Programmable design of magnet shape for permanent-magnet synchronous motors with sinusoidal back EMF waveforms

The characteristics of a permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) are influenced greatly by the back-electromotive force wave-forms in the motor, which are directly related to the magnet shape. We assume that the outer surface of a magnet in a PMSM can be modeled as one part of a cylinder. Using an ANSOFT model, we optimized the radius of the magnet with respect to number of poles, rotor size, and magnet thickness when the total harmonic distortion is below 1%. We then set up a lookup table using the optimization results so that the desired outer radius of a magnet of any new PMSM motor could be derived, subject to the parameter limits. We applied this method to some PMSM prototypes, and confirmed that the calculation results are substantially accurate.