Research ArticleOptimization of brushless direct current motor design using an intelligent technique

- In this paper, design of a surface mounted slotless permanent magnet brushless DC motor has been optimized using improved bees algorithm (IBA).
- An objective function has been proposed considering losses, material cost and volume of the motor, simultaneously.
- The IBA has better performance and speed of convergence compared with bees algorithm (BA).

This paper presents a method for the optimal design of a slotless permanent magnet brushless DC (BLDC) motor with surface mounted magnets using an improved bee algorithm (IBA). The characteristics of the motor are expressed as functions of motor geometries. The objective function is a combination of losses, volume and cost to be minimized simultaneously. This method is based on the capability of swarm-based algorithms in finding the optimal solution. One sample case is used to illustrate the performance of the design approach and optimization technique. The IBA has a better performance and speed of convergence compared with bee algorithm (BA). Simulation results show that the proposed method has a very high/efficient performance.