IMPACT OF MANUFACTURING TOLERANCES ON VARIABLE SPEED

MAGNETIC NOISE & VIBRATIONS OF ELECTRIC MOTORS

Illustration with Manatee e-NVH software

Jean Le Besnerais, PhD

CEO of EOMYS Engineering
08/11/2023

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WHAT IS E-NVH?
• e-NVH = Electromagnetic Noise, Vibration, Harshness
• Magnetic noise & vibrations comes from Maxwell magnetic forces concentrated at iron / air
interface
• In automotive traction motors, magnetic forces observed by stator can be expressed as lumped radial
& tangential magnetic forces at stator tooth tips

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 WHAT IS E-NVH?
• Lumped forces can be decomposed into Operational Load Cases depending on structure of
application (stator Vs rotor), direction (radial Vs circumferential), and spatial frequency
(“wavenumber r”)
• These load cases appear at different frequencies and the association of wavenumbers/frequencies
depend on electric machine topology, load state and tolerances
• Example in a 48s8p IPMSM: r=8 occurs at 2fe while r=0 occurs at 6fe

Stator, radial, r=8 Stator, radial, r=0

2DFFT of lumped forces
8
wavenumbers

6
4
2
0
2fe 4fe 6fe 8fe frequencies

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WHAT IS E-NVH?
• High vibration & noise level can be produced at resonance

EXCITING FORCE EXCITED STRUCTURE

+ = RESONANCE

Magnetic force wave Mode (m=2,0) of the stator stack

{2fe=800 Hz, r=2} at natural frequency fnat =800 Hz Two resonance conditions:
1. Frequency match
= cos 2 + = cos 2 )cos( 2. Shape match

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IMPORTANCE OF E-NVH DURING ELECTRICAL MACHINE DESIGN
• Magnetic excitation spectrum has a sparse nature (both in time & space domains), resulting in
strong tonalities
• Example of Renault Zoe 48s4p EESM

• Discrete design variables (number of phase, slots, poles) have a direct impact on frequencies and
wavenumbers of magnetic forces so on spectrum structure
• This results in high influence on e-NVH level due to large impact on resonances (+/-20 dB)
wavenumbers

frequencies wavenumbers frequencies

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IMPORTANCE OF E-NVH DURING ELECTRICAL MACHINE DESIGN
• Continuous design variables (pole shape, slot opening, skewing angle) have a strong influence
on the magnitude of magnetic excitations without changing the structure of the spectrum

wavenumbers
wavenumbers

frequencies frequencies

• Example of pole shape in a 48s4p EESM:

Pole shoe Magnetic force level [dB]

width -60dB

Pole shoe width [mm]

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IMPORTANCE OF E-NVH DURING ELECTRICAL MACHINE DESIGN
• Overall magnetic vibration results from the constructive / destructive inferences of several
elementary vibration / excitation forces
Example 1: step skew Example 2: load effect
2
( BR + BS )= BR BR + 2BSBR + BS BS

Kim, Sung An et al. “Optimal rotor shape design of 3-step skew spoke type BLAC motor to reducing cogging
torque.” International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics 51 (2016):

Rotor flux to rotor flux r=0 12fe

Stack 1 force r=0 12fe Rotor flux to stator flux r=0 12fe
Stack 2 force r=0 12fe Stator flux to stator flux r=0 12fe
Stack 3 force r=0 12fe Overall force r=0 12fe
Overall force r=0 12fe

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IMPORTANCE OF E-NVH DURING ELECTRICAL MACHINE DESIGN
• e-NVH response is highly non-linear (not suitable to standard Design of Experiments)
• e-NVH response is highly sensitive to phase & magnitude of magnetic forces, especially around
an optimum design -> high impact of manufacturing tolerances

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MANUFACTURING TOLERANCES
• Manufacturing process can affect both geometry and magnetic properties of the electrical
machine design
• Tolerances may impact excited structure or excitation forces
• Excitation forces: magnetic circuit geometry & magnetic materials
• Excited structure: mode shapes (stiffness & mass distribution), natural frequencies & damping

E-NVH
variations

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MANUFACTURING TOLERANCES
• Focus on impact of the impact of tolerances on electromagnetic excitations
• Each tolerance may affect magnitude/phase and or wavenumber/frequencies (spectrum
structure) of excitations

Source of tolerances Effect on force Effect on force

magnitude/phase wavenumber/frequencies
BH curve ++ =

Eccentricities / uneven airgap ~ ++

Uneven magnetization + ++

Skewing angles ++ + (longitudinal wavenumbers)

• Some quiet designs may reveal noisy when including tolerances

• Robust design optimization requires a virtual e-NVH prototyping toolchain

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MANATEE SOFTWARE
• Manatee is the only software solution dedicated to e-NVH assessment and control of electric
drives throughout their development lifecycle
• Collaborative software designed for electrical, mechanical, NVH and test engineers

