Use of the star of slots in designing fractional-slot

single-layer synchronous motors

N. Bianchi and M. Dai Pre!

Abstract: Nowadays fractional-slot windings are proposed for synchronous motors for different
purposes: reduction of end-winding losses, reduction of torque ripple, reduction of mutual coupling
among the phases, fault-tolerant applications, and so on. The design of the single-layer fractional-
slot synchronous motors is dealt with, in which each slot contains only one side coil. The star of
slots, introduced some time ago, proves itself to be again appropriate. After a brief review of the
classical theory of the star of slots, its application is extended to the design of these unconventional
windings. Thanks to its graphical representation, a simple analytical formulation is carried out
describing the harmonic contents of the winding distribution. Finally, the star of slots allows simple
rules for the design of fractional-slot single-layer windings to be determined. As a special case, it is
used to determine the synchronous motor winding solutions suitable for critical fault-tolerant
applications.

1 Introduction

Electrical machines with fractional-slot windings are

suitable to satisfy the requirements of many applications.
For instance they may be applied when very low speed is
required, so that the machine is designed with a high
number of poles [1]. They are used for reducing the
manufacturing costs [2] and the end-winding lengths [3].
They may be applied also when a low torque ripple is
required, in order to reduce the periodicity between the
number of slots Q and the pole pairs p [4]. Such solutions
are used in direct-drive applications, as for wind-power, a b

lifting or automotive applications [5] and also in linear
motors and actuators [6]. Finally, they may be considered
in critical applications, where imperative fault-tolerance
capability is required [7, 8].
Two examples of classical fractional-slot machines are
shown in Fig. 1, showing nine-slot eight-pole and 12-slot
eight-pole permanent magnet (PM) motors. Both of them
are characterised by non-overlapped coils, i.e. characterised
by coils wound around a single tooth with slot pitch (in
number of slots) yq ¼ 1, and a double-layer winding, that is
with two coil sides per slot, independently of the phase.
This paper investigates the advantages and drawbacks of
the single-layer fractional-slot windings, that is windings in
which each slot contains only one side coil. A special case
is represented by the windings with non-overlapped coils,
separated from each other by a tooth.
The transformation from a double-layer to a single-layer
winding is proposed, based on the classical theory of the
star of slots. After a brief review of this theory, the
transformation rules are individuated. The advantage is that
such rules are general and applicable to motors of any
r The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2006
IEE Proceedings online no. 20050284
doi:10.1049/ip-epa:20050284
Paper first received 23rd September and in final revised form 24th November 2005
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of
Padova, via Gradenigo 6/A, I-35131 Padova, Italy
E-mail: bianchi@die.unipd.it
Fig. 1 Examples of fractional-slot double-layer motors with
non-overlapped coils
a Q ¼ 9, 2p ¼ 8
b Q ¼ 12, 2p ¼ 8
power. The study has been extended to compute the
harmonic contents not only of the EMF waveform but
also of the airgap MMF distribution and the winding
distribution.
A further novelty of this paper is the determination of
the rules for the design of the windings without mutual
coupling among the phases, which is suitable for fault-
tolerant motors.
2 Brief description of star of slots
First, the star of slots was presented with the aim of
designing fractional-slot windings of large synchronous
generators with a high number of poles [9, 10]. It is useful
for determining the correct coil connections to maximise the
main harmonics of the EMF induced in the windings.
In addition, since the star of slots contains information of
the winding distribution, it can be adopted not only for the
analysis of the main harmonics of the EMF, but also for
analysis of the harmonic contents of the EMF waveform,
and harmonic contents of the airgap MMF distribution.

IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 153, No. 3, May 2006 459
2.1 Classical drawing of star of slots to slots of Fig. 2a characterised by an odd number of spokes,
determine main EMF harmonic amplitude each spoke composed of t ¼ 1 phasor. The second star of
The key rules in the design of a fractional-slot winding are slots of Fig. 2b is characterised by an odd number of
such that it obtains: spokes, each of them composed of t ¼ 4 phasors.

the maximum amplitude of the main harmonic of EMF
waveform 2.2 Winding feasibility
According to Q and p, the winding is feasible when there is

an equal EMF waveform in each phase, with
an equal number of spokes per phase, that is when the ratio

an angular displacement of 2p/m electrical radians among Q
the phases. is integer ð3Þ
mt
In the following, a three-phase motor is considered; As an example, the nine-slot stator of Fig. 1a can be used
however, the considerations that are presented are valid also for a six-pole rotor (of course with a redesigned
for any odd number of phases m. The star of slots is formed winding). Conversely the 12-slot stator of Fig. 1b cannot be
by Q phasors. They are numbered according to the number used for a six-pole rotor, since (3) is not satisfied: the design
of the corresponding slot. of a 12-slot stator with a six-pole rotor would yield
The machine periodicity is given by the greatest common unsymmetrical phase coils.
divisor (GCD) between Q and p, that is
t ¼ GCDfQ; p g ð1Þ 2.3 Rules for selection of phasors
Letting n be the harmonic order of the EMF waveform, in
The star of slots is the phasor representation of the main the analysis of the fractional-slot windings it is convenient
EMF harmonic induced in the coil side of each slot, to refer to a fundamental harmonic (with order n ¼ 1)
characterised by Q/t spokes, with each spoke containing t corresponding to a two-pole machine. In this way, all the
phasors. The angle between the phasors of two adjacent subharmonics are inherently taken into account and the
slots is the electrical angle aes ¼ pas , where as is the slot order of the main harmonic results in n ¼ p [10]. The
angle in mechanical radians, i.e. as ¼ 2p/Q. The angle phasors of the star of slots of the nth order are drawn
between two spokes results in consecutively with an angular displacement equal to the
2p ae electric slot angle 2pn/Q.
aph ¼ ¼ st ð2Þ The main harmonic star of slots characterised by n ¼ p is
ðQ=tÞ p
drawn with the aim of the winding design. The phasors that
Since electrical angles are considered, the star of slots refers belong to the first phase are determined by drawing two
to the equivalent two-pole machine. The number given to opposite sectors, each of them covering p/m radians. They
each phasor corresponds to the number given consecutively are shown in Figs. 2a and b according to the number of
to each stator slot. phases m ¼ 3. Hence, the phasors that are within the two
Two examples are shown in Figs. 2a and b corresponding sectors belong to the first phase. The coil sides within one
to the machines of Figs. 1a and b, respectively. The star of sector are connected with positive polarity, while the coil
sides within the other sector are connected with negative
6 polarity. For the other phases, it is enough to rotate the
4
two sectors by an angle 2kp/m radians, where
8 k ¼ 1, 2, y, (m  1) and to repeat the selection.

