Cogging Torque Reduction of Single-Phase Brushless DC Motor With a Tapered Air-Gap Using Optimizing Notch Size and Position

This paper reports a stator shape optimization design for reducing the cogging torque of single-phase brushless dc (BLDC) motors by adopting an asymmetric air-gap to make them self-starting. A time step 2-D finite-element analysis (FEA) was carried out to analyze the characteristics of the single-phase BLDC motor. The Kriging model combined with Latin hypercube sampling and a genetic algorithm were used to reduce the cogging torque and maintain the efficiency and torque. As an optimal design result, the cogging torque of the optimal model was reduced. Finally, the analysis and optimal design results were confirmed by FEA as well as by experimental results.