Towards a global optimization of electromechanical energy converters via exploitation of convex characteristics

As the design requirements of electromechanical energy converters become increasingly complex, reliable and efficient optimization is seen as an important tool in the design process. However, general, comprehensive statements about the optimization of electromechanical energy converters, notably in regards to the verification of optimality and the best problem formulation are still missing at large. This concerns notably the issue of locally versus globally optimal solutions when using one of the many available codes for optimization of arbitrary nonlinear functions. The paper presents the mathematical reformulation of different problems of a magnetic circuit by exploitation of convex characteristics. This structure exploitation allows application of convex optimization that has proven to be not only a very efficient, but also a highly reliable optimization method. This step is considered as a key element for further optimization of a large variety of electromechanical energy converters