es
2

ph Once the phase of each phasor is determined, it is fixed
π
1 m
for the following analysis.
9 3 Winding factor
3
7 3.1 Computation of distribution factor
5
The distribution factor is the ratio between the geometrical
a
and the arithmetic sum of the phasors of the same phase.
11
The computation can be repeated for each harmonic order
n, which corresponds to an angular displacement 2pn/Q
8 between the phasors of two adjacent slots. It is worth noting
that the distribution factor depends only on the number of
5
es =
ph spokes per phase qph of the star of slots, given by qph ¼
2
Q/(mt), while it is independent of the machine periodicity t.
1 4 7 10 Based on the selection of the phasors of each phase
π described in Subsection 2.3, the distribution factor for the
m
3 main harmonic (i.e. with n ¼ p) can be expressed as
q a 
ph ph
6 sin
kd ¼ q 2a2  if qph is even
ph ph
9 sin
2 2
 a  ð4Þ
12 ph
sin qph
b
kd ¼ a4  if qph is odd
ph
Fig. 2 Star of slots of motors of Fig. 1 qph sin
a Q ¼ 9, 2p ¼ 8 motor: resulting in t ¼ 1, aes ¼ 4aph , number of spokes 4
equal to 9, with one phasor each As an example, referring to the star of slots of Fig. 2a, it is
b Q ¼ 12, 2p ¼ 8 motor: resulting in t ¼ 4, aes ¼ aph , number of spokes qph ¼ 3 and aph ¼ 2p/9, so that kd ¼ 0.959. For the star of
equal to 3, with four phasors each slots of Fig. 2b, it is qph ¼ 1 and aph ¼ 2p/3, so that kd ¼ 1.
460 IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 153, No. 3, May 2006
3.2 Computation of pitch factor
The pitch factor is independent of the star of slots and is
computed from the coil throw. The slot pitch yq, measured
in number of slots, is approximated by yq ¼ round{Q/(2p)}
with the lowest value equal to unity. The pitch factor of the
main harmonic is given by
sw
kp ¼ sin ð5Þ
2 properties of star of slots
where the coil span angle is given by sw ¼ (2ppyq)/Q. For a
harmonic of different order, the harmonic order n has to be
used in sw instead of p.
Finally the winding factor of the main harmonic results
kw ¼ kdkp.
4 Harmonic contents of double-layer winding
When Q/t is even, the star of slots is characterised by an
even number of spokes and each spoke has an opposite
spoke (i.e. a spoke p radians out of phase). This means that
the distribution of the winding coils is symmetrical between
the north and the south pole of the machine. Therefore,
there are no harmonics of even order in the winding
distribution and thus, in the MMF distribution, no EMF
harmonic of even order is induced in the winding (even if
harmonics of even order exist in the flux density distribution
produced by the rotor).
On the contrary, when Q/t is odd, the star of slots is
characterised by an odd number of spokes and there are
no opposite spokes. In this case, harmonics of both even
and odd order exist in the winding distribution. Similar
considerations can be made regarding the harmonics of the
airgap MMF distribution, remembering that the harmonics
of order multiple of m do not appear with a symmetrical
system of current.
Finally, in a machine with periodicity t, the harmonic
order has to be multiplied by t. The final result is
summarised in Table 1.
Table 1: Harmonic orders (HO) of a double-layer winding
Q/t even Q/t odd
HO (2n1)t nt
n ¼ integer number
In [10], the same result is obtained by means of a different
approach. The number of slots per pole per phase is
expressed by the fraction a/b and the harmonic content is
determined according to whether b is even or odd.
5 Properties of star of slots
One of the novelties of this paper is to highlight some
properties of the star of slots, referred to the main harmonic
(n ¼ p). These properties will be useful in later Sections, in
which some examples will be given.
5.1 Adjacent spoke for Q/t even
The first property of the star of slots highlights that, when
Q/t is even, the adjacent phasors of the star of slot are even
and odd alternately.
Let us consider the two adjacent phasors of Fig. 3a. The
jth phasor is adjacent to the ith phasor, so that it is obtained
in general by a rotation of an angle aph+2kp, where k is an
integer number depending on t and p.
IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 153, No. 3, May 2006
j
i j


ph
i i
j
a b c
Fig. 3 Adjacent, opposite and superimposed phasors to define
a Adjacent
b Opposite
c Superimposed
On the other hand, the jth phasor is obtained by a
rotation equal to ( ji)aes , considering that aes ¼ ðp=tÞaph is
the electrical angle between two adjacent slots. Thus, using
(2), we have
1 k2p 1 þ kQ=t
ðj  i Þ ¼ þ ¼ ð6Þ
ðp=tÞ ðp=tÞaph ðp=tÞ
Since Q/t is assumed to be even, the numerator of (6) is
odd. Therefore, if i is even, then j is odd, and vice versa.
5.2 Opposite phasor for Q/t even
Since Q/t is even, each phasor has an opposite phasor, as
shown in Fig. 3b. The second property of the star of slots
holds that, when Q/(2t) is odd, each even phasor is opposite
to an odd phasor, and vice versa. Conversely, when Q/(2t) is
even, the opposite phasors are either both even or both odd.
This property can be demonstrated starting from the
property described in Subsection 5.1. Since the opposite
phasor is placed after an odd number Q/(2t) of phasors, and
the adjacent phasors are even and odd alternatively, then
the opposite phasors are even and odd alternatively. In
other words, if i is even, then j is odd, and vice versa.
Similarly, when Q/(2t) is even, the opposite phasors are
either both even or both odd. The property of Subsection
5.1 can be used again. The jth phasor, opposite to the ith
phasor, results in being placed after an even number of
adjacent phasors. Therefore it is even if the ith phasor is
even, and vice versa.
5.3 Property of superimposed phasors
When the machine periodicity t is higher than one, there are
t phasors per spoke. This property of the star of slots deals
with the number given to the phasors on the same spoke.
Let us consider the jth phasor that is placed on top of the
ith phasor on the same spoke as shown in Fig. 3c. The jth
phasor follows after Q/t phasors, i.e.
Q
ðj  i Þ ¼ ð7Þ
t
Therefore, for the case of a number of spokes Q/t even, the
jth and ith phasors are either both even or both odd.
Furthermore, when t is even, they are all even or all odd.
Conversely, for the case of a number of spokes Q/t odd,
the jth phasor is even if the ith phasor is odd, and vice versa.
Furthermore, when t is even, there is an equal number of
even and odd phasors per spoke.
6 From double- to single-layer winding
The star of slots theory described in the literature has been
proposed for double-layer windings only [9, 10]. Hereafter,
this theory is generalised and the star of slots will be used
to transform the double-layer winding into a single-layer
winding.
461
 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 8.1 Even machine periodicity t
When the star of slots is characterised by an even number of
phasors per spoke, the transformation is always possible.
a However, the harmonic contents and the winding factor kw
vary according to whether Q/t is even or odd.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1. Q/t odd: If Q/t is odd, the number of spokes is an odd

