Time- and spatial-harmonic content in electrical machines and its application in Fourier-based models

An increasing interest in both efficient electrical machines and more extensive control strategies demands evermore faster simulation tools. One of the modeling techniques that meets this demand is Fourier-based modeling. However, even Fourier-based models may encounter problems related to CPU usage. To cope with these problems the authors present three simple techniques to reduce the computational time of Fourier-based models for synchronous machines. The techniques are mainly based on a qualitative knowledge of which time- and spatial-harmonic orders are present in the machine's magnetic field. The proposed techniques are validated and a benchmark test has been performed. The possible reduction in computational time shows to be very large, for the presented benchmark case study up to a factor 5000.