17 November 2023

Motor-CAD Software Tutorial:

Modelling a Switched Reluctance Motor using

Motor-CAD
Contents
1. Description ..................................................................................................................... 2
2. Motor Setup ................................................................................................................... 2
i. Geometry ................................................................................................................ 2
ii. Winding ................................................................................................................... 6
iii. Materials ................................................................................................................. 9
3. Magnetisation Curves .................................................................................................. 10
4. Analytic Torque ............................................................................................................ 13
5. FEA Torque ................................................................................................................. 16
6. Torque Speed Curve .................................................................................................... 19
7. Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 24
8. E-NVH ......................................................................................................................... 24
1. Description
This document gives a brief description of how to simulate the electromagnetic performance
of a Switched Reluctance Machine (SRM) using Motor-CAD. A model of an SRM motor is
configured, characterised, and finally a torque-speed curve is generated.

2. Motor Setup
Motor-CAD has both electromagnetic and thermal models. These models can be used
separately or as a combined electromagnetic + thermal model. In this tutorial we will create
an electromagnetic model by selecting the option Model -> E-Magnetic. (Tip: a blue
background on the active tab indicates E-Magnetic context).

Next, set the motor type to SRM by selecting Motor Type -> SRM.

i. Geometry
Motor-CAD should now be showing a cross-sectional representation of a simple switched
reluctance machine. We will now set the radial geometry parameters of the motor that will be
simulated, in the dropdowns and tables on the left.

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First, specify the stator slot type and whether the rotor pole space is filled or not. Ducting is
also specified as it can affect the electromagnetic performance if the laminations are modified.

Parameter Value
Slot Type Parallel Slot
Pole Space Not Filled
Stator Ducts None
Rotor Ducts None

We now set the radial dimensions of the machine and parameters such as the number of
stator and rotor poles. This motor will be of an 18-12 pole configuration.

Click the Redraw button or press Enter/Return after changing dimensions to ensure the
drawing is updated.

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Dimension Value Units
Stator Poles 18
Stator Pole Angle 10 °
Stator Laminations Diameter 269 mm
Stator Bore 179 mm
Stator Pole Depth 31 mm
Sleeve Thickness 0 mm
Pole Number 12
Rotor Pole Angle 11 °
Rotor Slot Depth 19 mm
Pole Taper Angle 10 °
Rotor Slot Fillet Radius 0 mm
Airgap 0.5 mm
Banding Thickness 0 mm
Shaft Diameter 70 mm
Shaft Hole Diameter 0 mm

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Navigate to the Geometry -> Axial tab. This is where dimensions such as motor and
lamination lengths are defined, as well as settings for shaft type and radial ducts, if any. The
default settings in the dropdown boxes should be correct for this design.

Now, set the axial geometry dimensions as in the table below.

Dimension Value Units

Motor Length 200 mm
Stator Laminations Length 135 mm
Rotor Laminations Length 135 mm
End Winding OH Mult [Front] 1
End Winding OH Mult [Rear] 1
Winding Extension [Front] 1 mm
Winding Extension[Rear] 1 mm

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A 3D view is available in Motor-CAD under Geometry -> 3D to visualise the machine.
Transparency levels of components can be set by right-clicking them in the component list.
Components or groups of components can also be hidden by deselecting checkboxes in the
list.

ii. Winding

Navigate to Winding -> Pattern to see details of the winding pattern.

Motor-CAD will automatically set up the winding pattern for the slot / pole combination of this
machine. In this example our motor will have a winding with 15 turns per coil.

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 Parameter Value
Phases 3
Turns 15
Parallel Paths 1

On the Winding -> Definition tab, a cross section of an individual stator slot is shown. Here,
details of the wire type to be used is configured. From these details, values used in the
performance analysis are calculated, such as phase resistance.

Define the winding parameters as in the table and press Enter/Return, or click Redraw. Check
that Wire Slot Fill is 73.11% of the winding area to be sure that the parameters have been
successfully set.

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Dimension Value Units
Winding Definition Wire Size
Wire Type Metric Table
Wire Gauge [1.041mm, 0.950mm]
Number of Strands in Hand 13
Liner Thickness 0.2 mm
Coil Divider 0 mm
Copper Depth [%] 97 %
Conductor Separation 0.03 mm

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iii. Materials
Motor-CAD has a materials database populated with commonly used materials. For example,
navigate to Input Data -> Material database and select M35-50A, where you can view various
characteristics of the material.

Other materials can be added as required. For more information, refer to the Motor-CAD
manual.

Navigate to the Input Data -> Materials page. This is where materials from the materials
database can be applied to different parts of the machine. This tab also provides the
calculated weight of each part.

Assign the steel material JFE_10JNEX900 to all laminations.

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3. Magnetisation Curves
Before calculating the switched reluctance motor currents, the flux-linkage characteristic must
be produced by Motor-CAD’s FEA solver.

Adjust the settings for the magnetisation curves calculation on the Calculation page. This
sets the resolution of the flux linkage lookup table that is used when simulating the SRM
response.

