Efficient Techniques for Finite Element Analysis of Electric Machines

Highly efficient methods are described for implementing the finite element method for analysis of electric machines. These include improved techniques for generating Jacobian matrices, implicit handling of boundary conditions, spline approximations to reluctivity characteristics, compact matrix storage and manipulation, and semiautomatic node ordering. Analysis of finite element models involving 500-1000 nodal variables becomes practical with the use of these techniques, within the memory limitations of modern medium-sized computers.