Elektriseadmete raalprojekteerimine

Numerical modelling and design of electrical devices

Project 1.0101-0278

Application of interdisciplinary and international team

and project based learning in Master Studies

IN 557
Numerical modelling and design of electrical devices

Preface
Believe it or not, both ways you might be right. If there is any importance then try not to mislead
your self confidence. Creativeness is the most encouraging employer and the success is in a secure
side when having a good knowledge of a simple physics and math!
The purpose of the course on numerical modelling and design of electrical devices is to establish
theoretical basis and practical skills for electrical engineers being able to analyze and to develop the
electrical devices. The course material gives an overview of the analysis methods, some guidelines
on design and some examples on computation of an energy converter.

Software
The study material is build up on the flexible computation and design environment in Matlab. Two
freeware are incorporated into the design loops, such as finite element method magnetic (FEMM)
by David Meeker and steady-state finite element heat conduction solver (Mirage) by David Meeker.

Content

1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................1
1.1 COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN, ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING ................................................2
1.2 NUMERICAL METHODS FOR DESIGN OF ELECTRICAL DEVICES ......................................................4
1.3 OUTLINES ....................................................................................................................................4
2 FIELD EQUATIONS ........................................................................................................................5
2.1 FORMULATION OF A TRANSFER PROBLEM ....................................................................................5
2.2 CONSTITUTIVE RELATION ............................................................................................................6
2.3 SOURCES AND BOUNDARIES .........................................................................................................8
3 DESIGN............................................................................................................................................11
3.1 ANALYTICAL MODELLING ..........................................................................................................11
3.2 GEOMETRIC MODELLING............................................................................................................16
3.3 CHOICE OF MATERIALS ..............................................................................................................18
3.4 LOADINGS AND EFFICIENCY .......................................................................................................23
4 EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT METHOD ...........................................................................................25
4.1 EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT MODEL ....................................................................................................25
4.2 THERMAL EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT ................................................................................................29
4.3 MAGNETIC EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT ..............................................................................................32
5 FINITE ELEMENT METHOD .....................................................................................................35
5.1 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL ............................................................................................................35
5.2 TWO-DIMENSIONAL HEAT FLOW ................................................................................................39
5.3 MAGNETOSTATICS .....................................................................................................................44
6 COUPLED FIELDS ........................................................................................................................47
6.1 ENERGY CONVERSION ................................................................................................................47
6.2 ELECTROMAGNETIC COUPLING ..................................................................................................49
6.3 ELECTROMECHANICAL COUPLING..............................................................................................50
6.4 ELECTRO- AND MAGNETO-THERMAL COUPLING ........................................................................52
7 OPTIMISATION.............................................................................................................................55
7.1 DESIGN VARIABLES AND CONSTRAINS .......................................................................................55
7.2 SENSITIVITY STUDY ...................................................................................................................55
8 DRIVE MODEL AND CONTROL................................................................................................57
8.1 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS .........................................................................................................57
8.2 CONVERTER MODEL ...................................................................................................................59
8.3 DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS .....................................................................................................60
9 DESIGN ENVIRONMENT ............................................................................................................61
9.1 DESIGN GUIDANCE .....................................................................................................................61
9.2 FROM GEOMETRIC MODELLING TO FE MODELLING ....................................................................62
REFERENCES .........................................................................................................................................65
 1

1 Introduction
Rapid evaluation and design of electrical devices that take advantage of high computational power
is an exciting challenge to an electrical engineer. It is as interesting field to study as it is to teach.
Understanding of physical processes and expressing them in mathematical language remain
fascinating and actual. Power of understanding and imagination are a necessary foundation towards
original solutions. The use of computational power, which is incorporated with numerical
modelling methods, is a powerful starting-point for analysis, design and development of any kind of
innovative device. Hereby the device is ‘specified’ as any kind of energy converter that primary or
secondary side is the controlled electric power.
Purpose of this course material is to emphasize students to use computational power to solve
complex multifunctional problems by the help of computer. First, an understanding in
(multi)physics has to be established. Second, the understanding will be self examined through
numeric analysis. Finally the functionality of the designed electrical device and the principles of
optimization are studied. This course material describes the learning process of the numeric
modelling and design of electrical devices that bases on a design example.
The design process of an electrical device [2], which is preferably carried out in the computer
(aided) environment, consists of five parts:
1. physical understanding,
2. mathematical modelling,
3. analysis,
4. synthesis and
5. a cost functional.
Similar to the design process, the learning process is the action of taking something apart in order
to understand and study it, an opposite process, which results in a new creation and maybe an
improvement. The goal of the design process is to develop and to formulate the understanding of
the functionality of the electrical device. It is more important to establish a good understanding on
the energy conversion process that is related to certain geometry than to find an optimum of a
mathematical model that incorrectly describes the energy converter. There is a trade off between
the exhaustiveness and the time spent of creating the model and the modelling itself. The target is
that the model is accurate and fast enough. If anything could go wrong with computer based design
[3] then:
1. the expectations of the results are more than code can ever deliver,
2. the wrong data is supplied or the problem specification is erroneous,
3. the procedures used in the software are not accurate enough,
4. the assumptions inherent in the procedure are too approximate,
5. the user does not have enough knowledge to interpret the results or misuses the software.
A software user’s/designer’s knowledge is decisive in the design process. The successful solution of
an energy converter and fully understood functionality of the conversion process are often not yet
the triumph for a complete designed product. It is important to understand the objectives
2 1. Introduction

additional to the functionality such as controllability, manufacturability, etc. whichever usually the
successful design is valued as a cost competitive product [3][5].
Design as a process involves a number of choices and motivations, and can take many forms
depending on the object being designed and the individual or individuals participating. Designing
normally requires considering the design requirements and to look for the best solution, which is
additionally an optimization process where a target such as a light-weight construction, cost,
efficiency, reliability or some other requirements are focused on.
The challenge presented here as an example, designing a linear actuator, involves solving a coupled
problem of multiphysics. This incorporates electromagnetism, mechanics, heat transfer and the
coupling between the different fields that is all in accordance with the energy conversion principle.
The learning process prioritizes establishing a good understanding in analysis, development and
design of an electromechanical device rather than creating excellent computer based functions. The
computer based functionality has importance to improve the power of understanding and
imagination, and to shorten the design process and reporting.

1.1 Computer aided design, engineering and manufacturing

Computer aided design (CAD) is used to design and to develop products, tools and machinery that
are used in turn to manufacture the designed products. CAD is used throughout the engineering
process from drafting, conceptual design and layout, through detailed engineering and analysis of
components to definition of manufacturing methods (Figure 1.1). The purpose of computer-aided
engineering analysis (CAE) is to analyze the robustness and performance of the components and
assemblies. It encompasses simulation, validation and optimization of the products and the
manufacturing tools. This includes numeric field modelling tools such as finite element analysis
(FEA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD) etc. Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) refers to
the software used to generate the instruction codes for a computer controlled manufacturing tools
in order for it to cut out a shape designed in a computer-aided design (CAD) system. It saves the
development time when a device structure can be specified quickly according to set of parameters
that are specified for the type of the device construction. It is also convenient to use the common
data formats (IGES, STL, etc) when transferring the geometric data between CAD/CAE/CAM
tools, which is a bridge between ideas and experience such as a rapid prototype.

Figure 1.1 Relationship among computer aided design, engineering and manufacturing in product advancement.
The location of the numerical modelling in the space of the device development is shown in Figure
1.2. Typically the analytical model is the fastest but too approximate and the experimental work is
too costly, which is due to the need of process time and resources, for the device development. The
computer simulation establishes an advantage of a design and an evaluation approach, which is
relatively inexpensive and rapid. Even though the practical outcome (a prototype) is not the point
1. Introduction 3

of interest, the theoretical and the practical approaches can be hardly excluded from the
completeness in order to understand the physical reality or/and to improve technical predictions.
real device modelling mathematical model of
the device

measurement computer simulation theory

experimental data computed data theoretical prediction

comparison comparison

verification of the verification of the

model by simulation model by theory

Figure 1.2 Analytical, numerical and experimental research and development [2].
Computer aided design (CAD) bases on a design model that incorporates the optional choices. The
design model joins together the main goals of the design of an electrical device and formulates its’
performance according to the dimensions, sources and materials. CAD includes often CAE tools
such as numeric field modelling in order to evaluate the characteristics of the electrical device. The
evaluation of physical processes (in this course material) bases on a set of simple equivalent circuits
(EC) or a more complex finite element (FE) model. The model(s) describes the magnetic, mechanic
and thermal behaviour. The output from the equivalent circuit is considered as a rough estimation.
Nevertheless, it is necessary that the equivalent circuits are able to account correctly the changes in
the device construction, and to give realistic results in a wide range of input variables. The purpose
of the rough estimate is to find out ‘optimal’ relations in the device construction and sources
according to the design criteria, which could be an input to a more exhaustive numerical modelling
method as FE analysis (Figure 1.3).

APPROXIMATE
DESIGN MODEL

FINITE ELEMENT OPTIMIZATION

ANALYSIS

Figure 1.3 Computation loop in the design process of a device. This loop can be used also as a model upgrading
loop.
The device design is a process loop of different tasks that usually use different software’s. It is
important that this loop is able to operate without user interaction. In an example of this course
material the design tool is operated in Matlab that specifies the input data to the finite element
analysis, does the model administration and analyses results and visualizes the output, as it is most
informative in animation format. The latter is useful for a fast visual evaluation process. The FE
analysis, which is performed by different software than Matlab, is used in conjunction with the
Matlab programming language in order to perform automated simulation and performance analysis
of a device. Instead of an exhaustive and ‘correct’ optimization the designed device is entered into
upgrading analysis such as sensitivity study in order to improve the initial characteristic of the
device.
4 1. Introduction

1.2 Numerical methods for design of electrical devices

CAD/CAE that can incorporate effectively the computational capability of the numerical
modelling methods is indisputably a powerful tool for a product development and especially for
design of an electric device. The most applicable methods for numeric field computation are:
1. equivalent circuit method (MEC),
2. finite element method (FEM),
3. finite difference method (FDM),
4. boundary element method (BEM),
5. point mirroring method (PMM).
The purpose of the numeric field analysis is to find (approximate) numerical solutions (by using the
theory of linear algebra) to a partial differential equation (PDE) that describes a problem in physics.
The geometric object is divided into discrete regions (discretisation into elements) where the
physical equations of equilibrium, in conjunction with compatibility and constitutive relations are
applied and solved for unknown values. The methods can be grouped as a surface-discretisation
method (BEM) or volume-discretisation methods (FEM, FDM, MEC). The BEM solves the
integral form of the PDE-s only for the surface elements. The FEM, FDM can handle the
differential (and some cases integral) form of the PDE-s throughout the space. This course material
focuses on equivalent circuit (EC) and finite element (FE) formulations and methods.
Table 1.1 Comparison between the numeric field analysis, geometry discretisation and computation methods [2].
Boundary
Finite element Finite difference Equivalent circuit Point mirroring
Method element method
method (FEM) method (FDM) method (ECM) method (PMM)
(BEM)
q

Principle of m1

discretisation m2
q*

Geometry Extremely Extremely Specific Simple

Inflexible
approximation flexible flexible geometries geometries
By constant
Non-linearity Possible Possible Troublesome Possible
factors
Computational
High High High Very low Low
cost

1.3 Outlines
The first chapter gives a short introduction to design and numeric modelling of electrical devices.
The objective of the second chapter is to establish a physical understanding through the
mathematical expressions on the (time independent) field theories. The design issues are described
in chapter 3. Chapter four focuses on the equivalent circuit method and chapter five on the finite
element method. The objective of the sixth chapter is to recall coupling between the different fields
and introduce dynamic (time dependent) effects. Chapter 7 focuses attention on some optimization
techniques and chapter 8 to device’s characteristics and modelling. The 9th chapter deals with a
structure for a design environment.
 5

2 Field equations
Electromagnetic phenomena are described by Maxwell’s equations. These general relations are valid
at any time instant and at every point. Structural mechanics bases on Navier’s equation and fluid
mechanics can be expressed through Navier-Stokes equations. Heat transfer is expressed by heat
equations and so on. A state of a closed system can be described by energy, mass or momentum
balance where the cause-effect relationships describe how the balance is achieved. The objective of
this chapter is to establish the connection between the understanding of physical reality and
mathematic means of expression. The starting point of focus is one-dimensional static scalar fields.

2.1 Formulation of a transfer problem

A transfer problem is derived according to an example of one-dimensional (1D) heat flow along in
a fin (Figure 2.1)[9]. The cross-section area of the fin that is perpendicular to heat flow is given by
A(x). The heat source Q(x) [J/(sm)] may be transferred to body or created internally per unit of time
and length. If an infinitely small part dx of the fin is investigated then the heat inflow per unit of
time at position x is H [J/s], the outflow at position x+dx is H+dH, and heat supply Qdx per unit
of time.

Q(x)

H H+dH

dx
x
L

Figure 2.1 Formulation of one dimensional (1D) heat transfer problem in a fin where temperature variation
along the fin is considered much larger than temperature variations normal to the fin.

A conservation equation (Eg 2.1) describes the balance of the time independent heat flow,
where the total heat inflow per unit time equals to the total heat outflow per unit time.
dH
H + Q ⋅ dx = H + dH ⇒ =Q (2.1)
dx
A heat flux q [J/(m2s)] is specified (Eq 2.2) as the flow through the cross-section area per unit time,
and this is considered positive when the heat flows in x-direction.
H
q= (2.2)
A
6 2. Field equations

A constitutive relation defines (Eq. 2.3) the heat flow density (vector) q [W/m2] inside a medium
according to the temperature gradient ∇ϑ [K/m] and the thermal conductivity λ [W/mK] of the
medium.
dϑ
q = −λ ⋅ (2.3)
dx
Insertion of equation 2.3 into 2.2 and the result into 2.1 yields the one-dimensional heat
transfer equation over the 1D region 0≤x≤L (Figure 2.1)[9].
d ⎛ dϑ ⎞ (2.4)
⎜λ ⋅ A⋅ ⎟+Q = 0
dx ⎝ dx ⎠
The one dimensional heat transfer equation (Eq. 2.4) is so called strong formulation of the 1D
heat transfer problem. The stationary (i.e. time-independent) heat problem is described as a balance
between heat supply to the body per unit of time and the amount of the heat leaving the body per
unit of time. The thermal conductivity, is denoted by λ, and describes the relation between the heat
flux vector q, and the temperature gradient. This relation is also known as Fourier’s law of heat
conduction. Temperature ϑ is a potential and that difference (gradient) causes the heat flow. The
flux (flow) is defined as positive along the x-axis and this correspond to negative temperature
gradient dϑ/dx, which is in accordance with the physical fact that heat flows from hotter to cooler
regions.
The second-order differential equation of the heat transfer balance can be solved for the finite size
of volume when two boundary conditions are specified in the ends of the fin. At one of these
ends either temperature ϑ or flux q should be given.

2.2 Constitutive relation

A high motivation causes a progress, it does not matter how big an obstacle is. A field problem – a
nodal distribution of potentials in the space, can be solved as a circuit with discrete field elements
between the nodes by knowing the sources and by following Ohm’s law. A space containing a
quasi-stationary field may be portioned into flux tubes: geometrical figures in which all lines of flux
are perpendicular to their bases and no lines of flux cut their sides. The relation between field
quantities such as potential difference and flow, and additionally the properties and the geometry of
the medium can be well established as the relation in electric circuit between voltage drop, current
and resistance [8].
ϑ(0)

ϑ(L)

q q

x A(x) A(x+dx)
L

Figure 2.2 Relation between flow and potential difference i.e. medium parameterization. Instead of temperature
ϑ on the isothermal plane the more general symbol a is used for potentials (unknowns) and thermal
flow q is replaced with flow φ.
 2. Field equations 7

Surfaces of equal scalar potential, a, are perpendicular to lines of flux φ therefore the bases of the
flux tube are equipotential planes (Figure 2.2). The difference between scalar potentials on the bases
equals to the potential drop, such as temperature, voltage, magnetomotive force i.e. depending on
the type of field problem. The value of the element (Figure 2.2) can be found either from the ratio
of the potential difference to the flux or from the geometry and the characteristics of the medium.

a(L ) − a(0)
L
dx
Rc = =∫ (2.5)
φ 0
c(x ) ⋅ A(x )
The mathematical formulation (Eq. 2.5) involves the general labelling for the potential a(0) and a(L)
in the ends of the flux tube element, which length is L. The flux passes perpendicularly through the
cross section area A(x), through the medium, which material (electric, magnetic, thermal etc)
conductivity is noted as c(x).
One-dimensional heat flow, magnetic flux flow and elasticity (etc) problems are formulated
according to conservation equation and constitutive relation at stationary conditions. If the heat
transfer problem describes the temperature ϑ distribution between a source Q and coolant, then the
magnetostatic problem specifies the magnetic potential Vm according to the flow of magnetic flux
sources Ψ (i.e. permanent magnets). The displacement u is the unknown for elasticity problem with
body forces b. The thermal and the elasticity problem are defined over an open chain that is defined
by boundary conditions, while a closed loop according to a magnetic flux path specifies the chain
for the magnetostatic problem. The ability to conduct flow in different media with respect to
physical problem is defied with thermal conductivity λ, magnetic permeability μ or elasticity E and
the corresponding cross section A. Table 2.1 compares the various physical problems and shows
the similarities between the different physical disciplines [8][9].
Table 2.1 Field quantities and (1D) formulation of some physical problems

Thermal Magnetic Electrostatic Electric Elastic

Material
λ [W/(Km)] μ [Vs/(Am)] ε [As/(Vm)] γ [V/(Am)] E [N/m2]
constant
Flow density q [W/m2] B [T=Vs/m2] D [q/m2=As/m2] J [A/m2] σ [N/m2]
Field
G [K/m] H [A/m] E [V/m] E [V/m]
strength
Potential ϑ [K] Vm [A] Ve [V] Ve [V] u [m]
Fourier Ampere Faraday Ohm Hooke
Constitutive
dϑ dVm dVe dV du
law q = −k φ = −μ φ = −ε q = −γ σ =E
dx dx dx dx dx
Differential d ⎛ dϑ ⎞ d ⎛ dV ⎞ d ⎛ dV ⎞ d ⎛ dV ⎞ d ⎛ du ⎞
⎜ Aλ ⎟+Q = 0 ⎜ Aμ m ⎟ + Ψ = 0 ⎜ Aε e ⎟ + Q = 0 ⎜ Aγ e ⎟ + Q = 0 ⎜ AE ⎟ + b = 0
equation dx ⎝ dx ⎠ dx ⎝ dx ⎠ dx ⎝ dx ⎠ dx ⎝ dx ⎠ dx ⎝ dx ⎠
Reluctance l
dx
l
dx
l
dx
l
dx
l
dx
Rλ = ∫ Rm = ∫ μ (x ) ⋅ A(x ) Rε = ∫ RΩ = ∫ RE = ∫
Resistance 0
λ (x ) ⋅ A(x ) 0 0
ε (x ) ⋅ A(x ) 0
γ (x ) ⋅ A(x ) 0
E ( x ) ⋅ A( x )
Capacitance N2 1
Rm = Rε =
Inductance L C
Potential l l l
F = ∫ Hdl V = ∫ Edl V = ∫ Edl
difference 0 0 0

Flux, Force
F V
Charge Q = ∫ qdA φ = ∫ BdA = Q = ∫ DdA = VC I = ∫ JdA = F = ∫ σdA
Rm RΩ
Current
B2 D2
Energy W = ∫ Qdt W = ∫ Fdφ → ∫ dV W = ∫ VdQ → ∫ dV W = ∫ IVdt W = ∫ Fdu
2μ 2ε
8 2. Field equations

By comparing expressions for stored energy in electrostatic and magnetic field, especially energy
density, it is seen that in free space and at the same level of the field strength the magnetic field has
μ0/ε0 times higher electromechanical energy conversion capability than the electrostatic field.

