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High Speed Drive Using a Slotless PM Motor

Article  in  IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics · August 2006

DOI: 10.1109/TPEL.2006.876824 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 21, NO. 4, JULY 2006
High Speed Drive Using a Slotless PM Motor
Nicola Bianchi, Member, IEEE, Silverio Bolognani, Member, IEEE, and Fabio Luise
Abstract—In high speed applications, slotless permanent magnet
(PM) motors appear an attractive solution, being almost insensi-
tive to magneto-motive force harmonics and to pulsewidth modu-
lation (PWM) current ripple and exhibiting lower stator iron losses
and rotor losses (significant with squarewave current control). This
paper illustrates advantages and drawbacks of a high speed drive
using a slotless PM motor. The difficulties found during the realiza-
tion of a 30-krpm 1-kW PM motor prototype are also highlighted.
A low-cost commercial sensorless brushless dc motor controller
has been used to force squarewave currents without a significant
PWM ripple. In order to recognize a possible unexpected rotor ar-
rest, that is not detected by the integrated circuit, an additional
control circuit has been designed to detect that anomalous condi-
tion and to restart the motor when it occurs.
Index Terms—Fault diagnosis, high-speed motor drive,
pulsewidth modulation (PWM) losses, sensorless control, slotless
permanent magnet (PM) motor drive.
I. INTRODUCTION
IGH speed motor drives are developed for many applica-
H tions such as machine tools, compressors, vacuum pumps,
friction welding units, turbine generators, and so on. The use of
high speed motor drives is essentially aimed at removing the
mechanical gear and reducing the overall system dimensions.
The permanent magnet (PM) motor drives are attractive for high
speed operations when variable-speed is required. They can be
designed in different forms and exhibit high efficiency in a wide
range of operation.
Particular design strategies have to be adopted for high speed
applications since the motor losses assume a key role in the
motor drive performance limit. In such applications, the slotless
PM motor drive appears a preferable solution. The lower flux-
density values yield to lower iron losses. The higher effective
airgap reduces the flux density variations caused by the mag-
neto-motive force (M.M.F.) harmonics and by the pulsewidth
modulation (PWM) current ripple, and thus the rotor losses.
The latters are more significant with six-step current control and
when the rotor speed is so high to require a metallic sleeve to
retain the PMs.
This paper illustrates advantages and drawbacks of a high
speed drive using a slotless PM motor. Some analytical con-
siderations are reported, comparing the slotless PM motor
performance with those of the slotted one. Different tasks are
discussed: thermal stress and PM demagnetization, centrifugal
forces, rotor losses due to PWM control and current waveform.
Manuscript received December 7, 2004; revised September 27, 2005. This
paper was presented at the 35th IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference
(PESC’04), Aachen, Germany, June 20–25, 2004. Recommended by Associate
Editor M. A. Rahman.
N. Bianchi and S. Bolognani are with the Department of Electrical Engi-
neering, University of Padova, Padova I-35131, Italy (e-mail: bianchi@die.
unipd.it).
F. Luise is with ASI-Robicon, s.p.a., Monfalcone 34074, Italy.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPEL.2006.876824
0885-8993/$20.00 © 2006 IEEE
1083
Fig. 1. Two-pole three-phase motor: (a) with slotless stator and a sleeve re-
taining the PMs and (b) with three-teeth slotted stator.
A 30-krpm 1-kW two-pole PM motor drive has been realized
and tested. The experimental results essentially confirm the an-
alytical predictions. Some difficulties in the realization of the
PM motor prototype are also discussed in the paper.
A sensorless control has been implemented, using the low-
cost commercial PM motor controller. A squarewave current
is forced, regulated by a PWM control. Metal–oxide–semicon-
ductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) are used, allowing
high PWM frequency and reduced current ripple. The integrated
circuit (IC) has been tested at different operating speed (up to
400 Hz) and at different PWM frequencies, up to 32 kHz. The
measured currents do not exhibit a significant PWM ripple.
