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5 September 2019

Analysis of Modal and Vibration Reduction of an Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor

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School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin 150080, China
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Abstract

Interior permanent magnet synchronous motors (IPMSMs) have been widely used in a variety of applications. The IPMSM will generate vibration as well as functioning like other traditional motors, which will affect the performance and the durability of the motor itself. The modal and vibration characteristics of the IPMSM and an optimization design to reduce vibration are researched in this paper. The formulas of electromagnetic force are deduced and analyzed, and a finite element model is established. The model is used for modal calculation, and the low order natural frequency is obtained. Then, the modal test is carried out by the hammering method, and the resonance frequency is found by analyzing the results. Eventually, the electromagnetic vibration is analyzed by taking the electromagnetic force as the load condition, the vibration displacement waveform is obtained, and the correctness of the dynamic calculation is verified by vibration tests. In addition, an eccentric tooth edge design is proposed to weaken the dominant radial electromagnetic force and the vibration displacement is compared with the designed prototype. This design method, which could help to reduce the vibration and noise of the IPMSM, has great potential in future applications.

1. Introduction

Permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) receive intensive attention due to their inherent merits, such as excellent efficiency, high torque density and superior controllability. In addition, the structure of the PMSM is diverse due to the particularity of its rotor. Based on these advantages, the PMSM has successively replaced various traditional motors and been applied in different industrial applications. At present, the production of the PMSM requires intelligent and lightweight materials, thus the aluminum alloy casing or the thin-walled casing has been gradually adopted, which makes it necessary to carry out modal analysis and a vibration calculation of the motor. Some applications have higher requirements for the vibration and noise of motors, such as electric vehicles, precision instruments, aerospace and servo industries [1]. Electromagnetic vibration is generated by the interaction of the electromagnetic force in the motor between the stator and the casing. Finding the relationship between the characteristic frequencies of vibration and the natural frequencies of the motor can make the motor lightweight and avoid resonance [2,3].
Recently, many scholars at home and abroad have performed thorough studies that consider modal analysis and vibration characteristics of the motor. The authors conducted modal analysis for different types of motors [4,5,6,7,8]. A PMSM for electric vehicles was researched to analyze the relationship between the acoustic spectrum frequency and the natural frequency [4]. A linear motor was taken as an example to calculate the first six natural frequencies of the motor by a finite element analysis [5]. Induction motors were researched in [6,7,8]. The authors calculated the natural frequencies of the motors and their parts in [6,7] and modal analysis of a stator with a complex shape in the induction motor was carried out in [8]. In addition, the influence of various parts of a motor on the natural frequency of the whole motor was studied in [9,10,11,12]. References [9,10] primarily analyzed the natural frequencies of the stator and the stator with casing, and the influence of end caps on the natural frequencies of the stator was considered [10]. Modal analysis of the stator core was conducted in [11,12], and [11] focused on the stator in PMSM with concentrated winding, and the stator structure of the PMSM for electric vehicles was researched in [12]. This study considered the impacts of the windings and winding ends on the natural frequency of the stator core, and the correctness of the finite element calculation results was verified by modal test. The natural frequencies of the inner rotor and the outer rotor of the permanent magnet motor were carried out respectively by the finite element calculation and test [13,14]. The vibration characteristics of the PMSM were studied in [15,16]. Reference [15] researched the vibration and noise characteristics of the coaxial magnetic gear by the electromagnetic forces, and [16] noted that when the order and frequency of the electromagnetic force and the natural frequency of the motor are accordant will lead to motor resonance. The methodologies to reduce vibration were studied in [17,18,19] and [20]. Reference [17] proposed a vibration suppression method for a planar motor on the basis of modal force constraint. In view of the structural characteristics of PMSM, many researchers have begun to study the method to suppress vibration and noise by changing the stator and rotor structure of PMSM. Considering that electromagnetic vibration is mainly caused by the radial electromagnetic force of the stator teeth, most people consider slotting the stator teeth to suppress vibration. References [18] and [19] all proposed to suppress vibration by slotting the stator teeth, and the influence of the groove shape, groove depth and notch width on the electromagnetic force of the motor is analyzed and compared, but does not indicate the influence of the slot on the performance of the motor. The vibration of the prototype motor in [18] is reduced by 40.7% after optimization. Reference [20] proposed the method that using new rotor tooth with slot on each side to reduce the vibration of a switched reluctance motor. The vibration of the slotted motor is reduced 8.8% compared to the normal motor. The groove type on the stator teeth is rectangular in [18,19], and [20] presented a new type of rotor tooth with a slot on each side. The optimized design in this paper is eccentric tooth edge design, the top arc was offset some distance along the radial direction, and the vibration displacement after optimization is reduced by 47% compared to before optimization. The output torque and output torque fluctuation of the motor before and after optimization were also compared in this paper.
This paper presents a 3 KW PMSM as the research object. The distribution of the motor electromagnetic force and orders of the electromagnetic force waves are calculated by finite element software and the Maxwell tensor formula. The characteristic frequency, which has a greater impact on vibration can be found by spectrum analysis. Then the 3D finite element model is established, the natural frequencies of the stator and the motor are calculated, and the modal tests are completed. The time-varying electromagnetic force is applied as an excitation force on the 3D model to calculate the vibration displacement, and spectrum analysis has been accomplished, so that the characteristic frequency of the vibration displacement can be found. The correctness of the finite element results is verified by vibration tests. Finally, the eccentric tooth edge design is proposed to weaken the dominant radial electromagnetic force and further reduce vibration noise.

