Designing high power density in-wheel PMSM for sustainable hybrid electric vehicles

Abstract

The permanent magnet (PM) motors have recently become very popular in the hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) manufacturing industry. Especially, the PM synchronous motor presents attractive characteristics when an outer rotor configuration is combined with non-overlapping concentrated windings. Consequently, more attention has to be paid to this promising technology. Moreover, many studies focus entirely on the motor design itself without examining the sustainability features of their outcomes. In this study, an effective methodology is proposed for the development of high power density direct-drive in-wheel PMSMs that are going to be used in light HEV applications. The achievement of motor's high performance is guaranteed by incorporating an optimization algorithm. Simultaneously, the analytical model of the HEV subsystems was included for the motor's operation assessment and the estimation of the overall powertrain performance. Apart from the improved technical characteristics, the obtained results reveal overall HEV/motor sustainable operation in terms of efficiency as well as economic behavior and thus qualifying the proposed methodology.