-
ertia ratios are all higher and thus it is featured in high perfor-
mance servo application. As different shapes and sizes of per-
manent magnets can be used depending upon application, the
EMF in the PMSM is more complicated. The default method
to determine magnetic field distribution with equivalent flux
path in the PMSM produce error and thus ANSYS software
produce errorless result which can be used for analysis and to
enhance the performance of the PMSM [1]. The PMSM has
several advantages compared with other AC servo drives [2].
For the constant air gap flux the permanent magnet used in
the rotor make unnecessary through the stator where the stator
current only produce torque. Thus it is more efficient as it will
operate at high power factor for same output. [3] As the finite
element analysis is utilised in various applications such as
Electric Vehicle, construction of wind power station and power
steering which are analysed in the below papers. Finite element
method helps in determining the accurate electromagnetic field
distribution and here we have utilized ANSYS software.Under
the loaded condition the coordinate axis armature reaction
magnetic field is obtained.The flux leakage can be calculated
978-1-6654-2691-6/21/ $31.00 © 2021 IEEE
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Allirani S
Department of EEE
Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College
Coimbatore, India
allirani.saminathan@srec.ac.in
using flux density and Vector potential [4]. The literature
discuss on the application of PMSM used in power steering
of a car. The two stages described are the FEM is used to
compute the magnetic field distribution and the next stage is
to simulate simultaneously the electromagnetic process. Thus
the result shows the recommendation of off grid power inverter
can be used in this application [5]. The paper describes about
the FEM is used to learn the effect of internal short circuits
fault occurred in stator winding which is simulated and export
the circuit to simplorer for the implementation of inverter and
the control circuitry. The four steps involved in FEA are to
validate the model, to define the geometrical parameter and
to construct the 2D model, to define the physical parameters
and to solve the problem stated [6]. This paper proposes
the construction of verticle axis rotation of 2kW generator
which is designed for small wind power station. The analysis
is used to determine the distribution of temperature inside
the machine using ANSYS software [7]. From the above
literature study it is evident that a proper design of electrical
machine is required for specific application. Also, the PMSM
is predominating in EV applications. In this paper, a 2.2kW
interior PMSM is designed for EV applications especially in
2 wheelers and 3 wheelers application. The paper is organized
as follows chapter 1 describes introduction, chapter 2 briefs
about PMSM and its design, chapter 3 explains the geometry
construction using RMxprt, chapter 4 presents the simulation
results obtained through RMxprt. chapter 5 presents the results
of magnetic field distribution of stator and permanent magnets
in PMSM using analysis software, chapter 6 describes the
results obtained and finally the paper has been concluded in
chapter 7.
II. DESIGN OF PMSM
The PMSM are chosen compared with the other type of
AC motors as there is no mechanical commutators, thus the
reduction of wear and tear of brushes is reduced and the
life span increases. Also the PMSM is best suitable for high
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 2021 Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies (i-PACT)

performance servo applications because of its high efficiency TABLE II

[8]. When compared to other control technique the vector PMSM STATOR DIMENSIONS
control is preferred as the machine is performed under two
coordinate axis. Thus the motor does not include the rotor
voltage equations as there is no external source connected to
the rotor magnet and thus the rotor flux vary with time. The
basic structure of PMSM is shown in fig.1 which depicts the
stator and rotor dimensions [9].

TABLE III
PMSM ROTOR DIMENSIONS

Peripheral speed of the motor is given as given in equation

(1)
Fig. 1. Structure of PMSM V a = pi∗ D∗ ns (1)
The output equation is given by equation (2)
Here a 2.2kW PMSM has been considered and the machine
dimensions are calculated as per the equations 1 to 6.The Q = 1.1(Ba v) ∗ ac ∗ Kw ∗ 10( − 3))V a2 L/ns (2)
machine specifications are given in table I and the machine
The output coefficient is calculated using the formula given in
dimensions are given in tables II and III. By using the designed
equation (3)
motor dimensions, a machine geometry is constructed using
RMxprt tool box and the performance analysis was carried Co = 11 ∗ (Ba v) ∗ ac ∗ Kw ∗ 10( − 3)) (3)
out by doing simulation in RMxprt. The validated machine
has been exported to ANSYS 2D EM toolbox and the FEA The stator inner diameter and length are calculated as per
analysis were carried out and the results are presented. equation (4)
L = D/4 ∗ L/T (4)
A. Stator
The stator outer diameter is calculated using the equation (5)

