Design optimization of axially laminated rotors for synchronous reluctance motors

This article describes a design optimization of an axially laminated rotor of the synchronous reluctance motor, using the optimization method combined with the magnetic field analysis. The magnetic flux distribution in the synchronous reluctance motor is distorted due to the complicated rotor configuration and the influence of magnetic saturation, which results in a large number of local minimum solutions. Therefore, taking account of the magnetic saturation by the finite element method, the authors propose a novel optimization approach by coupling the stochastic search method with the deterministic one. In the optimization process a suitable objective function for the stability of machine performances is also proposed. Finally some numerical results that demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach are presented.