A simulation of an electric machine considering the coupling of rotor- and electrodynamics

Abstract

In this paper, a method is presented to determine the vibrational behavior of an electric motor and the associated structure. Therefore, a holistic simulation approach is used, which takes into account the mutual influence of structural mechanics and electrodynamics. For this purpose, a multi body simulation (MBS) is extended so that electromagnetic loads can be considered, which are calculated by using the finite element method (FEM). In electric machines an undisturbed and constant magnetic field is of great importance. Even small variations of the air gap lead to changes in the magnetic field compared to the ideal geometry, which cause a change in the resulting torque and vibration excitation. Especially local and global asymmetric air gap changes due to load- and operation-dependent deformations of the stator and rotor are problematic. Such deformations result on the one hand from the electromagnetically excited structural vibrations and on the other hand from the rotordynamic loads. For these reasons, it is necessary to consider the electro- and structural-dynamic effects together. The developed method is presented on a simple generic motor to show the influence of the coupling.