2.3 Sources and boundaries

Numerical modelling of electrical devices bases on a numerical calculation method to solve
differential equation, which describes a physical phenomenon or several phenomena at the same
time. The characteristic feature of the numeric approach is that the differential equations are
reformulated into a numeric calculation form. This can be so called weak formulation that is
applicable in easy FE approach. Alternatively, the field problem can be formulated as a set of
equivalent circuits describing the problem. In any case the proper description of a numerical model
is important in order to obtain correct results and this assumes a good understanding of the
underlying physical background on the field problem. Typically a field problem of interest has a
geometrical description that includes interfaces between different media and sources, and has a
finite size by given geometrical limits or boundaries. The size of the initial geometry and field
problem can be reduced in case of field symmetry. This subsection focuses on the characterization
of the field sources and distribution, interface and boundary conditions.

Constitutive conditions
The conservation equation in conjunction with constitutive relation states the ‘flow’ and the
‘potential distribution’ in the time invariant system at the steady-state conditions. According to
Gauss’ Law the ‘flow’ – the (electric displacement, heat, etc) flux out of any closed volume is equal
to the ‘source’ (charge contained, the heat generation, etc) within the volume. If the problem
domain for magnetostatics contains current conducting coil(s) (J≠0) (considering Ampere’s Law),
which is usually not the case for the one dimensional (1D) problem, then a magnetic vector
potential A needs to be introduced instead of the magnetic scalar potential Vm. Different from the
electrostatic and thermal problem the divergence of the flux density in magnetic problem is zero
(∇B=0). This means that the lines of the magnetic flux are closed curves without source(s) and
sink(s), which is different to electrostatic problem where the source of electric field is a positive
charge, and the electric field sink is a negative charge or a body with a higher and lower temperature
in the thermal problem.
∂Ve/∂n=C
A=0

Ve(x)=-Ve(-x)
∂A/∂n=0

Figure 2.3 The flux lines distribution in free space: the electric field created by two charges with opposite signs
(red dotted lines), and the magnetic field created by the current carrying conductors (blue dashed lines).
The figure includes also possible boundary conditions for electric and magnetic field. With ∂A/∂n=0
the vector B admits only the component normal to the boundary.
Generalised constitutive relationships (Eq. 2.6 – 2.8) include the remanent displacement current
density DR and remanent flux density BR which equals to the displacement current density or the
flux density, respectively, if no electric E or magnetic H field is present.
2. Field equations 9

D = ε 0 ε r E + DR (2.6)

B = μ 0 μ r H + BR (2.7)

J = γE + J e (2.8)
Equation 2.8 introduces an externally generated current Je, while the internally generated current is
caused by the internal (induced) electric field E.

Continuity conditions
At interfaces between two regions (media), which have different physical properties, the following
interface conditions are stated for an electrostatic and a magneto-static problem (Eq. 2.9-2.12).
According to the continuity (Gauss’ Law), the flux leaves a region (2) equals to the flux that enters
to another region (1) through the common interface (Figure 2.4).

Bn1 α1 B1
∫ Hdl, ∫ Edl
Ht1 1
B2 2
α2 Ht2
Bn2

Figure 2.4 Interface conditions for the magnetic field vectors.

In case of magnetic field the normal component of the flux density B is constant at the interface
between two media (Eq. 2.9). The outward normal of the region 2 is noted as n2.The normal
component of the displacement current density D is discontinuous at the interface of a material
boundary if the surface charge density ρs is present (Eq. 2.10). The tangential components for the
interface conditions are derived from Faraday’s and Ampere’s Law, where the corresponding
integration loops along the normal direction is taken infinitesimally thin. This yields that the
tangential component of the electric field strength E is continuous at the interface between two
media (Eq. 2.11). The tangential component of the magnetic field strength H is discontinuous at
the interface of a material boundary if the surface current density Js is present (Eq. 2.12).
n2 .(B1 − B2 ) = Bn1 − Bn 2 = 0 (2.9)

n2 ⋅ (D1 − D2 ) = Dn1 − Dn 2 = ρ s (2.10)

n2 × (E1 − E 2 ) = Et1 − Et 2 = 0 (2.11)

n 2 × ( H 1 − H 2 ) = H t1 − H t 2 = J s (2.12)
If there is no surface current density or surface charge density present then the angle between the
flux density vector, or respectively the displacement current density vector, and the normal vector
of the surface can be easily found. In case of magnetic medium
Bt1 μ1 H t1 tan(α 2 ) μ 2
tan(α 1 ) = = → = (2.13)
Bn1 Bn1 tan(α 1 ) μ1
The difference between the (projection) angles depends on the difference of magnetic permeability
of the interfaced media (Eq. 2.13). This leads that the large variation of the flux density projection
angle in the high permeable medium (unsaturated iron) cause very small changes in the
corresponding angle in the low permeable medium (air). Therefore, by assuming infinitely
10 2. Field equations

permeable and unsaturable iron the flux lines are perpendicular to the iron surface, which is useful
assumption in the analysis of the electromagnetic circuits.

Boundary conditions
The boundary conditions are used to obtain true unique solution for the problem, to reduce the
size of the numeric model and to constrain the field that surrounds the electrical device. Basically,
there are three types of boundary conditions that are used to reduce the size of the numeric model.
1. Dirichlet (essential) condition specifies the value of unknown – the value of potential e.g. A=0
(Figure 2.3).
a = const (2.14)
2. Neumann's (natural) condition specifies the normal derivative of potential along the boundary,
e.g. ∂A/∂n=0, ∂Ve/∂n=C (Figure 2.3).
∂a
= const (2.15)
∂n
3. Binary or periodic boundary conditions that is used to reduce multi-pole repetition, e.g. Ve(x)=-
Ve(-x) (Figure 2.3). The corresponding nodes either connected or the values to a1 are obtained
from a2. If m=0 (Eq. 2.16) and k equals 1 or -1 this boundary is called binary boundary
condition.
ka1 + a2 = m (2.16)
A number of boundary conditions are used to imitate the effect of the boundless numeric model by
taking into consideration thermal convection and/or radiation, (flux) inflow/outflow etc.
4. Mixed boundary (Robin or Cauchy) condition is a combination of Dirichlet’ and Neumann’s
boundary conditions that is to define impedance in order to model the bounded problem like
an unbounded region. This is used to define convective boundaries in the heat transfer
problems.
∂a
k1a + k 2 =0 (2.17)
∂n
5. Inflow/outflow condition, where the flux f across a boundary is described
∂a
f + k2 =0 (2.18)
∂n

Dirichlet’ boundary condition is introduced when the flux through the surface is zero. This
boundary condition is used when the flux lines are parallel to the boundary, and it is used to
'contain' the flux lines within a certain region (the magnetic field is tangential to the boundary).
Neumann's boundary condition determines the surfaces that the magnetic flux crosses
orthogonally (the magnetic field is perpendicular (i.e. normal) to the boundary). Periodicity
condition is set to reduce the size of the model according to the periodic structure of a multi-pole
electrical machine. Magnetic fields are periodic over the length of a single pole pitch (i.e. anti-
symmetric, k=-1) of the unloaded machine and a double pole pitch (i.e. symmetric, k=1) of the
loaded machine.
 11

3 Design
The task of designing an electromechanical device is to choose the set of geometrical data and
material properties to attain the functionality requirements for the device, [geom,mate]=f(performance).
This is the inverse process of the modelling where the geometrical and the physical parameters are
known. The design model is actually made as modelling the function [performance]=f(geom,mate) in
order to attain design requirements. The construction of an electrical device is described in
terms of design parameters, where some of them are constrained with the design requirements.
The geometrical parameters define the size and the geometrical proportions of the device.
Additionally theoretical design factors are used to quantify the physical parameters of the energy
conversion process [5]. They can be broken into five areas: electrical, dielectric, magnetic,
mechanical and thermal. These can be also seen in turn as different circuits with flows and flow
densities, which are coupled into geometry. The flow densities such as the electrical current, the
magnetic flux and the loss power density can be considering as the loadings that establish the
relations between the size, the material properties and the performance of the energy converter.
The design model, which is a description of system and structure, includes geometric modelling
and a modelling of material properties. Study of the behaviour of the design model may include a
numerical modelling – handle the complexity of PDE which describes the physical processes.
The design process of an electrical device consists of five parts: physical understanding,
mathematical modelling, analysis, synthesis and a cost functional (Chapter 1). The objective in the
design process is both technological and economic aspects. An arbitrary linear actuator (a design
idea) is taken as a design example in this study material. From numerical modelling point of view,
this kind of example accumulates quite a few design issues and a wide scope of the numerical
models can be applied in order to investigate and analyse the behaviour of the electromechanical
system. The first task is to establish physical understanding through analytical modelling. The
static characteristics are focused first and the dynamic effects are disregard in the first
analysis/design stage. The analytic evaluation of the device is followed by the geometric and
material parameterisation of the device in order to complete the analytical modelling.

3.1 Analytical modelling

Purpose of the analytical modelling is at first to establish understanding in physics and to formulate
it in mathematics, and at second to study the behaviour of the mathematical model. In order to
understand how an electromechanical device of interest operates is to analyse the initial condition
of the device e.g. initial position, magnetization and flux path, temperature, etc. Second, the
question of interest is about the consequences if a winding of the actuator is switched to a supply,
how this influences magnetic flux path(s), mechanical and thermal balance.
The principal geometry of a linear actuator, which is chosen as an example, is visualized in Figure
3.1. The linear actuator can be either planar (xy-plane) or cylindrical (rz-plane). The planar version
of it is chosen in the example study. The actuator consists of a stationary part, which in turn is
made of an E-core (1), slot insulation (2) and a winding (3). The mechanical air-gap g separates the
stationary part and a moving piston. The piston is made of iron core parts (4) and permanent
magnets (5).
A number of assumptions can be mad in order to facilitate the formulation of the analytical model:
12 3. Design

• A linear characteristics can be assumed in materials

• The relative permeability in permanent magnets can be assumed to be 1 and the iron
permeability can be assumed to be infinite
• The hysteresis characteristics in magnetic materials and eddy currents are neglected, if the
study does not require them explicitly.
• The geometry is simplified by excluding small radii, holes etc

1 2 3 2 3

φc2
φc1
φpm
4 5 4 5 4

Figure 3.1 A geometry layout of the arbitrary linear actuator that is taken as a design idea.
In order to analyse magnetic coupling in an electromagnetic device a magnetic flux path have to be
presumed. The magnetic flux Φpm, which is caused by permanent magnets, passes the armature core
– a circuit that has the lowest magnetic reluctance (by assuming high permeability core). If the
current in the coil becomes different from zero then the armature field that drives flux through the
piston is labelled as Φc1 and Φc2. Apparently these flux paths do not pass the largest magnetic
permeance circuit as it includes magnets (low permeability) and in the sake of accuracy the leakage
paths should be taken into consideration. If the device has only the permanent magnets or current
carrying coil, then the size of the model could be reduced by using Neumann’s or Dirichlet’
boundary condition respectively.
A balance can be formulated according to Ampere’s circuit law (Eq 3.1) to the presumed magnetic
flux loop(s).

∑H ⋅l = N ⋅i (3.1)

In case of a circuit that consists of a magnet, a soft magnetic core and an air-gap, the formulation
(Eq 3.1) becomes (Eq 3.2). The length l is considered as a total path length for a specific medium.
H pm ⋅ l pm + H fe ⋅ l fe + H g ⋅ lg = N ⋅ i (3.2)

In respect to constitutive relations and the material properties in the different media (Eq 3.3) the
magnetic field intensity H (Eq 3.2) can be replaced with flux density B in different part of the
magnetic circuit (Eq 3.4).
B pm = Br + μ pm μ 0 H pm B fe = μ fe μ 0 H fe Bg = μ 0 H g (3.3)

B pm − Br B fe Bg
⋅ l pm + ⋅ l fe + ⋅ lg = N ⋅ i (3.4)
μ 0 ⋅ μ pm μ 0 ⋅ μ fe μ0
Expression 3.5 states the relation between the magnetic flux, the flux density and the cross-section
area. The magnetic flux is the same in the circuit, where the elements are connected in series (Eq
3.6).
φ pm = B pm ⋅ Apm φ fe = B fe ⋅ A fe φ g = B g ⋅ Ag (3.5)
3. Design 13

φ pm = φ fe = φ g (3.6)

The magnetic flux due to permanent magnets Φpm can be calculated from the total remanent
magnetomotive force of magnets and the total reluctance of the circuit (Eq 3.7).

⎛ l pm l fe lg ⎞
Φ pm ⋅ ⎜ + + ⎟ = Br ⋅ l pm (3.7)
⎜ μ ⋅μ ⋅ A ⎟ μ ⋅μ
⎝ 0 pm pm μ 0 ⋅ μ fe ⋅ A fe μ 0 ⋅ Ag ⎠ 0 pm

The compact form of the circuit reluctances (Eq 3.7) results the circuit equation for the magnetic
flux from the magnets (Eq 3.8).

Φ pm ⋅ (R pm + R fe1 + Rg ) =
Br (3.8)
⋅ l pm
μ 0 ⋅ μ pm
By considering all the sources of the magnetic flux, the least complete magnetic circuit has two
nodes and three parallel circuits (armature limbs) between the node points. By repeating the same
procedure for the magnetic flux loops Φc1 and Φc2, the complete equation system (Eq 3.9) can be
stated.

⎛1 ⎞ 1 Br
Φ c1 ⋅ ⎜ R pm + R fe 2 + R g ⎟ = J C AS K f + ⋅ l pm
⎝2 ⎠ 2 μ 0 ⋅ μ pm
(3.9)
⎛1 ⎞ 1 Br
Φ c 2 ⋅ ⎜ R pm + R fe 2 + R g ⎟ = J C AS K f − ⋅ l pm
⎝2 ⎠ 2 μ 0 ⋅ μ pm

It can be noticed that in the given position the serially mounted magnets hardly drive flux through
the middle limb of the armature core. Basically a single magnet is faced to the same (double) air-gap
reluctance than the two magnets together. The difference between the magnetic core reluctances
are described in equation 3.10, where t points to a tooth (limb), y to a yoke and p to a piston (pole).
R fe1 = 2(Rt + R y + R p ) R fe 2 = 2 Rt + R y + R p (3.10)

If the magnetic materials are considered to be linear, then the magnetic fluxes that are only due to
the permanent magnets or the coil are practical to derive. The later means that the flux, which is
caused by the armature reaction depends only on the total current and not on the remanence of the
magnet (Eq 3.9). The total current that causes armature field is expressed through a slot area AS, a
conductor filling factor Kf, which results N parallel conductors to fit into the cross-section area, and
the (direct) current density JC in the conductor. Once the magnetic state of the device has been
found the question of interest will be the forces, the losses, the efficiency, the demagnetisation limit
and the thermal limit of the current(s) and so on.
It can be assumed that the electromagnetic device (Figure 3.1) has no forces along the horizontal
axis and the piston is in a mechanic equilibrium position i.e. the symmetry axis of the armature co-
aligns with the symmetry axis of the piston. Even though the stored magnetic energy of the system
is different from zero, the mechanic energy that would move the piston along the horizontal axis is
zero. If the input of the electric energy becomes different from the zero, then the potential energy
increases that would move the piston along the horizontal axis. By neglecting the edge effects, the
electromagnetic device (Figure 3.1) can be seen as a single-phase rotary motor (Figure 3.2), where
the armature field from the coil is perpendicular to the magnetising field of the permanent
magnet(s). In this case the maximum electromagnetic forces are applied to the current carrying
conductor in the magnetic field.
14 3. Design

Figure 3.2 An example of a single phase rotary motor that has a magnetising field caused by permanent magnet
along the direct-axis and the armature field along the quadrate-axis.
The electromagnetic force applied to the piston (Eq 3.11) can be derived from the simple case
where the uniform current density JC in the conductors in the slot AS is perpendicular to a uniform
magnetic flux density B from the piston poles. The magnetic flux density B is expressed through a
magnetising flux Φpm or a flux linkage Ψpm and the cross-section area of a single tooth (limb).
NΦ pm 2wt I 2 2
F = ∫ J × Bdv =Bli = = Ψ pm I = Φ pm J C AS K f (3.11)
wt lt lt lt
Apart from the forces in the in the design example it is necessary to investigate the limit of
forces/currents due to demagnetizing effects or the thermal limits. Figure 3.3 visualises the
operation point of the magnetic circuit that includes a linear air-gap, a non-linear iron-core and
permanent magnet(s). Due to the change of the reluctance or/and the external field the operation
point of the magnet changes and if it goes below the knee point ΦD then the magnet starts to loose
the strength of the initial magnetization.

iron core air-gap 2 air-gap 1 Φ Φ

load 1
load 2

ΦR=BRApm P4 Φpm+ Φa
P1
P2 Φpm P2

P3 Φpm− Φa
permanent magnet

Φd
FCB FCJ=HCJlpm Fpm Fg Ffe F F
F=NI

Figure 3.3 FΦ characteristics of the magnetic core include a permanent magnet, an iron core and air-gap (on the
left), and an armature coil that has the current different from zero (on the right). The demagnetization
curve of the magnet shows the internal relation between magnetomotive force of the magnet F (H) and
the magnetic flux of the magnet Φ (B) when the magnet is loaded with the magnetic core i.e. the air-
gap and the iron core. The air-gap length as well as the reluctance increases, which results the working
point to move from P1 to P2 (on the right). The armature field (on the left) may be magnetising effect
(operation point moves from P2 to P4) or demagnetising effect (operation point moves from P2 to P3).
If the operation point moves below the knee point ΦD then it causes demagnetisation of a permanent
magnet.
The realistic electrical conductor has conductivity γ different than infinity, and this causes losses.
The conductor losses Pcu.dc in the winding (Eq 3.12) is expressed as the power loss density (Q
[W/m3]), which depends on the electric conductivity γ and the current density square JC2, and the
volume of the coil Vcoil. The average length of a single turn is expressed as lcoil.
3. Design 15

2
⎛ J C AS K f ⎞ 1 l coil N 1 (3.12)
= I R = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = ρ J C AS K f l coil = J C2 K f Vcoil = QVcoil
2 2
Pcu .dc
⎝ N ⎠ γ S f
A K γ
N
For the sake of simplicity it can be assumed that the temperature rise in the device depends mainly
on the heat generated in the coil and the heat transfer from the hot-spot to the surface of the coil
and from the surface to the ambience. Therefore the temperature rise in the rest of the device and
the heat transfer from the other cooling surface(s) to the ambience can be neglected. It is partly
correct if considering that the thermal conductivity is much lower to a wound coil that it is for a
core or when focusing only to the end-windings. In case of one dimensional (1D) heat distribution
(Eq 2.4) when the heat is generated within the material itself is (Eq. 3.13):

d2
λx ϑ +Q = 0 (3.13)
dx 2
By applying the boundary conditions that there are no heat flow q [W/m2] through the symmetric
surface(s) and the predefined temperature of the bounding surfaces is ϑs=ϑamb+Q·d/2/α, then the
temperature distribution in a plate with a thickness of d=2xs and the reference temperature
ϑ(∞)=ϑamb is expressed in equation 3.14. The heat transfer from the plate is taken into
consideration with heat transfer coefficient α [W/m2K].

ϑ ( x ) = ϑamb +
Q
2λ x
(
⋅ xs − x 2 +
2 Q ⋅ xs
α
) (3.14)

The temperature distribution in a cylinder with a diameter of d=2rs and the surface temperature
ϑs=ϑamb+Q·d/2/α, and the reference temperature ϑ(∞)=ϑamb is expressed in equation 3.15.

ϑ (r ) = ϑamb +
Q
4λr
(
⋅ rs − r 2 +
2

2α
)
Q ⋅ rs
(3.15)

ϑ=ϑs
d/2

ϑ=ϑs

0.5dmax Q=0

q,λ

Q=0
0.5dmin

Figure 3.4 The symmetric part of a conductor cross-section with an internal heat generation q and an isotropic
thermal conductivity λ. The symmetry planes with predefined heat flux Q are the same for a cylinder
and a plate.