b multiple of m. Therefore, the winding distribution includes
harmonics of even and odd order, multiplied by t.
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 According to the property of Subsection 5.3 and to an
even periodicity t, each spoke has an equal number of even
and odd phasors.
c

Fig. 4 Feasible and unfeasible reductions of double-layer to single-

After the transformation (consisting of removing all the
layer winding even phasors), the star of slots appears with the same
a Feasible reduction number of spokes, but each of them with a halved number
b With Q odd there are no symmetries among phases of phasors, i.e. t/2. Consequently the distribution factor kd
c With yq even some slots are emptied while other slots are completely (which depends on the number of spokes, but is
filled independent of the machine periodicity) remains the same.
On the contrary the harmonic content increases: there are
all the harmonic orders of the winding distribution,
multiplied by t/2 (no longer by t).
The basic idea of this transformation is described An example is shown in Fig. 5. Figure 5a shows the
referring to Fig. 4a. First, each coil is numbered according star of slots of a double-layer winding and of the
to the number of slot in which its lower side is placed (i.e. corresponding single-layer winding, Fig. 5b shows a sketch
the same number of the corresponding phasor of the star of of the two windings. The decrease of the periodicity is
slots). Then the coils of every other slot (i.e. the even coils) evident by observing the location of the coils of the same
are removed, while the odd coils are left in the slots. As a phase.
consequence, each slot is filled by only one coil side and
results in being partially emptied, so that the number of 14
turns of the remaining coils is doubled, filling completely 16
12
the slot. 5
5 7
7 3 3
As regards the star of slots, the transformation 18
corresponds to removing all the even phasors, while the 9 1 10 9
odd phasors remain unchanged. Some constraints have to 1
2 8 11
be satisfied to achieve a correct transformation, that are of 17
11
geometrical type and of electrical type, as described in the 4 6 17 13 15
next two Sections.
13 15
7 Geometrical constraints a

7.1 Even number of slots

The first geometrical constraint concerns the number of
slots Q. The transformation of a double-layer winding into
a single-layer winding is possible only when Q is even. The
reason is that half the coils have to be removed, and
the number of coils of a double-layer winding is equal to the
number of slots. If this condition is not satisfied, after
the transformation some slots are emptied while others are
not. Figure 4b refers to an odd number of slots Q. It shows
that all the slots are emptied out with the exception of the
first one. As a consequence the resulting number of coils per b
phase is not the same.
Fig. 5 Motor with Q ¼ 18, 2p ¼ 20: thus t ¼ 2 even, Q/t ¼ 9
7.2 Odd slot pitch odd
The second geometrical constraint regards the coil throw: a Star of slots double- and single-layer
b Winding coils double- and single-layer
the transformation is possible only when the slot pitch yq is
odd. The reason is that each coil must have a side in an even
slot and the other side in an odd slot. In this way, after 2. Q/t even: If Q/t is even, the number of spokes is an even
removing all the even coils, each slot contains exactly one multiple of m. The winding distribution includes only
coil side. If this condition is not satisfied, as in Fig. 4c, after harmonics of odd order, multiplied by t. The adjacent
removing all the even coils, the slots are not filled in the spokes are even and odd alternatively, as seen in Subsection
same way, therefore the transformation is not feasible. 5.1. In addition, thanks to the property of Subsection 5.3,
the phasors on the same spoke are either all even or all odd.
8 Electrical constraints Thus, after the transformation (i.e. after removing all the
even phasors), all the spokes containing the even phasors
Let us distinguish two cases, according to the number of disappear. Hence, the star of slots appears with a halved
periodicity t of the machine. number of spokes, that is, equal to Q/(2t).

