2013 3rd International Conference on Electric Power and Energy Conversion Systems, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey,
October 2-4, 2013
CAD of Electrical Machines Using Coupled FEMM­
MATLAB Softwares
Tariq Benamimour Ammar Bentounsi
Laboratory of Electrical Engineering Laboratory of Electrical Engineering
of Constantine ,LGEC of Constantine ,LGEC
University of Constantine I,Algeria University of Constantine 1,Algeria
Email: tarekbenamimourelt@yahoo.fr Email:amar.trotek@gmail.com
Abstract- This paper presents a software platform performed in
the laboratory of EE, LGEC, at University Constantine 1, Algeria,
dedicated to the CAD of electrical machines and based on an
interactive coupling of finite element free software FEMM with
MATLAB tool. The first step carried out under MATLAB is to
predetermine analytically the geometrical parameters of a given
machine from its specifications and to draw the structure by using
FEMM software. The second step allows to solve by FEM the
equations of the studied system and to determine its
electromagnetic characteristics. This methodology was
implemented for a 6/4 VRM prototype which characteristics will be
used in look-up tables under MATLAB/Simulink for the dynamic
study of performance in a non-linear mode.
Keywords-CAD; electrical machine; FEMM; MATLAR; VRM.
I. INTRODUCTION
The problematic of designing an electromechanical system is
to find a structure corresponding to a given need and expressed
in a specification. A design process often requires several
software tools to study all phenomena characterizing the
operation of a given system. Reduction of costs and deadlines
being a priority for the industrial sector, many approaches were
developed in this direction. These include software platforms
implementing multiphysics models through the coupling of
dedicated software tools.
The work described in this paper focuses on developing a
tool for the design and analysis of electromechanical converters.
It is based on an original approach combining an analytical
approach to pre-design according to specifications, performed in
MATLAB software and coupled to a numerical finite element
approach using FEMM software (Finite Element Modeling
Method). Electromagnetic characteristics obtained by FEMM are
either directly plotted under MATLAB or used in look-up tables
for dynamic simulation of non-linear mode of a variable
reluctance machine (VRM) in MATLAB/Simulink. The
numerical results of the FEA were then validated against the
analytical solution using equivalent magnetic circuits to seven
equiflux tubes according to an approach proposed by Krishnan
and that we have implemented in a MATLAB program called
VRM.m. This CAD tool has been developed by a research team
of the Laboratory of Electrical Engineering, LGEC, Faculty of
Technology Science, University Constantinel, Algeria.
978-1-4799-0688-8/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE
Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSITE DE CARTHAGE. Downloaded on December 02,2020 at 11:10:35 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
and Hind Djeghloud
Laboratory of Electrical Engineering
of Constantine ,LGEC
University of Constantine 1,Algeria
Email:hinddjeghloud@yahoo.fr
The idea of linking between several softwares to extract
different characteristics is very interesting in order to reduce the
time of analyzing and to get more exact results, but most of them
are complicated and expensive sometimes because of the license
agreement of the FEA used software, such as [1-5]. The
originality of this paper shows how to link between MATLAB
and open source software called FEMM [6]. As never done
before in similar works using this software classically [7-9], here
FEMM is controlled remotely with MATLAB because of the
large using and good manipulating of this last software by the
students. For that, the first step was to find several geometric
parameters using a Matlab*.m file, taking in account the desired
specifications such as power, speed and the envelope size [10].
After that as a second part, a sub-program always under
MATLAB is calling automatically FEMM, which executes the
orders given by the Matlab*.m file (draw, assign materials,
excitations, boundaries, solve and analyze). When the analyze
finished, the same Matlab*.m file recovered all needed data to
plot any magnetic characteristic under MATLAB following the
flowchart depicted in Fig.I.The geometric parameters of the
studied 6/4 VRM are calculated with a sub-program under
MATLAB, based on the approach developed in [II]. These
parameters are used to model with FEM the considered
prototype in order to extract its magnetic characteristics (flux,
inductance...). From the obtained curves, the analytical study of
the same machine presents results very close to the numerical
one.The paper is organized as follows. Section II presents
fundamentals of the studied variable reluctance machine. Section
III explains the drawing process of the geometry. Section IV
describes the interactive control of FEMM software from
MATLAB. Section V discusses the obtained results.
II. BASIC THEORY OF VRM
For illustrative purposes, we use the basic three-phase
machine with Ns=6 stator poles and Nr=4 rotor poles, a 6/4
VRM is shown in Fig. 2. The concentrated coils around each
stator pole form the phase windings, while there are no windings
or magnets on the rotor. The principle of operating is based on
the change of reluctance (and hence the inductance seen by the
stator winding) due to a geometrical salience (or magnetic
anisotropy in the case of sheeted rotor or axially laminated rotor)
during the displacement of the rotor.
2013 3rd International Conference on Electric Power and Energy Conversion Systems, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey, October 2-4, 2013