The highest temperature rise Δϑ in the centre of a plate or a cylinder, which thickness or diameter,
respectively is denoted with d and the geometry related coefficient Kg is 1 for a plate and 2 for a
cylinder.

Q d2 Q d (3.16)
Δϑ = +
2K g λ 4 K gα 2
16 3. Design

The realistic cross-section area of a winding is between the rectangle and the circle which
corresponds to the striped area in Figure 3.4. The geometric shape and proportions can be taken
account with the geometry related coefficient that is found empirically from the ratio of the shortest
dimension to the longest dimension of the cross-section area.
2
⎛d ⎞
K g = 1 + ⎜⎜ min ⎟⎟ (3.17)
⎝ d max ⎠
Usually the allowed temperature rise Δϑ in an electric device is specified and this is the starting
point to estimate the maximum current density and force. If the input dc voltage is specified
initially then the electric circuit can be adapted to the input. The number of turns in the winding
(Eq 3.18) that is connected to dc supply can be found according to the chosen current density and
the predefined voltage.

1 l coil ⋅ N AS ⋅ K f 1 γU
U = R⋅I = ⋅ ⋅ JC ⋅ = ⋅ J C ⋅ l coil ⋅ N ⇒ N = (3.18)
γ AS ⋅ K f N γ J C l coil
N
The output from the analytic model is not exact due to simplified straightforward approach; still the
analytical modelling helps to establish the physical understanding, to study the way of expressing it
in the language of a mathematical model and to evaluate the output of the numeric modelling.

3.2 Geometric modelling

Visualization of a whole or a principal geometry is important when designing an electrical device.
The designer’s intuition has great significance. It is as important in the conceptual choice stage
when a design concept has to be chosen as in the evaluation and optimization stage. The intuition
bases quite often on some practical experiences, which can be strongest in the field of mechanics
and material creep or/and failure. Therefore it is relatively easy to ‘notice’ the mechanically
overloaded parts once the geometry is visualized. It is comparatively more difficult to ‘see’ the
influence of magnetic loading and the corresponding forces and losses. The limits for the heat
generation and dissipation can be even more complicated issue to handle without earlier experience.

Geometric model
The first task in achieving physical understanding is to construct a geometric model, which
describes the shape of the physical object that is the linear actuator as an example (Figure 3.1). A set
of node coordinates N(x,y) defines a region – a polygonal cross-section area that is visualized in
Matlab graphics. This is as funny as easy way to start learning different possibilities in Matlab. Apart
from the x and y (local) coordinate vectors some additional data such as magnetization direction,
current density and some additional specifications are attached to a structure array of the region. As
a result the set of the structure arrays describe the whole geometric model (Chapter 9).
All the connection between the nodes in the whole geometry has chosen to be linear in order to
reduce the complexity of the geometric modelling. Otherwise the method of defining the
curvilinear connection between the node points has to be stated separately and this involvedness
has a tendency to prolong the completion. Together with the geometric modelling, the topology
and the principle of operation of the linear actuator, which is described in the analytical model, can
be successfully completed, and this is the second task of establishing the physical understanding.

Geometry parameterization
The geometrical parameters define the dimensions or alternatively the proportions between the
dimensions of the parts of an electrical device. An example of a parameterised geometry is set up
3. Design 17

for the structure of the design example (Figure 3.5), where all the numeric values of dimensions are
replaced with parametric variables.
ld

lt ins lw ins lt ins lw ins lt

y,r

hy
ins

hw hd

1 2 3 2 3
g
x,z
hm
4 5 4 5 4

lms lpm lmb lpm lms

lm

Figure 3.5 The design example and its geometry parameterisation.

The geometry related variables of the example are brought in Table 3.1. These variables define the
size of the device or alternatively specify certain dimension and proportional ratios in the design
example. The selected amount of parameters defines completely the geometric model. The relation
between the main and the driven parameters are shown in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1 Parametric geometry model and the established relations

Parametric dimension Symbol Established relation Value Unit

The height of the device hd hd=hy+ins+hw+g+hm 0.012 m
The width of the device wd wd=wm=wpm 0.012 m
The length of the armature la la=(Ns+1)·lt+Ns·(2·ins+lw), hy=hm=lt 0.020 m
The length of the mover lm lm=2·lpm+2·lms+lmc 0.032 m
Thickness of insulation ins 0.0005 m
The height of air-gap g 0.001 m
The length of magnet Kpm lpm=Kpm·g 3 -
Relative length of the slot Ks 2·ins+lw =Ks·(2·ins+lw+lt) 0.6 -
Relative length of the mover spacer Kb lmb=Kb·lt 0.8 -
Number of slots Ns Number of limbs/teeth=Ns+1 2 -

In Table 3.1 the length of magnet lpm is defined in the magnetization direction, usually in the
literature the magnet thickness is labelled with hpm and this dimension co-aligns with the
magnetisation direction. In the design example the magnetic orientation (magnetization) is along x-
axis but the magnets can be set so that either the same poles or different poles are placed face to
face. The thickness of magnet along the magnetization direction lpm and the length of the piston
core spacer lmb determine the mechanical characteristics. The dimensions for the magnetic core –
the armature tooth lt,, the height of the yoke hy and the height of the mover core hm are chosen so
that they have the same dimension (Figure 3.5), therefore the same magnetic flux density.
18 3. Design

Example
An example of the stator core parameterization and visualization script in Matlab is given.
% parameters
K_s = 0.5; % slotting factor
N_s = 2; % number of slots
l_c = 20e-3; % length of the core
w_c = 12e-3; % width of the core

% arbitary parameters
l_t = l_c / ((N_s+1)+K_s/(1-K_s)*N_s); % length of the tooth
l_s = l_c / ((1-K_s)/K_s*(N_s+1)+N_s); % length of the slot
x_s=[]; y_s=[]; % empty vector of 2D coordinates
for ki=1:N_s % prolong a data vector % 2D coordinates of a slotted core
x_s=[x_s (l_t+l_s)*(ki-1)+[0 l_t l_t l_t+l_s]]; % x-coordinate of a slotted core
y_s=[y_s 0 0 w_c-l_t w_c-l_t]; % y-coordinate of a slotted core
end
x_s=[x_s l_c-l_t l_c l_c 0 0]; % x-coordinate of a complete core
y_s=[y_s 0 0 w_c w_c 0]; % y-coordinate of a complete core
A_core=polyarea(x_s,y_s); % calculate the polygon area

% visualization
figure(1); clf; hold on; % clear figure 1 for new drawing
plot(x_s,y_s,'k-'); % plot data vectors
axis equal % proportional figure
title(['core area: ' num2str(A_core*1e+6) ' mm^2']) % informative graph output
xlabel('x [m]'); ylabel('y [m]')

x 10
-3 core area: 176 mm2

12

10 lt

8
lt
y [m]

0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018 0.02
x [m]

Figure 3.6 Core design output from the Matlab script. The same thickness of the stator teeth and the yoke is
chosen.

3.3 Choice of materials

This section gives a short survey of the conventional and some newest materials and manufacturing
techniques implemented in the electromagnetic devices. The materials are presented in the groups
such as electrical conductive and insulating materials, soft and hard magnetic materials. There can
be a several criteria when selecting materials. The common criteria are the materials with low
cost or/and the materials with a high loading capability (high electric, magnetic or thermal
conductivity, high magnetic saturation etc). The choice can be based on low production or recycling
cost. Usually these three aforementioned criteria – low cost, the high loading capability or
manufacturability are not fulfilled at the same time.
3. Design 19

Conductor wire
The electrical conductor wire is typically made of copper, which has typically round cross-section.
The copper wire is usually produced according to a standard diameter table. Later the copper wire
is enamelled or coated. Nowadays, the most common conductor in standard use corresponds to the
heat resistant class F, which limit temperature is 155°C (Figure 3.7). The highest temperature in
the F class winding is chosen at least 15°C lower than the limit.

5
10
conductor tolerances
grade 1 tolerances
0.1
grade 2 tolerances

increase in tolerances [mm]

4
0.08
10
thermal life [h]

0.06

0.04
3
10
0.02

0
Class 200
Class 155
2
10 -0.02
140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 0.2 0.2240.25 0.280.315 0.4 0.5 0.63 0.8 1 1.25 1.6
temperature [°C] nominal conductor diameter [mm]

Figure 3.7 Round enamelled winding wire of copper DASOL and DAMID, respectively, heat resistant class
155 and 200. The heat shock is, respectively, 175°C and 220°C, and electric breakdown voltage
1.8-4.8 kV depending on coatings. The limit for the thermal loading of the enamelled conductor is
shown on the left. The conductor and the coating tolerances are shown on the right for class 155
conductors which is in the same size of order as for the class 200 (Dahrèntråd AB, Sweden).
The winding can be made
1. as a random wound coil filled into the semi closed slots like in the most low voltage
electrical motors,
2. the winding can be wound directly on a core tooth or a bobbin like transformers or
electrical motors with concentrated windings,
3. or the form of the winding can be achieved from the thermal processing e.g. a bondable
conductor with a thermo-adhesive coating.
Depending on the randomness of the found coil, this is seen as inverse of packing, and lowest
thermal conductivity in the cross-section of the wound coil, the temperature increase in the winding
can be calculated just by knowing the shape of the winding cross-section area. The packing is
characterised by a conductor filling factor. The conductor filling factor is the ratio of the pure
conductor area to a slot area. The slot area is the sum of the conductor area, the coating area, the
areas between the parallel strands and a main insulation. It can be pointed out the filling of the
insulated slot or/and slot without main insulation. In the most practical cases the conductor filling
factor (including the main insulation) is 30-50% of the random wound coils in the low voltage
electrical machines.
A winding can be assumed like a stack of laminations (Figure 3.8 in the left), where the total length
of the quadratic conductors is Kf times smaller than the total length L of the stack of the winding
including insulation between the parallel strands. The insulation has low thermal conductivity λins
compared to the conductor λcond. The aforementioned material properties and conductor filling
factor Kf determine the equivalent thermal conductivity of a winding λeqv (Eq 3.16).
20 3. Design

L L⋅kf L ⋅ (1 − k f ) L ⋅ (λins ⋅ k f + λcond ⋅ (1 − k f )) (3.19)

= + =
λeff λcond λins λcond ⋅ λins
λcond ⋅ λins (3.20)
λeff =
λins ⋅ k f + λcond ⋅ (1 − k f )

The outcome from the function (Eq 3.17) is shown in Figure 3.8 on the right. If the round
conductor fills a rectangle with π/4 then the real filling factor is lower due to coating of the
conductor. If the diameter of enamelled wire is 10% larger than conductor diameter then the
conductor filling factor is about 70%. Practically, the conductor filling factor about 60-70% of
parallel non-crossing wires is quite realistic. This filling factor has small dependence on how the
parallel strands surround a single strand: a rectangle and a hexagon can be imagined. The hexagon
wound prepressed windings have conductor filling factor about 81% at 400 MPa compression.
Above the pressure of 400 MPa is little to be gained [4].

1 10

1
0.9

3
λcond λins 0.8
0.3
0.1

0.7
10
filling factor kf

0.6

q 0.5

0.4
10
0.3

3
1
0.03

0.2
ϑ1 L ϑ2
0.3

0.1
10
0
0.01 0.03 0.1 0.3 1 3 10
thermal conductivity of insulation λins W/mK

Figure 3.8 Equivalent thermal conductivity of a winding can be specified in respect of the filling factor of the
conductor strands (copper in this example) and the thermal conductivity of the medium between the
conductor strands.
It can be seen from the graph (Figure 3.8) that if the space between the copper strands is filled with
epoxy then the heat transfer can be improved considerably. The winding impregnation – soaking,
improves thermal conductivity and the temperature rise in the different parts of coil can be reduced
remarkably (epoxy: λepoxy=0.64W/mK). From another way around, if the impregnated winding has a
local zones where the space between the copper strands are filled with air then the hot spot
appears likely inside of this zone. Apart from thermal parameters the other important parameters
for the winding is an electric breakdown voltage.

Soft magnetic core

The soft magnetic material can be found in a wide diversity for different applications on the
frequency and flux density domain. The comparison between a conventional lamination of
electromagnetic steel (EMS) and a soft magnetic composite materials (SMC) shows that the
laminated iron has advantages at low frequency and two dimensional magnetic field operations. On
the other hand, the iron composite materials become popular when the operating frequency is
higher or the flux path is no longer two-dimensional. The insulated iron powder particles (SMC)
can be compress moulded to give a final fine shape of the core or the iron powder together with a
plastic binder (PBIP) can be injection moulded to increase the geometrical complexity of the final
product. Either ways the insulated iron particles reduce the current flow inside the particle.
Although the eddy current losses for the iron powder material (SMC) are negligible, the hysteresis
losses are approximately two times higher and the increased magnetic source should compensate
the mmf drop in the material due to lower relative permeability and lower saturation flux
3. Design 21

density compared to the laminated iron (Fig. 2.5). The isotropic SMC material has advantageous
features not only regarding the magnetic behaviour but also the heat transfer. In EMS materials,
similarly to the 2D magnetic circuit, the heat transfer varies appreciably in the inter-laminar and
cross-laminar directions and the difference may be a hundred times. Different approaches makes
possible to produce a soft magnetic core with increased complexity and integrity at the same time
with increased manufacturability. Table 3.2 shows the comparison between the laminated iron and
the compressed and injection moulded soft composite material.
Table 3.2 The choice values for the different types of the soft ferrous material. The 0.35 mm electromagnetic steel
that has the lowest losses (Surahammarsbruk AB, Sweden) is compared with SMC material that is
compressed with 0.6% lubricating binder (Höganäs AB, Sweden). Additionally a small amount of
data from the experimental material of plastic bounded iron powder (PBIP) is shown.
laminated steel Compressed SMC Injection moulded
Quantity Symbol Unit
3% Si Somaloy 500+LB1 iron powder
Relative permeability μr.max - 9250 200 10-20
Coercivity HC A/m 35 400 100-400
Hysteresis loss coefficients ch/eh JT-1m-3 162/1.7 1160/1.8
Eddy current loss coefficients ce 0.338 0
Anomalous loss coefficients ca 0.146 3.60
Stacking factor 0.95-0.98 0.9 0.8
Resistivity ρ Ω·m 59e-8
Thermal conductivity (d/q) λ W/mK 28 / 0.71 17 1-3
Price K€ - low moderate moderate

2.5 10000 4
M235-35A 10 M235-35A
somaloy500 9000 somaloy500
2
2 8000
core losses [W/kg]

10
relative permeability μ

7000
flux density B, T

0
1.5 6000 10

5000
-2
10
1 4000

3000 -4
10
0.5 2000 2

1000 1
4
0 0 2 10
3 10
1 2 3 4 5 0 0
1
10
10 10 10 10 10 flux density [T] 10 10
field strength H; A/m frequency [Hz]

Figure 3.9 Magnetization characteristics including the relative permeability as a function of magnetic field
intensity and the core losses for 0.35 mm electromagnetic steel (M235-35A, Surahammarsbruk AB,
Sweden) and iron powder (Somaloy 500 +0.6%LB1, Höganäs AB, Sweden).

Permanent magnet
Like the magnet cores are used to guide and to shape the magnetic flux, the permanent magnets are
used to produce the magnetic flux. Therefore, one of the most important magnetic parameters of a
permanent magnet is the ability to produce the magnetic flux – remanence BR. The stability of
the magnetic orientation in the permanent magnet material is determined by coercive force HC. The
larger the coercive force, the greater is the stability of the magnet and the less the magnetization is
changed by a large external magnetic field. Apart from the external field, the factors affecting
22 3. Design

magnet stability is mainly temperature and reluctance changes. The shape of the magnet,
magnetization pattern and assembling are the other important factors that designer should
consider.
The choice of permanent magnet material considers the operation point of the magnet and the
magnetic flux production capability BR. The choice of magnetic material depends not only on the
physical properties of material, the application conditions and the price but also on a required
shape, magnetization and dimensions. The other important factor is the temperature dependence of
the material and the risk of demagnetization. Initially magnet materials are provided as magnetic
powders which are later sintered or moulded for a final shape. Injection moulding gives the highest
freedom for the final shape of the magnet and magnetization pattern. The best magnetic
performance of ferrite material is achieved with anisotropic material where magnetization process
takes place in the tool during moulding. Single axis compression moulded magnets are isotropic,
and therefore they are magnetized after moulding. The sintering process involves compacting fine
powders at high pressure in an aligning magnetic field, then sintering into solid shape. After
sintering, the magnet shape is rough, and will need to be machined to achieve close tolerances. The
complexity of shapes that can be thus pressed is limited. Some of the choice values for permanent
magnets are concentrated in Table 3.3.
Table 3.3 The choice criteria for the PM material
Ferrite SmCo NdFeB
Quantity Symbol Unit
Sintered/moulded sintered/moulded sintered/moulded
Residual flux density, 20 0C Br T 0.4/0.2 1.1/0.6 1.3/0.7
Energy product BH kJ/m3 20 – 30 100 – 200 200 – 300
Temperature dependence kϑBr %/0K -0.2 -0.03 -0.1/-0.1
Temperature dependence kϑHc %/0K 0.4 -0.23 -0.6/-0.4
Maximum reverse field, 20 0C HD kA/m -200 -1000 -2000
Resistivity ρ Ω·m 1e+10/ 6e+5/ 1.6e+6/1.4
Thermal conductivity λ W/mK 4.5/ 10/ 9/2
Operation temperature ϑmax 0C /150 250/110 <180/110
Price K€ - Low High Moderate

Figure 3.10 The grouped demagnetization curves show the magnetic properties of different magnetic materials.
The iso-energy product (kJ/m3) lines are labelled dashed lines.
The magnet characteristics in respect of different production methods are shown in Figure 3.10.
3. Design 23

Insulation
A good electric conductor is usually good thermal conductor and vice versa. Main criteria for the
insulation material are geometrically thin, mechanically flexible and strong material with high cross-
over voltage and thermal conductivity. Similar to conductor, the insulation is grouped into
temperature classes. DMD (Dacron-Mylar-Dacron) is commonly used for 155°C class F windings
and Kapton for high temperature windings.
Table 3.4 The choice criteria for the insulation material
Polyamide Polyester
Quantity Symbol Unit Nomex Kapton
(nylon) (Mylar,DMD)
Relative permittivity, 20 0C ε 3.7 3.2 3.7 3.6
Electric breakdown voltage U kV/mm 15-22 28 17-31 276
Resistivity ρ Ω·m 1e+11 1e+13 2e+14 1e+8
Thermal conductivity λ W/mK 0.2 0.1-0.25 0.12
Specific heat capacity c J/kgK 1800 300 1090
Operation temperature ϑmax 0C 93-127(185)1 60-2551 220 400
Price K€ - moderate moderate moderate high
1 heat deflection temperature – melting point

3.4 Loadings and efficiency

There are many factors and viewpoints that influence the outcome of the design process. From
physical understanding point of view the design process of an electrical device is faced with its’
qualitative and quantitative parameters. The quantitative parameters are related to ‘density’
quantities. These are magnetic flux density, electric current density, loss density etc, which define
magnetic, electric, thermal and other types of loadings in the energy converter. Basically, the more
compact is the device the higher can be its loadings. High energy density is not the only way to go.
The importance in the design process is to reduce the cost of materials and energy for a specified
functionality. The cost issue comes in already in the prototyping/manufacturing stage. Later in the
application stage, the product supposes to maintain the functionality for a specified time period
(nominal life 20000 hours). The parameters, which specify the performance and functionality of the
designed device, can be grouped as qualitative design parameters.
Whenever an electrical device transforms energy from one form to another, there is always a certain
loss. The loss power or the heat loss takes place in the device itself, causing an increase in
temperature and a reduction in efficiency. Generally the losses in an electromechanical device that
intermediate via magnetism can be divided by the source: electric, magnetic or mechanical. The
losses are related to material loadings according to their sources. The limits for different kinds of
loadings are these constrains, which are set in the optimization routine as an ‘acceptable’ search
domain. Hereby the general constrains for the electric circuit as a winding, magnetic circuit as a
core, mechanic circuit as a whole assembly and thermal circuit as a cooling path are observed.
Usually the electric and magnetic constrains of an electric device become important after the device
is assembled, while the mechanic and thermal constraint are important already in manufacturing
process.