A drawback of the adopted sensorless controller is its un-
ability to recognize an unexpected rotor arrest, e.g., caused by
an excessive load torque pulse. To the aim of filling this gap, an
additional circuit has been added to detect such a drive condi-
tion and restart the motor.
II. SLOTLESS PM MOTOR
Fig. 1(a) shows a sketch of a PM motor with a slotless
stator [1]–[3], that represents the alternative of the slotted
stator, shown in Fig. 1(b). The latter has three teeth to get a
non-overlapping winding. This yields to easier manufacturing
and reduced end winding length [4], [5]. With small rotor di-
mensions, the two-pole PM is obtained in an unique cylindrical
piece, with additional remarkable benefits. Depending on the
PM dimension and rotor speed, a retaining sleeve, as that shown
in Fig. 1(a), could be needed to contrast with the centrifugal
force.
A. PM Motor Prototype
Fig. 2 shows some details of the PM slotless motor proto-
type. Fig. 2(a) shows the stator winding, before the insertion
within the stator core. It has been obtained by copper coils, pre-
pared separately and then assembled together. Fig. 2(b) shows
the assembled stator. The winding has been inserted in the stator
core; the latter is composed of a series of powder iron magnetic
1084
Fig. 2. Photos of the slotless PM motor prototype.
rings, that are enclosed in an external case. Fig. 2(c) shows the
two-pole PM rotor. It is has been obtained with a unique par-
allel-magnetized NdFeB PM cylinder, that has been glued on
a magnetic shaft. The rotor length-to-diameter ratio is about 3,
considering that a lower rotor diameter is more suitable to re-
duce the centrifugal forces. Thanks to the low rotor diameter the
retaining sleeve has not applied at all, and eddy current losses
in the rotor are negligible [6]–[8].
The major difficulty in manufacturing the prototype was
during shaping and holding together the winding coils. A
resulting slot fill factor (ratio between copper and slot cross
area) 0.31 has been obtained, that is a quite low value,
caused by the home-made manufacturing.
A second remark should be made on the end-winding axial
length. Because of the small room for the end-windings, the
total axial length is almost twice the length of the stator core
length, mainly due to the overlapping of the three-phase coils.
The overall motor length is higher than that of three-teeth slotted
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 21, NO. 4, JULY 2006
motor with concetrated coils. However, in high speed motor,
the main constraint is often in the external diameter, while an
increase of length is not dramatic.
B. Model of the PM Motor
For a rapid estimation of the PM motor performance and a
rapid comparison between different solutions, an analytical ap-
proach may be profitably adopted [9], [10]. The results obtained
analytically are fine, since the iron flux density is generally low
to make acceptable the high operating frequency. As a conse-
quence, the iron magnetic voltage drop is generally negligible.
Sometimes, a finite element (FE) analysis is also carried out
to compute local saturation effects [5], cogging torque, temper-
ature distribution, eddy currents in the rotor, and other specific
motor features that are omitted in the analytical computation.
III. PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS
A. Permanent Magnet Material
The optimal motor dimensions [12] depend highly on the PM
material quality. High energy magnets yield to the lowest rotor
diameters, as shown in Fig. 3(a). The optimum airgap-to-ex-
ternal diameter has been found about 40%, using NdFeB
PM, rated speed 30 krpm and 55 mm [11].
Motors using high-energy magnet exhibit high torque den-
sity, and high demagnetization current. The high energy mag-
nets have been used in several recent high speed PM motor de-
signs [10], [13]–[15].
With Ferrite PMs, the optimized rotor diameter results higher,
as highlighted in Fig. 3(b). The space for the winding wires re-
sults lower, causing higher Joule losses or allowing lower elec-
tric loadings. However, the main drawback of a larger rotor di-
ameter is that the PM may not be obtained in an unique piece
and thus a thick retaining sleeve is required.
