RESEARCH on FRAMELESS MOTOR TECHNOLOGY

for JOINT MODULE

Jigui Zheng1, Yaxing Guo1, Chong Xiao1, Xibin Guo1, Yuping Huang1*
1
Beijing Institute of Precise Mechatronics and Controls, Beijing, China
*huangyp@2008.sina.com

Keywords: JOINT MODULE, FRAMELESS MOTOR, POLE-SLOT COMBINATION, OPTIMIZATION

ANALYSIS

Abstract K-series frameless servo motors from American Parker

realize the suppression of the cogging torque by adopting
Based on the establishment of two-dimensional and three-
methods of H insulation, skewed stator slot and odd number
dimensional models, this paper focuses on the optimization
slot. Also, the product is capable of reducing torque ripple
analysis from aspects of pole-slot combination, skewed stator
greatly and obtaining precise rotation motion even at low
slot, stator with auxiliary slot and different structures of
speeds. Alliedmotion company develops a kind of frameless
rotator (including surface embedded structure, unequal air
torque motor with continuous torque from 0.007N•m to
gap pole optimization and PM shifting). And on the basis of
8.41N•m and outer diameter from 19.3mm to 239.2 mm,
the above optimization analysis, the scheme selection is
which makes use of skewed stator slot and rotor permanent
carried out. Finally, three different prototypes are developed
magnet with positioning slot. S-series frameless torque
and the optimal solution of 39 slots and 12 poles (Multi-layer
motors of Aerotech company employ multipolar and slotless
windings) is obtained.
structure without cogging effect to weaken torque
fluctuations greatly and eliminate rotation disturbance,
1 Introduction mainly used in the occasion such as printing and scanning
that is sensitive to velocity fluctuations.
With the development of intelligent manufacturing
technology, robotics is applied to different fields widely in In this paper, a frameless motor for joint module is studied in
recent years. Various types of robots appear in different terms of innovative design of structure and electromagnetism.
application scenarios, showing development tendency of At the same time, the performance of the motor is improved
miniaturization, flexibility, intelligentization and by optimizing the size matching of the stator and the rotor,
modularization. Meanwhile, the research on joint module the pole-slot combination, the magnetic structure and the
technology is developed and applied. As shown in Figure 1, winding way.
joint module is an integrated design which integrates reducer,
motor, sensor and controller. As a new torque motor, a
2 Structure and Design Requirements
frameless motor is generally used in joint module design and
characteristic of compact size, light weight, low inertia and As shown in Figure 2, the frameless motor is mainly
high power density[1-2]. Furthermore, frameless motors have composed of a stator and a rotor. The main technical
a wide application prospect in all kinds of fields, including indicators of the developed products are indicated in Table 1.
robotic joint module, medical robot, universal joint sensor,
propulsion of uav, guiding system and other fields. In the
application of joint module, efficiency and miniaturization of
frameless motor are highly demanded in design.

Figure 2 The frameless motor of joint module

Table 1 Example table

Parameter names Major indicators of design

Output Power(W) 300
Voltage(V) 48
Rated speed(r/min) 4000
Rated torque(N m) 0.70
Rated current(A) 9.06
Figure 1 Joint module of robot Volume(mm) Φ76*15
Weight(g) 704

1
3 Optimized Design of Frameless Motor
Based on the research of two-dimensional and three-
dimensional models simulation, the optimal analysis of the
frameless motor is developed, containing different pole-slot
combination, skewed stator slot, stator with auxiliary slot and
different structures of rotator (including surface embedded
structure, unequal air gap pole optimization and PM shifting).
According to the results of analysis, the corresponding
scheme is selected.
different phase separation modes of winding. As shown in
Figure 4, there are two types of single layer and double layers.
And the frameless motor with 12 poles and 39 slots owns
different no-load counter emf in two methods, as shown in
Figure 5. As can be seen from values in Table 3, higher valid
values and less torque pulsation are obtained by employing
the phase separation mode of single winding.