Electric loading
The electric loading is the allowed current per conductor cross-section area. The maximum
electrical loading can be driven by the supply factors (a supply voltage, a frequency or a number of
phases, a maximum allowed current etc) or/and the thermal conditions (a cross-section area of the
24 3. Design

coil, an equivalent thermal conductivity, cooling etc). The selection of current density can be also
related to magnetic or mechanical considerations.

Dielectric loading
The dielectric loading is related to the electric field, mechanic and thermal stress in the dielectric
medium. The main consideration of selecting proper insulation (thickness) is related to mechanical
conditions (durability, flexibility, etc), electric conditions (electric breakdown voltage, partial
discharge, etc) and thermal condition (maximum temperature, ageing, etc).

Magnetic loading
The suitable value of magnetic loading – magnetic flux density is an outcome of the appropriately
designed geometry and used magnetic materials (soft, hard) as well as the applied maximum
magnetomotive force in a purpose of the magnetic coupling. Another indicator to the proper
magnetic loading is the reasonable magnitude of ferrous losses at an operating frequency. The other
factors to consider are magnetic flux leakage paths, a magnetic saturation, a demagnetization risk,
etc.

Mechanic loading
The mechanical loading is the concern related to the structural mechanics and stresses in the
material and assembled device, vibration and acoustical noise, etc. The other design factors to
consider are the inertia, the electro-dynamical forces due to short-circuits, forces appearing in the
assembling process etc.

Thermal loading
The thermal loading is the concern related to the heat transport out from the assembled device and
ageing, which is set by the temperature limits. The value of the hot-spot temperature ϑmax depends
on the material properties, the assembling, the cooling conditions and how a device is designed to
dissipate losses (the selection of coolant, the flow of the coolant, design of cooling surface(s), etc).
 25

4 Equivalent circuit method

The equivalent circuit method (ECM) is essentially a finite element method (FEM) that has two
important peculiarities. First the number of elements employed by ECM is much less than the usual
number of elements in the FEM. This means less accuracy but allows repetition of computation,
which in the basis of dynamic calculation, in a reasonably short time. The second peculiarity of the
ECM is that the flow can go through an element in only two directions; in the FEM there is no
restriction on direction of flux through any element. Basically, the direction of flow in each element
in EC model must be known before the ECM is applied, whereas in the FE analysis the
computation results the flow distribution itself. An equivalent circuit model is a natural step of
continuing with the approximate analytical model that has been introduced in the previous chapter.
Nevertheless the step is not necessary if the particular problem can be solved with FEM, which
allows a quicker development of a numeric model and better solution accuracy compared with the
corresponding EC model with increased elements.

4.1 Equivalent circuit model

The equivalent circuit model consists of a number of circuits that follow the (electric, magnetic,
thermal) flux paths, which is visually the connections between a source(s) and load(s), and elements
that state the geometry and the medium properties in the flow direction. All relevant electric circuit
theorems (Kirchhoff’s current and voltage laws) can be applied by solving a particular field
problem, which is formulated as an equivalent circuit.
A heat transfer problem is taken as an example. The heat transfer between a body, which cooling
surface is Acool, and a fluid can be expressed with a Newton’s convection boundary condition. By
knowing that the fluid has uniform temperature ϑamb far away from the body and the convection
coefficient α describes the heat transport from the cooling surface, the (cooling) surface
temperature ϑ can be found according to the loss energy Q that passes the surface (Eq 4.1).
Q = k (ϑ − ϑamb ) = Acool α (ϑ − ϑamb ) (4.1)
The same formula has been drawn as an equivalent circuit in Figure 4.1.
ϑ? k ϑamb

Figure 4.1 An example of a simple equivalent circuit describing a heat transfer.

The elements in an equivalent circuit describe the physical properties of a medium of different
media and the geometry of a ‘flux tube’ at the same time (Chapter 2.2). The element can also
describe different physical phenomena that examples are taken from the heat transfer in Table 4.1.
The convection coefficient α describes for a natural cooled surfaces is in range from 5 to 25
W/m2K. An empirical formulation for a forced cooled plane surface, where the circulating air
speed is v, is brought in Table 4.1.
26 4. Equivalent circuit method

Table 4.1 Heat transfer is defined as the movement of energy due to a temperature difference. It is characterized
by the following three mechanisms conduction, convection and radiation. Additionally transient heat
transfer is shown. An equivalent element can be derived from the temperature difference and heat flow.

Graphical interpretation Mathematical formulation description

l A Conduction is heat
ϑ transfer by diffusion
λA
Q= (ϑ1 − ϑ2 ) in a stationary
l medium due to a
ϑ1 ϑ2 λA 1 temperature
k= =A gradient. The
λ l
Q
x
l
∑λ medium can be a
solid or a liquid

l A Convection is heat
ϑ ϑhot Q = α 2 A(ϑ2 − ϑamb ) transfer between
α1 ϑ1 either a hot surface
A and a cold moving
k=
α2 1 l 1 fluid or a cold
ϑamb +∑ + surface and a hot
ϑ2 α1 λ α2
Q x moving fluid.
α = 7.8K 20 ⋅ v 0.6K0.78 Convection occurs
in liquids and gases
l A Radiation is heat
ϑ ϑhot ⎛ ⎛ ϑ ⎞4 ⎛ ϑ ⎞4 ⎞ transfer between
Q = crad A⎜ ⎜ 2 ⎟ − ⎜ amb ⎟ ⎟
α1 ϑ1 ⎜ ⎝ 100 ⎠ ⎝ 100 ⎠ ⎟ cooling surface A at
⎝ ⎠ temperature ϑ2 and
α2 ⎛ ⎛ ϑ2 ⎞ ⎛ ϑamb ⎞ 4 ⎞
4 ambience at
ϑamb crad ⎜ ⎜ − ⎟
ϑ2 ⎜ ⎝ 100 ⎟⎠ ⎜⎝ 100 ⎟⎠ ⎟ temperature ϑamb via
Q x α 2 rad = ⎝ ⎠ electromagnetic
ϑ2 − ϑamb waves

l A dϑ ϑ Transient heat
ϑ ϑhot QP = QS + QD = Cth +
dt Rth transfer can consider
α1 ϑ1 Vρc
a medium capacity
to store the heat.
ϑm = QP Rth τ th = Cth Rth = The equations
α2 ϑ2 Aα 2
ϑamb indicate the steady-
⎛ τ
− th ⎞ state temperature
QP QS QD x ϑ = ϑamb + (ϑm − ϑamb ) ⋅ ⎜1 − e t
⎜ ⎟
⎟ and heating time
⎝ ⎠ constant.

Equivalent circuit element

A numeric value can be derived to a simple shape of a parameterised geometry that represents an
element in an equivalent circuit. Some examples of the common elements in a magnetic equivalent
circuit are formulated in Table 4.2. These elements have constant geometry and constant material
properties. The solution of the expression 2.5 is achieved by integrating a simple geometry
infinitesimally small distance perpendicular to, or alternatively along, the magnetic flux flow. This
integration results a sum of serially connected infinitesimally thin reluctances (resistances) or a sum
of a parallel connected infinitesimally thin permeances (conductance).
4. Equivalent circuit method 27

Table 4.2 Equivalent elements with constant geometry derived as a conductivity (G) (permeance) or resistivity
(R) (reluctance) elements.
Flux tube – Shape of element geometry Externally excited
Distributively excited element
and flux flow element
y A( y ) = y l
H x ( y ) l = J z A( y )
μwh dΦ x = μ 0 H x ( y )wdy
h G=
Φ x l
Φx μ w h A( y )
R=
l G= = 0 ∫ dy =
μwh J z AS lh 0 l
z
w 1 μ0 w
l =
2 lh
y
h2 − h1
h2 h(x ) = h1 + x
l
Φ dx
dR = μ
wh( x )
h1 x l h
R= ln 2
w z μw(h2 − h1 ) h1
l

y l2 l2 − l1 y⎛ l −l ⎞
l ( y ) = l1 + y A( y ) = ⎜ l1 + 2 1 y ⎟
h 2⎝ h ⎠
h Φ wdy H x ( y ) l ( y ) = J z A( y )
dG = μ
x l( y) dΦ x = μ 0 H x ( y )wdy
μwh 2 μ 0 w h A( y )
h
G = ∫ dG =
l2 Φx
J z AS (l1 + l 2 )h ∫0 l ( y )
z ln G= = dy
w 0
l2 − l1 l1
l1

y x
l(y) = 2 r 2 − (y − r )
y
A( y ) = 2 ∫ r 2 − ( y − r ) dy
2
2

wdy 0
dG = μ H x ( y ) l ( y ) = J z A( y )
Φ z l( y)
r
π dΦ x = μ0 H x ( y )wdy
G = ∫ dG =μw
w r 2 μ0 w A( y ) π
h
4
π r 2 ∫0 l ( y )
0 G= dy = μ0 w
8

y Φ x
l(y) = 2 r 2 − (y − r )
2

wdy
dG = μ
z l(y)
2r
G = 2 ∫ dG =μwπ
w 0
r
28 4. Equivalent circuit method

Formulation of EC method
The formulation of the equivalent circuit method is derived according to an example of scalar
temperature field [9]. The element formulation and connections as well as the equilibrium
conditions within an element and a whole system are the point of discussion. A stationary heat
transfer problem is formulated according to heat balance and heat flow in materials over an entire
area specified by boundary conditions such as known heat flow qn (including convection) or known
temperature ϑ (K). In order to formulate the heat transfer problem for a complex system, it is
necessary to study how it works for a simple system. Considering heat transfer in two different
medium that is described by heat conductivity k1 (W/K) and k2 (W/K), which are connected in
series along x-axis. The positive direction of thermal flow Q (W) is chosen to be in the direction of
x-axis.
ϑ1 k1 ϑ2 ϑ2 k2 ϑ3
x
Q1 Q2 Q2 Q3

Figure 4.2 Thermal circuit characterized by thermal heat flow q, temperatures ϑ, elements and nodal points.

The thermal flux q within the element is described in accordance with a constitutive law i.e. a
relation which describes how the material conducts heat.
q = k1 ⋅ (ϑ2 − ϑ1 ) (4.2)
Instead of describing the heat flow only within the element as the consequence of temperature
difference, the heat flow is represented as the heat fluxes (including external) acting on the element
nodes. The flow that leaves a node and enters into an element is considered to be positive (Eq 4.4).
Q2 = k1 ⋅ (ϑ2 − ϑ1 ) (4.3)
Q1 = k1 ⋅ (ϑ1 − ϑ2 ) (4.4)
Q1 + Q2 = 0 (4.5)
According to balance equation (Eq 4.5), the sum of all the heat fluxes acting on the element
nodes is equal to zero. The characterization of a single element can be expressed in matrix forms.
k1 − k1 ϑ1 Q1
⋅ = (4.6)
− k1 k1 ϑ2 Q2

K e ⋅ ae = f e (4.7)
The matrix of thermal conductivity of the element is termed as the element stiffness matrix Ke, the
nodal temperature vector ae is expressed as the vector of unknowns and the element’s heat flow
vector fe is named as a load vector. Each element independently in the system can be described in
respect of the element relation. If the elements are connected (compatible) then they share a
common node with the same heat flow and temperature [9]. The expanded element relation i.e. the
first element relation to the whole system in accordance with this example is:

k1 − k1 0 ϑ1 Q1
1

− k1 k1 0 ⋅ ϑ2 = Q2
1 (4.8)
0 0 0 ϑ3 0

K 1ee ⋅ a = f1ee (4.9)

The expanded element relation involves all the unknowns a of the entire system. The complete
system equation of the entire thermal circuit is the sum of the expanded element stiffness relations
4. Equivalent circuit method 29

of each element and load vector in accordance with equilibrium conditions for the nodal points.
The external heat flow at a nodal point is equal to the sum of all element heat flows related to that
nodal point.
k1 − k1 0 ϑ1 Q1
− k1 k1 + k2 − k2 ⋅ ϑ2 = Q2 + Q2
1 2 (4.10)
0 − k2 k2 ϑ3 Q3

Ka = f (4.11)
The determinant of the assembled total stiffness matrix K is equal to zero. In order to obtain
unique solution for the unknown temperature and at least one node point has to be prescribed a
priori. The specification of the given temperature is an essential boundary condition, which
prescribes the value of variable itself and is necessary in order to solve the system of equations. The
heat flux is a natural boundary condition and this specifies thermal insulation, the heat flow into or
out from the system [9]. The heat flow due to convection (normal to the cooling surface i.e.
boundary) is determined by additional thermal element, which is the thermal transfer coefficient α,
and given ambient temperature at the node point (Eq 4.1 and 4.12).
q n = n ⋅ (k∇ϑ ) = h(ϑ − ϑ amb ) (4.12)
Next, a thermal equivalent circuit is formed for the design example.

4.2 Thermal equivalent circuit

The thermal equivalent circuit for the linear actuator is shown in Figure 4.3. The thermally
symmetric sections of the stator as well as the mover are selected. Hereby it is assumed that there is
no heat dissipation trough the (vertical) sides of the stator core, but only the upper part of the core.
At the same time it is assumed the identical magnetic loading and losses in the stator teeth. The
symmetric part is divided not only along the x-axis but also along the z-axis. The temperature in the
air-gap is specified by the heat sources in the stator and the mover as the heat transfer between the
motor parts. The specification of the thermal equivalent circuit is summarized in Table 4.3 and the
Matlab script of the problem formulation is brought below as an example.
Homogeneous bidirectional flux flow is assumed in a single heat conductivity element Gth. These, as
most thermal element calculations, are based upon simplified formulation of the geometry and
approximation of the effective length of the material. The element is assumed to have the same
base area Aie, where the total length of the element considers the thickness lie of different material,
its’ thermal conductivity λie, and the area variation cie. In addition the heat convection is calculated
according to element cooling area Acool and thermal transfer coefficient α.
1 (4.13)
Gthe = Ae ⋅ e
l
l Ae
∑ i

i =1 ci ⋅ λ1
e e
+
Acool
⋅α

A topology matrix Edof is used to describe all the elements and their connections. A single
element e is connected between the node points n and m and has the thermal conductivity of Gth
(Eq 4.14) [1].
e
E dof [
= e noden nodem Gthe ] (4.14)

The node potential method is used to calculate the relations between the thermal conductivity
(stiffness) matrix G, temperature (unknowns) vector ϑ and thermal flux input (load) vector Q of
known losses.
30 4. Equivalent circuit method

Gϑ = Q (4.15)
The nodal values of temperature are obtained according to the nodal sources and elements with
respect to the reference temperature(s).

ϑamb
Gc1
ϑyoke
ϑamb
Gt1 Gw1 ϑend Gc2
Gw4
ϑtooth
ϑcoil
Gw2

ϑhotspot
Gt2 Gw3
ϑgap
ϑlink Gm1 ϑside
Gm3
Gm2 ϑpm
Gc3
ϑamb

Figure 4.3 Thermal equivalent circuit of the linear actuator is shown where the thermal network has
conductivity elements G and node temperatures ϑ. By assuming no thermal heat flow through a
symmetric part of the e-core and the piston, the size of the equivalent circuit model can be reduced. The
cooling from the system is presented as simply as possible by incorporating only three cooling elements.
Similarly, the thermal circuit along z-axis incorporates only the effect of the end winding.

Table 4.3 Node temperature and heat sources of the thermal equivalent circuit

Node Temperature Symbol Source Symbol Value

1 Ambience ϑamb Heat dissipation Pamb 0
2 Stator yoke ϑyoke Core losses in the stator yoke Pfe.yoke Pfe.yoke
3 Stator tooth ϑtooth Core losses in the stator tooth Pfe.teeth Pfe.teeth
4 Slotted winding ϑcoil Copper losses Pcu.dc.slot Pcu.dc.slot
5 End winding ϑend Copper losses Pcu.dc.end Pcu.dc.end
6 Air-gap ϑgap Dynamic friction loss / cooling Pgap 0
7 Mover link core ϑlink Mover core losses Plink 0
8 Permanent magnet ϑpm Eddy current loss in the magnet Ppm Ppm
9 Mover side core ϑside Mover core losses Pside 0

Example
An example of the initialization and formulation of the heat transfer problem, which is based on
thermal equivalent circuit, is given.
% thermal conductivity [W/(Km)]
ZGcu = 300; ZGwin = 0.2; ZGfe = 42;
ZGair = 0.03; ZGins = 0.12; ZGmag = 30;
ALsr = 15; % thermal transfer coefficient [W/(Km2)]
4. Equivalent circuit method 31

% heat conductivity elements

G_t1 = 0.5*l_t * 0.5*h_c * 1/(0.8*(w_c-l_t)/ZGfe);
G_t2 = 0.5*l_t * 0.5*h_c * 1/(0.2*(w_c-l_t)/ZGfe+0.5*g/(2*ZGair));
G_w1 = 0.5*(w_c-l_t) * 0.5*h_c * 1/(0.8*(w_c-l_t-ins)/ZGwin+ins/ZGins);
G_w2 = 0.5*(w_c-l_t) * 0.5*h_c * 1/((0.5*l_s-ins)/ZGwin+ins/ZGins);
G_w3 = 0.5*(w_c-l_t) * 0.5*h_c * 1/(0.2*(w_c-l_t-ins)/ZGwin);
G_w4 = (w_c-l_t) * (0.5*l_s-ins) * 1/(0.5*h_c+pi/4*(l_t+2*ins)/ZGwin);
G_c1 = 0.5*(l_s+l_t) * 0.5*h_c * 1/(l_t/ZGfe+1/ALsr*0);
G_c2 = (pi/4*(l_t+2*ins))*((w_c-l_t)+0.5*h_c)*1/((0.5*l_s-ins)/ZGwin+ins/ZGins+1/(1*ALsr));
G_c3 = 0.5*(l_pm) * 0.5*h_c * 1/(0.5*l_pm/ZGmag+1/ALsr);
G_m1 = 0.5*(l_pm) * 0.5*h_c * 1/(0.5*l_pm/ZGmag+0.5*g/(2*ZGair));
G_m2 = (l_t) * 0.5*h_c * 1/(0.5*l_pm/ZGmag+0.5*l_rc/(2*ZGfe));
G_m3 = (l_t) * 0.5*h_c * 1/(0.5*l_pm/ZGmag+0.5*l_rs/(2*ZGfe));

% heat sources
Pcu_dc_slot=Pcu/4*lcu/(2*h_c)*0.5;
Pcu_dc_end =Pcu/4*lcu/(2*l_e)*0.5;
Pfe_teeth =Pth/6*0.5;
Pfe_yoke =Pyk/4*0.5;
P_magnet =Ppm/2*0.5;

% topology matrix: elem node1 node2 value

Mtec = [ 1 1 2 G_c1;
2 2 3 G_t1;
3 2 4 G_w1;
4 3 4 G_w2;
5 4 5 G_w4;
6 5 6 G_c2;
7 3 6 G_t2;
8 4 6 G_w3;
9 6 8 G_m1;
10 7 8 G_m2;
11 8 9 G_m3;
12 8 1 G_c3;];

nelm = 12; % number of elements

ndof = 9; % number of nodes

K = zeros(ndof); % global stiffness matrix - thermal conductivity

f = zeros(ndof,1); % global force vector - thermal flux

% power loss at a node point

f(3) = Pfe_teeth; f(2) = Pfe_yoke; % stator core loss
f(9) = P_magnet; % loss in the permanent magnet
f(4) = Pcu_dc_slot; f(5) = Pcu_dc_end*0; % copper loss in the winding

% temperature in the node points

bc = [ 1 Tamb;]; % boundary condition

% assembling
for m=1:nelm
Ke=Mtec(m,4)*[1 -1; -1 1;]; % element stiffness matrix
fe=0; % element load vector
tk=Mtec(m,2:3); % d.o.f of the m-th element
K(tk,tk) = K(tk,tk)+Ke; % stiffness matrix
f(tk)=f(tk)+fe; % load vector
end
32 4. Equivalent circuit method

% solving equations a=K\f , a=K\(f-K(:,n)*a(n))

if length(bc)==0
a=K\f;
else
fdof=[1:length(K)]'; % node numeration
a=zeros(size(fdof)); % initialize vector of 'unknowns'
pdof=bc(:,1); % node point of known 'unknowns'
dp=bc(:,2); % value of known 'unknowns'
fdof(pdof)=[]; % exclude known 'unknowns'
sol=K(fdof,fdof)\(f(fdof)-K(fdof,pdof)*dp); % calculate 'unknowns'
a(pdof)=dp; a(fdof)=sol; % complete vector of 'unknowns'
end

The results are compared later together with computation results from a finite element model.

