2020 IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE)

Electromagnetic Noise and Vibration in PMSM

and Their Sources: An Overview
Niccolò Remus, Student Member, IEEE, Mohammad Sedigh Toulabi, Senior Member, IEEE, Shruthi
Mukundan, Member, IEEE, Himavarsha Dhulipati, Member, IEEE, Wenlong Li, Member, IEEE, Colin
Novak, and Narayan C. Kar, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—Due to the recent electrification trend in automotive

industry, electric traction motors, specially permanent magnets
synchronous motors (PMSMs), have gained significant attention
from the scientific community. One of the critical aspects of
powertrain is noise and vibration generation. In this paper, an
overview on the different sources of noise and vibration in PMSMs
is presented, with specific attention and details about the
mechanisms of noise generation related to the electromagnetic
parameters of the machine, along with the most commonly used
methods of analysis for noise and vibration. Noise is split into
different categories depending on the nature of its source, and
several phenomena affecting electromagnetic-generated
vibrations are listed and analyzed, as this type of vibration is
recognized to be the most critical type in PMSMs used in vehicle
applications.

Index Terms—Electromagnetic noise, PMSM, Vibration

Fig. 1. Traditional permanent magnet machines [3], [4]. (a) Radial-flux PMSM.
I. INTRODUCTION (b) Axial-flux PMSM. (c) SPMSM. (d) IPMSM.

E lectrification has been a significant trend in the automotive
industry for the last couple of decades, as a result of the
search for alternatives to the conventional internal combustion
engine (ICE) vehicles to reduce pollution generated by
conventional passenger vehicles [1]–[4].
In order to satisfy this need, several categories of vehicles
were proposed, most of which rely, at least partially, on an
electric motor as a traction source [5]. So far, two main types of
electric machines have been employed in the passenger car
industry:
 Induction motors (IMs)
 Permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs)
Although it has drawbacks such as cost and complexity [2],
the PMSM architecture is often preferred because of its high
efficiency and power density [4]. Moreover, PMSMs can be
designed with different configurations, classified by flux
direction and magnet positioning [3] as follows:
 Radial-flux PMSM
o Internal rotor PMSM
 Surface-mounted PMSM (SPMSM)
 Interior permanent magnets synchronous
machine (IPMSM)
o External rotor PMSM
 Axial-flux PMSM
Figure 1 shows some examples of electric motors,
highlighting the differences in their architecture.
As mentioned in [6], [7], the IPMSM architecture is the most
commonly employed one for electric traction motors in
electrified vehicles due to its advantageous performance in
efficiency and power density with respect to the other
architectures, and it is therefore the subject of this paper.
Even before electrification was a major trend in the
automotive industry, guaranteeing comfort to the passengers
has been one of the most important concerns for designers and
engineers, and this has not changed in the meantime; one of the
crucial aspects for powertrains that is related to this issue is
therefore their noise and vibration production, as it can heavily
influence riding comfort. Specifically, electric motors are able
to produce noise in a high-frequency range to which human ears
are extremely susceptible [8], [9], leading to an extreme
discomfort to the passengers subject to it.
It is important to note that noise and vibration in PMSMs can
be addressed as one issue as they share common sources, since
noise is generated by surfaces excited by vibrations [10].
Reducing noise and vibration production is one of the major
challenges that come with electrification, as the noise spectrum
of electric motors lies in a different frequency range from that
of conventional ICEs, one to which human perception is much
more susceptible [11]; the identification of noise sources is
therefore crucial to the study of how to reduce it.
In this paper, different sources of vibrations in PMSMs are
introduced, a novel and comprehensive list is drawn out with
specific attention to those effect which influence
electromagnetic noise and how they are related to the
electromagnetic properties of the machine.
II. VIBRATION SOURCES IN PMSMS
As seen in [3], [10], [12], and shown in Fig. 2., it is possible

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 2020 IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE)

Noise and the aim of this paper, and its novelty, is to give the reader a clear
vibration
and comprehensive overview on different mechanisms that
contribute to vibration and noise generation. By reviewing
Electromagnetic
Mechanical noise Aerodynamic noise
noise
several sources, the following classification is highlighted:

