Cogging torque reduction of brushless DC motor for an electric wheelchair

This paper presents a designing method to reduce the cogging torque of a brush less dc (BLDC) motor for an electric wheelchair. The initial model of a BLDC motor is designed by using the loading distribution method. Cogging torque is one of the main reasons not only to cause the torque ripple, but also to increase unwanted vibration of a BLDC motor. Response surface methodology (RSM) is conducted to optimize the initially designed model, and the length of the stator slot opening and notches are selected as design parameters in order to decrease the cogging torque of a BLDC motor. Also, 2D finite element method (FEM) is used to verify the validity of the proposed BLDC motor.