In the unaligned positlon corresponding to the maximum

Start of the approximate design
� ---------- --------- -,
/ ,
I \
/ ,
Design specifications of the studied machine
r (Power,speed . . . )
reluctance (or to the minimum inductance) if we apply a current
in the stator winding, the torque will be produced by the
tendency of the rotor to be aligned with the stator poles of the
given phase according to the well known principle of "minimum
reluctance or maximum flux", as shown in Fig. 3. If the
energizing is stopped, the rotor will continue its movement until
\
it reaches the next unaligned position. We repeat the operation
by supplying the next phase of stator and so on. A continuous
torque can be generated by the contribution of all phases. For
�

(�) dL(�, 0
each phase, the electromagnetic torque equation is given by
�
..J
E­ (I)
�
. _

Specific electric and magnetic loadings ::; T - 2 ·' d�

..... While the average torque can be expressed as
"0=
� (2)
where q is the number of phases, Nr is the number of rotor poles,
Wa is the magnetic energy in the aligned position and Wu is the
magnetic energy in the unaligned position.
\
\ III. GEOMETRY DRAW PROCESS

The draw process is the most important step of our work

seen that it contains all geometric parameters of the prototype. In
this step we must identify the unit of measurement, the
minimum meshing angle, the current frequency ... etc. To get
"". ------- ------- -,
best results, the geometry should be drawn with a perfect
{ \
/

1
Calling FEMM and drawing the geometry 1 accuracy under FEMM, so all points are depending on each
1 I::; other and on other geometric parameters with many
1 I::; mathematical expressions. The draw is based on projecting all
1 I""
1
Assigning materials,boundaries and excitations I ... points on a (x,y) plan and for that, we needed two new angles
1 1� (angXr) and (angXs) expressed (in degrees) respectively by (3)
1 1"0 and (4) according to Fig. 4.
1 1.5 R(Sin!!.!:)
1 1 angXr=(9 0-2(as in( r + :h )))
/
(3)
\ Y R
'-
(R+e)sin(�) (4)
angXs=(60-2(asin(
To MA TLAB/Simulink look­
up table bloc (for dynamic
Ro-Ys 2 )))
Plot results where:
simulation)

Rsh Shaft radius

R Rotor bore radius
Figure I. Steps of linking between MATLAB and FEMM. Ro Outer radius
A Yr Rotor yoke thickness
Ys Stator yoke thickness
e Air gap
Bs Stator tooth angle
Br Rotor tooth angle

The final design of the machine under FEMM is shown in

Fig. 5 and the geometric parameters are recorded in Table I.
Because of the structural complexity of VRMs and highly
saturated nature of the flux density, it is very difficult to
accurately model the different characteristics analytically. Thus,
A'
a 2-D non-linear finite element model in FEMM must be used
Figure 2. Diagram of the studied 6/4 VRM. with a B(H) curve of the magnetic material illustrated in Fig. 6.

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSITE DE CARTHAGE. Downloaded on December 02,2020 at 11:10:35 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
2013 3rd International Conference on Electric Power and Energy Conversion Systems, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey, October 2-4, 2013

Such as in [12], the main steps of design for any selected

geometry of VRM are the same. For that, the given results in
Table 1 are obtained from the basic *.m file program under
MATLAB software as shown in Fig.7.

