Electric Motor Efficiency Map Calculator (Eff-MAP) for

Brushless DC motors
Motor Design Ltd
July 2011
Introduction
The Efficiency Map calculator (Eff-MAP) is a Motor-FLOW Model written by Motor Design
Ltd (MDL) to plot electric motor efficiency map contours on the torque/speed characteristic
an example of which is shown below:

Figure 1: A Completed Efficiency Map

Eff-MAP requires Motor-FLOW (available as a free download from Motor Design Ltd) and
SPEED PC-BDC to be installed on your computer.
Eff-MAP uses SPEED PC-BDC to calculate the motor performance data, such as torque,
losses etc, which are required to plot the efficiency and associated contour maps. The EffMAP Flow Diagram defines the incremental loops used to vary machine speed, drive current
and phase advance angle (gamma) and call SPEED PC-BDC to calculate the torque and
loss data required to plot the efficiency map. In addition, the option to build and use a
Lookup table for Iron Loss (XFe) calibration factors is also built-in.
When executed, the Flow Diagram utilises an internal ActiveX script that calls SPEED PCBDC as a black-box calculation engine. This creates data that is placed in Motor-FLOWs
Excel type worksheets. This data is then used to plot advanced graphs such as the
torque/speed line graphs, and contour graphs mapping efficiency and losses as displayed in
Eff-MAP.
The Control Panel provided with Eff-MAP allows the user to set the speed, current and
phase advance ranges, select the PC-BDC data file for which the performance will be
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calculated, and define if a full analytical solution or a mix of analytical and FEA will be used
to calculate the performance. The Efficiency Map can be calculated for single or multiple
values of Phase Advance. Eff-MAP applies interpolation on the performance data calculated
by SPEED PC-BDC to set a regular torque-speed grid that is then used to plot the Efficiency
Map. If multiple Phase Advance values are used, the value that gives the maximum
efficiency at each torque/speed grid point is selected. The selected Phase Advance value
can be overlaid over the torque/speed/efficiency graph as shown below:

Figure 2: Phase Advance displayed over the Efficiency Map

In addition to Efficiency which is the primary Contour Map produced for the machine, other
Contour Maps produced from additional design parameters gathered at each point are
available. These other parameters are:

Input_Power (Pelec)
Iph_RMS (IWrms)
Current_density (Jrms)
Total_Loss (WTotal)
Iron_Loss (Wfe)
Copper_loss (WCu)
Win+Friction_Loss (WWF)
Magnet_Loss (WMagnet)

A Contour Map for each of these parameters using the same axes and envelope as the
Primary Efficiency Map is available.
Refer to the documentation supplied with SPEED PC-BDC for information on these
parameters.

Preparing a suitable SPEED PC-BDC Design

A suitable PC-BDC file is included in the Examples folder of the Motor-FLOW installation
folder (e.g. C:\Motor-FLOW). To create your own test file, follow these steps. In this case we
will use the default SurfRad motor in PC-BDC v9:

Figure 3: SPEED PC-BDC's Outline Editor

Save this file in a convenient location (see Figure 4).

Figure 4: Saving the .bd4 Design File

Change the Drive type to Sine (Figure 5) and use default materials in this case (Figure 6).
Save the .bd4 file gain and close PC-BDC:

Figure 5: SPEED PC-BDC's Template Editor

Figure 6: SPEED PC-BDC's Material database selection

Loading and Preparing the Eff-MAP Flow Diagram

Loading the Eff-MAP Flow Diagram from Motor-FLOW brings up the following screen:

Figure 7: Motor-FLOW's display after loading Eff-MAP

The display size of the Flow Diagram may be adjusted by using the Zoom slider located at
the top its display area. During execution, the Flow Diagram is animated to allow its progress
to be monitored.
The following section describes the Control Panel settings in Eff-MAP.

Select the SPEED PC-BDC Design

Figure 8: Selecting bd4 Design File and Spreadsheet data destination

In the Eff-MAP Control Panel, select a .bd4 file (e.g. our prepared model) to be used, see
Figure 8.

Set the desired Ranges

Figure 9: Setting the required ranges

Set sensible values for the Motor Speed (1), Phase Advance (2) and Drive Current (3)
ranges for the machine under investigation.
The more Motor Speed, Phase Advance (if it is to be variable) and Drive Current steps then
the greater the resolution of the Efficiency Map, but the slower the calculation. It is possible
to calculate the Efficiency Map at a single Phase Advance value. In this case set set the
lower and upper limits for it to be the same value, but set the step value to be other than
zero.
NOTE: SPEED PC-BDC cannot calculate the performance at zero speed or zero current.

