The nonlinear influence of design parameters on the performance of brushless PM machines

The present paper describes a large-scale unitary-study for a generic topology of brushless motors operated from sine-wave current regulated drives. Firstly, a parametric model of the SPM machine, employing nine independent variables is introduced. A sensitivity analysis based on the Response Surface (RS) method is carried out to identify the non-linear correlation between the independent variables and the output functions. Finally, a multi-criteria optimization for the three specific output functions is performed through a Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm. The optimization method demonstrated in the paper is generally applicable to a wide class of brushless SPM machines. At the same time, the boundaries of the 3D pareto front are lined up with the expectations derived from the sensitivity study confirming the effectiveness of the DE algorithm. Other approaches for employing the optimization method for more practical application-dependent design studies are briefly discussed.