Effects of Manufacturing Processes on Core Losses of Electrical Machines

Manufacturing processes such as cutting, welding and shrink fitting are known to degrade the magnetic properties of the electrical sheet during the manufacturing of electrical machines. These effects are often neglected at the design stage and lead to large errors in the simulated and measured core losses of the electrical machine. This article studies the comparative impact of different manufacturing processes on the stator core losses of a typical industrial motor. Both simulations and measurements indicate a significant impact of manufacturing processes on the stator core losses. A dummy blocked rotor test setup is used to measure the stator core losses. As a result of different manufacturing processes, the stator core losses increased by 23% in the studied machine at the rated condition. The effect on the stator core losses was higher at lower flux levels. Finally, it was shown that the inclusion of the effect of manufacturing processes significantly improved the simulation accuracy of the core losses. A quantification and segregation of the effect of cutting, welding and shrink fitting is also presented for the studied machine.