462 IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 153, No. 3, May 2006
 Further considerations can be made depending on the
value of Q/(2t).
When Q/(2t) is even, the opposite phasors are either both
even and both odd (see property in Subsection 5.2). The
transformation reduces the number of spokes with different
angular phase, so that the distribution factor kd of the main
harmonic tends to increase, because of the change of the
ratio between the geometric and the arithmetic sum. As
regards the harmonic orders, the number of spokes of the
star of slots remains even. Thus the harmonic orders of the
single-layer winding remain the same of the double-layer
winding.
When Q/(2t) is odd, the opposite phasors are even and
odd alternatively (see property in Subsection 5.2). Thus the
reduction of the number of spokes does not yield any
variation of the distribution factor kd since the removed and
the remaining spokes have the same (or the opposite)
direction. As regards the harmonic orders, the number of
spokes of the star of slots becomes odd. Then, the number
of harmonics of the winding distribution increases: all the
harmonics of even order appear, again multiplied by the
periodicity t.
Two examples are shown in Figs. 6 and 7, referring to
two three-phase (m ¼ 3) 20-pole motors with Q ¼ 24 and
Q ¼ 12 slots, respectively.
In the first case, the periodicity t ¼ 2, both ratios Q/t ¼ 12
and Q/(2t) ¼ 6 are even. After the transformation to a
single-layer winding, the number of spokes and the number
of directions are halved, as shown in Fig. 6a. Thus the
distribution factor of the main harmonic increases. Before
and after the transformation the star of slots has an even
number of spokes, so that the harmonic orders remain the
same.
In the second case, both periodicity t ¼ 2 and Q/t ¼ 6 are
even, while Q/(2t) ¼ 3 is odd. Once again after the
transformation, the number of spokes is halved, but the
number of directions (including the opposite directions)
remains the same, as shown in Fig. 7a. Therefore, the
distribution factor of the main harmonic remains the
22
15
17
10 17
5 3 20
24
8 5
12
1 13
19 7 6 19
18
2 11
9 4
11
14
23
21
16
a the harmonic orders, two cases can be distinguished
b Similarly, Table 3 shows when the winding factor of the
Fig. 6 Motor with Q ¼ 24, 2p ¼ 20: thus t ¼ 2 even, Q/t ¼ 12 even,
and Q/(2t) ¼ 6 even
a Star of slots double- and single-layer
b Winding coils double- and single-layer
IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 153, No. 3, May 2006
12
11 11
6
5 5
1 1 7
7
10 4
2
3 3
8
9 9
a
b
Fig. 7 Motor with Q ¼ 12, 2p ¼ 20: thus t ¼ 2 even, Q/t ¼ 6 even,
and Q/(2t) ¼ 3 odd
a Star of slots double- and single-layer
b Winding coils double- and single-layer
same as that of the double-layer winding motor. The star
of slots has an even number of spokes with the
double-layer winding but an odd number of spokes with
a single-layer winding, so that the number of harmonics
increases.
8.2 Odd machine periodicity t
When the star of slots is characterised by an odd number of
phasors per spoke, the transformation is possible only when
the number of spokes Q/t is even, owing to the geometrical
constraint described in Subsection 7.1.
The adjacent phasors are alternatively even and odd
(see Subsection 5.1). Therefore, in the transformation the
15
spokes of the star of slots are removed alternately, and the
resulting star of slots shows a halved number of spokes, i.e.
3
Q/(2t). The distribution factor kd of the main harmonic
1 13
remains the same if Q/(2t) is odd, while it increases if Q/(2t)
7 is even.
9 The star of slots of the double-layer winding has an
even number of phasors, and the harmonics of the
21 23
winding distribution are only of odd order. As regards
according to whether Q/(2t) is even or odd. When
Q/(2t) is even, the harmonics of the winding distri-
bution remain of the same order as that of the double-
layer winding. When Q/(2t) is odd, the harmonics of even
order appear.
Two examples are shown in Figs. 8 and 9, characterised
by Q/(2t) odd and even, respectively.
Table 2 gives the harmonic orders of the single-layer
winding distribution (and thus in the airgap MMF
distribution and in the EMF waveform), depending on
the machine periodicity t and the ratio Q/t.
main harmonic of a single-layer winding is higher than that
of the double-layer winding. More precisely, the pitch factor
remains the same, and the increase is only due to the
distribution factor.
463
 12 17 17 Table 3: Main winding factor from double- to single-layer
7 4 7
2 9 9 winding
15 14 15
kw Q/t even Q/t odd
10 1 1
Q/(2t) even Q/(2t) odd
5 6 5
11 11
18 t even kw increases kw doesn’t vary kw doesn’t vary
13 16 13
8 3 3 t odd kw increases kw doesn’t vary F
a
n ¼ integer number

