Performance Improvement in High-Performance Brushless Rare-Earth Magnet Motors for Hybrid Vehicles by Use of High Flux-Density Steel

Hybrid and electrical vehicles use mostly high-efficiency brushless permanent-magnet AC motors and sinewave drives. The motors utilize rare-earth magnet material and also are required to have a very high torque-per-rotor volume. The designs are now very well refined and often use interior permanent-magnet (IPM) rotors for a better field weakening control. This configuration has been shown to increase the efficiency. In this paper, the Toyota Prius 2004 motor is modeled using finite element analysis with different laminated steel materials in order to assess the effectiveness of using high flux-density steel versus the material volume. Additionally to the IPM rotor in the manufactured design, a spoke magnet rotor is also investigated. It is found that using high flux-density laminated steel will either increase the performance of the motor or allow the motor to be reduced in size (in this case, reduction in axial length).

[1]  David G. Dorrell,et al.  Comparison of different motor design drives for hybrid electric vehicles , 2010, 2010 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition.

[2]  D. G. Dorrell,et al.  Modern electrical machine analysis and design techniques applied to hybrid vehicle drive machines , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics.

[3]  C. Cossar,et al.  Flux-linkage calculation in permanent-magnet motors using the frozen permeabilities method , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics.

[4]  S. Ogasawara,et al.  Torque Density and Efficiency Improvements of a Switched Reluctance Motor Without Rare-Earth Material for Hybrid Vehicles , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications.

[5]  Min-Fu Hsieh,et al.  A Review of the Design Issues and Techniques for Radial-Flux Brushless Surface and Internal Rare-Earth Permanent-Magnet Motors , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[6]  Gan Zhang,et al.  A Novel Hybrid Excitation Flux-Switching Motor for Hybrid Vehicles , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics.

[7]  D. G. Dorrell,et al.  Comparison of permanent magnet drive motor with a cage induction motor design for a hybrid electric vehicle , 2010, The 2010 International Power Electronics Conference - ECCE ASIA -.

[8]  Timothy J. E. Miller,et al.  Design of Brushless Permanent-Magnet Motors , 1994 .

[9]  R. H. Staunton,et al.  Evaluation of the 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid Synergy Drive System , 2008 .

[10]  S. Ogasawara,et al.  Design and analysis of a switched reluctance motor for next generation hybrid vehicle without PM materials , 2010, The 2010 International Power Electronics Conference - ECCE ASIA -.

[11]  Antonios G. Kladas,et al.  Internal Permanent Magnet Motor Design for Electric Vehicle Drive , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.