3.1 Simulated Analysis of Three-dimensional and Two-

dimensional Models
Figure 3 shows the computational model of two dimensions
and three dimensions models of the frameless motor. As
shown in Table 2, two-dimensional model and three-
dimensional model are used to calculate the values of inverse
voltage or torque respectively and the results of both are very
close. Thus, it is feasible to adopt two-dimensional model for Figure 4 Two phase separation modes of winding of 12-poles
simulated analysis. and 39-slots motor

a
a

b
b
Figure 5 Waves of no-load inverse voltage of 12-poles and
Figure 3 Computational model of two dimensions and three 39-slots motor in two modes
dimensions (a) No-load inverse voltage of the phase separation mode of
(a) Three-dimensional model of 14 poles and 39 slots single winding
(b) Two-dimensional model of 14 poles and 39 slots (b) No-load inverse voltage of the phase separation mode of
double winding
Table 2 Comparison of two-dimensional and three-
dimensional models Table 3 Torque pulsation of two phase separation modes of
winding of 12-poles and 39-slots motor
Parameter names Values of Values of
three two Parameter names Single Double
dimensions dimensions layer layers
Effective values of linearly Valid values of linear inverse
31.0 31.6 31.3 29.8
inverse voltage(V) voltage(V)
(4.65A)Output torque(N m) 0.742 0.747 0.762 0.729
Average torque(N m)
Torque pulsation(%) 2.60 4.18
3.2 Optimization of Different Pole-Slot Combination
The pole-slot combination with 12 poles and 39 slots is In practical research, the effect of pole-slot combination on
applied more in frameless motor, which is equipped with frameless motor is great. Based on the analysis of the motor

2
with 12 poles and 39 slots, the related performance of motors
with the other three pole-slot combinations are analyzed,
including 10 poles and 12 slots, 14 poles and 15 slots, also 14
poles and 39 slots. Three motors with different pole-slot
combination are modeled in Figure 6, and the waves of no-
load inverse voltage in different pole-slot combinations can
be seen from Figure 7. According to analyzing the results of
Table 4, we can see that the motor with 14 poles and 39 slots
shows smaller torque ripple while maintaining the average
a
torque. Thus, the significant performance advantages of
frameless motor can be obtained by adopting 14 poles and 39
slots.

Figure 7 Waves of no-load inverse voltage in different pole-

slot combinations
b
(a) 10 poles and 12 slots
(b) 14 poles and 15 slots
(c) 14 poles and 39 slots

3.3 Skewed Stator Slot

As shown in Table 5, the way of adopting skewed stator slot
can reduce the influence of cogging effect on torque pulsation
effectively, but causes the large drop of fundamental counter
emf and the average torque. By comparing three methods, the
c torque pulsation realizes significant reduction by using chute
technology. However, it is worth noting that the counter emf
Figure 6 Motor models of different pole-slot combinations and the average torque should be improved by taking
(a) 10 poles and 12 slots appropriate measures[3].
(b) 14 poles and 15 slots
(c) 14 poles and 39 slots Table 5 The influence of the chute technology on the counter
emf and the average torque
Table 4 Comparison of electromagnetic performance of
motors with different pole-slot combinations Parameter names No A chute A chute
chute of half of a pitch
Parameter names 10 poles 14 poles 14 poles pitch
and 12 and 15 and 39 Valid values of linear
slots slots slots 31.3 29.9 28.2
inverse voltage(V)
Valid values of linear
31.7 31.6 31.8 Average torque(N m) 0.762 0.699 0.681
inverse voltage(V)
Torque pulsation(%) 2.60 1.85 1.18
Average torque(N m) 0.763 0.756 0.761
Torque pulsation(%) 2.86 2.37 1.09 3.4 Stator with a Auxiliary Slot
As shown in Figure 8, the torque pulsation of the frameless
motor can be reduced by arranging a auxiliary slot shaping as

3
small semicircular with the radius of 0.5mm in the position of
addendum of the stator.As can be seen from the calculated
results in Table 6, the torque pulsation is decreased by 0.25%
after designing a auxiliary slot, and the average torque of the
motor drop 2% approximately. Thus, it is feasible that we
reduce the torque pulsation by designing the stator with a
auxiliary slot when the torque of the motor has a sufficient
margin[4].
b