9 ‘Fault-tolerant’ motor

A ‘fault-tolerant’ motor has to be characterised, among

others, by [7]

an electrical separation among the phases (which implies
separate sources for each phase)

a physical separation among the phases (which implies a
single-layer winding with non-overlapped coils)
b

a magnetic separation among the phases (which implies a
Fig. 8 Motor with Q ¼ 18, 2p ¼ 14: thus t ¼ 1 odd, Q/t ¼ 18 even, null mutual inductance).
and Q/(2t) ¼ 9 odd
a Star of slots double- and single-layer To satisfy the first item, a single-phase bridge converter
b Winding coils double- and single-layer should be used for each phase [11]. To satisfy the second
item, the transformation from double- to single-layer
winding has to be feasible and the slot pitch yq has to be
unity. This condition yields the slot angle in electrical
radians to be
4
9 11 9 11
aes ’ p ð8Þ
2 6

To satisfy the third item, the resulting star of slots has to

7 1 7 1
exhibit an even number of spokes per phase, that is Q/t even
8 with a double-layer winding, and Q/(2t) even with a single-
12
layer winding. This corresponds to having couples of
3 5 3
5
10 opposite phasors. In other words, there are couples of
a rectangular MMF distributions in the airgap that result in
opposite sign after a displacement of p/t mechanical
radians. In this way, the positive contribution of each coil
to the MMF distribution is compensated for by the negative
contribution of a corresponding coil displaced of p/t
radians. Hence the resulting MMF distribution is null in
any point not embraced by the phase coils.
Among the various solutions, a particular case of double-
layer winding with yq ¼ 1 exists, that permits the reduction
of the magnetic loading of the stator yoke. It is obtained
when winding coils of the same phase are two by two
contiguous and wound with different polarity. Then the
b MMF contribution of one coil is directly compensated for
by that of the following coil, limiting the flux path.
Fig. 9 Motor with Q ¼ 12, 2p ¼ 10: thus t ¼ 1 odd, Q/t ¼ 12 even, Referring to the star of slots, this corresponds to the case
and Q/(2t) ¼ 6 even
a Star of slots double- and single-layer
when the successive phasor of a reference phasor (i.e.
b Winding coils double- and single-layer rotated by aes ) results in being be adjacent to its opposite
phasor. Thus, it is acs ¼ p  aph . Rearranging this equation
yields

2p ¼ Q  2t ð9Þ
Table 2: Harmonic orders (HO) of a single-layer winding
One solution is represented by the 24-slot 20-pole motor of
HO Q/t even Q/t odd Fig. 6. Such a configuration shows a machine periodicity
t ¼ 2 and separated coils with no mutual coupling among
Q/(2t) even Q/(2t) odd
the phases. Then the condition Q/(2t) even is satisfied
t even (2n1)t nt nt/2 together with (9).
t odd (2n1)t nt F
A further fault-tolerant solution is the 12-slot ten-pole
motor shown in Fig. 9. It is similar to the previous solution
n ¼ integer number but with a periodicity t ¼ 1.
464 IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 153, No. 3, May 2006
10 Experimental results