TABLE I D0 = D + 2(ds + dc ) (5)

PMSM DESIGN SPECIFICATION
Fig. 2 shows the stator geometry construction of PMSM in
RMxpert
B. Rotor
The rotor outer diameter is found using the equation (6).
[10]
Dr = D − (2 ∗ airgap) (6)
Fig. 3 shows the rotor construction of PMSM along with
damper windings.

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 2021 Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies (i-PACT)

TABLE IV
STATOR WINDING

Fig. 2. Stator Geometry of PMSM using RMxpert

Fig. 3. PMSM Rotor

C. Simulation Using RMxprt

The ANSYS RMxpert design toolkit is used for the de-
sign and analysis of any motor. The FEM is used in this
paper. Static electric fields, static magnetic fields, time varying
magnetic fields and transient magnetic fields are determined
using RMxprt tool. Starting with a model in both RMxprt and
Maxwell the various parameters and data has been entered in
the circuits[11]. The fig. 4 shows the PMSM motor geometry
built using RMxprt for the respective specification.
Fig. 5. Stator winding
Fig.5 shows the winding layout of the armature winding of
PMSM.
E. Permanent Magnet
As this motor is designed for EV applications, it is preferred
to use Neodymium Magnet for rotor in order to reduce the
size and weight of the motor. After the simulation the magnet
dimensions has been finalized for PMSM and are shown in
Table V.

TABLE V
PERMANENT MAGNET DATA

Fig. 4. PMSM RMxprt overview

Fig. 6 shows the layout of permanent magnets used in the

D. Stator Winding rotor of PMSM

From the design summary sheet generated after simulation, F. Material Consumption
the stator winding parameters like winding resistances and Table VI shows the material consumption for the entire
reactances have been obtained and shown in table IV . machine. The netweight of the motor is less than 5 kg. The

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 2021 Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies (i-PACT)

Fig. 6. Permanent magnet poles in a rotor

Fig. 7. Starting Torque Vs Speed

TABLE VI
MATERIAL CONSUMPTION

simulated results are tabulated as in Table VII which includes

the induced voltages, phase currents, specific electric loading
and armature current density, etc. From the table VII, the
efficiency of the motor is obtained as as 86.69 Fig. 8. Power factor Vs Torque angle
III. SIMULATION RESULTS
A 2.2 kW PMSM was designed in Ansys RMxprt and the
be exported from RMxprt and the FEM analysis is done
performance curves are obtained as in fig 7 to fig.11. Fig 7
[12].The fig.12 shows the flowchart of general FEM. The
shows the curve between starting torque Vs speed. Fig.8 shows
following experimental results of Maxwell 2D is obtained
the power factor Vs torque angle Fig.9 shows the Input Line
by exporting the data from RMxprt. The calculated values
current Vs Torque angle
are designed in 2D platform to analyze the finite elements
Fig.10 shows the Induced winding voltage at no load Fig.11
parameters.The performance analysis of PMSM was carried
shows the Efficiency Vs Torque angle
out using Ansys RMxprt and then the FEA is carried out using
IV. FEA ANALYSIS USING MAXWELL 2D Ansys Maxwell 2D and the results are presented here. Fig 13
ANSYS software is the interactive tool to determine the shows the overall 2D view and also the other figures show
FEM and thermal analysis in the machine.The Rmxpert is
used to construct the machine and the Maxwell 2D can

