Three-dimensional finite element analysis of permanent magnet brushless DC motor drives-status of the state of the art

This paper reviews advances in the state of the art of applying three-dimensional finite-element (3-D-FE) magnetic field computation techniques to the analysis and quantification of parameters and performance of permanent magnet (PM) brushless DC motors as components of brushless DC drives. The application of the powerful 3-D-FE formulation based on the coupled magnetic vector potential-magnetic scalar potential (CMVP-MSP) concept to a case study PM brushless DC motor with skewed permanent magnet mounts is reviewed and summarized. This large-scale simulation of such a motor drive system is shown to be successfully implementable using workstation type computer environments.