A robust design optimization method for manufacturing SMC-PMSMs and drive systems of six sigma quality

The soft magnetic composite (SMC) material has attracted great research interests because of its unique feature of high speed low cost manufacturing of electrical machines of complex 3D flux topologies by the highly cost effective powder metallurgical technology. Some electrical machine manufacturers have recently started producing permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) with SMC cores. Because of the material diversity and fabrication uncertainties, an aggressively optimized design obtained by the traditional deterministic method often result in low quality product and/or high failure rates. This paper presents a method of robust design optimization for manufacturing SMC-PMSMs and drive systems of six sigma quality. Design examples of a transverse flux SMC-PMSM and drive system are presented.