Equivalent Circuit Extraction for Hybrid Stepper Motor based on Electromagnetic Finite Element Analysis

This paper presents a simulation approach of Equivalent Circuit Extraction (ECE) for Hybrid Stepper Motors (HSM) based on Electromagnetic (EM) Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Most of the radial flux electric machine types such as Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSM) and Switched Reluctance Motors (SRM) can be characterized sufficiently in 2D FEA, whereas HSM analysis requires a computationally expensive 3D FEA due to the hybrid motor topology. Running the motor analysis to understand the electromagnetic performance for various operating conditions is even more time consuming. The proposed workflow creates a Reduced Order Model (ROM) of the motor, which can be integrated with a controller and driver for system level analysis including lumped mechanical loading dynamics to evaluate the system performance for various operating conditions. This approach is highly desirable as it runs at circuit simulation speed while maintaining the accuracy of FEA.