Development of a Combined Maxwell's Equations and Magnetic Equivalent Circuit Solution for Induction Machines in Electric Vehicle Applications

This study introduces a novel analytical technique for analyzing the magnetic field in induction motors (IM). This method combines Maxwell's equations with the magnetic equivalent circuit (MEC) framework to determine flux densities in various regions of the motor. By integrating flux sources from Maxwell's equations into the MEC's network of reluctances, this method accurately considers the distribution of main and leakage magnetic fluxes within the motor. The approach significantly reduces analysis time while maintaining high accuracy and reliability when compared to numerical methods. Furthermore, it provides important motor features such as the radial and tangential components of the flux density in the air-gap, stator and rotor areas, as well as the induced voltage. Finally, to validate the accuracy of the proposed method, the analytical results are compared to the case that no leakage fluxes are included in the analytical model and to the finite-element method (FEM) in terms of computation time and accuracy. As such, this method is suggested to serve as a valuable analytical tool during the design process of IMs.