It is important that the magnetisation curves are calculated using a current which is equal to,
or higher than, the current that will be used in the simulation.

The resolution of the calculated points should be high enough to capture a reasonable
approximation of the saturation of the motor at a range of rotor positions. A higher resolution
will give higher accuracy, at the expense of longer calculations. The number of points required
will depend on the machine design; for this example, we have found that 12 points gives good
accuracy without excessive calculation time.

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 Parameter Value
Maximum Current 400
Current Points 12
Position Points per 180° 12

After adjusting the settings, click the button Calculate. This should finish solving within 1-2
minutes. Progress is shown in the status bar at the bottom left of the window

The magnetisation curves should be recalculated to capture any changes made to the motor
geometry, materials, or winding set-up.

The magnetisation curves can be viewed in the Graphs tab.

Note the curvature on the uppermost trace. If the curve is not adequately captured, it is
recommended to increase the number of current points (i.e. the resolution along the x-axis),
and recalculate.

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The flux-linkage characteristic can also be plotted against (rotor) position using the radio
button on the graph.

In Motor-CAD, unaligned rotor positions (defined as rotor positions where phase inductance
is at its lowest) are located 360 electrical degrees apart, starting at 0°.

If the curvature/shape of these traces is not adequately captured, it is recommended to

increase the number of position points, and recalculate.

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4. Analytic Torque
The torque produced by the motor at an operating point can be calculated analytically from a
simulated current waveform and the magnetisation curves.

This method is much faster than an FEA solution to calculate a torque waveform.

The voltage, current and torque waveforms of SRM motors are typically quite complex and
discontinuous (i.e. not very smooth), so it is good to increase the resolution of the plotted
results to show sufficient detail.

On the Input Data -> Settings -> Calculation page, increase the number of torque points per
cycle to 120.

The number of points plotted per cycle does not significantly affect the time taken to
analytically calculate the torque. This is not the case when solving using FEA, since the
number of FEA calculations solved is proportional to this setting.

Parameter Value
Points per cycle 120

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On the Calculation page, the operating point is defined, and performance tests selected. Set
the drive parameters as below.

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 Parameter Value Units
Shaft Speed 1200 RPM
Peak Current 300 A
DC Bus Voltage 500 V
Drive Mode Square
Switching Angle Definition On Angle and Off Angle
On Angle -16 °
Off Angle 136 °
Zero Voltage Loop: Definition None

Ensure only the Analytic Torque test is checked and click Solve E-Magnetic Model.

Numerical results of the calculation can be viewed in the Output Data section, once the
solution has completed successfully.

Average torque values can be found under Output Data -> E-Magnetics

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Analytically calculated Torque, Voltage, Current and Flux Linkage waveforms can be viewed
in the Graphs section.

Current ripple can be seen present in the waveform due to the finite bandwidth of the
hysteresis current controller. Ripple can be reduced in Motor-CAD by increasing the drive
effective switching frequency in the Drive tab.

Note: the time it takes to calculate the currents is roughly proportional to switching frequency.

5. FEA Torque
Solving the model using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) gives a more detailed look at the
performance of a motor design. The calculation takes significantly longer but yields information
such as the quantity and distribution of iron losses in the machine.

Reduce the number of Torque Points per Cycle under Input Data -> Settings ->
Calculation. Recall that for the FEA torque calculation, unlike the analytic torque, the
calculation time is proportional to the number of points.

Parameter Value
Points per cycle 30

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Under Input Data -> Settings -> Graphs, configure the Torque Graph to show Virtual Work
and Maxwell Stress torque.

Maxwell Stress and Virtual Work are each a method of calculating electromagnetic torque
using FEA. For more information please refer to the Motor-CAD manual.

Change the Graph Drawing Options to draw Data points and lines.

The Curve Fit option draws a smooth line through the data points: useful for waveforms that
are expected to be smooth. For SRM motors we do not expect smooth waveforms.

On the Calculation page, leave Analytic Torque selected and select FEA Torque in the list
of On Load tests.

Click Solve E-Magnetic Model (or press Ctrl+R).

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The torque waveform can be viewed in the Graphs -> Torque section.

It can be seen that there is a good agreement between the torque waveforms calculated
analytically and using the FEA methods.

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FEA results are shown on the E-Magnetics -> FEA page during the simulation. They can also
be played/viewed afterwards. Files may be reopened after closing, using the Open button.

Shading functions can be selected to show various physical properties in the machine
simulation.

The distribution of iron losses calculated using FEA can be viewed on the FEA page by
selecting OnLoadLoss_result_1.mes from the results file dropdown.

Losses caused by different mechanisms can be shown by changing the Shading option.

6. Torque Speed Curve

The Torque-Speed envelope can be calculated to find an upper bound on the torque
performance of a design (for a particular current limit).

At each speed point, the switching angles are iteratively optimised to maximise torque output.