Figure 8 The structure diagram of the stator with a auxiliary

c
slot

Table 6 The effect of a auxiliary slot on no-load counter emf Figure 9 The models of the rotor with structure of embedded
and torque surface
(a) 1 mm of interposition
(b) 1.5 mm of interposition
Parameter names Auxiliary slot No auxiliary
(c) 2 mm of interposition
with 0.5mm slot
Valid values of linear
29.9 31.3 Table 7 Comparision of different inserting depth of surface
inverse voltage(V))
Average torque(N m) 0.751 0.762 Parameter names 1 mm 1.5 2 mm No
Torque pulsation(%) 2.35 2.60 mm interposition
Valid values of linear
3.5 Comparative Analysis of Different Structures of Pole of inverse voltage(V) 31.2 31.0 30.5 31.3
Rotor
Average torque(N m) 0.761 0.757 0.753 0.762
Torque pulsation(%) 2.67 2.47 2.03 2.60
3.5.1 Structure of embedded surface: The structure of
embedded surface can not only achieve precise positioning in
3.5.2 Optimization of pole with unequal air gap: By
the circular direction, but also increase inductances of
optimizing the shape of the permanent magnet pole of the
quadrature axis to realize a certain saliency effect.
motor, the sine distribution of the magnetic field in no-load
Furthermore, output of torque per unit current is improved in
air gap is realized by using the non-uniform air gap, so as to
adopting the method of MTPA[5]. As can be seen from Table
suppress the torque pulsation[6]. As can be seen from Table 8,
7, the saliency effect has a little influence on the average
the pulsation of torque can reduce 50% by adopting unequal
torque. On the contrary, the leakage flux increases because of
air gap with no-load counter emf and the average torque
the soft magnetic material, which leads to the reduction of
reducing 10% approximately. It follows that the effective
no-load counter emf and the average torque. Thus, it is not
restrain of the pulsation of torque is realized in use of
suggested to adopt the structure of embedded surface. The
structure with unequal air gap, but additional measures are
models of the rotor with structure of embedded surface are
needed to improve the average torque. The model of the rotor
shown in Figure 9.
with structure of unequal air gap are shown in Figure 10.

a
Figure 10 The model of the rotor with structure of unequal air
gap

4
Table8 The pulsation of torque of the pole with eccentricity
of 10 mm

Parameter names 10 mm No eccentricity

Valid values of linear inverse
27.3 31.3
voltage(V)
Average torque(N m) 0.711 0.762
Torque pulsation(%) 1.34 2.60
b
3.5.3 Shift of magnetic pole: A model after the shift of the
pole is obtained by rotating half of the permanent magnet in
the motor by 0.419°on the basis of the original position , as
shown in Figure 11. As can be seen from Table 9, the shift of
magnetic pole has a bad effect on the pulsation of torque of
the motor, so this way is not adopted generally[7-8].

Figure 12 Simulational models of three different schemes

(a) 39 slots and 12 poles (Double windings)
(b) 39 slots and 14 poles (Double windings)
(c) 39 slots and 12 poles (Multi-layer windings)

Figure 11 Schematic diagram of the motor with the pole by a 4 Experiment and Analysis
half shift
Figure 13 shows the effect diagram of stator core by adopting
Table 9 The effect of shift of the pole on performance of the the process of electrostatic spraying and bonding. The
motor magnetic steel of the rotor is bonded with the magnetic ring
of the rotor by special mould that ensures even clearance
Parameter names 0.419e No shift between adjacent magnetic steels and correct position per
magnetic steel. Contrast effect drawing of process with
Valid values of linear
30.1 31.3 magnetic steel fixing can be seen in Figure 14.
inverse voltage(V)
Average torque(N m) 0.759 0.762
Torque pulsation(%) 3.95 2.60

Finally, according to the results of comparison and analysis,

simulational models of three schemes are obtained
respectively, as shown in Figure 12.

Figure 13 Physical effect diagram of adopting electrostatic

spraying and bonding process

Figure 14 Contrast effect drawing of process with magnetic

steel fixing

5
 Number of slot 39 39 39
Efficiency(%) 83.1 87.0 94.0

Figure 15 Physical picture of frameless motor
5 Conclusion
This paper analyses the optimization of frameless motor from
different aspects, including pole-slot combination, skewed
stator slot, stator with auxiliary slot and different structures of
rotator and the practical schemes are selected based on the
analytical results. The optimal scheme, the motor with 39
slots and 12 poles (Multi-layer windings), is received by
making performance testing of three kinds of prototype. The
research findings of this paper provides a schematic guidance
and a methodological guidance for the research in technical
schemes of related frameless motor.

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