Journal: IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion
Authors: Yun-Jae Won, Seong-Hyeon Kim, Jin-Ho Choi, Soo-Hwan Park, Kyeong-Jik Kim, Myung-Seop Lim
DOI: 10.1109/TEC.2026.3736031
In this article, a decoupled magnetic equivalent circuit (MEC) modeling framework is proposed for the characteristic analysis of interior permanent magnet synchronous motors (IPMSMs) with complex rotor topologies. In the proposed framework, stator and rotor MEC networks are independently constructed and coupled through a bidirectional permeability convergence method (BPCM), which iteratively exchanges scalar potentials between the two domains. The BPCM iteratively updates the core permeability of both domains until convergence, accurately capturing the nonlinear magnetic characteristics, while skew effects are also incorporated. Rotor rotation is then simulated using the converged results of the BPCM. Based on the proposed framework, flux-linkage and iron loss are computed over a wide range of current vectors to generate parameter maps, which are used to determine optimal current vectors under maximum torque per ampere (MTPA) and flux-weakening (FW) control. Its applicability to various pole–slot combinations is validated through finite element method (FEM), and experimental verification is conducted using a fabricated prototype. The results demonstrate that the proposed framework reliably predicts characteristics while significantly reducing computation time compared to FEM. Therefore, the proposed framework provides an efficient approach for the characteristic analysis of IPMSMs with complex rotor topologies.