Abstract
This paper presents a method for evaluating, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the effects of specific rotor design parameters on the performance of a synchronous reluctance machine. The method uses multi-factor experimental design, with Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to determine the optimal rotor design parameter according to a specific objective. Using this method, two factors - rotor flux barrier pitch angle and barrier width - are selected at simultaneously varied levels for assessment with the aim of analyzing the response variables, which are, the average torque and torque ripple. Results from the investigation show that the influence of the rotor flux barrier pitch angle on the torque ripple is more statistically significant than the influence of the barrier width. However, the effect of the barrier width on the average torque is more significant.