Impact of Electrical Steel Punching Process on the Performance of Switched Reluctance Motors

This paper develops an approach to evaluate and predict the effect of punching processes upon the performance of switched reluctance motors (SRMs). Punching is a common process for manufacturing of electric motors although the magnetic performance of the electrical steels at the cut edges may degrade. This could then result in a lower motor performance than expected. Annealing can usually restore the material property but it would be costly for production of common electric motors. Therefore, it is useful to compensate this effect in the design of electric motors. In this paper, the damaged range due to punching is modeled and included in the finite-element simulation for the SRMs such that the effect of this damage can be evaluated. The material properties at the cut edges are determined using the techniques developed here. Two SRMs are investigated: one being annealed after punching and the other not before assembly. Test results show that the annealed SRM produces a better performance. The comparison between the simulations and experiments shows that the developed method can be used for analysis of punching effect on motor performance.