Coupling Node Reduction of a Synchronous Machine Using Multipoint-Constraints

The noise vibration and harshness (NVH) simulation of electric machines becomes increasingly important due to the use of electric machines in vehicles. This paper describes a method to reduce the calculation time and required memory of the finite element NVH simulation of electrical machines.
The stator of a synchronous electrical machine is modeled as a two-dimensional problem to reduce investigation effort. The electromagnetic forces acting on the stator are determined by FE-simulation in advance. Since these forces need to be transferred from the electromagnetic model to the structural model, a coupling algorithm is necessary. In order to reduce the number of nodes, which are involved in the coupling between the electromagnetic and structural model, multipoint constraints (MPC) are used to connect several coupling nodes to one new coupling node. For the definition of the new coupling nodes, the acting load is analyzed with a 2D-FFT. After the coupling with MPCs, forces are only acting on the newly defined coupling nodes. The electromagnetic forces are transformed to the frequency domain and a harmonic response analysis is carried out for the model. In order to validate the model with reduced coupling nodes the surface deformation is calculated and compared to a reference model.