Effects of the rotor design parameters on the torque production of a PMaSynRM for washing machine applications

This paper presents the effects and importance of the rotor design parameters on the performance of a permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance motor (PMaSynRM). At the beginning of the design, number of stator slots and rotor flux barriers are considered. Rotor design parameters such as different insulation ratios and magnet positions are investigated after choosing the number of stator slots and rotor flux barriers combination. The rotor design process is iterated with different d-q axis insulation ratios on rotor to determine the best value for maximum average torque and minimum torque ripple. Permanent magnets are placed in different combinations inside the rotor barriers and results are compared in terms of average torque, torque ripple and efficiency as well. The chosen best model is prototyped and tested. The comparison between the experimental and the simulation results are also presented.