I. Maxwell forces: these are the electromagnetic forces which

Magnetostriction Laplace forces Cogging torque
Iron magnetic
Slotting
saturation
Maxwell
forces
Harmonics in Rotor and stator
voltage supply eccentricity
Radial forces Current
Tangential harmonics
forces
Fig. 2. Relationship between exciting forces and noise and vibration in electrical
motors.
to group the several sources of noise and vibrations in PMSM
into three main categories based on the nature of their origin.
A. Mechanical noise
This type of noise is generated by the mechanical
components of the electric machine, such as fasteners and
bearings; in [12], the author lists as a source of mechanical noise
the eccentricity between rotor and stator, which can be caused
by errors during the design, production or assembly stages, and
the noise that can be produced by electrical units in the circuit.
However, mechanical noise is usually characterized by a low
frequency range, which is not as distressful to human ears as
higher frequencies, and its source identification methods are
well known [3].
B. Aerodynamic noise
Some electric machines are equipped with a dedicated
cooling system composed by one or more fans, and ventilation
ducts, which can generate noise: any object or obstacle
encountered by the air stream along its path can produce noise
[13]. However, most PMSMs in cars do not use this type of
system as they are air or water-cooled [3].
C. Electromagnetic noise
This is the most prominent and complex type of noise in most
electric machines, and it is therefore what this paper is focused
on. Electromagnetic noise refers to the vibrations produced by
the electromagnetic forces within the motor, of which the radial
force on the stator teeth surface is the main component [14].
However, there are several mechanisms of noise generation that
derive from the presence or the variation of electromagnetic
forces.
act on rotor and stator teeth; they are always normal to the
surface of the metal and they are considered to be the major
source of electromagnetic noise, so much so that they are
often the only ones taken into account by scholars in their
research [6], [9]. Maxwell forces are produced both in the
radial and tangential directions [15]: the tangential
component is responsible for producing the acting torque
corresponding to the electromagnetic torque, but it also
leads to the bending vibration of rotor teeth and torque
pulsation and ripple. However, the radial component of
Maxwell stress is the source of most of the noise generated
in PMSMs, as it acts on the inner surface bore of the stator
and its teeth, causing housing deformation [6], [8], [14].
Fig. 3 shows the distribution of the electromagnetic force
with different spatial order (m) at a certain time [3].
Maxwell forces can be affected by:
a) Effect of slotting: the way in which the
magnetomotive force is distributed around the air gap
results in strong harmonics, which are superimposed
to the fundamental magnetomotive force wave. This
happens because winding slots break the uniformity of
the ideally cylindrical air gap, changing its reluctance
in a periodic manner [12], [16].
b) Iron magnetic saturation distorts the distribution of
magnetic flux, resulting in more harmonics in the total
electromagnetic force [12].
c) Harmonics in the motor voltage supply are induced by
the PWM of the voltage signal, used to obtain the
desired frequency and amplitude. These harmonics are
therefore reflected in the electromagnetic force around
the air gap [12].
d) Another influence on electromagnetic forces, which is
not often taken into account, is the rotor and stator
eccentricity, because even a very small deviation of
the air gap from the ideal shape of a cylindrical sleeve
with uniform thickness will cause significant
variations in the air gap permeance, which will then
result in harmonics [12], [16], [17]. This effect is
sometimes also referred to as Unbalanced Magnetic
Pull (UMP) [18]. Regarding this phenomenon, a few
sources of deviation from the ideal shape in the rotor
and stator can be identified, other than defects in

III. ELECTROMAGNETIC NOISE CLASSIFICATION

Due to the variety and complexity of electromagnetic noise
sources, it is a challenging task to obtain a universal
classification, especially because most authors adapt theirs to
fit the scope of their research, often omitting several types of
sources because they are not relevant to their project. Therefore, Fig. 3. Distribtuion of radial electromagnetic forces [3].