4.3 Magnetic equivalent circuit

Often the magnetic equivalent circuit (MEC) has been introduced as a fast design model that is
able to estimate the magnetic loading, force characteristics and the optimal size of the core. Even
though the model of 1D elements describing the 3D object is far from precise, the approximate
sizing is enough to initialize the geometry for the further 2D/3D finite element (FE) sensitivity
study. The MEC method enables to model any electromagnetical device with an extremely low
number of elements, and at the same time retains trustworthy computational accuracy [8].
The equivalent circuit model of the design example is formulated over whole the electromagnetical
device as the symmetry cannot be established. The device construction is described as a set of
magnetic conductive elements. These permeances are determined according to geometrical
consideration that is based on assumption of the direction of flux tubes. There are three types of
elements: nonlinear core elements, which permeance depends on the magnetic loading,
parametric gap elements, which depends on the position of the mover respect to the stator and
leakage permeances. The latter can be also parametric. This is in case when the permeance of
the flux leakage path depends on the mover position.

1 Gy1 2 Gy2 3

Gt1 Gt2 Gt3

NI

4 Gw1 5 Gw2 6

Gg1 Gg2 Gg3

Gm1 Gm2
Gr1 Gr2
7 8 9 10 11
Ψm1 Ψm2

Figure 4.4 Magnetic equivalent circuit of the linear actuator is shown where the permeance network has the
conductivity elements G and the node number represents the corresponding value of the magnetic scalar
potentials Vm.
4. Equivalent circuit method 33

The MEC is formulated according to the main flux path at no-load conditions. Similar to the
thermal equivalent circuit, the topology matrix is used to assemble the permeance matrix G for the
magnetostatic problem. The node potential method is used to calculate the scalar magnetic
potential, branch fluxes and magnetic loading for each element. The core elements (Gr, Gt, Gy) are
nonlinear and two leakage paths are considered between teeth (Gw). The permeance model in the air
gap consists only of the sum of the (parallel) corresponding coupling permeances between the
opposed armature teeth and the mover poles (Gg).
The values for the permeances can be calculated differently according to formulations stated in
Table 4.2. Alternatively, the permeance P(x), which is inverse of reluctance, is calculated according
to the magnetic flux Φ(x) passing the cross-section area A(x) of the flux tube, the average length
l(x) of the flux tube and the field intensity H(x) in the tube. The aforementioned parameters can be
calculated for example by general FE software.
μ 0 ⋅ A(x ) Φ( x )
P( x ) = = (4.16)
l (x ) H (x ) ⋅ l (x )
This assumption is true when the soft ferromagnetic materials that surround the air region are
infinitely permeable. The magnetic flux source Ψ that is a scalar magnetic potential, which is
analogous to a current source in electric circuits, represents a permanent magnet. The source
flux inflow of a permanent magnet is connected to the same node point of the internal leakage
reluctance of the magnet. An outflow or zero potential needs to be specified in the other node
point of the internal leakage reluctance. The remanence BR of the permanent magnet and the cross-
section area Apm of the magnet determine the value of the source magnetic flux [8].
Ψ = BR ⋅ Apm (4.17)

B R ⋅ A pm
Ppm = . (4.18)
H C ⋅ l pm

In order to consider the non-zero current in the armature coil the mmf source has to be added to
the algebraic equations for the node points [10].
(Vm 2 − Vm 5 ) ⋅ G25 + φ 25 = − NI ⋅ G25 (4.19)

The magnetic saturation is taken into account in nonlinear elements Gm, where the new value of
permeability is updated gradually [5]. The permeability update bases on recent permeability value
from the last iteration and on the new estimated value of permeability according to magnetization
curve respect to the magnetic loading B.

μ l , M mec , Φ pm , F

Berr ≥ 10 −3
u err ≥ 10 −3
Gu = ψ
(u a − ub )Gab + φab = FabGab nelm

∑B
2
i
e
− Bie−1
e =1
Berr =
∑ (B )
nelm
e 2

( )
i
B e = u1e − u2e ⋅ G e / Ae e =1

ndof

∑u
2
n
i − uin−1
n=1
uerr =
μ nle = μ (B )
∑ (u )
ndof
n 2

μ ie = μ ie−1 + c (μ nle − μ ie−1 )

i
e =1

Figure 4.5 Iterative process flowchart for non-linear magnetic calculation.

34 4. Equivalent circuit method

The node potential method is used to calculate magnetic scalar potential (unknowns) vector Vm
with respect to the permeance (stiffness) matrix G, and magnetic flux input (load) vector Ψ.
GVm = Ψ (4.20)

The magnetic flux φ is calculated from the magnetic scalar potential difference (mmf) and the
permeance. If the magnetic flux causes high flux density B and magnetic saturation then the value
of the permeance Gm is upgraded until the difference of the magnetic potential and fluxes between
the successive iterations becomes small (Figure 4.5).
The equivalent circuit concept provides an approximate method of solution a problem
electromagnetism, which is good enough for most design purposes and gives some immediate
physical insight into the behaviour of magnetic or thermal structures. The main drawback of the
EC that makes the method inconvenient is to make a good guess of the flux flow in order to form
the circuits and to formulate the elements. The correctness of the flux paths becomes less trustful
when a new geometry causes some new flux paths that are not considered in the initial geometry.
The discretisation time, which is the time to formulate the discrete elements within a volume, can
be much longer and the solution accuracy is lower for the EC method compared to FE method.
The discretisation of an electrical device into EC elements can be improved so that the EC mesh of
1D elements is attached to the geometry of the device. In this case the coordinates of the node
points are defined. This facilitates to estimate the length of the element and to visualize how the
elements are connected to the geometry. The latter is useful to estimate the cross-section area for
the one dimensional flow elements. The EC can be arranged so that it is used both for the magnetic
and the thermal analysis. Therefore the circuit has to be able to represent the main linkage and
leakage flux path as well the points for the heat generation and dissipation paths. All these steps of
improvements remind FE model where the entire cross-sectional surface or the volume of the
device is discretised into elements where the field formula(s) are applied. The next chapter discusses
the formulation of the FE method that is followed with examples.
 35

5 Finite element method

If the real model of an electric device, which is a prototype, contains infinite number of degrees of
freedom (d.o.f. i.e. that corresponds to the node point in the volume) then the EC model
incorporates too low d.o.f. Similar to the EC, the FE gives an approximate solution to a physic
problem described by differential or integral equations in a number of small regions – finite number
of d.o.f. Finite element analysis is an approximation numeric calculation method, which based on
the principle of differentiation that distributes in such a way as to minimize the potential energy for
general functions expressing the field state. It is used in a wide range of fields, such as calculation of
the strength of structures, and thermal conduction, electromagnetic field analysis, and fluid analysis.
The success of FE analysis (FEA) bases on an adequate FE model. The accurate geometric
representation is often less important in a FE model than the high quality meshing, the correct
representation of sources and boundaries in order to get a correct solution of the field problem.

5.1 Finite element model

The geometric object is divided into finite (number) of simple shaped elements where the
physical equations of equilibrium, in conjunction with compatibility and constitutive relations are
applied and solved for unknown values in relation to internal sources and boundary conditions. The
system equations are assembled according to the (main) solution methods: a variational method
(integral kind) and a residual method (differential kind) [2]. This text focuses on a weak form of
the governing equations and the residual method. There are three aspects that are studied
thoroughly
1. geometric and mathematic expression of a finite element
2. mathematic form of the field problem that is suitable of FE method
3. FE formulation that is based to the weighted residual method

Finite element
The purpose of the finite elements is to describe truthfully the model geometry. Depending on the
type of the physical problem the selected size of the geometry can be discretised into the one-
dimensional (1D), the two-dimensional (2D) or the three-dimensional (3D) elements (Figure 5.1).
There are two main criteria for a finite element: the geometry of the FE element supposes to be
simple and it supposes to interpret the potential values within the element. The discretisation
determines the accuracy of the solution and the required storage memory space.

1D
2D
3D

Figure 5.1 One-dimensional finite element, two-dimensional finite elements: a triangle and a rectangle, and two-
dimensional finite elements: a tetrahedral, a pentahedra and an hexahedra.
A mesh generator i.e. discretisation function is usually a part of FE computation software. The
mesh generation runs automatically and usually does not need user interaction. On the other hand
the solution accuracy depends on the mesh. The solution accuracy can be established a-priori or
36 5. Finite element method

during solver and adaptive meshing routines by generating more elements or/and higher order
elements in the regions of interest i.e. the regions where the field changes rapidly.
1D finite element
The finite element geometry formulation is shown for the simplest element – one dimensional (1D)
element in a scalar temperature field [9]. The temperature distribution in a linear 1D element, which
is described by coordinates in the node matrix C is described in equation 5.1.
1 xi
C= det C = l (5.1)
1 xj

The temperature field between the nodes within the element geometry is given by the approximate
function that can be a higher order function but has to include a constant parameter and a distance
dependent parameter i.e. completeness (Eq 5.2).
α1
ϑ = α1 + α 2 ⋅ x = 1 x ⋅ = N ⋅α (5.2)
α2

ϑ ϑi
Ne ϑ(x)=α1+ α2x

ϑj

1 Nje(x)

Nie(x)
0 x
xi xj
l

Figure 5.2 Variation of temperature and element shape functions of the one-dimensional linear element.

The temperature ae within the element bounds is interpolated between its values at the nodal points
according to element shape function Ne (Eg 5.3) (Figure 5.2).
ϑi
ϑ = N ie N ej ⋅ = N e ⋅ a e = NC −1 ⋅ Cα (5.3)
ϑj
An arbitrary point vector Ñ multiplied by the inverse element node matrix C determines the
element shape functions (Eq 5.4) that values are between 0 and 1.

N ie = −
1
(x − x j )
l (5.4)
1
N ej = ( x − xi )
l
For the FE formulation, it is important to derive the temperature gradient ∇ϑ that is a derivative
of the element shape functions times the nodal values of temperature.

dϑ ∂N e e dN ie 1 1 ϑ1
e
dN j
= ⋅a = ⋅ϑi + ⋅ ϑ j = ∇N e ⋅ a e = B e ⋅ a e = − ⋅ (5.5)
dx ∂x dx dx l l ϑ2
In accordance with linear element expression, where the temperature is assumed to vary linearly,
the temperature gradient ∇ϑ is constant within the element.
5. Finite element method 37

2D finite element
The linear triangular element, as any other complete finite element, interpolates field values inside
element geometry, which for temperature field is expressed in equation 5.6 [9].
α1
ϑ = α1 + α 2 ⋅ x + α 3 ⋅ y = 1 x y ⋅ α 2 = N ⋅ α (5.6)
α3
This results the temperature distribution within the element bounds according to the interpolation
between the temperature values at the nodal points (Eq 5.7) in respect with the element shape
functions Ne (Eg 5.8).
ϑi
ϑ= N i
e
N e
j N ⋅ ϑ j = N e ⋅ a e = NC−1 ⋅ Cα
e
k
(5.7)
ϑk
If the element has a higher d.o.f. i.e. a vector element instead of a scalar element (Figure 5.3) then
the element has additional data mapping uy apart from ux data mapping. In a similar way, different
interrelated physical problems can be solved on the basis of the same FE element and mesh.
u6

y
u5
N3(x3,y3)
ϑ3
u4

ϑ2 u3
u2 N2(x2,y2)

ϑ1 u1
N (x ,y )
1 1 1
x

Figure 5.3 First order triangular element placed arbitrary on a xy-plane. The corner nodes of the element may
have either scalar values (ϑ) or vector values (u). The scalar field distribution within the element is
shown (right) as a colour mapping when the node (-1,0) corresponds to white, node (1,0) to red and
node (0,2) to dark green ‘scalar value’.

An arbitrary point vector Ñ multiplied by the inverse element node matrix C determines the
element shape functions that values are between 0 and 1, which are visualized in Figure 5.4 for the
element shown in Figure 5.3.

N ie =
1
(x j yk − xk y j + (y j − yk )x + (xk − x j )y )
⎡1 x1 y1 ⎤ det C
C = ⎢⎢1 x2 y2 ⎥⎥
1
N ej = (xk yi − xi yk + ( yk − yi )x + (xi − xk ) y ) (5.8)
det C
⎢⎣1 x3 y3 ⎥⎦
N ke =
1
(xi y j − x j yi + (yi − y j )x + (x j − xi )y )
det C
38 5. Finite element method

One has to be concerned that the element node numeration has to be defined in CCW direction so
that the element determinant and area will be positive quantities.

Figure 5.4 Visualization of the shape functions for the first order triangular element.

For the FE formulation, it is important to derive the temperature gradient∇ϑ, which is for the two
dimensional element is expressed in equation 5.9.

∂ϑ ∂N e e ∂N ie ∂N ej ∂N ke
⋅a ⋅ ϑi ⋅ϑ j ⋅ ϑk
∇ϑ = ∂∂ϑ
x = ∂x = ∂x ∂x ∂x = ∇N e ⋅ a e = B e ⋅ a e (5.9)
∂N e e ∂N ie ∂N ej ∂N ke
⋅a ⋅ ϑi ⋅ϑ j ⋅ ϑk
∂y ∂y ∂y ∂y ∂y

In accordance with linear element expression the temperature gradient ∇ϑ is constant within the
element.

Weak formulation
The weak formulation is the formulation that is more suitable for implementation in the numeric
FE modelling. A problem describing differential equation is in fact a reformulation of the
previously in chapter 2 derived strong form and the weak form is the form that the (residual) FE
approach is established [9]. To establish the weak of the strong form the latter is multiplied by an
arbitrary weight function v and this multiplication is integrated over the pertinent region:

⎡d ⎛ dϑ ⎞ ⎤
l

∫ v ⎢⎣ dx ⎜⎝ λ ⋅ A ⋅ dx ⎟⎠ + Q⎥⎦ dx = 0
0
(5.10)

The rule of integration by parts states that

⎛ dφ dψ ⎞
b b
dy
∫a dxdx = ∫a ⎜⎝ dx ψ + dx φ ⎟⎠dx = [φ (x )ψ (x )]a (5.11)
b

By applying the previous expression in formula 5.10 and evaluating φdψ/dx gives

dϑ ⎞ dϑ ⎤
l
dv ⎛ ⎡
l l

∫0 dx ⎜⎝ λ ⋅ A ⋅ dx ⎟⎠dx = ⎢⎣v ⋅ λ ⋅ A ⋅ dx ⎥⎦ 0 + ∫0 vQdx = 0 (5.12)

By specifying the boundary conditions as a heat flux (i.e. temperature gradient) the natural
boundary conditions are established: q(l) unknown, q(0)=h,

dv ⎛ dϑ ⎞
l l

∫0 dx ⎜⎝ λ ⋅ A ⋅ dx ⎟⎠dx = − (vAq)x=l + (vA)x=0 h + ∫0 vQdx = 0 (5.13)

5. Finite element method 39

In the weak form, however, only the first derivative of the temperature ϑ enters i.e. the
approximating functions need to be differentiable once. Additionally the formulation holds in an
unchanged form when discontinuities occur.

FE formulation
The FE formulation is shown for the one dimensional (1D) scalar element [9]. In order to take the
advantage of the weak formulation, the weight function v needs to be chosen so that the residual of
the solution of the unknown function and a known trial function is a minimum. In accordance with
the Galerkin weighted residual method the weight function is chosen to be equal with the trial
function which is in the case (Galerkin weighted residual method) the shape functions.

v = Nc = c T N T (5.14)
dv dN dN T
= c = cT = cT B T (5.15)
dx dx dx
By substituting the derived expressions into weak formulation

⎡⎛ l ⎞ ⎤
[ ]
b
cT ⎢⎜⎜ ∫ B T λABdx ⎟⎟a + N T Aq a + ∫ N T Qdx⎥ = 0 ,
b
(5.16)
⎢⎣⎝ 0 ⎠ a ⎥⎦
where cT is independent of x. The FE formulation is

⎛l T ⎞
[ ]
b
⎜ ∫ B λABdx ⎟a = − N T Aq a + ∫ N T Qdx ,
b
(5.17)
⎜ ⎟
⎝0 ⎠ a

which in compact form is expressed as

Ka = f b + f l , (5.18)
where K is stiffness matrix, a vector of unknowns, fb boundary vector and fl load vector. In the
terms of the field elements matrix K describes the conductivity of the element, a represents the
potential value of the element nodes and f stands for the flow in or out from the node points.

5.2 Two-dimensional heat flow

The two-dimensional heat transfer problem is started with deriving the FE formulation for a
steady-state 2D heat transfer problem. The formulation is followed with an assembling procedure
and example, where the numeric values are generated into the matrixes that describe the whole
system. Finally an example is given of solving the heat transfer problem with Mirage v1.0.

Formulation
A stationary heat transfer problem (Strong-form Eq 5.19) can be formulated according to heat
balance (conservation equation) and heat flow in material (constitutive relation) over an entire area
specified by boundary conditions such as heat flow qn known (including convection) or temperature
ϑ known. The 2D heat flow and temperature distribution is independent of third dimension
(thickness t) and determined by thermal conductivity (2x2 matrix) of material D, the heat sources Q
and boundary conditions along Lh, Lg and Lc.
40 5. Finite element method

∇(tD ∇ϑ ) + tQ = 0
qn = q T n = h L
h
(5.19)
q n = α (ϑ − ϑamb ) L
c

ϑ=gL
g

Multiplying the heat equation by an arbitrary weight function v and integrating it over the entire area
A gives a weak form (Eq 5.20) of the 2D heat transfer problem [9], with the prescribed flux qn
(including convection) and temperature ϑ given on the boundaries.

∫ (∇v ) tD ∇ϑdA = −∫ vhtdL − ∫ vqntdL − ∫ vα (ϑ − ϑamb )tdL + ∫ vQtdA

T
A Lh Lg Lc A (5.20)
ϑ=g
Temperature approximations ϑ and its’ gradients over the entire area is determined respectively by
the global shape functions N and its’ gradients respect the nodal temperatures a (Eq 5.21).
ϑ = Na
(5.21)
∇ϑ = ∇Na = Ba
Arbitrary weight function is chosen in accordance of the Galerkin method, where the weight
function (Eq 5.22) is set to be equal to the trial functions (global shape functions N) and arbitrary
matrix c, which is independent of the geometry.

v = Nc = cT N T (5.22)
∇v = Bc
FE formulation (Eq 5.23) can be written after replacement of equations (Eq 5.21) and (Eq 5.22)
into (Eq 5.20).

