Impact of Topology Optimization Problem Setup on Switched Reluctance Machine Design

We study the topology optimization (TO) of an 8/6 switched reluctance motor rotor in terms of torque and mass. Together with additive manufacturing, topology optimization offers disruptive possibilities in electrical machine design. We investigate how sensitive the TO is to the problem setup by varying mesh density, material definitions and initial values of optimization. We also derive and implement three different optimization problem formulations to improve the electrical machine performance. As a result, we found that the geometry obtained with this method is sensitive to both material definition and mesh density. Further, the rotor mass could not be decreased significantly without compromising the average torque to some extent. However, through optimization, significant improvement of the torque values was gained for the rotor angles at the beginning or at the end of the stroke.