Iron Loss Analysis of IPM Motor Considering Carrier Harmonics

In this paper, we investigate the iron loss of interior permanent magnet motors driven by PWM inverters using electromagnetic field analysis. Following 4 methods are applied: (1) Current input finite element method neglecting the carrier harmonics. (2) Voltage input finite element analysis neglecting carrier harmonics. (3) Current input finite element method with the measured armature current waveforms including the carrier harmonics. (4) Voltage input finite element method with the theoretical voltage waveforms of the PWM inverter. The calculated results are compared with the experimental ones. It is clarified that the accuracy of the calculated results are improved by considering the carrier harmonics and that the method (4) can estimate the iron loss of the IPM motor accurately before manufacturing. The variation of the iron loss components due to the driving condition is also clarified.