Presented the methods to obtain the cogging force of permanent magnet linear synchronous motors(PMLSMs), analyzed the characteristics of the cogging force, and provided a basis for reducing the effect of the cogging force. 2-dimensional finite element method(2D FEM) was used to solve the whole motor when its mover was at dif- ferent position, so that the relation was derived between the cogging force and the mover position. The analysis results show that the cogging force between the two ends of the primary iron-core and the secondary permanent magnets (PMs) is sinusoidal function of the mover position under certain conditions only. Two proposed methods, namely direct and indirect methods, are applied to calculate the cogging force between the primary iron-core teeth and the secondary PMs. The agreement of the two methods is validated.
