Coupled Electromagnetic and Thermal Design-Optimisation of a Traction IPM Machine with High-Torque Overload Capability

Liu, H; Wrobel, R; Ayat, A; Zhang, C

doi:10.1109/ICELMACH.2018.8507172

Coupled Electromagnetic and Thermal Design-Optimisation of a Traction IPM Machine with High-Torque Overload Capability

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Rafal Wrobel

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This is the authors' accepted manuscript of a conference proceedings (inc. abstract) that has been published in its final definitive form by IEEE, 2018.

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Abstract

This paper presents a design exercise of an interior permanent magnet (IPM) machine with high-torque overload capability. The machine is intended for traction applications, where the intermediate transient operation is one of the key design requirements, alongside with the more common specification for the continuous operating duty. The design approach frequently adopted, when considering the transient overload, focuses solely on the continuous operation with appropriate design margins. Consequently, such method is often unreliable and requires a degree of experience or multiple design iterations need to be performed. In contrast, this work proposes a technique accommodating for the transient overload from the onset of the design process. The initial machine sizing is based on a coupled electromagnetic and thermal analysis combined with an optimisation routine. The developed design-optimisation system employs computationally efficient and accurate models informed from thermal tests on representative hardware subassemblies. Further to the design challenges associated with the specific operating duty, the materials and processes used in fabrication of the machine should assure here a cost-effective design solution. The theoretical findings show that proposed method is effective for designing machines for more demanding transient overload events, where both transient specific output and its duration are simultaneously considered.