TABLE!. PARAMETERS OF THE STUDIED 6/4 VRM

Parameter Symbol Value

Number of turns N 359 Figure 6. B(H) curve of the used ferromagnetic material.
Rotor yoke thickness Yr 14.7 mm
Stator yoke thickness Ys 14.8mm
Air-gap length e 0.25 mm IV. REMOTE CONTROL OF FEMM FROM MATLAB
Outer radius Ro 114.2 mm
Rotor bore radius R 57.1 mm FEMM offers a scripting property which enables to control
Shaft Radius Rsh 20 mm the software remotely by using its inner script "LUA" or by
using a MATLAB.m file. Both" LUA" scripts and the *.m file

I I
Stator
contain a list of its inner functions nouns used for calling and
commanding FEMM. The m file includes commands used to
Cu�nt(i)
perform the drawing, assigning materials and excitation, running
the simulation, updating rotor position, data values
recovering ... etc.
The sample algorithm given below can create a 2D model
of a simple magnetic circuit, after the algorithm is written and
compiled under MATLAB, FEMM starts automatically.
openfemm;%calling FEMM
create(O);%select a magnetic problem
Figure 3. Creation of the electromagnetic torque. L=IO;%Depth of the problem
mi�robdef(0,'millimeters','planar',le8,L,30,0);%(problem
definition,units..)
main_maximize;%open in a window
mi_addboundprop(,boundry',O,O,O,O,O,O,O,O,O);%creat a new
boundary'Dirichlet'
mi_addnode(-100,-100);
mi_addnode(200,-100);
mi_addnode(200,200);
mi_addnode(-l00,200);
mi_addsegment(-l00,-100,200,100);
mi_addsegment(200,-100,200,200);
Figure 4. Angles (angXr) and (angXs). mi_addsegment(200,200,-100,200);
mi_addsegment(-100,200,-100,-100);
z=mi_selectsegment(O,-IOO);
mi_setsegmentprop('boundary',1,1,1,1);
z=mi_selectsegment(200,0);
mi_setsegmentprop('boundary',1,1,1,1);
z=mi_selectsegment(0,200);
mi_setsegmentpropCboundary',1,1,1,1);
z=mi_selectsegment(-100,0);
mi_setsegmentpropCboundary',1,1,1,1)
%exterior core
mi_addnode(O,O);
mi_addnode(100,0);
mi_addnode(O,100);
mi_addnode(l00,100);
mi_addnode(l00,49.5);
mi_addnode(100,50.5);
mi_addsegment(O,O,100,0);
Figure 5. The plotted 6/4 VRM under FEMM.
mi_addsegment(O,O,O,100);

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSITE DE CARTHAGE. Downloaded on December 02,2020 at 11:10:35 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
2013 3rd International Conference on Electric Power and Energy Conversion Systems, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey, October 2-4, 2013

mi_addsegment(100,0,100,49.5);
mi_addsegment(100,100,0,100);
mi_addsegment(100,50.5,100,100);
%interior core
mi_addnode(10, I 0);
mi_ addnode(90, I 0);
mi_addnode(90,49.S);
mi_addnode(90,SO.S);
mi_addnode(90,90);
mi_addnode(l0,90);
mi_addsegment(10,10,90,10);
mi_addsegment(90,10,90,49.5);
mi_addsegment(90,SO.S,90,90);
mi_addsegment(90,90, I 0,90);
mi_addsegment(10,90, I 0, I 0);
mi_addsegment(90,49.S, I 00,49.5);
mi_ addsegment(90,SO.S,100,50.5)
%coils
mi_drawrectang1e(10,20,20,80);
mi_drawrectang1e(-10,20,0,80);
i=10; %excitation
mi_addcircprop('current',i, I);
%materials
mi_getmateriaICCopper');
Fil, Edit Text
mi_getmaterialCAir');
mi_getmaterialCUS Steel Type 2-S 0.018 inch thickness');
mi_addb1ock1abe1(15,50);
mi_se1ect1abe1( 15,50);
mi_setblockprop('Copper', I ,30,'current',0, I ,24/2);
mi_clearselected;
mi_addblocklabel(-S,SO);
mi_selectlabel(S,SO);
mi_setblockpropCCopper',1,30,'current',0,1,-24/2);
mi_c1earse1ected:
mi_addb1ock1abe1(50,50);
mi_se1ect1abe1(SO,SO);
mi_setblockprop('Air', I,30,0,0, I ,0);
mi_clearselected;
mi_addblocklabel(SO,S);
mi_selectlabel(SO,S);
mi_setblockpropCUS Steel Type 2-S 0.018 inch thickness',1,30,0,0,1,0);
mi_c1earse1ected:
%view and analyze
mi_zoomnatura10;
mi_saveas('c:\\femm42\\sample.fern');
mi_analyze(O);%analze
miJoadsolutionO;%get results
%end
F,I. �drt V..- P,,,bl,.,,, fid � ...tion PfOpmin �n An.ty..r. Window H�p
Go C.II Tooh D.b�9 O"ktop Window Help

