Eddy Current Loss Model Unifying the Effects of Reaction Field and Non-Homogeneous 3-D Magnetic Field

In this article, a new analytical method is proposed to estimate eddy currents inside linear conductive materials. The novel closed-form formulation takes into account the effects of both conductor reaction field that dominates at high frequencies as well as the spatially non-homogeneous nature of the magnetic field penetrating the material. Although the model is suitable for most kinds of permanent magnet machines, it is particularly useful for Surface-mounted Permanent Magnet (SPM) machines where both of these phenomena are prominent. The numerical implementation of the proposed model, which consists of a combination of the method of images and 4-D Fourier transform, is presented. The model is then validated against 2-D and 3-D finite element models (FEMs) for a simple magnetic circuit, showing good agreement. Finally, the eddy current magnet loss in an SPM synchronous machine is evaluated and results are discussed.