B. Back e.m.f.
With a parallel magnetization, the theoretical flux density dis-
tribution in the airgap is sinusoidal [10], [16]. Then the back
electromagnetic field (e.m.f.) induced in the coils is sinusoidal
as well. Possible effect of PM magnetization imperfections are
reduced by the distributed coils. Taking into account the rated
high speed of the motor the coil turns have been designed prop-
erly. Since no flux-weakening is possible, the maximum value
of the back e.m.f. has been chosen according to the available
dc link voltage for the inverter, which is obtained by rectifying
the grid voltage. Fig. 4 shows the measured three-phase back
e.m.f.s that are nearly sinusoidal. The rotor speed was 373 rpm,
and the rotor was cold during the test (ambient temperature).
With such a sinusoidal e.m.f. waveform, a sinewave current
control yields to superior motor drive performance. It is adopted
in high-performance applications. Conversely in low-cost appli-
cations, a squarewave current waveform may be adopted, that
allows a simple sensorless control to be used. However, the
squarewave current control has two main drawbacks: i) torque
oscillations and ii) a high number of M.M.F. harmonics that pro-
duce eddy currents in the rotor.
BIANCHI et al.: HIGH SPEED DRIVE
Fig. 3. Slotless motor shape with (a) NdFeB and (b) Ferrite PM, and flux plot
under load.
Fig. 4. Measured back e.m.f. induced in a phase coil (1 V/div, 50 ms/div).
1085
Fig. 5. Computed airgap flux density distribution at no-load and full-load op-
eration: (a) with slotless stator and (b) with slotted stator.
C. Current Reaction and PM Demagnetization Limit
When the current flows in the stator coil, it produces a distor-
tion of the airgap flux density distribution. The radial component
of the airgap flux density are reported in Fig. 5(a), computed
at no-load and imposing the rated stator current. The no-load
flux density is quite low but the current reaction is almost negli-
gible. Conversely, in the slotted motor the no-load flux density
is higher, and the current reaction is very high as well, as shown
in Fig. 5(b).
Even considering the most critical condition is taken into ac-
count, that is when the stator and rotor fluxes are in phase oppo-
sition and the PM is at its operating temperature, the maximum
stator current to avoid the PM demagnetization is a very high
value [10]. Thus, in the slotless motor the demagnetization risk
caused by the stator current is very low, a thus a current over-
shoot or a temporary overload are acceptable. A suitable control
algorithm could be implemented allowing a fixed overload for
a limited time interval, as suggested in the next subsection.
D. Thermal Limit Considerations
According to the magnetic considerations above, the max-
imum motor torque result limited essentially by the capability
of the cooling system and the maximum winding temperature
rise , that is fixed by the insulation class (typically
115 C).
In a high power application, a complex cooling system may
be used: both the stator and the rotor are cooled by forced fluids
[2]. In low power applications, or in a polluted or dirty envi-
ronment, the PM motor is completely closed and cooled only
through the external stator surfaces.
It is useful to introduce an overall thermal heat transfer coef-
ficient h [17], so that the heat transferred through the external
surface results in . The value of h depends
on the type of cooling. A thermal test has been carried out on the
PM motor prototype yielding to an overall thermal heat transfer
coefficient 40 W/ Cm with forced air cooling. Since the
1086
Fig. 6. Computed temperature rises (Celsius degrees) in (a) slotted and (b) slot-
less motor.
Fig. 7. Measured temperatures with natural cooling in the slotted motor.
winding coils have been not impregnated with resin, a higher
value is expected after an industrial resin treatment.
As regards the maximum temperature rise of the PM, the slot-
less motor is not favourite with respect to the slotted motor. In
fact, the iron teeth reduce the thermal resistance between the
winding and the iron. Thus, at the same maximum temperature
rise of the winding, the PM operating temperature is lower in the
slotted motor, as shown in Fig. 6(a). Conversely, in the slotless
motor, the temperature rise of the PM is the same of the winding,
as highlighted in Fig. 6(b). Rotor losses can be neglected since
they are very low in this motor.
From a thermal test it is possible to obtain the main
thermal parameters of the motor. In the case of Fig. 7 (nat-
ural cooling with 8 W and 0 W) they result
5.6 C/W 7 Ws C 18 W Cm . Using a
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 21, NO. 4, JULY 2006
Fig. 8. Sketch of temperatures and torque versus time under overload
operations.