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MANATEE SOFTWARE
• Patented technology allows to speed-up overall e-NVH calculations of a factor 1000 compared
to general purpose FEA software without loss of accuracy
• Integrated troubleshooting tools & noise control solutions (e.g. notching, harmonic current
injection)
• Several magnetic & structural models are proposed depending on development stage of the
electrical system

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EFFECT OF B(H) CURVE
• B(H) curves vary along the manufacturing process
• Manufacturing process variations (e.g. lamination stack prestress) can lead to differences in BH
curves, resulting in eNVH level variations

1- annealed 2- after stamping & welding 3- after housing

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EFFECT OF B(H) CURVE
• Application to Toyota Prius 48s8p at 750 RPM, using BH data from Brockhaus
• Impact of 3dB on H8, 4dB at H24, <1dB at H48

1- annealed
Magnetic vibration level [dB] 2- after stamping & welding
H48 3- after housing
H24

H8

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EFFECT OF ECCENTRICITIES
• Eccentricities modify the structure of magnetic force spectrum (wavenumbers & frequencies)
• Static eccentricity adds new force harmonics {f, r+/-1} for each healthy harmonic {f, r} (not visible
in a simple stator acceleration spectrum)
• Dynamic eccentricity adds new force harmonics {f +/-fm, r+/-1} (visible in stator accelerometer
spectrum due to sidebands at mechanical frequency fm)
• Illustration with Manatee software on a 12s10p PMSM, using a 3D FEA model with rotor & stator

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EFFECT OF STATIC ECCENTRICITY
• New resonance due to H40 with mode (3,0)

no eccentricity 20% static eccentricity

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EFFECT OF STATIC ECCENTRICITY
• A healthy 12s10p PMSM produces an excitation at H40 with wavenumber r=4
• When modulated by eccentricity it also generates a parasitic excitation of wavenumber r=4-1=3
• It can be easily visualized using Operation Force Shape or Operation Deflection Shape analysis in
Manatee:

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EFFECT OF DYNAMIC ECCENTRICITY
• Dyanamic creates similar resonance with mode (3,0) but with H41

no eccentricity 20% dynamic eccentricity

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EFFECT OF MIXED ECCENTRICITY
• In case of mixed eccentricity both H40 and H41 generate a resonance

no eccentricity 20% dynamic & static eccentricity

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EFFECT OF ECCENTRICITIES
• Eccentricities transform harmonic pulsating forces (r=0) in Unbalanced Magnetic Pull
harmonics (r=+/-1)
• Variations of eccentricity can lead to variations of driveline vibrations & structure borne noise

+ =
r=0 (pulsating) eccentricity r=0+/-1=+/-1 (UMP)

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EFFECT OF UNEVEN MAGNETIZATION
• PM rotor external field has been measured by Brockhaus RotorTester, revealing uneven
magnetization of the 12s10p machine

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EFFECT OF UNEVEN MAGNETIZATION
• Uneven magnetization can be directly input in Manatee machine model

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EFFECT OF UNEVEN MAGNETIZATION
EVEN MAGNETIZATION

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EFFECT OF UNEVEN MAGNETIZATION
UNEVEN MAGNETIZATION

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EFFECT OF UNEVEN MAGNETIZATION
• Even magnetization only creates forces / vibration / noise at multiples of twice the electrical
frequency
• Uneven magnetization breaks the magnetic symmetries of rotor excitation field, resulting in new
excitation frequencies
• Uneven magnetization also creates new wavenumbers in the rotor excitation field, resulting in new
resonances

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OTHER TOLERANCES
• Other tolerances may be studied in Manatee:
- inclined eccentricities
- uneven airgap (e.g. ovalization of bore radius, effect of weldings)
- step skew angles
- temperature variations
- segmentation gaps
- magnet position
-…

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CONCLUSIONS & PERSPECTIVES
• Magnetic noise and vibrations are highly sensitive to magnetic & mechanical tolerances
• Tolerances affecting the frequencies & wavenumbers of magnetic forces are the most
important ones (e.g. uneven airgap, uneven magnetization) as they produce new resonances
• Some designs may not be robust to tolerances: motor A < motor B without eccentricity may
lead to motor A > motor B with eccentricity
• The impact of mechanical or magnetic tolerances can be quickly studied within Manatee e-NVH
software

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CONCLUSIONS & PERSPECTIVES
• Check our next technical trainings or Manatee workshops on e-NVH at
www.training.eomys.com
• Follow us on LinkedIn to get regular technical insights on e-NVH
• Ask for a free trial version of Manatee e-NVH software at www.manatee.eomys.com

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 Thank you for your attention !

Time for Questions & Answers

jean.lebesnerais@eomys.com

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