⎛⎜ BT tDBdA + αNT NtdL ⎞⎟ a = − NT htdL − NT q tdL − T

⎝ ∫A ∫Lc ∫Lh ∫Lg n amb ∫ N αtdL + ∫ N QtdA
T T
⎠ Lc A (5.23)
(K + K c ) a = fb + fl
The matrix formulation of the compact FE formulation including convection consists of:
stiffness matrix,

⎡ ∂N1 ∂N1 ⎤
⎢ ∂x ⎡ ∂N ∂N n ⎤
∂y ⎥ ⎡λ 0 ⎤ ⎢ 1 L ⎥
⎡ N1 ⎤
⎢ ⎥ ∂ ∂ ⎢ ⎥
⎥ tdA + ∫L ⎢ M ⎥ α [N1 L N n ] tdL
K + Kc = ∫ ⎢ M x x (5.24)
M ⎥⎢ ⎥⎢
A
⎢ ∂N n ∂N n ⎥ ⎣ 0 λ ⎦ ⎢ ∂N1 L ∂N n ⎥ c

⎢⎣ ∂y ∂y ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ N n ⎥⎦
⎢⎣ ∂x ∂y ⎥⎦

boundary vector and load vector,

⎡ N1 ⎤ ⎡ N1 ⎤ ⎡ N1 ⎤ ⎡ N1 ⎤
f b = − ∫ ⎢ M ⎥ htdL − ∫ ⎢ M ⎥ qn tdL − Tamb ∫ ⎢⎢ M ⎥⎥ αtdL
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ fl = ∫ ⎢⎢ M ⎥⎥ QtdA (5.25)
Lh Lg Lc A
⎢⎣ N n ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ N n ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ N n ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ N n ⎥⎦

and FE solution a i.e. temperature at the node points.

Assembling
Independent on scalar or vector problem the stiffness matrix K is assembled with the element
stiffness matrices Ke according to the topology matrix of elements Edof. The element topology
5. Finite element method 41

matrix defines the element number from 1 to n and the corresponding degrees of freedom from 1
to m for each node-point of the corresponding element [1].

⎡ e1 dof1 L dof m ⎤
E dof = ⎢⎢ M M M ⎥⎥ (5.26)
⎢⎣en dof1 L dof m ⎥⎦

Element stiffness matrix for the scalar (heat flow) problem including convection on the boundary
Lc is defined as:

( ) T
K e = C −1 B T D B C −1t A ( ) ∫ N α N t dL C
K c = C −1
e T T
c
−1
( ) T
= C −1 α t Lc C −1
Lc

⎡1 x1 y1 ⎤ (5.27)
⎡0 1 0 ⎤ ⎡λ xx λxy ⎤
C = ⎢⎢1 x2 y2 ⎥⎥
1
B=⎢ D=⎢ A = det (C )
⎥
⎣0 0 1 ⎦ ⎣λ yx λ yy ⎥⎦ 2
⎣⎢1 x3 y3 ⎦⎥

An example of the formulation and assembling of a heat transfer problem is shown below. The
problem bases on a symmetric part of a copper conductor with internal losses and an insulation
coating which corresponds to filling factor of Kf=1/6.
% pre-processing
% meshing
[x,y]=meshgrid(0:0.01:0.04,0:0.01:0.03); % define grid-points in respect to side vectors
tre = delaunay(x,y); % connect the grid points to triangular elements
for k=1:length(tre),
C=[ones(3,1) x(tre(k,:))' y(tre(k,:))']; A(k)=1/2*det(C); % element nodes and area
% change the order of element node numeration if area is negative
if A(k)<0, tre(k,:)=fliplr(tre(k,:)); end
end

% sources and boundary conditions

[nv,nh]=size(x); nrn=nv*nh; % number of nodes
[nre,nrd]=size(tre); % number of elements and nodes of the element
Edof = [(1:nre(1))' tre(:,1) tre(:,2) tre(:,3)]; % element topology matrix
K=zeros(nrn); f=zeros(nrn,1); % initialization
bc=[4 0; 8 0; 12 0; 16 0; 17 0; 18 0; 19 0; 20 0;]; % boundary conditions
eq=zeros(nre,1); eq([6 7 3 12])=4.5e+5; % heat supply per unit volume (W/m3)
lambda=ones(nre,1)*0.1; lambda([6 7 3 12])=300;% thermal conductivity, W/(m*C)
ep=1; % thickness of the elements

% processing - solving thermal problem

for m=1:nre % assembling thermal conductivity matrix
C=[ones(3,1) x(tre(m,:))' y(tre(m,:))']; % element coordinates
A=1/2*det(C); % area
B=[0 1 0; 0 0 1 ]*inv(C); % derivative
D=[1 0; 0 1]*lambda(m); % material matrix
Ke=B'*D*B*ep*A; % element stiffness matrix
fe=eq(m)*A*ep/3*[1 1 1]'; % element load vector
tk=Edof(m,2:nrd+1); % d.o.f of the m-th element
K(tk,tk) = K(tk,tk)+Ke; % stiffness matrix
f(tk)=f(tk)+fe; % load vector
end

% solving equations a=K\f , a=K\(f-K(:,n)*a(n))

if length(bc)==0
a=K\f;
42 5. Finite element method

else
fdof=[1:length(K)]'; % node numeration
a=zeros(size(fdof)); % initialize vector of 'unknowns'
pdof=bc(:,1); % node point of known 'unknowns'
dp=bc(:,2); % value of known 'unknowns'
fdof(pdof)=[]; % exclude known 'unknowns'
sol=K(fdof,fdof)\(f(fdof)-K(fdof,pdof)*dp); % calculate 'unknowns'
a(pdof)=dp; a(fdof)=sol; % complete vector of 'unknowns'
end

% specify the node temperatures separately to each element

for ki = 1:nre, Ed(ki,1:nrd)=a(Edof(ki,2:nrd+1))'; end

% plotting results and visualise mesh and its' numeration

figure(2); clf; hold on; axis equal; axis off; colormap(jet(16))
fill(x(tre)',y(tre)',Ed'); colorbar('vert')
for k=1:length(tre),
xt(k)=mean(x(tre(k,:))); yt(k)=mean(y(tre(k,:)));
text(xt(k),yt(k),int2str(k),'Color',[0.4 0.4 0.2],'FontSize',12);
end
for k=1:nrn, text(x(k),y(k),int2str(k),'Color',[0.3 0.1 0.0],'FontSize',10); end

Figure 5.5 the outcome of the 2D heat transfer FE model where elements 6-7-3-12 are assigned as copper with
internal heat source (λ=300 W/mK). These elements are surrounded with insulation (λ=0.1
W/mK) that surface temperature is set to ϑ=0K. The distance between horizontal and vertical nodes
is 1 cm.

Example
The procedure for analysing an electric device with FE numeric field modelling can be divided into
three steps: pre-processing, processing and post-processing. In the first step, the problem is
specified to be solved. In most FE modellers the pre-processing can be divided into three steps:
defining geometry, sources and boundaries. The necessary steps to complete the FE model in
Mirage (heat transfer) and Femm (electromagnetism or electrostatics) are [6][7]:
• Drawing the endpoints of the lines and arc segments for a region,
• Connecting the endpoints with either line segments or arc segments to form the closed
polygon of the region,
• Defining material properties and a size of finite element for each region,
• Specifying boundary conditions on the (outer) edges of the geometry.
The geometry of the design example is specified in Table 3.1. The current density, which defines
the loss density in the copper coil (Eq 3.12), is taken JC=10 A/mm2. The copper filling factor Kf is
0.6 and the equivalent thermal conductivity of the coil is taken λeqv=0.2 W/mK (Figure 3.8). The
thermal conductivity of the insulation is taken λins=0.12 W/mK. All the boundaries obey to the
natural boundary condition expect the top of the armature core. The natural boundary condition
5. Finite element method 43

∂ϑ/∂n=C specifies the flux continuity through the boundaries, while the essential boundary
condition specifies the unknown itself ϑ =ϑamb as a reference. The FE model of the design example
is shown in Figure 5.6.

∂ϑ/∂n=C
ϑ =ϑamb

∂ϑ/∂n=C

Figure 5.6 The graphical visualisation of the FE model in Mirage and FEMM. The regions have dense mesh
than the surrounding, which is to achieve more elements in the air-gap – the region of interest when
calculating forces. The region labels are declared in the rightmost lowest corner, which is the outcome of
the functionality that is introduced in the chapter 9. The 2D FE model excludes the influence of the
end-winding, which can be taken into consideration e.g. by increasing loss density in the in the coil by
assuming that the cooling through the armature core is much more intensive than from the surface of
the end turns and the thermal conductivity is much higher in the direction of electric current flow.

The processing is the procedure of computing unknowns, which are in this case the nodal values of
temperature. The temperature distribution when considering only the copper losses is shown in
Figure 5.7. During the post-processing, the hot-spot temperature can be found and an iterative
process of evaluating the maximum allowed current density can be established.

Figure 5.7 Temperature distribution in the design example.

Similar to the magnetic flux flow through the device, which according to the design purposes is to
facilitate flux linkage or the magnetic coupling, the heat flux flow is to facilitate the heat dissipation.
The heat flux density when considering only the copper losses is shown in Figure 5.8.
44 5. Finite element method

Figure 5.8 Heat flux density in the design example.

The estimated temperature rise according to the thermal EC is Δϑ=35.6 K and according to the 2D
FE model for heat transfer is Δϑ=35.9 K. Apart from the possibility to calculate the field quantities
the post-processor can be used to calculate the geometry related quantities.

5.3 Magnetostatics
The two-dimensional problem in electromagnetism is started with recalling the field formulation for
a static 2D problem in electromagnetism. The formulation is followed with an example of solving
the problem in electromagnetism with Femm v4.0 [7].

Formulation
The problem in electromagnetic analysis on a macroscopic level is the problem of solving
Maxwell’s equations subject to certain boundary conditions. Magnetostatic problems are problems
in which the fields are time-invariant. In this case, the field intensity H and flux density B must obey
the rules: Ampere’s law states the relation between a current carrying conductor and the magnetic
field intensity around the conductor (Eq 5.28), Gauss’ law describes the flux density distribution in
the space (Eq 5.29).
∇×H = J (5.28)
∇⋅B = 0 (5.29)
The relation of the magnetic field intensity and the flux density is subject to a constitutive
relationship between B and H for each material (Eq 5.30).
B = μH . (5.30)
If a material is nonlinear, the permeability, μ is actually a function of B (Eq 5.31).
B . (5.31)
μ=
H (B )
Finite element magnetic solver calculates a field that satisfies via a magnetic vector potential
approach. Flux density is written in terms of the vector potential, A, as:
B = ∇× A (5.32)
The definition of B (Eq 5.32) always satisfies (Eq 5.29), thus, (Eq 5.28) can be rewritten as a field
equation (Eq 5.33) that includes the magnetization M.
5. Finite element method 45

⎛ 1 ⎞
∇ × ⎜⎜ ∇ × A − M ⎟⎟ = J (5.33)
⎝ μ (B ) ⎠
In the general 3D case, A is a vector with three components. However, in the 2D planar and
axisymmetric cases, two of these three components are zero, leaving just the component in the “out
of the page” direction. The problem formulation on 3D magnetic field analysis may take advantage
either on total scalar potential or on vector potential as the unknown in the node points. Total
scalar potential method is least computation dense formulation. This divides the total magnetic field
intensity in the magnetic materials as the superposition of the field contribution from current
conducting coils HJ and the field due to magnetized materials HM.
H = HJ + HM (5.34)
In the non-current region the gradient of total scalar potential VM is used to represent the magnetic
field
H = −∇VM , (5.35)
and according to the divergence of the flux density
∇ ⋅ (μ∇VM ) = 0 . (5.36)
In the current conducting region the reduced scalar potential VMR represents the field of
magnetized materials
H M = −∇VMR , (5.37)
and the contribution of coil field HJ according to Biot-Savart law is the relation between current
density and its’ caused field
1 J (r )
H J (r ) = × ∫ C dV , (5.38)
4π V r
which describes the magnetic scalar distribution over the conductor volume
∇ ⋅ (μ∇VMR ) = ∇ ⋅ μ 0 H C . (5.39)
The inter-regional boundary condition between the total and the reduced volumes must ensure the
uniqueness of the solution. In a domain the magnetic potential satisfies the field distribution
equation and the boundary conditions. The energy of the field has to have a minimum value for the
approximated solution to be exact.

Example
The problem of electromagnetism is solved for the design example of the linear actuator. The pre-
processing is similar to the previously described steps in the FE heat transfer model. Concerning to
the boundary conditions then the magnetic vector potential A=Az=0 is specified in the outer
boundaries. The other material boundaries follow to the interface conditions. The solution of the
field problem are shown for unloaded (JC=0 A/m2) (Figure 5.9) and loaded (JC=1e+7 A/m2) (Figure
5.10) armature.
The specified FE model includes linear materials. By introducing nonlinear BH curve, the magnetic
saturation is taken into consideration. The permanent magnet is modelled as a volume of a
ferromagnetic material that is surrounded by a thin sheet of current. This current is ‘active’ only in
the magnetostatic problem (Femm v4.0). If the frequency becomes different than zero then the
whole problem is seen only from this frequency domain excluding the magnetization field of the
magnets [7].
46 5. Finite element method

Figure 5.9 Flux density distribution and flux lines of the unloaded linear actuator.

Figure 5.10 Flux density distribution and flux lines of the loaded linear actuator.
The post-processing of a problem solved in electromagnetism may have several steps staring from
the visual evaluation and finishing with some sophisticated computation routines in order to
evaluate the macroscopic (field) quantities of interest. The applicable post-processing steps in
Femm – Matlab design environment:
• Flux lines show magnetic coupling between the magnetic conductive parts
• Flux density indicate magnetic loading
• Generally the forces are calculated by using weighted Maxwell’s stress tensor
• Flux linkage can be obtained from circuit-data
• Stored energy, co-energy, inductance, etc
• Core losses can be modelled by introducing frequency non-zero f>0 and conductivity γ>0
for eddy current loss, and a phase shift between H and B vector in order to model
hysteresis loss.
Most of these calculation procedures are described in the next chapter.
 47

6 Coupled fields
Up until now only the static field formulations are summoned up. As a matter of fact the fields has
been tried to formulate separately having most a static connection between them like the relation
between the electric current and the magnetic field intensity, the force or the loss power. The
advantage of introducing the fields separately with a minimal connection is to get good enough
understanding in physics, mathematical formulation and numeric modelling techniques. The
coupling between the fields can be neglected in order to simplify the mathematic model as the
influence is small (like a displacement current density in a low frequency field) or the influence is
too complex to take it into consideration in a rough model. The direct coupling between the electric
and magnetic field is described by Maxwell’s equations (Table 6.1).
Table 6.1 Maxwell’s four fundamental postulates.

Differential Form Integral Form Significance

∂B ∂B
∇× E = −
∂t ∫C
E ⋅ dl = − ∫
S ∂t
⋅ ds Faraday’s law

∂D ∂D
∇× H = J +
∂t ∫C H ⋅ dl = ∫S J + ∂t ⋅ ds Ampere’s circuital law
∇⋅D = ρ ∫ D ⋅ ds = ∫
S V
ρ ⋅ dv Gauss’s Law, Electricity

∇⋅B = 0 ∫ B ⋅ ds = 0
S
Gauss’s Law, Magnetism

Next the couplings between the different field problems are discussed such as the coupling between
electric and magnetic field, the electro- and magneto-mechanic coupling and the thermal influence.

6.1 Energy conversion

The coupling between the different fields obeys to the principle of energy conversion – a balance.
Any type of electric device can be seen as an energy converter. The selected design idea belongs to
group of an electromechanical energy converter. The basic goal in the analysis of every
electromechanical energy converter is to compute the amount of energy transformed from one
form to another. The energy conservation principle says that the sum of electrical and mechanical
energy input to a device at each time instant has to be equal to the sum of accumulated magnetic
and mechanical energy and losses.
N ph

Fdx + ∑ ik ⋅ uk dt = dWmag + dWmech + dWloss (6.1)

k =1

Considering only a kinetic energy and neglecting a potential energy the differential of the mechanic
energy is expressed in equation 6.1.

d 2x (6.2)
dWmech = m ⋅ dx
dt 2
By separating resistive voltage term and induced voltage term, which stands for a magnetic
coupling, the differential of the electric energy is expressed in Eq 6.3.
48 6. Coupled fields

ik u k dt = ik (ik Rk dt + e )dt = dWCu loss + ik dψ k (6.3)

By dividing loss term between the electric, magnetic and mechanic origin, the energy balance can be
rewritten (Eq 6.4), where the resistive loss energy is cancelled as it appears both sides of the equal
sign.
N ph 2
(F − Floss )dx + ∑ ik dψ k = m ⋅ d x
2
dx + dWmag + dWFe.loss (6.4)
k =1 dt
Next the differential of the magnet energy is divided into parts (Eq 6.5). These parts are
independent and dependent of motion and displacement x [8].

( )
Ne Ne Ne
dG
dWmag = ∑ Fk dφ k = ∑ Fk d (Fk Gk ) = ∑ Fk dGk + Fk Gk dFk = ∑ F 2 dx + dWind (6.5)
2

k =1 k =1 k =1 dx
The magnetic energy that is independent on motion and displacement can expressed as the energy
of the magnetic coupling (Eq 6.6).
Ne Ne N ph

dWind = ∑ Fk Gk dFk = ∑ Fk dφ k = ∑ ik dψ k (6.6)

k =1 k =1 k =1

Electromechanical energy conversion is possible if the motion is present dx≠0, thus the applied
force is loaded with the reaction force of the system that can be separated as a friction (mechanical
+ magnetic), inertia and an electromagnetic force.

d 2x dG
F = Floss + m ⋅ 2
+ ∑F2 (6.7)
dt dx
A schematic figure of the electromechanical energy converter is shown in Figure 6.1. The electric,
magnetic and the mechanical circuit are shown and the elements indicate the differential term as
inductance L or inertia M, the damping term as RΩ, Rμ or Rf, the integral term K (capacitance in the
electric circuit including a capacity, stiffness in the mechanic circuit including a spring), the source
u, Ni, f, which can be also the external force fext or induced by the motion e, and the flow or
movement by i, φ and v.

Rμ
RΩ L Rf M

Ni
u Rδ f K
e
fext
i v
φ
Figure 6.1 An electromagnetic coupling between the electric and the magnetic circuit and magneto-mechanical
coupling between the magnetic and the mechanical circuit. The configuration of the actuator is shown
in the background. The thermal circuit is not indicated in the structure.
6. Coupled fields 49

6.2 Electromagnetic coupling

The static coupling between the electric and the magnetic field bases on Amperes law. Ampere’s
circuit law says that the circulation of magnetic field intensity around any closed path is equal to the
current flowing through the enclosed surface. The magneto motive force, mmf Ni, is analogous to
emf e and could be seen as the capability to produce magnetic flux through a circuit. The dynamic
coupling between the electric and the magnetic field bases on Faraday’s law. Faraday’s induction
law is a relation between time-varying electrical field and originated magnetic field or vice versa.
The negative sign is a statement that the induced emf will force the current to flow in a direction
that counteracts the change of magnetic flux. The statement that an induced current counteracts its’
originate is known as Lenz law. The electro motive force could be seen as the current producing
capability in a circuit. The source of electromotive force can be due to:

• Coulomb electrical field EC = −∇V

∂A
• Induced electrical field E I = −
∂t
The opposing induced voltage can be either a transformer voltage or/and a motional voltage, which
is respectively generated either by the change of current or by the change of inductance generated
by motion.
d d di dx dL
e= ψ = L i = L +i (6.8)
dt dt dt dt dx
The response time between the electric and the magnetic circuit (voltage and current) is
characterized with inductance. Large inductance causes electric inertia, which decrease response
time. The apparent inductance can be calculated from the ratio between the flux linkage and the
current or from the stored magnetic energy (linear system). The differential inductance is calculated
on the basis of the flux linkage change that is due to the current (density) change (Eq 6.9).

ΔΨ N2 ΔΦ (6.9)
L= = ⋅
ΔI AS ⋅ k f ΔJ C
In the case of the multiple coils the corresponding field change of n-coil due to the change of the
current in it determines the self inductance of the coil. The mutual inductance is calculated from the
field change that causes current change from another coil. In the ferrous materials, where the
permeability is a function of the field strength, the inductance of the winding is a nonlinear function
of the excitation. Self and mutual inductance will be calculated at normal conditions with current
conducting coils; where the current will be changed in one of the coils (Eq 6.10).