Fig. 9. Predicted (solid line) and measured (circles) torque.
first-order thermal model the temperature behavior is estimated
as
(1)
where are the total losses. The approximation
in (1) is valid with that is the common case of
overload operations. Then the time of the overload operations
may be estimated as
(2)
A sketch of the winding temperature and the motor torque be-
haviors is shown in Fig. 8.
E. Motor Torque
The torque is due to the interaction between the PM flux den-
sity and stator currents. The predicted torque [9], [10] is in a
good agreement with the measured value, as shown in Fig. 9. It is
possible to observe that the torque varies linearly with the stator
current, due to the low value of the iron flux density, that limits
the saturation effect. An unexpected low torque value has been
tested, that required a further analysis. In fact, the slotless solu-
tion shows a very high effective airgap. Because of that, there
is an additional component of leakage flux flowing through the
shaft along the axial direction. It is about 5% to 10% of the main
flux.
The slightly lower value of the measured torque has been at-
tributed to the leakage flux at the edges of the PM rotor, that
has not be considered in analytical computation. Such a leakage
BIANCHI et al.: HIGH SPEED DRIVE
Fig. 10. Leakage flux plot at the edges of the PM rotor.
flux is due to the high effective airgap of the motor, as shown in
the flux plot of Fig. 10.
F. Stator Losses
Iron and copper losses occur in the stator. The iron losses
are essentially caused by the PM flux and do not depend on the
torque, while the copper losses are proportional to the square of
the required torque. Despite the low iron flux density, the iron
losses are often dominant due to the high frequency.
Different soft magnetic materials may be used in soft mag-
netic composite (SMC) [18] instead of the laminated silicon-
iron (Si–Fe). SMC is characterized by poor magnetic B–H curve
in comparison with the Si–Fe (the maximum relative perme-
ability is 550) and higher iron loss density at low frequency.
However iron losses are predominantly due to hysteresis, while
eddy current losses are negligible. This is advantageous for the
high frequency applications: the iron loss density varies linearly
with the frequency, becoming lower than that of the Si–Fe lam-
inations. A comparison of the measured iron losses in Si–Fe
laminations and SMC material at different frequency is reported
in [5].
In addition, the slotless stator assembly is simplified since
magnetic rings are just put together.
G. Rotor Losses
The rotor losses considered here are due to the flux den-
sity pulsations that produce eddy current in the PM and in the
metallic retaining sleeve (if any). In the slotless motor, the cause
is the stator M.M.F. spatial harmonics that are not synchronous
with the rotor [19]. With sinewave currents, the first harmonic
of the M.M.F. distribution moves synchronously with the rotor,
while the other harmonics are asynchronous. Conversely with
squarewave currents the M.M.F. distribution is fixed, if the com-
mutations are neglected. Then all the harmonics move at rated
speed with respect to the rotor, causing higher rotor losses. They
may be very high because of the non-laminated PM rotor, and
also for the presence of a metallic retaining sleeve. In addition
these losses are particularly undesirable since the rotor is barely
cooled. The PM performance decrease or even PM irreversible
demagnetization can arise.
However, the slotless structure presents the advantage of a
high effective airgap that limits the flux density variation due to
the stator M.M.F., as also shown in Fig. 5. A further advantage
is the absence of slot openings, that are an extra cause of flux
density variation in the slotted motors [6]. Due to these two fea-
tures, the slotless solution results more favorable than the slotted
solution. In addition, when the speed is very high, it becomes the
unique solution.
1087
Fig. 11. Computed Joule rotor losses vs. rotor speed with different retaining
sleeve materials: sintered NdFeB ( =0.7 MS/m), copper ( = 58 MS/m),
= =
titanium ( 1.8 MS/m), stainless-steel ( 1.33 MS/m and  =20).
