With the air gap magnetic field distribution of surface mounted permanent magnet(PM)motors obtained using an analytical technique,the instantaneous electromagnetic torque and its corresponding components are investigated with the Maxwell stress tensor method.Accurate results can easily be achieved using the proposed method without using the tedious finite element analysm(FEA).In this paper,the electromagnetic torque of a surface mounted PM motor with two phases energized is decomposed into four torque components.This technique is useful not only for the design and optimization of the permanent magnet motor,but also for the choice of control strategy.