Analysis and Mitigation of AC Losses in High Performance Propulsion Motors

In this paper, the AC copper losses in classical random windings are investigated and mitigated using several techniques across a range of permanent magnet synchronous motor designs. At high operating frequencies, AC copper losses can represent a substantial share of the total loss in electrical machines, thus, reducing the machine’s overall performance, and increasing the thermal loading. Recently, different approaches for modelling AC copper losses have been proposed. This paper utilises simulation software to quantify the expected AC losses in six different propulsion motor designs. The motor designs are then modified to reduce the AC winding losses through the implementation of five different methods. Using two-dimensional finite element analysis, the magnetisation direction, magnet to airgap ratio, copper stranding, magnetic wedges and the motor slot openings are modified to reduce AC losses. The paper considers distributed, fractional, slot and concentrated windings, and the results show promising reductions across these different winding configurations.