Design of Synchronous Reluctance Motors with Asymmetrical Flux Barriers for Torque Ripple Reduction

Synchronous reluctance (REL) motors have attracted increasing attention for high performance applications. However, REL motors can be vulnerable to high toque ripple if they are not properly designed. In this paper, a solution for reducing torque ripple of REL motors is presented. The rotors with one flux-barrier per pole is taken into consideration and the flux-barrier end angles are carefully selected. Formulas of the torque are derived and the optimal flux-barrier angle set for minimizing the torque ripple is obtained using the proposed analytical model. In addition, the slot effects are considered in the analytical model. Finally, the influence of the flux-barriers end angles on torque ripple is examined by using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) which aims to verify the analytical results.