Cold-Spray Additive Manufacturing of a Petal-Shaped Surface Permanent Magnet Traction Motor

Several applications require low torque pulsations as they can lead to mechanical vibrations and acoustic noise in the electric motor. Optimization of the rotor permanent magnet (PM) shape is one of the effective methods for reducing torque pulsations. Unfortunately, the low versatility of magnet fabrication technologies limits the development of new motor geometries. Cold-spray additive manufacturing can be used for shaping PMs for the direct fabrication of motor parts without the need for additional assembly steps. This fabrication technique allows an increase in the design flexibility of electric machine geometries targeting improved performance. This article investigates the performance of PM rotors fabricated using a cold-spray additive manufacturing technique for radial flux surface PM synchronous machines (SPMSMs). The PM rotors considered are conventional rectangular-shaped with unskewed magnets (Model A), skewed magnets (Model B), and sinusoidal-petal-shaped magnets (Model C) along the axial direction. The magnitude of magnetization current pulse required to magnetize these rotors is calculated and an impulse magnetizer setup is designed for in situ magnetization. The performance of the shaped cold-sprayed PM rotors and their effects on back EMF, electromagnetic torque, and cogging torque are analyzed experimentally and comparisons are made between the different rotor designs.