Ψ1 + ΔΨ1 L1 M 12 I 1 + ΔI1
= ⋅ (6.10)
Ψ2 + ΔΨ2 M 21 L2 I2

The change of current affects slightly the magnetic field and changes the flux linkage in each of the
flux linking coils. In the 2D problem the magnetic flux equals to the difference of the value of the
magnetic vector potential between the points 1 and 2 where the length of the model along z-axis is
lz.

Φ = l z ( Az1 − Az 2 ) = l z ∫ B ⋅ n dl (6.11)
C

In case of solid conductors the average magnetic vector potential is conveniently adopted. The
calculation of the inductance on a single coil of a multiphase system together with the permanent
magnet excitation uses magnetic vector potential integration over the coil area.
50 6. Coupled fields

lz ⎛ ⎞
⎜ A dA − A dA ⎟
⎜ A∫ ∫ ⎟
Φ= z z
(6.12)
AS ⎝ S+ AS − ⎠
Due to the dynamical coupling between the electric and the magnetic field, the generated field
counteracts to the field of origin. Therefore the induced currents oppose the external source
current in the interior of the conductor and confine the current to flow on the surface layer of
conductor. The effect is called a skin effect and the thickness of the surface layer is expressed by
the penetration depth δ or the skin depth and the angular frequency ω.

2 (6.13)
δ=
ωμγ
In the similar way, an applied magnetic flux is opposed with a magnetic field that is generated from
the induced currents. On the contradictory, the intermediate field that is the electric field, which is
the reason to the eddy currents in the closed path, causes losses in the magnetic conductor. The
flow redistribution can be also due to the effect of an external field like a proximity effect in the
conductors, which is due to the external magnetic field and electric current flow in the conductor,
and the similar reaction effect in the magnetic conductor.

6.3 Electromechanical coupling

The electromagnetic coupling is defined here as the energy conversion between the electric and
mechanic energy, while the conversion takes place in presence of the magnetic field. The force
(torque) can be found analytically or numerically. In numerical methods the force is typically
extracted from the FEA results using one of two approaches:
• the energy method by which the force or torque is calculated from differences in the
magnetic vector potential at incremental displacement or angular positions,
• direct force or torque calculation by integrating the resulting Maxwell stress tensor over the
machine’s air-gap surface. The stress tensor in a elastic pure conductor is expressed with
the force per unit of volume by Lorenz law.

Virtual work method

As it is seen before (Eg 6.7) the electromagnetic force is a function of derivatives of air-gap
permeances by displacement dx. This expression states that the force depends only on the
conditions in the air-gap and neither the state of linkage/leakage paths nor the saturation in iron. A
virtual work method is a technique for computing forces from the rate of change of the
electromagnetic energy of the system as an effect of a small (virtual) displacement. The work done
by the force must come from the energy stored in the field or, from the other way around, the force
brings the movable part to the position of the minimum stored energy. Under constant magnetic
flux conditions, the total magnetic force on a system is computed as

∂W ( x ) ∂P( x )
φ
∂ ∂
B
1
F = −∇Wm = − m =− ∫ ∫ HdBdV = − ∫ Fdφ = − ⋅ ∑ F 2 ⋅ (6.14)
∂x ∂θ VM 0 ∂x 0 2 gap ∂x

Under constant magnetic current conditions, the total magnetic force on a system is computed as
the rate of change magnetic co-energy (Eq 6.15) (Figure 6.2 on the left).

∂Wc ( x ) ∂ H ∂R( x )
F
∂ A 1
F = ∇Wc = = ∫ ∫ BdH dV = ∫ φdF = ⋅ ∑ φ 2 ⋅ (6.15)
∂x ∂θ VM 0 ∂x 0 2 gap ∂x
6. Coupled fields 51

The force/torque computation, according to the virtual work method, considers the rate of the
change of the total co-energy against the virtual displacement (Eq 6.15). Typically, the values of the
volume integral of the co-energy are close in two adjacent mover/rotor positions and round-off
error can reduce the force/torque estimate. Round-off error becomes more significant at small
displacement/angular steps when the values of co-energy are very close. On the contrary, a large
longitudinal/angular increment leads to a low informative force/torque estimate that can be
considered as an average over the region.
Φ
Φ

G
D C
D
C E
E B
F

F=NI F
O A H B A O

Figure 6.2 Graphical interpretation of energy conversion. ΦF (ΨI) diagram of the magnetic core with a varying
air-gap, where the magnetic flux is caused either by a current carrying coil or a permanent magnet.
The hatched area indicates the incremental change in co-energy over a unit of displacement.
The flux-MMF diagram technique offers a fundamental basis of design evaluation and a clear
physical insight based on graphical interpretation (Figure 6.2). The electromechanical system
(Figure 6.1 background) with a plunger in air-gap, which displacement causes the change of
parametric permeance, affects to the change of the magnetic co-energy from O-A-B-O to O-A-C-
O (Figure 6.2 on the left), when the plunger moves towards the alignment. If the coil is replaced
with a permanent magnet then the similar change of the co-energy appears from O-H-C-O to O-
H-D-O (Figure 6.2 on the right).

Lorentz force
Force that is applied to a current conducting wire in a magnetic field can be calculated according to
Lorenz equation (Eq 6.16) which simplest case is shown in Figure 6.3.
l
iB
F = q(E + v × B ) = ∫ J × BdV = ∫ JBdV = ∫ Adl =Bli (6.16)
0
A
F

Figure 6.3 A simple case of the applied force F on the conductor, where the conductor has uniform current
density J and a uniform magnetic flux density B is perpendicular to the conductor.

Maxwell’s stress tensor

Magnetic coupling between permanent magnet and iron parts causes magnetic attraction and tensile
forces between the magnetised bodies. The magneto-mechanic load to the bodies becomes the
biggest when the poles are aligned i.e. the gap reluctance is the smallest, the gap flux is the largest
52 6. Coupled fields

and the magnetic field is perpendicular to the pole surfaces. There will be a compressive stress
between the bodies when the magnetic field is parallel to the surfaces i.e. there is no magnetic
coupling between the bodies. In general case the flux density vector B makes an angle α with the
outward normal of a surface and the magnetic force on element area dA is thus in the direction of t
i.e. with an angle of 2α (Eq 6.17) (Figure 6.4).
B (6.17)
dF = tdA = dA
2μ 0
B
Bn

t
tn
α
α

Bt t t
Figure 6.4 A general case of the coplanar, normal vector n, flux density vector B and stress vector t from a
surface of a magnetised body that has an angle α between the B vector and the normal vector and the
angle of 2α between the t vector and the normal vector.
The normal stress tn and the shear stress tt relate to the (gap) flux density normal component Bn and
the tangential component Bt with respect to the normal of a surface.

tn =
1
2 ⋅ μ0
(
⋅ Bn2 − Bt2 ) (6.18)

Bn ⋅ Bt
ts = (6.19)
μ0
In order to calculate the force in the linearly moving system or the torque of the rotating system
from the magnetic field values in the air-gap the shear stress component is calculated over the air-
gap area in the middle of air-gap. In the case of a two-dimensional field problem, a series of line
integrals has to be calculated around the body in a counter-clockwise direction and the calculation is
based on a unit length of distance on axial direction, where the total force is evaluated with respect
to an action point in order to find the torque with respect to the point. The symmetric part of the
rotating motor enables to evaluate the sector torque i.e. the mechanic torque per pole.

6.4 Electro- and magneto-thermal coupling

The losses are considered as an unwanted output of energy conversion process. A material
opposition to conduct electric current, to orient the domains according to the external field etc
causes losses, which increase internal energy and temperature in the materials. Temperature increase
in turn influences material’s electric, magnetic and mechanical properties.

Temperature dependence on materials

Material characteristics are often temperature dependent and this can be taken into consideration.
The temperature dependence is described with a material thermal coefficient α.
ρ coil = ρ 0 coil ⋅ (1 + α ρcoil ⋅ (ϑcoil − ϑ0 coil )) , (6.20)

BRmagn = BR 0 magn ⋅ (1 + α Brmagn ⋅ (ϑmagn − ϑ0 magn )) , (6.21)

H Cmagn = H C 0 magn ⋅ (1 + α Hcmagn ⋅ (ϑmagn − ϑ0 magn )) , (6.22)

6. Coupled fields 53

Conductor losses
The conductor losses depend on the current density J square, the conductivity γ, and the current
density distribution in the conductor, which is inhomogeneous in case of alternating current
density.

J (t )
2
P(t ) = ∫ dV (6.23)
γ

Core loss formulation

According to simplistic macro-physic concept of core losses in ferrous materials, the losses can be
separated into hysteresis, classical eddy current and anomlaous or excess losses. The specific core
loss energy over a magnetization cycle can be expressed as a sum of the loss components (Eq 6.24).
r 2 r 3/ 2
⎛ T
d B ⎞ T
dB
w locus
core = k h Bˆ + k e ∫ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ dt + k a ∫
n
dt (6.24).
0⎝
dt ⎠ 0
dt
This expression is applicable either to the alternating field or to the rotating field. The loss energy
or the work to re-magnetize the core depends on the material, the magnetic loading and the rate of
the change of the flux density. The loss coefficients kh, n, ke, and ka, respectively, loss coefficients
for hysteresis, classical eddy current and anomalous loss, consider the different loss mechanisms
and have to be chosen according to the modulus and locus of flux density vector B. The magnetic
friction loss energy i.e. hysteresis, is the mechanical work to orient the magnetic domains according
to the external field and to overcome the friction between the domains. It is considered that the
hysteresis loss energy is independent of the re-magnetization speed. Apart from the static loss
energy the dynamic loss energy depends on the rate of the change of the flux density. For fixed
sinusoidal frequency the core loss energy expression can be reduced to
r r
locus
wcore = k h ⋅ Bˆ n + 2 ⋅ k e ⋅ π 2 ⋅ f ⋅ B 2 + 8.76 ⋅ k a ⋅ f 1 / 2 ⋅ B 3 / 2 (6.25).
This formulation is applicable when the magnetizing field waveform over the magnetization cycle is
assumed to be sinusoidal. The core loss that is obtained from the sum of harmonic losses gives
misleading results when the core becomes saturated and the principle of superposition is invalid.
For a proper core loss evaluation it is necessary to consider the instantaneous flux density 3D
waveform at different parts of the core. In the general case, the flux density locus forms an ellipse,
and this is a combination of alternation and circular rotation. The cyclic trajectory of flux density
alternation is a line, while flux density rotation with a constant magnitude forms a circle.
2
B ⎛ B ⎞
wellipse
= minor ⋅ wcore
circle
+ ⎜1 − minor ⎟ ⋅ wcore
line
(6.26).
core
Bmajor ⎜ B ⎟
⎝ major ⎠

The minor and major axes of the elliptical locus are determined as Bminor and Bmajor. The Flux density
variation in different parts of a core structure can be evaluated from a MEC and/or a FE model. By
simplicity it is assumed that, the minor and the major axis of the elliptical flux density locus are
determined by the magnetic loading at the alignment and unalignment position.

Static core loss

The magnetic energy supplied to the core is greater than the energy returned to the source. The
macro physical concept states that the static hysteresis loss is due to the irreversible processes in the
magnetization mechanism. The static loss energy is the work required to magnetize the core during
the magnetization period and this equals to the area of the major hysteresis loop. In the case of
alternating magnetization process the magnetic field vector H and the flux density vector B are out
of the space. The easy magnetic domain reorientation and contribution to the external field that
54 6. Coupled fields

insure low coercitivity is relevant for magnetic medium in alternating field. If no local minima
(minor hysteresis loops) or bias (asymmetric hysteresis loop) in the magnetizing waveform are
considered, then the specific hysteresis core loss energy for alternating field depends on the peak
value of B (Eq 6.24).
Usually in the numeric field computation, the effect of magnetic hysteresis is considered in post-
processing level after the field values are calculated. If the hysteresis model is coupled into field
computation method then the magnetic hysteresis can be considered directly. This causes
burdensome field computation with a small improvement of obtained accuracy [10].
For a proper core design it is important to consider the effect of field rotation for an iron core
material that has high coercive field. Otherwise, the differences between the measurement and
computation are mainly due to rotating fields inside the core. Additionally, the exclusion of high
frequency effects such as minor hysteresis loops due to magnetization or influence of the pulse
width modulated (PWM) armature field leads to an underestimated value of the static core loss in
the actual operation of a designed device.

Dynamic core loss

The dynamic loss is the dissipated energy per magnetization cycle, where the dissipated energy
depends on the frequency of the cycle. The dynamic core loss is caused by induced currents.
Dynamic core loss is a sum of classical eddy current loss and anomalous loss in the magnetic
material. The specific dynamic power loss is computed according to the average of the position rate
of change of the flux density vector over the magnetization cycle T for a constant rotational
frequency ω during the re-magnetization cycle (Eq 6.27)
r 2 r 3/ 2
1
T
⎛ dB ⎞ 1
T
dB
= ke ∫0 ⎜⎜⎝ dt ⎟⎟⎠ dt + k a T ∫ dt =
locus
p core
T 0
dt (6.27)
r 2 r 3/ 2
1 ⎛ dB ⎞
2π 2π
1 dB
2π ∫0 ⎜⎝ dθ ⎟⎠ ∫0 ω dθ
= ke ⎜ω ⎟ dθ + k a dθ
2π

If the core loss coefficients are defined according to the measurements with the sinusoidal magnetic
field then the total average dynamic core loss over one cycle per unit of volume at any arbitrary flux
density waveform is expressed as
r 2 r 3/ 2
k ' 1 ⎛ dB ⎞
T
ka ' 1 T
dB
= e2 ∫0 ⎜⎜⎝ dt ⎟⎟⎠ dt + 2π 2 3 / 2 T ∫ dt =
locus
p core
2π T ( ) 0
dt
(6.28).
r 2 r 3/ 2
k e ' 1 2π ⎛ dB ⎞ ka ' 1
2π
dB
= ∫ ⎜
⎜
2π 2π 0 ⎝ dθ ⎠
2
ω ⎟ dθ +
⎟
(2π 2 3/ 2
)
2π ∫0 ω dθ dθ

The magnetostatic field computation assumes a full field penetration. Instead of considering the
loss generation separately for each space flux density component the variation of flux density space
vector is calculated beforehand.
 55

7 Optimisation
In order to optimize any electromagnetic device it is necessary to find an appropriate geometric
distribution of materials and sources. The optimal design of an electric device is to choose a set of
dimensions for the device (design variables), so that the designed machine will satisfy the design
criteria (constraints) and minimize (or maximize) some additional criterion (objective function). The
target for an optimization must include the relation between the dimensions of the chosen
geometry, material and source properties together with the device’s performance. The objective
functions, which could be chosen such as efficiency, a high force/volume ratio etc, are optimized.

7.1 Design variables and constrains

Concerning to design, the design variables are the parametric variables that describe geometry,
specify the material behaviour and is able to define the performance. In the optimization process,
which reflects the design process, the design variables are gradually changed in order to find the
best solution that fulfils or is even better than the design requirements. The set of design variables
x = [x1 x2 x3 L x n ] (7.1)
describe a design device. An objective function f(x) (force, efficiency, goodness [W/kg/€]) is
chosen to describe the design target. As a matter of fact it can be difficult to determine the design
objectives – targets or and interpret it as an adequate continuous function e.g. the cost of material
does not depend only on a volume but also on a shape. The function output(s) has to be minimized
in the optimization process.
min f ( x ) (7.2)
The optimization process can be unconstrained or constrained. The latter is subject to constraints
in the form of equality constraints, inequality constraints and/or parameter bounds.
c( x ) ≤ 0
(7.3)
c( x ) = 0
The constrains can be the design factors that set the bounds to electric, dielectric, thermal, magnetic
and mechanic loadings.
Instead of advantageous optimization technique that can determine the search direction towards
the global minimum the optimization that in case means looking for a best solution, the
optimization can be made in systematic manner by changing some key parameters:
• Scan through study – conceptual choice, parametric change of the key parameters (Sizing)
– ‘optimization’ of quantitative parameters.
• Sensitivity study – one of the parameters is changed while the other parameters are kept
constant – ‘optimization’ of qualitative parameters.

7.2 Sensitivity study

In the sensitivity study one or two motor parameters are changed while the other parameters are
kept constant. The advantage of the sensitivity study is a well defined modelling routine that result
can be easily visualized and it shows the behaviour of the model as well as may indicate the
improvement of the design. In case of numeric modelling involved in the optimization routine it is
56 7. Optimisation

convenient to get intermediate results in a systematic manner in order to have a full control on the
design process (rather than on optimisation process).
The sensitivity study has been carried out for the design exercise. The relative slot width Ks as well
as the current density Jc has been changed in order to study the maximum temperature generated in
the coils and the maximum electromagnetic force in respect of the current density in the coil. As
the width of the armature limbs, the yoke and the mover core are selected to be equal, the height of
the magnet decreases simultaneously with the increased slot width. The length of the magnet
remains the same and also the mmf applied to the magnetic core. As the height of the magnet
decreases the magnetic flux reduces. At the same time the conductor cross-section increases, which
allows larger force, but which also causes a higher hot-spot temperature due to the longer cooling
path in the low thermally conductive region – in the coil.
hot-spot temperature ϑm , °C electromagnetic force at the middle position Fm , N
0.8

0.14
0.06
1 6 40

0.12

0.18
60

0.04

0.1

0.16
0.08
0
1
0.7
80

12
50
relative slot width, KS [-]

0
10
45

0.6
0

0. 0.1
0. 12 4
60

0.02 0.

0.
0.5 80 08 1

06
0.
04
50

0.4
0.06
60
45

0.04
0.0
0.3
50 2
0.02
45
0.2
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
2 2
current density Jc, MA/M current density Jc, MA/M

Figure 7.1 The 2D parametric change that shows the hot-spot temperature and electromagnetic force as a
function of the relative slot width and the current density in the conductors.
Unusual way of presenting position dependent functions as a filled surface (Figure 7.2) may
facilitate a visual interpolation when looking for the design improvements. As it is seen from the
figure, at the certain core length between the magnets, which is around 0.7 of the tooth length,
causes the 0 position to be a stable or an unstable equilibrium point.
flux linkage per turn ψ m , μVs cogging force Fm , N
2
-0.1
-4
-3

-0.1
-1
-2
-3
-4
0

0
3
4

0.05
2
1

-0.05

1.8
4
3

0.1
relative spacer width, Kb [-]

0.1

1.6

1.4

1.2
-0.1

-0.1
-3
-4
-1
-2

-4
-3
0

0
3
4

0.05
1
2

-0.05

1
4

0.1
3

0.1

0.8
-0.05

0.6
0

-0.15

0.4
0.1

-0.1
-0.1
-4

-3
-1
-2
-3

-4
0

0
4
3

2
1

0.2
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15
position x, mm position x, mm

Figure 7.2 The surface plot of the flux linkage and the cogging force as a function of position and the relative
core length between the magnets.
The parametric study can be seen as an incomplete optimisation routine where the designer decides
according to the graphs a ‘direction’ of improvements.
 57

8 Drive model and Control

The characteristics relating to a stationary device are called static characteristics. On the contrary
the characteristics relating to the same devices which are in motion or about to start are called
dynamic characteristics. An energy converter can be written as a dynamical (deterministic)
system based on differential equations. A means of describing the conversion establishing system
equations how one state develops into another state over the course of time.
A drive circuit and a control strategy can be developed in the Matlab-Simulink simulation
environment. The model of an energy converter can be built according to the static characteristics,
which are obtained from the numerical field analysis. The static characteristics are able to describe
the state of the system in certain circumstances. The base variables, which describe the conditions
of the system, are changed gradually in order to accumulate the information of a number of the
possible states that belong to the certain operation domain. The interrelation between the different
fields due to the change between the states is described by the system equations. A Simulink block
diagram is the graphical representation of a control system, a drive model and the model of energy
converter, which is in turn described by the system equations and the static characteristics. The goal
of modelling the converter is to obtain the dynamic characteristics of the designed device and to
estimate the efficiency of the drive system.