The rotor losses are highly dependent on the rotor diameter
and speed. With the higher value of these latters, more conduc-
tive retaining sleeves result better to reduce the losses [7], [19].
Thus, it is worth to compute the losses with different materials.
Fig. 11 shows the rotor losses caused by the current induced in
the PM and in the metallic sheet versus the rotor speed of the
slotless motor. The finite element analysis has been carried out
imposing a linear current density of 10 kA/m, and squarewave
current waveform. The NdFeB PM rotor has 18-mm outer diam-
eter and 50-mm length. The thickness of the retaining sleeve has
been fixed to 0.5 mm, to emphasize the losses. The rotor losses
are small with absence or low conductive retaining sleeve, and
they are essentially in the PM. Conversely, with conductive re-
taining sleeve, they are higher and the major part of rotor losses
take place in the sleeve, as also noted in [6] and [16].
A further cause of rotor losses is the PWM current ripple.
However, also in this case, thanks to the high effective airgap,
the flux density variations is negligible in slotless motors. The
measurements of such losses did not show appreciable values.
Other cause of losses are due to mechanical bearing [20], but
they are not consider here.
IV. CONTROL
In recent years, some robust and low cost linear ICs have
been developed, able to provide rapid and cost effective vari-
able speed control of PM motors. They are mainly based on
squarewave current control algorithms. This choice is due to
two practical reasons: i) the squarewave current control algo-
rithm results simpler than the sinusoidal current control and ii)
a simple strategy for the sensorless control can be implemented.
A. Experimental Tests on the Commercial IC
The Fairchild ML4425 sensorless controller (see Fig. 12) has
been tested with a high-speed 1-kW PM motor, obtaining sat-
isfactory results. The IC implements a simple strategy: after an
open-loop startup in which the motor reaches a minimum speed,
1088
Fig. 12. Control and power modules setup.
Fig. 13. Measured voltage waveform (curve 1) and current waveform (curve
2) in a test motor at 158 Hz and reduced voltage.
the back e.m.f. of the non-energized phase is used as a feedback
to lock a PLL commutation loop. Not only the voltage zero-
crossing is sensed, but the IC integrates this voltage over a 60
interval. With an ideal commutation no net change of integrator
output voltage appears, while a delayed or early commutation
modifies the output voltage level which consequently forces the
next commutation to anticipate or to delay, respectively.
The tests were satisfactory both for starting and for sensor-
less synchronization. Conversely, some troubles were observed
in terms of loss of synchronization due to harsh load torque
variations.
In addition, a reasonable dependence of the motor perfor-
mance on the phase delay has been observed. Fig. 13 shows the
phase current waveform (signal 2) in a test motor running at
158 Hz and reduced voltage, to highlight the saturated voltage
operation. The current waveform is distorted due to the delay of
synchronization, and this waveform causes an unwanted torque
oscillation. This phenomenon has to be minimized by means of
an accurate adjustment of the circuit parameters.
With the back e.m.f. of Fig. 4, an additional oscillating torque
occurs when the motor is fed by squarewave phase currents,
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 21, NO. 4, JULY 2006
Fig. 14. Analytical torque waveform assuming ideal current waveforms.
Fig. 15. Additional lockout controls added to the basic circuit.
as drawn in Fig. 14. With ideal squarewave currents, the ratio
between the average and the maximum torque results
(3)
while the ratio between the peak-to-peak torque and the average
torque is
(4)
B. Strategies for Increasing the Drive Reliability
To the aim of improving the original IC control, and in-
creasing the drive reliability, further control strategies have
been studied and implemented. They include a temperature
protection, an under-voltage protection and a self-restarting
system. However, since this is a motor for a low-cost applica-
tion, the adopted strategies should require a minimal additional
cost.
i) The temperature protection is obtained switching off the
mosfet of the converter by using the brake IC command,
using a simple comparator driven by a thermal sensor,
NTC and OA3 in Fig. 15. Positioning the sensor in prox-
imity of the iron core, it protects also the windings, thanks
to the low thermal resistance between the two parts. The
comparator output resets the alignment capacitor while
keeping active the brake command.
