Electromagnetic Noise and Vibration in PMSM and Their Sources: An Overview

Due to the recent electrification trend in automotive industry, electric traction motors, specially permanent magnets synchronous motors (PMSMs), have gained significant attention from the scientific community. One of the critical aspects of powertrain is noise and vibration generation. In this paper, an overview on the different sources of noise and vibration in PMSMs is presented, with specific attention and details about the mechanisms of noise generation related to the electromagnetic parameters of the machine, along with the most commonly used methods of analysis for noise and vibration. Noise is split into different categories depending on the nature of its source, and several phenomena affecting electromagnetic-generated vibrations are listed and analyzed, as this type of vibration is recognized to be the most critical type in PMSMs used in vehicle applications.