Multi-Objective Optimization of Electrical Machine Magnetic Core Using a Vanadium–Cobalt–Iron Alloy

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The pursue for electrical machines with higher power densities and efficiencies is a constant research topic among the research and industrial communities. This article focuses on the optimization of an electrical machine's magnetic core using a vanadium-cobalt-iron (VaCoFe) alloy to increase its power density and electrical efficiency. This alloy presents, as its main differentiable characteristics, a higher magnetic saturation point, about 2.4 T, but also higher iron core losses than typical silicon-iron (FeSi) materials. In order to study the impact of using this material in electrical machines magnetic cores, this article focuses on the optimization of magnetic cores with two different materials: VaCoFe alloy and a typical FeSi material. The optimizations are done using a genetic algorithm and using the electromagnetic and thermal lumped parameter models to maximize power density, while reducing magnetic core volumes. Results show that the VaCoFe allows the increase of the power density of the magnetic core in about 25% for low frequencies; however, due to its higher iron core losses, for higher frequencies, the advantages of using this new alloy are not clear. Due to temperature limits, for higher frequencies, it is not possible to work on the VaCoFe best magnetic saturation point. Therefore, results show that for low values electrical frequency ranges, this material can outperform the typical FeSi, while for higher ones, the VaCoFe can be outperformed by the FeSi.