Torque ripple reduction of a modular-stator outer-rotor flux-switching permanent-magnet motor

In order to reduce the permanent magnet (PM) volume and combine the advantages of in-wheel motor, a novel modular-stator outer-rotor flux-switching permanent-magnet motor (MSOR-FSPM) whose PM volume is half of that in conventional outer-rotor flux-switching permanent-magnet (COR-FSPM) motor is proposed. However, cogging torque and torque ripple of MSOR-FSPM motor are especially worse due to the inherent double salient effect and the back-EMF harmonics caused by module stator structure. In this paper, structure and operation principle of MSOR-FSPM motor are described simply. Secondly, cogging torque and torque ripple are reduced by using traditional rotor two-step skewing method, but the result is unsatisfactory. Thirdly, a new rotor two-step skewing method is adopted since the ratio of back-EMF period to cogging torque period is the odd. Compared with traditional rotor step skewing method, the new method eliminates the even harmonics of back-EMF and remains the amplitude of fundamental waveform; the odd harmonics of cogging torque and electromagnetic torque are eliminated. Finally, the results of the new rotor step skewing method is verified by 3D finite element method (FEM) and further improved by embedding non-magnetic blocks in the middle of the stator and rotor.