Investigation of magnet segmentation techniques for eddy current losses reduction in permanent magnets electrical machines

Purpose - Reducing eddy current losses in magnets of electrical machines can be obtained by means of several techniques. The magnet segmentation is the most popular one. It imposes the least restrictions on machine performances. This paper investigates the effectiveness of the magnet circumferential segmentation technique to reduce these undesirable losses. The full and partial magnet segmentation are both studied for a frequency range from few Hz to a dozen of kHz. To increase the efficiency of these techniques to reduce losses for any working frequency, an optimization strategy based on coupling of finite elements analysis and genetic algorithm is applied. The purpose of this paper is to define the parameters of the total and partial segmentation that can ensure the best reduction of eddy current losses. Design/methodology/approach - First, a model to analyze eddy current losses is presented. Second, the effectiveness of full and partial magnet circumferential segmentation to reduce eddy loss is studied for a range of frequencies from few Hz to a dozen of kHz. To achieve these purposes a 2-D finite element model is developed under MATLAB environment. In a third step of the work, an optimization process is applied to adjust the segmentation design parameters for best reduction of eddy current losses in case of surface mounted permanent magnets synchronous machine. Findings - In case of the skin effect operating, both full and partial magnet segmentations can lead to eddy current losses increases. Such deviations of magnet segmentation techniques can be avoided by an appropriate choice of their design parameters. Originality/value - Few works are dedicated to investigate partial magnet segmentation for eddy current losses reduction. This paper studied the effectiveness and behaviour of partial segmentation for different frequency ranges. To avoid eventual anomalies related to the skin effect an optimization process based on the association of the finite elements analysis to genetic algorithm method is adopted.