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 2020 IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE)
production or assembly: specifically, the stator will be
dragged into an oval shape after prolonged use, as a
result of radial vibrations at second order harmonic
frequency and slot harmonic effect of the magnetic
pull; the rotor will instead be subject to thermal
deformation and pole-shoe deformation caused by
centrifugal forces [17]. However, this phenomenon
has not been thoroughly analyzed, and a lack of
studies on core deformation, specifically evaluating
the effects of thermal stress and deformation, is
present in the literature. This could therefore suggest
a possible direction for future studies.
e) Current harmonics is another phenomenon affecting
electromagnetic vibration [16]. In [19], Lin et al.
analyze the influence of current harmonics on the
NVH performances of a PMSM, highlighting that “the
current harmonics due to PWM induce extra vibration
and noise frequencies and increase sharpness of noise
due to their high frequency.”
II. Magnetostrictive forces: the stator core is made of
electrical steel, which becomes subject to magnetostrictive
forces when immersed in a strong and rapidly changing
external magnetic field; this can lead to vibration of the
core itself, and of the whole machine consequently [9],
[10], [20], [21].
III. Laplace forces: these forces act on the stator coils, which
they can cause to vibrate, therefore generating problems in
their insulation which may lead to short circuits in cause of
failure [9], [10].
IV. Cogging torque (CT) can be described as a parasitic torque
caused by the magnetic attraction forces exerted between
the stator teeth and the permanent magnets (PM) in the
rotor [22], [23]. Even though it is one source of losses,
many researchers overestimate the importance of the
contribution given by CT to the total noise spectrum when
they classify it as one of its main sources, because it has
been demonstrated that low CT does not imply low noise
and vibration generation [15]. Moreover, in [24] the
authors prove that CT is not only generated by the
electromagnetic properties of the motor, but a significant
contribution to its harmonics can also be given by
imperfect assembly or poor manufacturing tolerances.
IV. VIBRATION AND NOISE ANALYSIS METHODS
Because of their complexity, and the difficulty in isolating
each phenomenon that contributes to vibration and noise
generation, there is no universal methodology for analysis.
However, most scholars employ one of the three following
approaches:
 Numerical solution: by employing a Finite Element
Analysis (FEA) software, it is possible to quite accurately
describe all the excitations produced by electromagnetic
forces within the motor [3]; among the papers surveyed for
this dissertations, those in which this type of analysis is
employed are:
o In [7], [8], numerical computation is used to obtain
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resonance modes of the motor stator; in addition, it is
also used in [8] to find the radial magnetic force
distribution, predict noise generation through the
Boundary Element Method, and to study the effect of
rotor skewing on vibrational behavior.
o In [15], FEM is used to analyze motor vibrations,
displacements of deformations, and resonance modes
considering the mechanism of a skewed stator; results
are then validated experimentally.
o In [22]–[24], FEM is used to evaluate CT; in [23] the
analysis is aimed at evaluating the impact of motor
architecture, with specific attention to the positioning
of PMs, on CT, while the authors of [24] use it to study
the effect of manufacturing and assembly
imperfections.
 Analytical solution: when numerical computation is too
time consuming or it requires unavailable resources,
another option is the analytical method; by using a pre-
existing theoretical model it is possible to predict the
results of both modal and frequency spectrum analyses
with some level of accuracy, although inferior to the one
reached with numerical solutions [3]. This method is
employed in:
o [10], where the authors use the Wavelet Transform as
a mean to study the excitation frequency range of the
voltage source signal used for PWM control.
o In [25], an analytical model is developed to compute
the magnetic fields generated by the PMs, the back-
EMF, the torque ripple, the radial force, and CT; the
model is then validated by comparing the results with
those obtained via FE method.
 A third option is to combine the two previous method:
semi-analytical solutions allow researchers to reach a
compromise between accuracy and computation time by
partially exploiting both methods in the same analysis [3];
this approach is used in the following works:
o In [9], FEM is used to establish a multiphysics 3D
structural model of the motor, evaluate natural
frequencies and modal shapes, and obtain the
excitation due to electromagnetic phenomena. Then,
modal superposition is used to compute the radiated
electromagnetic vibration acceleration on motor
surface, and transfer paths analysis techniques are used
to predict electromagnetic noise inside EVs.
o In [12], FEM is used to carry out a modal analysis, and
a force frequency response analysis, while the Fast
Fourier Transform (FFT) method is used to
characterize the EM force as a function of frequency,
in order to then employ the modal superposition
method to predict the vibrational behavior.
o Similarly, in [26] the modal analysis is done via FEM,
while the characterization of EM forces is obtained
analytically but also compared with FEM results.
o In [14], the radial and tangential force density waves
are analyzed analytically, while FEM is used to
compute the force distribution on the stator surface
nodes; the effect of sinusoidal rotor field poles and
 2020 IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE)
notching of rotor surface is also evaluated, and it is
found that both alterations can be beneficial in
reducing the harmonics off the air-gap flux density.
o In [27], a multiphysics model is built combining
analytical derivation and FEA to study the effect of
mechanical rotor eccentricity on noise and vibration.
o In [28], both an analytical method and FEM are used
to study the radial electromagnetic force wave form.
o In [29], FEM software is used to find motor parameters
which are substituted into the analytical model to
multiply with the air gap magnetomotive force to get
the air gap magnetic density. Using the Maxwell tensor
method, the radial electromagnetic forces of the motor
can be then acquired. Moreover, a comparison between
FEM, analytical, and semi-analytical method is
presented.
V. CONCLUSIONS
Because of the increasing use of electric motors in
automotive industry, and the attention to their noise and
vibration performance, the identification and analysis of the
sources of these vibrations is important. In this paper a novel
and organized classification of electromagnetic sources of
vibration is presented, together with the most common methods
of analysis. Electromagnetic vibrations are split into four main
categories and the mechanisms that influence Maxwell forces
are listed and analyzed.
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