Design and analysis of brushless permanent magnet motor for light electrically powered two-wheeler vehicle

Abstract

This study provides a comprehensive process of designing an electric motor that will be used for a small two-wheeled electric vehicle. Due to high performance capability in term of power and torque, brushless permanent magnet topology is chosen so that a compromise between size constraint and performance can be met. For an accurate motor design sizing, the design process is initially carried out by determination of power rating that derived from vehicle dynamic calculation. Based on winding factor calculation, fractional-slot 12-slot/10-pole and 9-slot/10-pole motors equipped with non-overlapping winding are chosen and analyzed using finite element analysis (FEA) software. For an optimum electromagnetic performance, parametric optimization is included, mainly on the stator dimension. Despite the performance of both designs improved, only 9-slot motor results a convincing performance as the rated torque is 18% higher than the 12-slot design. For verification purpose, 1-D analytical solution is also included and compared with results deduced by the FEA. According to the analysis, the proposed motor designs are adequately reliable for a light electrically powered electric vehicle application.