Robust Design Optimization for Reducing Cogging Torque of a BLDC Motor through an Enhanced Taguchi Method

In this paper, an efficient robust design utilizing an enhanced Taguchi method is proposed to reduce cogging torque of a BLDC motor in the presence of design uncertainty. To overcome defects of the conventional Taguchi method in dealing with a generalized robust design problem, a penalty function and an optimal level searching technique are newly introduced. In order to verify the proposed method, a 5 kW, rated speed of 2,300 rpm, rated torque of 20 Nm BLDC motor for driving electric vehicles is optimized. Then, the robust design is compared with conceptual and deterministic ones in terms of the cogging torque, rated torque and torque ripple.