Harmonic Torque Calculation of Induction Motors Using Electromagnetic Field Analysis

In this paper, we investigate effects of harmonic electromagnetic field to torque characteristics of induction motors from both side of experiment and electromagnetic field analysis. The characteristics of two kinds of the aluminum cage three-phase induction motors are measured and calculated. One is with the closed rotor slots. The other is semi-closed. In the experiment, the negative torque at synchronous speed is measured by driving the induction motor by the synchronous permanent magnet motor. The total torque at load condition is also measured by the torque detector. In the analysis, the harmonic magnetic fields, the harmonic losses and the harmonic torques at each time and space harmonic order are calculated using the nonlinear time-stepping finite element method to clarify the mechanism of the harmonic torque generation. The measured and the calculated results agree well. It is clarified that the negative torque caused by the slot harmonics at the rated load condition is not negligible and that the negative torque is mainly generated by the harmonic core losses.