Additional Options

Figure 10: Selection of additional options

(1) Create XFe Lookup Table? + Rotor steps

A special feature is incorporated into Motor-FLOW which allows the construction of a Lookup
table containing Iron Loss calibration factors derived from SPEED PC-FEA. A set of FEA
solutions at a limited range of current and speed values are made and interpolation is made
to obtain Xfe values at the much finer current/speed grid used to calculate the efficiency
map. This enables improved accuracy of iron loss calculation and fast calculation speeds. If
this option is selected, the Xfe table is built and values derived from it are used to calibrate
the PC-BDC model before performing each simulation. This option requires SPEED PC-FEA
and PC-BDC version 9.0.2.x or later to work correctly. Older versions of PC-BDC will not
create the Lookup table and will use the default Xfe factor of 1.
The Rotor step setting defines the number of steps PC-FEA uses in calculating the loss
calibration at each point. A higher number gives improved accuracy but takes longer to
calculate and visa versa.
(2) Use FEA for saturation?
Selecting this option gives improved accuracy of the saturation solver by making use of the
SPEED PC-FEA embedded electromagnetic solver.
The Analytical solver has the advantage of being faster to calculate. The FEA solver does
however give a more accure solution, especially when interior permanent magnet topologies
are used and phase advance is utalised to give a component of reluctance torque. The
embedded solver automatiaclly calibrates Ld and Lq at every value of speed, current and
gamma that are calculated.
This option is independent of the above Create XFe Lookup Table option.
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(3) Reject Negative Torque?

By selecting this option, the values for Torque and Efficiency will be set to zero if SPEED
PC-BDC enters Generating Mode as a result of the Motor Speed and Drive Current ranges
selected. Leave this option unchecked if you wish the Efficiency Map to display performance
as a generator.

Running Eff-MAP

Figure 11: Flow Diagram Control Buttons

Now press the Start button (or press F5) to run Eff-MAP. If selected, the XFe Lookup Table
is created. SPEED PC-BDC is then called multiple times and calculates the data required to
build an Efficiency Map. You will see the Flow Diagram in the program start to show where it
is in the process using a red boundary:

Figure 12: Eff-MAP Flow Diagram running

Additional information regarding script activity and the stage being executed by the script is
displayed in the bar running along the lower edge of Motor-FLOWs main interface
window.SPEED PC-BDC will also start and show screen similar to that shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13: Torque/Speed Dialog Box

Eff-MAPs Flow Diagram can be paused using the Pause button (F9) or stopped using the
Stop button (F8), refer to Figure 11.

Figure 14: Motor-FLOW display selection tabs

Different viewing options are available for selection while the Flow Diagram is running. By
clicking the appropriate tab at the bottom left of the screen (Figure 14), you can monitor the
Flow Diagram, the Data as it is generated (Figure 15) or the Graphs as they are plotted from
the incoming data (Figure 16).

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Figure 15: Motor-FLOW's Spreadsheet being populated with Data from SPEED PC-BDC

Figure 16: Torque/Speed graph being formed by Motor-FLOW's Graphing feature

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Adjusting the Contour Maps

Figure 17: Efficiency Map display immediately after completion

Figure 17 shows the completed Torque-Speed Contour Sheet. The required Contour Map
may be displayed by selecting it (1), and its contours may be modified by clicking Edit Levels
(2), and using the Contour Level editor to insert or delete Contours, refer to Figure 18.

Figure 18: Efficiency Map Contour Levels being adjusted

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Figure 19 shows the Contour Map Control Panel.

The purpose of the controls is detailed below:(1) Filled With this selected the contours are drawn
as solid shapes; otherwise they are drawn as hollow
outlines.
(2) Marks Places a contour level marker at intervals
on each contour.
(3) Lines A black line is drawn on the contours.
(4) Tab value distribution, Visible Places a scatter
plot of the Spreadsheet tab values (in this case Phase
Advance Angle).
(5) Size adjustment of the scatter plot points.
Figure 19: Contour Map Control Panel

(6) Indicates the cursor position given by the graph

axes when the mouse is over the contour graph.

The phase advance (gamma) values that give the maximum efficiency at each grid point on
the map can be overlaid on the graph by checking the appropriate [Tab Value Distribution]
[Visible] checkbox. There is a slider control to vary the size of the point symbols plotted on
the graph:

Figure 20: Phase Advance scatter plot placed over the Efficiency Map

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Licensed Eff-MAP Features

Contour Maps produced with licensed versions of Eff-MAP are not watermarked. They can
be saved as bitmaps for inclusion in reports by right mouse clicking on the graph in Eff-MAP.
This brings up the Graph Editor dialog shown below:

Figure 21: Graph export options

Select the menu shown above to save the bitmap. Other graph editing facilities are also
available.
The worksheet data created can be saved and loaded into Motor-FLOW later using the [File]
[Save Spreadsheet] pull down menu, refer to Figure 20.

Figure 22: Save Spreadsheet Menu Options

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