Novel permanent magnet motor drives for electric vehicles

Novel permanent magnet (PM) motor drives have been successfully developed to fulfil the special requirements for electric vehicles such as high power density, high efficiency, high starting torque, and high cruising speed. These PM motors are all brushless and consist of various types, namely rectangular-fed, sinusoidal-fed, surface-magnet, buried-magnet, and hybrid. The advent of novel motor configurations lies on the unique electro-magnetic topology, including the concept of multipole magnetic circuit and full slot-pitch coil span arrangements, leading to a reduction in both magnetic yoke and copper, decoupling of each phase flux path, and hence an increase in both power density and efficiency. Moreover, with the use of fractional number of slots per pole per phase, the cogging torque can be eliminated. On the other hand, by employing the claw-type rotor structure and fixing an additional field winding as the inner stator, these PM hybrid motors can further provide excellent controllability and improve efficiency map. In the PM motors, by purposely making use of the transformer EMF to prevent the current regulator from saturation, a novel control approach is developed to allow for attaining high-speed constant-power operation which is particularly essential for electric vehicles during cruising. Their design philosophy, control strategy, theoretical analysis, computer simulation, experimental tests and application to electric vehicles are described. © 1996 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Modular switched reluctance machines to be used in automotive applications

In the last decades industry, including also that of electrical machines and drives, was pushed near to its limits by the high market demands and fierce competition. As a response to the demanding challenges, improvements were made both in the design and manufacturing of electrical machines and drives. One of the introduced advanced technological solutions was the modular construction. This approach enables on a hand easier and higher productivity manufacturing, and on the other hand fast repairing in exploitation. Switched reluctance machines (SRMs) are very well fitted for modular construction, since the magnetic insulation of the phases is a basic design requirement. The paper is a survey of the main achievements in the field of modular electrical machines, (especially SRMs), setting the focus on the machines designed to be used in automotive applications

IPMSM torque control strategies based on LUTs and VCT feedback for robust control under machine parameter variations

In recent years, Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines (IPMSMs) have attracted a considerable attention in the scientific community and industry for Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) propulsion systems. Lookup Table (LUT) based Field Oriented Control (FOC) strategies are widely used for IPMSM torque control. However, LUTs strongly depend on machine parameters. Deviations of these parameters due to machine ageing, temperature or manufacturing inaccuracies can lead to control instabilities in the field weakening region. In this paper, two novel hybrid IPMSM control strategies combining the usage of LUTs and Voltage Constraint Tracking (VCT) feedbacks are proposed in order to overcome the aforementioned controllability issues. Simulation results that demonstrate the validity of the proposed approaches are presented.Postprint (author's final draft

Experimental characterization of a supercapacitor-based electrical torque-boost system for downsized ICE vehicles

The need to improve fuel economy and reduce the emission of CO2 and other harmful pollution from internal-combustion-engine vehicles has led to engine downsizing. However, downsized turbocharged engines exhibit a relatively low torque capability at low engine speeds. To overcome this problem, an electrical torque boost may be employed while accelerating and changing gear and to facilitate energy recovery during regenerative braking. This paper describes the operational requirements of a supercapacitor-based torque-boost system, outlines the design and sizing of the electrical drive-train components, and presents experimental characterization of a demonstrator system

The use of cement leftovers from the hollow of spun piles as an additive in self-compacting concrete

Spun piles have been used widely by developing countries, including Malaysia, to construct the foundation of most construction projects. A spun pile is a reinforced precast and prestressed concrete that is compacted in a mould through spinning compaction. The spinning compaction produces cement leftovers in the hollow part of spun piles that can be added to concrete mixtures as an additive. The cement leftovers of spun piles were used as an additive in cement in range of 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% (equal percentages). The resulting compressive strength after curing periods of 7 days and 28 days were presented to investigate the properties of self-compacting concrete containing cement leftovers from the spun piles. Other properties investigated include the physical properties of fresh concrete and water absorption. The results indicated that higher compressive strength and lower water absorption were achieved by the concrete samples containing cement leftovers compared to controlled concrete

A Novel PMSM Hybrid Sensorless Control Strategy for EV Applications Based on PLL and HFI