8.1 Static characteristics

If an external force (torque) is applied to the movable part then the position of the movable part
changes from the equilibrium position. The system applies a reaction force to the external force.
The relation between the reaction force, the external current (density) and the displacement is the
static mechanical characteristic of the device F(x,J). Similarly the magnetic flux in the core or a flux
linkage with a coil can be accumulated as a function of position and current ψ(x,J). The
corresponding characteristic is the static electromagnetic characteristic of the device. The static
characteristics of the design example are shown in Figure 8.1.

600 30

400 20 9
flux linkage per turn ψ, μVs

1 8
200 2 10 7
3
force F, mN

6
4
0 5 0 5
6
7 4
8
-200 9 -10 3

-400 -20 1

-600 -30
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15
position x, mm position x, mm

Figure 8.1 The static mechanical characteristics in the left show the output force as a function of position and
current density. The static electromagnetic characteristics in the right show the flux linkage as a
function of position and current density. The numbers in the characteristics indicate the gradually
changed current densities from -20 MA/m2 (1) to +20MA/m2 (9). The no current case is 5.
58 8. Drive model and Control

The magnetic flux linkage characteristics are shown per turn i.e. this equals to the magnetic flux
linking with the coil. The total magnetic flux as well as the total force (Figure 8.1) can be divided
into different components. By focusing on the force characteristics, the force can be originated of
• The reluctance force between the movable core (along x-axis) and the permanent magnet
i.e. cogging or detent force (line 5 in Figure 8.1 on the left figure). Fcog = F (x, i ) i =0

• The reluctance force between the core (along x-axis) and the electromagnet (the left
diagram in Figure 8.2) Frel = F ( x, i ) Φ pm =0

• The electromagnetic force between the sources of the magnetic flux (the left diagram in
Figure 8.2). Fem = F ( x, i ) − Fcog − Frel

250 25
1
9

reluctance flux linkage per turn ψ R, μVs

200 20 9

150 15 8
2
8
reluctance force FR, mN

100 10 7

50 3
7 5 6

6
4
0 5 0 5

-50 -5 4

-100 -10 3

-150 -15 2

-200 -20 1

-250 -25
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15
position x, mm position x, mm

Figure 8.2 The static characteristics of the design example with ‘Short-circuited’ magnets i.e. the magnets are
modelled like an electromagnetic material without remanence. The left figure indicates the reluctance
force and the right figure self inductance as a function of the mover position and the current density.

400 0.5
electromagnetic flux linkage per turn ψ M, μVs

1 0.4
300
9
0.3
electromagnetic force FM, mN

2
200 8
3 0.2
7
100
4 0.1 6

0 5 0 5

6 4
-0.1
-100
3
7 -0.2
-200 2
8
-0.3
1
-300 9
-0.4

-400 -0.5
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15
position x, mm position x, mm

Figure 8.3 The static characteristics of the design example indicating the electromagnetic force and flux linkage.
The left figure indicates the electromagnetic force and the right figure mutual inductance as a function
of the mover position and the current density in the coil.
8. Drive model and Control 59

The important separation of the electromagnetic characteristics is the coupling between electric
circuit(s) and magnetic circuit separately from the magnetic flux produced from the permanent
magnet(s). Apart from the electromagnetic and mechanical characteristics it is also important to
calculate the thermal characteristics as ϑ(J).

8.2 Converter model

The system equations describing an energy converter can be grouped according to the ‘circuits’
represented in the energy converter:
• Electromagnetic equations base on Kirchhoff’s voltage law of electric circuit
1 dψ
u=
C ∫ idt + Ri +
dt
+e

• Magnetic equations describe the relations in the magnetic circuits

ψ = Li +ψ pm = ψ ( x, i ) +ψ pm ( x )
• Mechanic equations state the mechanic coupling, the system inertia, damping and stiffness
d 2x dx
F ( x, i ) − Fload = m 2
+ D + K ( x − x0 )
dt dt
• Thermal transient equations declare temperature in the system
dϑ ϑ
Ri 2 + Pfe (t ) = Cth +
dt Rth
A complete converter model is formulated on the basis of the nonlinear characteristics, which are
obtained from a series of 2D FE heat transfer and magnetostatic models. The non-linear
interaction between winding mmf and the magnet flux φC(x,i) and the coupling force FC(x,i) is the
actual transfer between electric and mechanic energy. Instead of the flux linkage in the magnetic
circuit the physical magnetic flux is expressed in the electromagnetic equations (Eq. 8.1). The
motional voltage drop depends on the magnet flux φpm(x) and the speed v of the movement cycle
that can be for example reciprocating. The resultant force applied to the mover piston depends on
the no-load magnetic attraction (cogging) force Fcog(x), no-load magnetic friction (hysteresis) force
Fhyst, and the mechanic loading applied to the piston Fload(x,v), that includes mechanic friction and
aerodynamic resistance. The mechanical damping and stiffness are not separately shown in the
mechanic equation (Eq 8.2). The temperature rise ϑ in the device is taken into account (Eq 8.3)
according to cooling capability – the surface Acool and heat transfer coefficient α, a heat capacity –
defined by mass m and the specific heat constant c, and the heat source due to the known losses.
1
φC (i, x ) = ∫ (u(t ) − R ⋅ i(t ))dt − φ (x )
PM
(8.1)
N

v=
1
m∫
(FC (x, i ) + Fcog (x) − Fhyst − Fload (x, v)) dt (8.2)

α ⋅ Acool ⎛ R ⋅ i 2 (t ) + PFe (i, v ) ⎞

ϑ=
c⋅m ⎝ ∫ ⎜
⎜ α ⋅ Acool
− ϑ ⎟⎟ dt
⎠
(8.3)

The Simulink block diagram is built slightly different (Figure 8.4) from the proposed system
equations (Eq 8.1- 8.3). Namely the look-up table of the force as a function of the position and
current density includes the cogging force. The mechanical loading does not include any other
‘loading’ than the damping. The thermal model in the diagram (Figure 8.4) indicates only the
conductor losses in the winding as a function of current density. The output of the model is the
60 8. Drive model and Control

steady-state temperature that is calculated in the FE model for heat transfer and it does not
consider the dynamic effect of the heat transfer and storage.

[v] a
[x] 1/s x 1/s
o Xo
[u]
pm flux = f(x)
D
e dphi/dt
simin 1/N 1/s
[phi]
From
Workspace
R 1/m
i Ac/N
[F]
[u]
[phi] force=f(x,J)
[J]
[F] simout J =f(x,flux)
[v] [T]
[x] To Workspace [J]
[T]
temperature = f(J)

Figure 8.4 Simulink block diagram of the design example.

8.3 Dynamic characteristics

An example of the dynamic behaviour of the design example is shown in Figure 8.5. It is seen from
the figure that by increasing the number if turns the voltage drop in the electric circuit increases,
which in turn limits the current and force response. The damping coefficient from the mechanic
system is taken equal to zero and the movement attenuates through the resistance in the electric
circuit.

-5
x 10
1

0
flux , φ [Vs]

-1

-2
N=100
-3 N=200
N=400
-4
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

1
N=100
N=200
N=400
force, F [N]

0.5

-0.5
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

0.01

0.005
position, x [m]

0
N=100
-0.005 N=200
N=400
-0.01
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

Figure 8.5 The dynamic behaviour of the design example where the number of turns (N) has been changed in
the armature coil and the response can be studied for the input voltage pulse of 3V 40ms.
 61

9 Design environment
Rapid evaluation and design of electrical devices that take advantage of high computational power
is an exciting challenge to an electrical engineer. The designer supposes to be aware of the design
issues and to be able to delegate the design tasks and the computation routines to the computer.
This chapter is focusing on how an engineering challenge that comes as a design idea could be
solved in computer environment. Vital in the design process is an efficient use of the computation
power and information. Thus the design will always remain stimulating and challenging engineering
profession.

9.1 Design guidance

An electric device that incorporates electro-magnetics, magneto-mechanics and heat dissipation is
selected as a task for numeric modelling and design. This kind of task is carried out in the flexible
design environment as Matlab, which incorporates FEMM and Mirage for fast FE evaluation.

Topologies
Parameters

Geometric modeling Material properties pk+1=Δp+pk

geom(x,y,spec) mate(spec) qk+1=Δq+qk

Jk+1=ΔJ+Jk Equivalent Circuits Finite Elements

xk+1=Δx+xk f=goecm(geom,mate) f=gofem(geom,mate)

Static characteristics Sensitivity study

[f(x,J)]=gosta [f(p,q)]=goopt

Drive system
gomdl(f(x,J))

Figure 9.1 A created functionality in Matlab that is used to carry out the design tasks. The topology and the
corresponding parameters describe how the geometry supposes to look like and which materials suppose
to be used. The structure array of geometry and material properties are the input to a numeric
modelling. Either equivalent circuit method or finite element method can be used. The output of the
numeric modelling is a numeric array. The output can be ‘optimized’ in the sensitivity study loop
where two of the parameters p and q are changed while the other parameters are kept constant. This
make easy to visualize the output of the parametric change. Alternatively a matrix of static
characteristics can be accumulated, where the position x and current density J have been changed. The
characteristics are input to the system simulation that incorporates a pre-established Simulink model.
Additional functionality has been created for the administration and reporting purposes.
First the geometry will be drawn by the help of Matlab. This type of exercise is to visualize the
geometry and to create an undemanding start for beginners in Matlab. Second, the geometry will be
parameterized, which is about minimizing the amount of parameters describing the geometry. Next
is to establish the relations between the geometry and the input and output parameters of the
device. Through the formulation of equivalent circuits and FE models the course participants learn
the common features of different disciplines and formulations. The non-linear characteristics from
the FE models are used as an input to the Simulink block diagram to study the dynamics of the
system. Finally the whole design algorithm (Figure 9.1) can operate without user interaction. This
helps to implement some simple optimization routines, analyze the economic aspects and
62 9. Design environment

manufacturability of the device. The purpose of the course on numerical modelling and design of
electrical devices is to establish theoretical basis and practical skills in CAD and CAE for electrical
engineers to be able to analyze and to develop electrical devices.

9.2 From geometric modelling to FE modelling

The design process may focus on the heat transfer first in order to find the limits for the electric
loading and then to the electromagnetic design, which is to define the mechanical characteristics:
The design procedure can easily build up in Matlab, where the distinctive steps are:
• Geometric model, parameterisation
• Description of energy conversion process (analytic model, ECM, FEM) formulation,
implementation and modelling
• Parametric study and optimization – geometry, materials and loadings grade
• Analysis of system and dynamic characteristics based on Simulink block diagram and look-
up non-linear static characteristics obtained from ECM, FEM,
• Administrative work such as result presentation and systematization.
An example is given of taking advantage of Matlab programming language in order to automate the
design process. Both console (DOS) programs and Windows programs may be executed from the
Matlab command script. Mirage and Femm are used to carry out the task of FE modelling. Matlab
is used to generate a code – Lua script, which is to define a FE model in the FE computation
software. The Lua scripting language is integrated into the pre- and post-processors to complete
single computation iteration in the software. The graphical description of the function is described
in Figure 9.2.
Geometric modelling – geom Material modelling – mate Task – task
Geometric input (2d coordinate system) kj=kj+1 Material input mj=mj+1 Task input
mate(mj).name=’name’ task.fem=’E’, ‘M’ or ‘T’
Cartesian Polar Cylindric
mate(mj).cir=’name’ task.geom=’planar’ or ‘axi’
geom(kj).x geom(kj).o geom(kj).r mate(mj).E=[εx εy q] task.freq=0 (default)
geom(kj).y geom(kj).r geom(kj).z mate(mj).M=[μx μy Hc Jre Jim γ d ψ kf case] task.depth=1
geom(kj).c mate(mj).T=[λx λy q] task.minang=30
…
Non-linear characteristics
Region specification mate(mj).B
geom(kj).def=[Rn Es Gn Md Nt (xb yb)] mate(mj).H

Boundary conditions (not obligatory)

geom(kj).bnd_E, geom(kj).bnd_M, geom(kj).bnd_T

kj = lastregion

Conversion
Cylindric Cartesian
Polar Cartesian

Numeric field modelling – gofem(geom,mate,task) Finite Element Processing

Input check Define defaults set geom(kj).c(ki)=0 if not present
Initialization Define problem, materials and boundaries
Insert nodes Connect nodes Region data Boundaries Additional data mesh
geom(kj).x(ki) Straight line if Set according to Set according to (if defined addi- analysis
geom(kj).y(ki) geom(kj).c(ki)=0 Rn, xb, yb or geom(kj).bnd or tional region or post-processing
x(1)+d, y(1)+d to last region boundary data)

Figure 9.2 A flowchart of the program structure that is used to create the link between geometric modelling in
Matlab and FE modelling in Mirage or Femm.
9. Design environment 63

Purpose of the geometric modelling is to accumulate the set of the polygons, which describe the
cross-section of a device. Therefore the necessary fields of the structure variable geom are x, y and
def. The later indicates on which material properties suppose to be attached to the specific region
(Rn), the size of elements (Es), the group number (e.g. 1-stationary, 2-movable), magnetization
direction (Md) and the number of turns (Nt). Additionally a region pick-up point can be defined (xb
yb) otherwise it is picked up according to the first coordinate of a polygon and the pickup point is
0.1 mm upwards and 0.1 mm left from the first polygon coordinate. If the polygon data is given in
polar coordinates o and r, including the curvilinear connection between the nodes c=1/r, then it
supposes to be converted into Cartesian x and y coordinates. The same for the cylindrical r and z
coordinates when describing the axi-symmetric problem. A straight line will be drawn between the
successive nodes if circular parameter geom.(kj).c(ki+1) equals to zero. If the circularity is not defined
at all then its field c is taken equal to zero (c=0).
If the material structure mate is not defined then all the regions are defined as air. Depending on
the problem to be solved the electrostatic (E), magnetic (M) or thermal (T) material properties and
the essential boundary condition such as voltage, magnetic vector potential or temperature has to
be given. The easiest way to define the boundary condition, which is attached to geometry, is to
define in the geometric modelling stage. If it is not defined there then essential boundary condition
are attached to all the sides of the last (preferably a bounding) region. The circuit name is taken the
same as the material name. Some of the boundary conditions are defined with in gofem function.
If the problem specification structure task is not defined the magnetostatic problem is solved by
default. The depth of the geometry along z axis is 1 meter and the minimum angle of a finite
element is 30 degrees for a quality FE mesh. For a sharp edged complex geometry the task.minang
has to be reduced in order to generate the FE mesh.
Example
An example of Lua script generator in Matlab is given, which shows a simplest form of the gofem
function. This kind of example can consider a linear connection between the node-points, which
are defined in the geometric model and written in the structure matrix Geom. The field
Geom(ki).spec(1) specifies ki-th region material according to the name field material properties
definition in matdef.
% material definition
matdef(1).name='core'; matdef(1).def=[4000 4000 0 0 0 50 0.35 0 0.95 0];
matdef(2).name='ins'; matdef(2).def=[1 1 0 0 0 50000 0 0 1 0];
matdef(3).name='coil+'; matdef(3).def=[1 1 0 +Jrc 0 0.2 0 0 1 0];
matdef(4).name='coil-'; matdef(4).def=[1 1 0 -Jrc 0 0.2 0 0 1 0];
matdef(5).name='piston'; matdef(5).def=[2000 2000 0 0 0 5 0 0 1 0];
matdef(6).name='magnet'; matdef(6).def=[1.1 1.1 200000 0 0 50 0 0 1 0];
matdef(7).name='bound'; matdef(7).def=[1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0];

fi=’mi_’; % field problem sensitive string variable

gx=1e-4; gy=1e-4; % arbitrary distance
repeatedmaterial=[]; % arbitrary counter
lua_wri = fopen(['e_core_pre.lua'],'w'); % open a new file for writing lua script
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s \n',['create(0)']); % lua script command for a new document
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s \n',[fi 'probdef(0,"meters","planar",1e-8)']); % problem definition
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s \n',[fi 'addboundprop("tangmagn",0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0)']); % Dirichlet BC

for kj=1:length(matdef)
mat2lua=[]; % reset material data string
for ki=1:10 % fill data string for lua script
if ki==10, mat2lua=[mat2lua num2str(matdef(kj).def(ki))];
else mat2lua=[mat2lua num2str(matdef(kj).def(ki)) ',']; end
64 9. Design environment

end
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s \n',[fi 'addmaterial("' matdef(kj).name '",' mat2lua ')']); % material definition
end
for kj=1:length(Geom.x)
for ki=1:length(Geom(kj).x) % write node-points
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s \n',[fi 'addnode(' ...
num2str(Geom(kj).x(ki),'%1.6e') ',' num2str(Geom(kj).y(ki),'%1.6e') ')']);
end
for ki=1:length(Geom(kj).x)-1 % connect nodes into a region
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s \n',[fi 'addsegment(' ...
num2str(Geom(kj).x(ki),'%1.6e') ',' num2str(Geom(kj).y(ki),'%1.6e') ',' ...
num2str(Geom(kj).x(ki+1),'%1.6e') ',' num2str(Geom(kj).y(ki+1),'%1.6e') ')']);
end
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s \n',[fi 'addblocklabel(' num2str(Geom(kj).x(1)+gx,'%1.6e') ','...
num2str(Geom(kj).y(1)+gy,'%1.6e') ')']);
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s \n',[fi 'selectlabel(' num2str(Geom(kj).x(1)+gx,'%1.6e') ',' ...
num2str(Geom(kj).y(1)+gy,'%1.6e') ')']);
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s \n',[fi 'setblockprop("' matdef(Geom(ki).spec(1)).name '",0,0.0005)']);
if kj==length(Geom.x) % define boundary conditions for the last bounding region
for ki=1:length(Geom(kj).x)-1
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s \n',['selectsegment(' ...
num2str(mean(Geom(kj).x([ki ki+1])),'%1.6e') ',' ...
num2str(mean(Geom(kj).y([ki ki+1])),'%1.6e') ')']);
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s \n',[fi 'setsegmentprop("tangmagn",0,0)']);
end
end
end
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s\n',[fi 'zoomnatural()']); % zoom
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s%s%s\n',[fi 'saveas("e_core.fem")']); % save geometry
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s\n',[fi 'createmesh()']); % discretise
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s\n',[fi 'analyse()']); % analyse
fprintf(lua_wri,'%s\n',[fi 'loadsolution()']); % load solution
fclose(lua_wri); % close the file for writing
ask_fem=1; % switch for fem calculation
if ask_fem==1
% start a Lua script from the command line
[s w]=dos(['"C:\Program Files\femm40\bin\femme.exe" -lua-script=' cd '\e_core_pre.lua']);
end
 65

References
[1] “CALFEM – A finite element toolbox to MATLAB version 3.3,” Dept. of Structural
Mechanics, Lund University, Sweden, 2002.
[2] Hameyer, K., Belmans, R., “Numerical modeling and design of electrical machines
and devices” – Computational mechanics Inc. 1999, ISBN 1-85312-626-8
[3] Jack, A.G., “How far can we rely on computer based design”, IEE 1999, pp. 8/1-8/2
[4] Jack, A.G., Mecrow, B.C., Dickinson, P.G., Stephenson, D. Burdess, J.S., Fawcett, W.
and Evans, J.T., “Permanent-magnet machines with powdered iron cores and
prepressed windings” – IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., v. 36 n. 4 July/August 2000,
pp.1077-1084
[5] Lipo, T.A., “Introduction to AC Machine Design” – Vol. 1, Wisconsin Power
Electronics Research Center, University of Wisconsin., 1996
[6] Meeker, D., “Steady-State Finite Element Heat Conduction Solver”, 2005
[7] Meeker, D., “User manual for finite element method magnetics – FEMM”, 2005
[8] Ostovic, V., “Dynamics of Saturated Electric Machines”, New York, Springer-Verlag,
1989, ISBN 0-387-97079-7
[9] Ottosen, N.S., Petersson, H., “Introduction to the finite element method”, University
of Lund, Sweden, Prentice Hall Europe 1992, ISBN 0-13-473877-2
[10] Reinap, A., “Design of powder core motors” University of Lund, Sweden, Media-
Tryck 2004, ISBN 91-88934-36-5