2. Basic Parameters of the Motor and Laboratory Testing Platform

2.1. Basic Parameters of the Motor and Magnetic Field Calculation Model

The primary data of the prototype motor is listed in Table 1 and the 2D transient electromagnetic field model is shown in Figure 1.
Table 1. The parameters of the prototype motor.
Figure 1. Calculation model of the prototype motor.

2.2. Laboratory Testing Platform

Modal and vibration tests of the PMSM are carried out in this paper. The low order natural frequencies and the vibration displacement amplitudes of the motor are measured respectively. The AVANT MI-7008 dynamic data acquisition analyzer is used for data analysis and processing in modal and vibration tests, and the maximum sampling frequency is 192 kHz. A three-direction acceleration sensor is applied to the modal test, and the sensitivity in X, Y, and Z direction is 104.18 mV/g, 100.98 mV/g and 98.34 mV/g, respectively. A unidirectional acceleration sensor is applied to the vibration test and its sensitivity is 100 mV/g. The modal test platform is shown in Figure 2a. The motor is suspended to measure the free mode of the motor, due to the human factors, the intensity and hammering direction are random, and we used multiple measurements to reduce the experimental error. A magnetic powder brake is used as the load and connected to the motor by a torque-speed transducer in the vibration test. The sensor is placed on the top of the casing to obtain the waveforms of the vibration displacement, and the vibration test platform is set up as shown in Figure 2b.
Figure 2. The laboratory test platform. (a) Modal test; (b) Vibration test.

3. Analysis and Calculation of Electromagnetic Force

3.1. Basic Theories of Electromagnetic Force

The air gap synthetic magnetic motive force (MMF) of the motor can be obtained as follows:
f ( θ , t ) = f p ( θ , t ) + υ f υ ( θ , t ) + μ f μ ( θ , t ) ,
where p is the number of pole-pairs, υ is the order of stator harmonics, and μ is the order of rotor harmonics. The first term on the right side of the equation is the synthetic MMF of the pth wave, that is, the fundamental MMF. The second term is the MMF of the stator winding, and the third term is the MMF of PM.
fp (θ, t) is the fundamental MMF of the synthetic magnetic field, which changes with space and time. It can be written after expansion as:
f p ( θ , t ) = F p cos ( p θ ω 1 t φ 0 ) ,
where Fp is the amplitude of the synthetic MMF, ω1 is the angular frequency of the synthetic MMF, and φ0 is the initial phase angle of the synthetic MMF.
The equation of air gap permeability can be expressed as:
Λ ( θ ) = Λ 0 + k Λ k cos ( k Z 1 θ ) ,
where Λ0 is the constant amplitude part of air gap permeability, Λk is the amplitude of the kth harmonic permeability, and Z1 is the number of stator slots.
Ignoring the influence of the saturation, the transient value of the air gap magnetic flux density can be expressed as follows:
b ( θ , t ) = f ( θ , t ) Λ ( θ ) = f p ( θ , t ) + υ F υ ( θ , t ) + μ F μ ( θ , t ) Λ ( θ ) ,
If other harmonic magnetic fields are ignored, the expression of transient fundamental magnetic flux density can be calculated by (2) and (4):
b 1 = f p ( θ , t ) Λ 0 = B 1 cos ( p θ ω 1 t φ 0 ) ,
where B1 is the amplitude of air gap magnetic flux density.
According to the Maxwell tensor method, the radial electromagnetic force acting per unit of area on the stator teeth is:
p r = 1 2 μ 0 ( B n 2 B t 2 ) 1 2 μ 0 B n 2 ,
where Bn is the radial air gap magnetic flux density, Bt is the tangential air gap magnetic flux density, which is neglected in the calculation, and μ0 is air permeability.
At this time, the expression of the electromagnetic force generated by the fundamental magnetic field can be calculated by (5) and (6):
p r 1 = b 1 2 2 μ 0 = 1 2 B 1 2 2 μ 0 [ 1 + cos 2 ( p θ ω 1 t φ 0 ) ] = p 0 + p 1 p 0 = B 1 2 4 μ 0 p 1 = B 1 2 4 μ 0 cos ( 2 p θ 2 ω 1 t 2 φ 0 ) ,
where p0 is the constant part of the radial force and p1 is the variable part of the radial force.
It can be observed from the variable part of the electromagnetic force that the harmonic amplitude of the double frequency should be maximum without considering the constant part of radial force, so it has the greatest impact on motor vibration. According to the data of the prototype motor, the frequency which has the greatest influence on motor vibration characteristics is 75 Hz.
q is the number of slots per pole and per phase of the three-phase stator winding, assuming that the order of the MMF harmonics of the stator winding is υ, the pole-pair harmonic generated by stator winding can be expressed as:
υ p = ( 6 k 1 + 1 ) p , k 1 = 0 , ± 1 , ± 2 , ± 3 , ... ,
The pole-pair harmonic generated by the PM on rotor can be expressed as:
μ p = ( 2 k 2 + 1 ) p ,   k 2 = 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , ...
The interaction of the magnetic field is generated by the three-phase winding of the stator and the PM under load. Assuming that the order of the radial force wave under load is r, the order of the force wave can be given by the following equations:
r = ( μ + υ ) p = 2 p ( k 2 + 3 k 1 ) + 1 ,
r = ( μ υ ) p = 2 p ( k 2 3 k 1 )
It can be observed from (10) and (11) that the orders of the electromagnetic force wave of the integer slot motor can only be zero or the integral multiple of the number of poles. The number of poles of the prototype motor is 6 in this paper, low orders of the electromagnetic force wave are 0th and 6th, and the others are integer multiples of six. The orders of the radial electromagnetic force wave of the prototype motor are given in Table 2.
Table 2. Order of radial electromagnetic force wave of prototype motor.