ii) A similar action is performed by the comparator OA1 in
Fig. 15, in order to prevent over-current (and then over-
BIANCHI et al.: HIGH SPEED DRIVE
heating) in the motor. It is activated when the dc bus
voltage falls down a given voltage threshold. Actually the
controller has an internal under-voltage lockout, but this
operates on the control dc supply level (12 V).
iii) Finally, the motor self-restarting system is based on the
IC behavior occurring after a loss of synchronization. In
healthy condition, the rotor is synchronous with the IC
internal VCO, and the gate drivers of the low side inverter
legs describe a squarewave voltage.
Conversely, after a motor arrest, there are null back e.m.fs.
The voltage VCO input increases, then the commutation fre-
quency increases, to the aim of matching the speed reference.
The commutation frequency reaches the upper threshold (never
reached under rated operation), and the control nullifies the
PWM cycle by turning off all the low side switches. This
behaviour is adopted to detect the rotor arrest.
Three diodes have been connected to the low side switch
gates. The sum of the three signals is integrated by means of
an RC integrator, so that an average value of the commutating
frequency is obtained in the form of a dc voltage. Fig. 15 shows
that such a signal is compared in OA2 with a fixed reference.
When the signal exceeds the reference, the comparator output
commutes from 0 to 1. A peak detector formed by OA3 and
two capacitors is connected to the output of OA2 and provides
a single pulse to the right controller to reset the capacitors.
V. CONCLUSION
The design of a high speed PM motor drive has been fully
analyzed. The advantages and drawbacks have been high-
lighted. Regardless of its low no-load flux density and the
complex winding manufacturing, the slotless motor appears
to be a preferable solution, thanks to the limited effect of the
current reaction: it is less sensitive to the PM demagnetization
and is characterized by lower rotor losses, due to eddy currents
caused by current reaction and PWM. Experimental tests have
been reported. A simple current control has been tested using a
commercial IC. Practical adjustments have been implemented
in order to detect and remedy anomalous operating conditions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank Dr. G. Terruzzi, Saimag srl, Italy,
for delivering the PM rotor, Dr. P. Janhson, Hoganas, AB
Sweden, for providing the SMC rings, Dr. L. Carretta, for his
help during the motor prototyping, and Dr. D. Luccato, for help
in testing the drive controller.
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Nicola Bianchi (M’98) received the Laurea and
Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the
University of Padova, Padova, Italy, in 1991 and
1995, respectively.
Since 1998, he has worked at the Electric Drives
Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering,
University of Padova, where he is currently an
Associate Professor. He is author and co-author
of several technical papers, author of the book
Electrical Machine Analysis using Finite Elements
(Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2005) and co-Editor of
Design, Analysis and Control of Interior PM Synchronous Machines (CLEUP,
Tutorial Course Notes IEEE IAS Tutorial, Seattle, WA, 2004). His research
interest is in the field of the electromechanical design of brushless, synchronous
and induction motors with particular interest to the drives applications.
1090
Silverio Bolognani (M’98) received the Laurea de-
gree in electrical engineering from the University of
Padova, Padova, Italy, in 1976.
In the same year, he joined the Department of
Electrical Engineering, University of Padova. He
is presently a Full Professor of electrical drives
and he is engaged in research on advanced control
techniques for motor drives and on the design of
ac electrical motors for variable speed applications.
He is author of more than 100 technical papers on
electrical machines and drives.
Mr. Bolognani is the President of the IEEE IAS-IES-PELS North Italy Joint
Chapter.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 21, NO. 4, JULY 2006
Fabio Luise received the Laurea and Ph.D. degrees in
electrical engineering from the University of Padova,
Padova, Italy, in 1999 and 2003, respectively.
In 1999, he received a boursary scheme at the Lab-
oratory of Electric Drives, Department of Electrical
Engineering. In 2004, he joined ASI-Robicon s.p.a.,
Monfalcone, Italy, as an R&D Engineer. His main
field of interest is in the design of brushless machines
for special and custom applications.