Analysis of Surface and Interior Permanent Magnet Motor Topologies for Active Electromagnetic Damping Applications

Many modern high-end vehicles exploit controllable damping solutions to enhance their adaptability to different road conditions and driving styles. Among these technologies, active dampers offer improved performance due to their four-quadrant operation in the torque–speed plane. In active electromagnetic dampers, brushless permanent magnet machines are used because of their high torque density. However, to the best of our knowledge, a process to set the previously reported; likewise, which rotor topology exhibits the best performance in such cases has not been validated. Consequently, the resulting actuator could exhibit suboptimal dynamical performance and power conversion efficiency. Although some design processes have been formulated in the past for semiactive controllers (the damping is modified using a variable resistive load), they are not suitable for active suspension control. Similarly, there are existing solutions to increase conversion efficiency using mechanical motion rectifiers; however, active forces cannot be exerted, limiting their applicability to semiactive actuators. Therefore, this paper presents a design methodology, using finite element method together with MATLAB/Simulink™, to set and test the parameters of AC brushless PM machines, intended for actively controlled suspensions. A novel approach to set the base speed, which takes advantage of field-weakening capability, is also presented. To test the proposed method, three machines with well-known rotor topologies were designed and evaluated as case studies, and the surface-mounted topology was found to be the most suitable for the analyzed task.