3.2. Electromagnetic Force by FEM Calculation

According to the primary data of the prototype motor given in Table 1, a 2D finite element calculation model is established. A current source is applied and the control mode of id = 0 is adopted in this paper because the radial electromagnetic force during the start-up process is not taken into account in calculation. The distribution of flux-density under rated-load condition is shown in Figure 3, and it can be observed that the flux density is larger near the magnetic bridge and the stator yoke. The radial air gap magnetic flux density of the motor under rated-load condition is shown in Figure 4.
Figure 3. Distribution of flux-density under rated-load condition (t = 0.08 s).
Figure 4. Radial air gap flux density under rated-load condition.
The waveform and harmonic analysis of the spatial electromagnetic force density are shown in Figure 5. It can be observed that the low-order electromagnetic force waves are 0th and 6th, and the others are integer multiples of six, which is consistent with the theoretical calculations.
Figure 5. Waveform and harmonic analysis of spatial electromagnetic force density; (a) Spatial electromagnetic force density; (b) Spectrum analysis.
Figure 6 shows the waveform and spectrum analysis of the time-varying electromagnetic force density. From the spectrum analysis result, it can be seen that the frequency which has the greatest influence on vibration is 75 Hz, which is double power frequency. The other frequencies are integer multiples of power frequency, which is consistent with the previous theoretical calculation results. The DC component in the spectrum analysis results is 0 Hz, which has little effect on motor vibration, and the amplitudes of the electromagnetic force density after 825 Hz are relatively small, so these two factors are not considered in this paper.
Figure 6. Waveform and spectrum analysis of time-varying electromagnetic force density. (a) Time-varying radial electromagnetic force density; (b) Spectrum analysis.

5. Conclusions

In this paper, a 3 kW, 380 V, 6-pole IPMSM is taken as the research object, and the orders of the electromagnetic force wave and the natural frequencies of the electromagnetic force are deduced. The natural frequencies of the stator and the motor are calculated respectively. The electromagnetic vibrations of the prototype motor are analyzed, and the simulation results of the vibration displacement are verified by the experimental results. The eccentric tooth edge design is also proposed to reduce the motor vibration. The conclusions obtained are as follows:
(1) For an integer slot motor, the electromagnetic force is generated by the interaction of the MMF of the fundamental wave, the winding and the PM. However, the amplitude of the electromagnetic force at the double frequency generated by the MMF of the fundamental wave is the maximum, and it has the greatest influence on motor vibration. The decrease of the electromagnetic force at the double frequency can effectively reduce the electromagnetic vibration.
(2) The characteristic frequency of the electromagnetic force is 75 Hz, which has the greatest influence on vibration. The characteristic frequency is much smaller than the natural frequencies of the second radial modal shape, so the motor is not prone to violent resonance.
(3) An acceleration sensor is used to collect the vibration displacement waveform of the prototype motor under the rated load condition, and the spectrum analysis is carried out. The simulation results are compared with the simulation results to verify the correctness of the transient dynamic analysis method and simulation used in this paper.
(4) We have proposed an unconventional stator tip arc shape to reduce the unevenness of the radial magnetic density distribution at the stator tip in this paper, thereby reducing the motor vibration caused by the radial force. The method used in this paper is different from the method of increasing the air gap. The method used in this paper reduces the radial electromagnetic force and effectively reduces the torque fluctuation, which is beneficial to weaken the vibration of the motor and make the operation of the motor more stable. The effect of the radial electromagnetic force density is greatly reduced, so the method used in this paper has little effect on the electromagnetic performance of the motor.

Author Contributions

Y.X. (Ying Xie). supervised all process; Y.X. (Yu Xia) implemented simulation; Z.L. analyzed the data; F.L. checked paper format.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (51977052); National Engineering Research Center of Large Electric Machines and Heat Transfer Technology.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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