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Electric Motor Basics: Why Are Rotors Skewed?
By Cyndi Nyberg
EASA Technical Support Specialist
Stator windings in three-phase motors are de-
signed to have the amount of flux that the core
needs to produce the desired output. The number
of turns and size of wire are limited by the core
dimensions. However, in the squirrel cage rotor,
there are many more variables in the design. One
of the variables is the shape of the rotor slot.
Many rotor designs are skewed. So, why are ro-
tors skewed?
As the rotor turns, discontinuities on the sur-
face of the rotor and stator disrupt the magnetic
flux path of the motor. The flux path variation
shows up in the form of harmonics that affect the
performance of the motor. The difference be-
tween the number of stator slots and rotor slots
has a significant impact on the harmonics. The
motor may be noisy, or there may be stray
torques that lower the torque during starting or
acceleration. The stator-rotor slot difference is
why a motor winding that is redesigned for a dif-
ferent speed may have problems, and why it is
important to check the stator-slot-rotor-bar com-
bination before proceeding with the redesign.
Torque
cusp
cog
Normal Design B
Speed-Torque Curve
Speed
• A cusp is a dip in the speed-torque curve.
• A cog is a reduction of the starting torque.
• If the bars are skewed, the torque problems
associated with the stator-rotor slot
combination will not appear.
Figure 2. Speed vs. torque curve.
Skewing Bars
Skewing the rotor or stator laminations can re-
duce the flux path variations to reduce the
magnitude of the harmonics. This smoothes out
the speed vs. torque curve (see Figure 1). Skew is
the angular twist of a rotor or stator slot away
from the axial direction, illustrated in Figure 2.
December 2003
There are other ways of
skewing bars, such as
herringbone (or V-)
shaped bars, as well as
straight bars that are off-
set in the center of the
stack. But most often, the
bars will be angled as
shown in the figure.
The purpose of the
skew is to reduce har-
monics in the air gap flux that are introduced by a
certain stator-rotor slot combination. The rotor is
more commonly skewed than the stator, because coil
insertion becomes more difficult, and slot opening
cross-section decreases, with skewed slots. In an
ideal situation, the motor manufacturer would have
an unlimited number of stator and rotor lamination
options; however, the cost would be prohibitive.
They are limited to laminations that can be used for
as many different designs as possible. The same ro-
tor laminations may be used for both a 4- and a
6-pole motor, but the stator-rotor slot combination
may not be favorable for both speeds.
Figure 2. Rotor with skewed slots.
Degrees Of Skew
There are, of course, varying degrees of skew,
but typically the rotor is skewed whichever dis-
tance is greater: one stator slot or one rotor slot.
Too little skew may not effectively reduce the har-
monics, while too much will only further increase
losses. If there are more stator slots than rotor
bars, the bars will normally be skewed one rotor
slot. If there are more rotor bars than stator slots,
the offset will be one stator slot.
Rather than using a skewed rotor design, one
other way that manufacturers have overcome
torque dips due to the stator-rotor slot combina-
tion is to design a stator winding with higher flux
densities, which results in a higher overall torque.
The increased torque may result in overall starting
Continued on Page 2
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EASA CURRENTS
Electric Motor Basics: . . . Continued From Page 1
Without skew
With skew
Figure 3. Axial force resulting from a
skewed rotor bar, reducing the
overall torque.
and acceleration torque levels that meet or exceed
the requirements of the application, even with the
potential torque loss from the harmonics. Of
course, the tradeoff to this is a higher locked rotor
current, but manufacturers overseas follow IEC
standards that do not have the limits for starting
currents that NEMA does.
While a skew will smooth the torque curve
and reduce noise, the advantages are not without
a cost. The skew will increase the stray load
losses, decreasing the overall efficiency, and
torque. Since the rotor bars are not parallel to the
shaft, there is not a uniform circumferential force
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in the air gap. This introduces a small axial com-
ponent to the flux that reduces the overall torque,
since it is no longer parallel to the shaft. Figure 3
illustrates the effect.
Will Often Run Hotter
Motors with skewed rotors will very often
run hotter due to the increased losses, but the
torque or noise benefits are an acceptable
tradeoff for the manufacturer. However, it
should be noted that if a rotor that was not
originally skewed is re-stacked with a skew, the
motor may run hotter than expected.
With straight rotor bars, there is virtually no
induced voltage between rotor bars and lamina-
tions. But with a skew, there is some induced
voltage, and current can flow through the lami-
nations, increasing the heat. Some skewed bars
have an insulating coating that helps to minimize
stray currents.
In addition, the bar length is slightly more for a
skewed bar than a straight bar, so the resistance is
slightly higher in skewed rotors. This, in turn, will
increase I2R losses, increasing the heat and result-
ing in slightly less torque.