Evaluation of superposition technique for calculating cogging torque in permanent-magnet brushless machines

We evaluate the superposition method for calculating the cogging torque in permanent-magnet brushless machines, the resultant torque being synthesized from cogging torque components associated with a pair of magnets. Although finite-element analyses and measurements show that the resultant cogging torque cannot be synthesized directly from the torque components due to a single magnet, we use the concept of a fictitious single magnet to analytically establish the relationship between the cogging torque and key design parameters. The method is particularly useful in assessing the influence of the slot number and pole number combination.