Some results obtained in the previous Sections have been

validated by experimental tests on a 12-slot ten-pole PM
motor. Both double-layer and single-layer windings, shown
in Fig. 9b, have been manufactured and tested. Both motor
configurations adopting these windings are characterised by
all the harmonics of odd order (see Tables 1 and 2 with Q/t
and Q/(2t) even). Therefore, subharmonics exist for both
the windings with the aim of verifying that the subharmonic
of order n ¼ 1 induces a back EMF in the winding, a two-
pole rotor has been inserted into the stator. From Fig. 10 it
is possible to observe that this EMF exists with both single- Fig. 12 Flux plot of 12-slot ten-pole PM motor when only one
and double-layer. In addition, it is worth noticing that in the phase coils are supplied
first case it is almost three times higher. a Double-layer
b Single-layer

1.0 double-layer single-layer

induced EMF, V

20 single-layer double-layer
0.5

induced voltage, V
0 10

− 0.5 0

− 1.0 − 10
0 10 20 30 40 50
time, ms − 20
0 20 40 60 80 100
Fig. 10 Measured back EMF of two-pole subharmonic (n ¼ 1) in time, ms
12-slot ten-pole motor
Fig. 13 Measured voltage induced in test coil wound around stator
yoke of the 12-slot ten-pole motor
As regards the main harmonic, differences were not
observed in the EMF induced in the stator winding, with are shown in Fig. 12 when only one phase is supplied. The
both double- and single-layer windings. This confirms that magnetic flux is linked only by the coils carrying current.
the winding factor kw remains the same after the Figure 12 also shows the different magnetic loading of
transformation from double- to single-layer (see Table 3). the stator yoke with the two configurations with double-
Since Q/(2t) is even, both motor configurations should layer and single-layer windings. The magnetic flux flows
exhibit no mutual coupling among the phases. To verify through only a portion of the stator yoke, when the double-
that the mutual inductance is zero, one-phase coils have layer winding is adopted. In fact, the condition (9) is
been supplied. The voltage induced in the nearby phase has satisfied, being 2p ¼ Q  2t ¼ 122. A test coil has been
been measured. These voltages are shown in Fig. 11, wound around the stator yoke, so as to measure voltage
highlighting a null mutual coupling adopting both double- induced by the flux flowing in the stator yoke. Figure 13
and single-layer windings. As a confirmation, the flux plots shows that only in the case of single-layer winding is there a
voltage induced in the coil.
fed phase nearby phase
4 11 Conclusions
phase voltage, V

2
The aim of this paper has been to extend the theory of the
0 star of slots to the analysis and the design of fractional-slot
single-layer windings. It is based on a graphical representa-
−2 tion and is useful to individuate rapidly the harmonic orders
−4 in the winding distribution, in the induced back EMF and
a in the airgap MMF distribution.
Some important properties of the star of slots have first
fed phase nearby phase
4 been highlighted, from which the key rules were carried out
to transform a double-layer winding into a single-layer
phase voltage, V

2 winding. Geometrical and electrical constraints have been

0
pointed out. It has been verified that the transformation is
feasible if Q is even and yq is odd.
−2 Finally, the design of the fractional-slot winding for fault-
tolerant motors is presented. It is demonstrated that this can
−4
0 20 40 60 80 100 fall as a particular case of the single-layer winding, with an
time, ms additional constraint given by yq ¼ 1 and Q/(2t) even.
b

Fig. 11 Measured mutual EMF induced in nearby phases of 12 Acknowledgment

12-slot ten-pole PM motor, when one phase is fed and the voltage of
nearby phase is measured This work was supported by the Italian National Ministry
a Double-layer of Education, University and Research (MIUR), Cofin
b Single-layer 2003, ‘Innovative electrical motor drive for power-steering’.

IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 153, No. 3, May 2006 465
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