In this paper, a novel hybrid sensorless control strategy for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine (PMSM) drives applied to Electric Vehicles (EV) is presented. This sensorless strategy covers the EV full speed range and also has speed reversal capability. It combines a High Frequency Injection (HFI) technique for low and zero speeds, and a Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) for the medium and high speed regions. A solution to achieve smooth transitions between the PLL and the HFI strategies is also proposed, allowing to correctly detect the rotor position polarity when HFI takes part. Wide speed and torque four-quadrant simulation results are provided, which validate the proposed sensorless strategy for being further implemented in EV.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Optimal design of a three-phase AFPM for in-wheel electrical traction

Sinusoidally fed permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) fulfill the special features required for traction motors to be applied in electric vehicles (EV). Among them, axial flux permanent magnet (AFPM) synchronous motors are especially suited for in-wheel applications. Electric motors used in such applications must meet two main requirements, i.e. high power density and fault tolerance. This paper deals with the optimal design of an AFPM for in-wheel applications used to drive an electrical scooter. The single-objective optimization process carried out in this paper is based on designing the AFPM to obtain an optimized power density while ensuring appropriate fault tolerance requirements. For this purpose a set of analytical equations are applied to obtain the geometrical, electric and mechanical parameters of the optimized AFPM and several design restrictions are applied to ensure fault tolerance capability. The optimization process is based on a genetic algorithm and two more constrained nonlinear optimization algorithms in which the objective function is the power density. Comparisons with available data found in the technical bibliography show the appropriateness of the approach developed in this work.Postprint (published version

Saliency Ratio and Power Factor of IPM Motors Optimally Designed for High Efficiency and Low Cost Objectives

This paper uses formal mathematical optimization techniques based on parametric finite-element-based computationally efficient models and differential evolution algorithms. For constant-power applications, in the novel approach described, three concurrent objective functions are minimized: material cost, losses, in order to ensure high efficiency, and the difference between the rated and the characteristic current, aiming to achieve very high constant-power flux-weakening range. Only the first two objectives are considered for constant-torque applications. Two types of interior permanent magnet rotors in a single- and double-layer V-shaped configuration are considered, respectively. The stator has the typical two slots per pole and phase distributed winding configuration. The results for the constant-torque design show that, in line with expectations, high efficiency and high power factor machines are more costly, and that the low-cost machines have poorer efficiency and power factor and most importantly, and despite a common misconception, the saliency ratio may also be lower in this case. For constant-power designs, the saliency ratio can be beneficial. Nevertheless, despite a common misconception, when cost is considered alongside performance as an objective, a higher saliency ratio does not necessarily improve the power factors of motors suitable for ideal infinite flux weakening

Cost functions for degradation control of electric motors in electric vehicles

This paper introduces a novel set of electric motor degradation cost functions based on energy usage, energy loss and work output, against their continuous operation rated values recommended by the manufacturer. Unlike conventional electric motor degradation indicators such as the bearing life and insulation life based service factors, these cost functions account for the quantified time in the degradation process. The cost functions are evaluated throughout the operational life of the motor using real-time measurements. Hence, they give a very accurate indication, which may be adapted for online controller tuning. This solid establishment of a degradation cost function also enables the system designer to give the user a choice between performance and degradation minimization. The proposed cost function scheme has experimentally been verified using a hardware-in-the-loop electric powertrain test-rig where standard drive cycles are used to conduct the experiments. The experimental results reveal that the degradation cost functions Cumulative Input Energy Ratio (CIER), Cumulative Loss Ratio (CLR) and Cumulative Work Ratio (CWR) accurately represent the electric motor degradation both qualitatively and quantitatively

A novel dual-stator hybrid excited synchronous wind generator

This paper presents a novel dual-stator hybrid excited synchronous wind generator and describes its structural features and operation principle. The no-load magnetic fields with different field currents are computed by 3-D finite-element method. Static characteristics, including the flux-linkage and EMF waveforms of stator windings, and inductance waveforms of armature windings and field winding, are analyzed. The simulation results show that due to the dual-stator structure, the air-gap magnetic flux can be easily controlled, while the output voltage can be increased effectively. Tests are performed on the prototype machine to validate the predicted results, and an excellent agreement is obtained