mi_ ..dd"�llfl"I"nt (10,10,90, WI ;mi_ ..dd"�llfll"nt (90,10,90, �g.5) ;",i_..dd"�,""",nt 190.50.5,90,90) ;101_ add""'lJIl1"nt (90,90, la, 9

mi_add""!JT!I"nt (lO,90,10, WI ;mi_add""!JT!I"nt IgO.�9.5.100. qg.S) ;mi_add""!lf!I"nt 190,50.5,100,50.5)

lcoil!!

31 - 1-10;mi_addc:1repr<>p (' curr"nr;'. i,11 ;

n
mi_ll"u....t"rial (' C"�p",,, ) ;mi_II"t""","'!"i<l11' .\.1,,' I ;mi_'""t=t""i ..11'US St",,1 Typo: 2-5 0.018 inch thicJo::n""", );

Figure 7. Screenshots of FEMM window after the compilation of the above algorithm.

geometry, assigns different materials, defines several

V. VRM
The main program of the VRM is more complicated and
contains almost six subprograms, each one of them calculates
many specialized variables, as an example, the first subprogram
initializes several geometric coefficients and parameters. The
last subprogram is the most important one, it contains almost
320 lines of command and it calls all of the other subprograms,
for that different VRM configurations can be optimized using its
plan of calculating not only the 6/4 VRM topology.
The rotation step of any iteration had selected 5° as shown in
Fig. 8. So when FEMM starts automatically, draws the
boundaries, meshes (Fig. 9) and analyzes the problem for the
SIMULATIONS UNDER FEMM current rotor position, the torque value and other desired
variables are saved in a separated matrix in MATLAB. The next
stage is refreshing the rotor position with the above selected step
(5°). The material labels must be separated in any loop, or must
be fixed with its bloc. The value of the current can be modified
in any loop of simulation and the using of all library materials is
possible too; it aims to realize a material optimization as easily
as possible.
When the FEA simulation is over, FEMM is closed
automatically and the simulation results are plotted under
MATLAB. The obtained results of torque, inductance and flux

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSITE DE CARTHAGE. Downloaded on December 02,2020 at 11:10:35 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
2013 3rd International Conference on Electric Power and Energy Conversion Systems, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey, October 2-4, 2013

flux vs position
vs. stator excitation at different rotor positions are shown in Fig.
10, Fig. 11 and Fig. 12, respectively.
To validate the results, we have represented the analytical
flux-current characteristics corresponding to the two extreme
rotor positions (aligned and unaligned) performed under
MATLAB subprogram depicted in Fig 13 on the same graph of
FEMM numerical results, as shown in Fig. 14. We note a small
difference between the curves of the two approaches. For
example, we needed the two look-up tables (for torque and flux)
pOSition ['I
to simulate one phase of a VRM under MA TLAB/Simulink as 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

shown in Fig.lS.
Figure 12. Inductance vs. rotor position for different stator excitations.

indt.Olance vs position
O, � r-��
"1 -6A
r\ '-------"
'\ /
'1

: ------- \ / �
"" 1/ ---
,- �" \ /// ---
0---'"

��\ ////
0 �\ Ih
� r

position ['I
0 w " ro 00 00

Figure 9. Screenshot for FEMM analysis in the 2nd rotor position (+5°)
Figure 13. Flux vs. rotor position for different stator excitations.

Initial value of stator mmf (FO�ni) or pole flux density (BsO)

For path 1 calculate

• The flux density in the different machine parts (Bk)
• Corresponding fields (Hk) and penneability (jJk) from B-H
GOO,oode<1•• to<1.poy Mean lengths of fields circulation (lk)
Reluctance (Rl � LRk)
•

Figure 10. Meshing under FEMM in the 3th rotor position (+10°) •

• Total mmf: FI�RI*¢o

torque vs poslhon
0

yes
-lOA

V
��
5 8A
....--- -6A Bs�Bs±LjBs

/!,r-
0
� 4A

.Jf �
5

O � From the [mal Bsk compute the inductance of flux path 1

f
�i:'--- -------- Ijj
5

""'---- 'I
0
Likewise compute inductance contributed by the other paths
5 -.../ and sum them: Lu � L Lk

0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
posmon ['[

Figure II. Torque vs. rotor position for different stator excitations.
Figure 14. Flowchart of sub-program for the analytic calculation.

