Research on electromagnetic performance of a five-phase six-pole modular permanent-magnet motor

The recent progress in soft magnetic composite (SMC) material has made it an alternative for motor armature core material to silicon steel. The manufacturing process of armature core made of SMC can be greatly simplified by extrusion moulding. Moreover, the isotropic characteristic of SMC enables more flexible structure designs for electric machines compared with the 2D flux distribution of traditional iron laminations. In this paper, a five-phase six-pole modular permanent-magnet machine using SMC is investigated. Performances of the machine, such as no-load back electromotive force (BEMF), torque, and unbalanced rotor force, are calculated with time-stepping finite-element method (FEM). Losses of the machine are analyzed and discussed.