Vibration Reduction of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors by Four-Layer Winding: Mathematical Modeling and Experimental Validation

This paper proposes a vibration reduction method for fractional slot concentrated winding (FSCW) permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) by applying a four-layer winding configuration. The radial electromagnetic force (REF), particularly its low space-harmonics, causes significant vibration in PMSMs. These low-order REF components are influenced by sub-harmonics in the airgap magnetic flux density (MFD), which occur at frequencies lower than the fundamental component generated by the armature magnetomotive force (MMF) in FSCW PMSMs. To mitigate these sub-harmonics in the MFD, the four-layer winding is applied to the FSCW PMSM. As a result, the overall vibration of the motor is reduced. To verify the effectiveness of the four-layer winding, both electrical and mechanical characteristics are compared among motors with conventional one-, two-, and, proposed, four-layer windings. Finally, the three motors are fabricated and tested, and their vibration levels are experimentally evaluated.