On the Input Data -> Settings -> Graphs tab, set the number of Torque Speed Graph:
Calculated points to 10.

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On the Input Data -> Settings -> Calculation tab, increase the number of torque points per
cycle back to 120.

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Set the Switching frequency definition to User defined on the Drive tab. This allows fixing
the Switching frequency at 30kHz, for a faster calculation. Note that the switching frequency
input is given in units of kHz. For most parameters in Motor-CAD, the units can be checked
from the status line in the bottom of the window, as shown below.

Next, set up the operating range of the test on the Calculation page. Set Shaft Speed to
5000rpm and Peak Current to 100A. Switching angles, optimised for maximum torque, will
be calculated for 10 evenly spaced speeds between 500 and 5000rpm.

To further increase calculation speed, calculate the magnetisation curves with the number of
Position points reduced to 8. Select the Torque Speed Curve test and uncheck all other
tests.

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Click the Solve E-Magnetic Model button.

This test should take a few minutes.

You may notice that the calculations speed up at higher shaft speeds. This is because the
calculations use a constant time resolution, so lower shaft speeds (with longer electrical
cycles) require more calculations.

The Torque/Speed and Power/Speed curves can be viewed in the Graphs section.

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The optimised switching angles can be found in the Graphs -> Data -> Torque/Speed tab.

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7. Conclusions
This example shows how a Switched Reluctance Machine may be characterised and
simulated using Motor-CAD’s SRM E-Magnetics module. Tests covered include calculating
performance at individual operating points, using both analytic and FEA calculations. We have
also demonstrated the ability to automatically optimise switching angles to determine torque
capability of a design over a range of speeds.

8. E-NVH
The force analysis can be performed at multiple operating points so that the electromagnetic
forces can be quickly and easily analysed across a range of operating conditions. These
results can then be used within a Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) analysis across the
speed range. To do so, we have introduced the Mechanical module even for the SRM
topology.

The operating points analysed in this paragraph have been selected from the data showed
during the Torque/Speed envelope calculation in E-Magnetic module.

The settings for the Torque/Speed envelope calculation are represented below:

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Once the operating points are collected in the E-Magnetic module, go to the Mechanical
module.

Next, go to the Calculation -> E-NVH and Forces tab. Here, the operating points in terms of
Speed, Peak Line Current, On Angle and Off Angle need to be introduced in the Load Points
table.

Speed [rpm] Peak Line Current [A] On Angle [Edeg] Off Angle [Edeg]
2000 50 -11 150
4000 50 -16 140

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 6000 50 -30 135
8000 50 -40 130

Before running the simulation, we need to setup the Torque Calculation Points per Cycle.
The Force Calculation Stator/Rotor Node Points need to be set as well, to increase the
overall Stator/Rotor Force Points considered in the simulation. Go to Input Data -> Settings
-> Calculation and select the following parameters:

Parameter Value
Torque Calculation Points per cycle 90
Stator Node Points 20
Rotor Node Points 30

Go to E-Magnetic module, in Input Data -> Calculation and increase the number of airgap
mesh elements to 1080 to match the selected number of torque points per cycle (90 in this
case).

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Go back to the Mechanical module, and in Calculation -> E-NVH and Forces start the
calculation by selecting Generate E-NVH and Forces option.

While the calculation is running, the Calculated Torque column will be populated in the table:

Go to E-NVH tab to access the results of the simulation.

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In E-NVH -> Modal, the modal analysis calculates the natural frequencies of the stator
system.

Moving along in E-NVH -> Torque, the torque is represented for each operating point,
computed through both Virtual Work (VW) and Maxwell Stress Tensor (MST). The
magnitude and orders of the torque ripple’s frequency components are represented.

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When the machine topology is characterised by non-sinusoidal current (like in this case), an
extra tab will appear. Go to E-NVH -> Current to visualise the current waveforms for each
operating point, as well as the amplitude and order of their harmonic components.

Go to the E-NVH -> Forces -> Campbell Diagram tab to view the force magnitude
spectrum at variable speed of the main force excitation orders.

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In E-NVH -> Forces -> Time Harmonics 1D the forces acting at a single point in space on
the stator or rotor and their variation over the electrical cycle are represented. This is
available for each operating condition.

Whereas, in E-NVH -> Forces -> Space Harmonics 1D a representation of how the forces
vary around the surface of the stator or rotor in a single point in time can be accessed. This
is available for each operating condition.

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In E-NVH -> Structural, the vibrational response of the stator system is analytically
estimated. An example of the results in this tab is represented below.

In E-NVH -> Acoustic, the sound power radiated form the stator, analytically estimated
using the vibration velocity, is represented. Go to E-NVH -> Acoustic -> Spectrogram to
view the natural frequencies of the stator structure (dashed lines) and the sound frequency
order lines.

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Go to the E-NVH -> Acoustic -> Order Tracking tab, where the magnitude of the total
sound power generated across the defined speed range, along with the magnitude of the
sound order lines of highest magnitude, is represented.

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