Leakage Field Analytical Computation in Semiclosed Slots of Unsaturated Electric Machines

Slot leakage field accounts for an important quota of the total leakage flux in electric machines. The computation of unsaturated slot leakage inductances can rely on analytical formulas for simple open slot shapes, while the case of semiclosed slots is more critical and typically requires finite element analysis (FEA) or analytically solving the field over the whole machine domain. This paper sets forth an analytical procedure for computing the leakage field in semiclosed slots of unsaturated electric machines. The method is based on solving Maxwell's equations in the slot domain alone, which is made possible by appropriately defining boundary conditions in the slot opening region. The method proposed is assessed by comparison with FEA. Validations indicate that a good accuracy is achieved by the presented approach in predicting unsaturated leakage inductances, while FEA is required when magnetic saturation effects need to be taken into account.