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSITE DE CARTHAGE. Downloaded on December 02,2020 at 11:10:35 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
2013 3rd International Conference on Electric Power and Energy Conversion Systems, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey, October 2-4, 2013

flux inkages vs excitabon

REFERENCES
4
[1] B. Bilgin and M. Krishnamurthy, "An FEAlMATLAB Based Machine
2 Design Tool for Switched Reluctance Motors", in Proc. IEEE Vehicle
Power and Propulsion Conference, 6-9 Sept. 2011,pp. 1-6.
[2] Z. Tang, P. Pillay, Y. Chen and A.M. Omekanda, "Prediction of
1

8
- Electromagnetic Forces and Vibrations in VRMs Operating at Steady State
r=--
6
/I and Transient Speeds",IEEE Trans. On Industry Applications Conference,
Vo1.41, No.4, 2005,pp. 927-934.
[3] M. Leroy, "Etude et mise au point de motoventilateurs a hautes
4
V;I Cc nvert d en rgy ( Wa-V u)
performances pour I'aeronautique",(study and control of motoventilators in
2 /; -- high performances for the aerospace), doctorate thesis, UMR CNRS

J'- -I-:::: N°5828,2006.

5 10
rurentlAI
Analytical results
Numerical results
Figure 15. Comparison between half-numerical and numerical results.
Figure 16. Insertion of the look-up tables blocs in MATLAB/Simulink.
[4] A. Matveev, PJ. Van Dutisen , "Novel Caspoc-Based Software For
Multilevel Simulation Of Switched Reluctance Drives",in Proc. of PCIM,
Nuremberg,Germany,May 20-22,2003.
[5] Z. Cheng, D. Liang, "Simulation of Switched Reluctance Starter/Generator
System Based on Simplorer", in Proc. of the 81h Int. Con! on Electrical
Machines and Systems (ICEMS), 2005,VoLI,pp.564-567.
[6] D. Meeker, "FEMM42.exe software". http://www.femm.info.
[7] M.B Rego, L.c. Gomes and ai, "Survey of Inductance Curves in Switched
Reluctance Machine Using Finite Elements",International Conference on
Renewable Energies and Power Quality (ICREPQ' 12), Spain,March 2012.
[8] D. Uygun, C. Akuner, M. Yumutraci, "A New Construction of Switched
Reluctance Motor Improving Magnetic Field and Torque Production", in
Proceding of the 6th WSEAS, Istanbul,Turkey, 2006.
[9] M. Kowol, P. Mynarek, D. Mrochen, "The Electromagnetic Field
Calculation of the Switched Reluctance Motor", 1"'1 Int. Students
Conference on Electrodynamic and Mechatronic (SCE]] '09), 19-21 May
2001, pp.13-14.
[10] R. Krishnan, R. Arumugam and IF. Lindsay, "Design Procedure for
Switched - Reluctance Motor", IEEE Transactions on Industry
Applications, Vol.24, No. 3,pp. 456-461,May-June 1988.
[II] R. Krishnan, "Switched Reluctance Motor Drives: Modeling,
Simulation, Analysis, Design, and Applications " , Industrial Electronics
Series 2001,CRC Press.
[12] M.N. Anwar, 1. Husain and V. Radun, "A Comprehensive Design
Methodology for Switched Reluctance Machine", IEEE Transactions on
Industry Application, Vol. 37,No. 6,pp. 1684-1692, Nov.lDec. 2001.

III. CONCLUSIONS AND PROSPECTS

The study developed in this paper focused around linking two

softwares for fmding best simulation results. A hybrid
methodology was made from the design to the FEA, ending with
a non-linear simulation of the studied prototype. The proposed
work allows to economize time of initializing design process of
any structure of electrical machines under FEMM environment,
to command FEMM remotely with MATLAB, to design and
extract electromagnetic characteristics perfectly by using simple
tools. In the future works, we will try to realize an optimization
study and add other subprograms which may make it easy to
estimate losses, efficiency ... etc.

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSITE DE CARTHAGE. Downloaded on December 02,2020 at 11:10:35 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.