TABLE VII
FULL-LOAD DATA

Fig. 9. Input Line current Vs Torque angle

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 2021 Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies (i-PACT)
Fig. 10. Induced winding voltage at no load
Fig. 11. Efficiency Vs Torque angle
Fig. 12. Flowchart of General Finite Element Analysis Method
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the magnetic field distribution like current density J (M/A),
Magnetic flux density B (w/m2 ) Magnetic field intensity H
(A/m), and Magnetic vector potential A (Wb /m), etc. Figs 17
to 22 shows the wave forms of the induced voltages, currents
and flux linkages. Also presented here for the torque, output
power and efficiency. Fig.13 shows the 2D view of PMSM
Fig. 13. PMSM Maxwell 2D view
motor in ANSYS Maxwell.The rated voltage is 415V. Fig.14
Fig. 14. Mawell 2D view of J Vector lines
shows the 2D view of J vector lines in PMSM motor. The
current density values are listed adjacent by the stator.The
direction flow of magnitude can be visible in the figure shown
indicated by arrows. Fig.15 shows the 2D view of H in
PMSM motor. Fig.16 shows the 2D view of the effective field
lines in the stator in PMSM motor. Fig.17 shows the induced
phase voltages of all the three phases. Fig.18 shows the flux
waveforms of PMSM.These flux waveforms are due to the
function of both rotor positions. Fig.19 shows the three phase
transient current when PMSM is operated and with respect
to time axis. Fig.20 shows the three phase induced voltages
of PMSM in all three phases. Fig.21 shows the 2D torque
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 2021 Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies (i-PACT)

Fig. 18. Mawell 2D three phase Flux linkage

Fig. 15. Mawell 2D view of H

Fig. 19. Mawell 2D three phase Transient current

waveforms of PMSM. Fig.22 shows the 2D power waveforms

Fig. 16. Mawell 2D view of Flux lines
of PMSM. Power is proportional to voltage and current.
V. CONCLUSION
The work carried out in this paper aimed and focussed to
design a 2.2kW PMSM for electric vehicle applications. The
machine dimensions are calculated as per the design steps and
then validated through simulation in ANSYS RMxprt toolbox.
The performance curves and the efficiency were obtained

Fig. 17. Mawell 2D view of Flux lines

Fig. 20. MMawell 2D three phase Induced voltage

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 2021 Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies (i-PACT)

[6] Manel Fitouri, Yemna BenSalem, Mohamed Naceur Abdelkrim, “Anal-

ysis and Co-Simulation of Permanent Magnet Sychronous Motor with
short-circuit fault by Finite Element Method”,IEEE proceedings of 13th
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[7] D. Mazur ,“Thermal Analysis of the Permanent Magnet Synchronous
Generator with the Use of Ansys Fluent”,IEEE on Electrodynamics,
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[8] Zhou, P., Rahman, M.A., Jabbar, M.A. “Field circuit analysis of per-
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30(4), pp. 1350-1359, 1994.
[9] Jaswant Singh, B. Singh, S P Singh, “Performance Evaluation of Direct
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[10] A.K.Sawhney, “A Course in Electrical Machine Design”, Dhanpat Rai
and Sons, New Delhi, 2013.
[11] Dr.S.Allirani, Ms.H.Vidhya, T.Aishwarya, T.Kiruthika, V.Kowsalya, “
Design and Performance Analysis of Switched Reluctance Motor using
ANSYS Maxwell”, IEEE Xplore, Dec 2018.
Fig. 21. Mawell 2D Torque [12] ANSYS Maxwell V16 Training Manual © 2013 ANSYS, Inc.

Fig. 22. Mawell 2D powers

and discussed. Then the finite element analysis were carried

out by using Ansys Maxwell EM suite and the results have
been discussed. From the result obtained it is found that the
efficiency of the motor is 86.69 percentage.The Maxwell 2D
results gives the magnetic field distribution of PMSM which
helps in improving the performance of motor. Thus it can
be implemented for Electric vehicle applications apart from
emerging battery technology.

R EFERENCES

[1] N.Subha Lakshmi, S.Allirani, “Realization And Encompassment Of

Torque And Speed Pulsations Depriciation In Permanent Magnet Syn-
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Synchronous Motor Drive with Constant Torque Angle Control”, Ad-
vance in Electronic and Electric Engineering. ISSN 2231-1297, Volume
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[3] Z.Q. Zhu. “Finite element analysis in the design of permanent magnet
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[5] Oleg S. Kachin , Alexander V. Kiselev, Alexander B. Serov ,“Research
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