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Development of a high-power-density motor for formula SAE electric race car

Conference Paper · October 2017

DOI: 10.1109/IECON.2017.8217155

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 Development of a high-power-density motor for
Formula SAE electric race car

Xuanyang Hu, Hong Guo, Hao Qian, Xiaofeng Ding, Yanling Yang
School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering
Beihang University
Beijing, China
[Link]@[Link]

Abstract—Formula SAE is an international engineering

design competition for university students to design, build and
test a four-wheel race car in one year. Formula student electric
series has been introduced into formula student duo to the
increasing interest in electric mobility. This paper presents the
development of a permanent magnet synchronous motor for a
formula student electric race car. A 10 poles/12 slots with flux
concentration configuration is employed. A high power to weight
ratio is achieved by using high saturation magnetic flux iron-
cobalt alloy and sintered NdFeB magnets as well as a fractional
slot winding. Mechanical rotor strength and losses are analyzed
due to the high rotation speed and high frequency. The
electromagnetic and thermal behavior of the motor are Fig. 1. Formula Electric Race Car
simulated. A final design of 22Nm, 20kW is achieved with a total
mass of 3.8 kg.

Keywords— Permanent magnet synchronous motor; power II. DESIGN TARGET

density; Formula SAE
A. Motor torque requirement considering dynamic events
I. INTRODUCTION The maximum torque is used in acceleration event,
Formula SAE is an international engineering design accelerating the car from still to finish a 75-meter long track.
competition for university students to design, build and test a According to the results of previous competitions, the best
four-wheel race car in one year [1]. The competition consists time is around 3.5s. Assuming the process an acceleration
of static events including engineering design, cost analysis and equally with zero initial velocity [3].
business plan presentation and dynamic events including The acceleration can be obtained from
acceleration, skid pad, autocross, endurance and efficiency. 2u S
With the growing research interest in electric vehicles, A 2
# 12.245m/s 2 (1)
t
formula student electric competition was introduced into
Where S=75 m, t=3.5 s.
formula student Germany in 2011 for the first time. A four-
Assuming total weight of a formula student race car
wheel electric drive system has the advantages of space saving including a 60 kg driver is 280 kg, consequently the total
in vehicle because of compact integration of electric motor driving force is
into wheel, improved vehicle dynamics performance because
F m u A 3428.6N (2)
of the independent control of torque at each wheel enabling
Considering a rolling diameter of wheel tire is 0.52m, the
advanced control like regenerative braking, torque vectoring, total driving torque is
launch control, anti-brake system, yaw rate control etc.[2].
T F u r 891.43Nm (3)
Compact, lightweight in-wheel motor is a key enabling
Considering a four-wheel drive system, the torque at each
component for a four-wheel electric drive system. Permanent
wheel is
magnet synchronous motor seems to be the best candidate for
its high torque density, high efficiency, and high degree of Twheel =T y 4=222.86 Nm (4)
design freedom. A high power-density permanent magnet Considering the frictional resistance, aerodynamic drag
synchronous motor is specially designed for formula student resistance, the driving torque at each wheel should be greater
electric competitions. than 280 Nm.

l-))) 
B. Motor design geometrical constraints considering III. DESIGN OF THE MOTOR
installation space
The motor is used as in-wheel motor. Inside the wheel rim, A. General Design
brake disc, calipers and suspension mounting has to be A high dynamic performance, low inertia motor is needed
considered. The space leaving for the motor is extremely due to the frequent acceleration and deceleration of the car
limited due to these components as Fig. 2 shows. In this case, during autocross and endurance events, an inner rotor structure
a direct drive low speed high torque motor with big outer is firstly decided. An interior permanent magnet rotor structure
diameter is not suitable. The motor proposed is designed into a is down-selected as a result of its high reluctance torque and
slender type low-torque high-speed motor, driving the wheel flux-weakening performance. A spoke type rotor structure
with a planetary gear reducer. The outer motor diameter and shown ad in Fig. 4 motor cross section view is chosen for its
axial length is limited to 120 mm. The maximum vehicle flux-concentration effect which is advantageous to a high
speed is set as 120km/h, considering a 13:1 gear ratio, the power density. A two-layer fractional slot non-overlapping
maximum motor rotational speed is 16000 RPM, the concentrated windings(FSCW) with tooth coils 12 slots and 10
maximum motor torque is 22Nm, lasting 3.5 seconds. Fig. 3 poles is chosen for its short end-wingdings, high slot fill factor
shows the power rating during the endurance events, 95% of and hence a high efficiency and high power density[4].
the total power during endurance event rated below 40 kW. Moreover, such a 10poles/12 slots combination ensures a high
Therefor a rated power of 10 kW per motor is decided as a winding factor kw1=0.933. Another advantage of such
main design parameter. Table 1 lists the main design 10poles/12 slots is that it guarantees an elimination of even
parameters for the motor proposed in this paper. number harmonics, thus a reduction of iron losses and eddy
current losses in permanent magnets [5]. A 10 poles/12 slots
two-layer FSCW, spoke type rotor with sintered NdFeB
magnets configuration is chosen. The key motor dimensions
are listed in Table 2, while the materials used in this motor are
listed in Table 3.
B. Mechanical Design
The utilization ratio and power density could be increased
by reducing the flux leakage. The magnetic bridge width is a
key point in this spoke type rotor structure as the smaller it

Fig. 2. Components inside wheel rim

Fig. 4. Motor cross section view

TABLE II. Key Motor Dimensions

Fig. 3. Power rating during endurance event Stator outer diameter 90 mm
Rotor outer diameter 52 mm
TABLE I. Main Design Parameters of the Permanent Airgap length 0.5 mm
Magnet Synchronous Machine Stack length 70 mm
Maximum Torque 22Nm(3.5s)
Rated Power 10 kW TABLE III. Materials Used
Rated speed 8000 RPM Stator/Rotor laminations Iron-Cobalt Alloy 1J22,
Maximum speed 16000 RPM 0.1mm
Rated voltage 510 V Permanent magnets N45SH ZHENGHAIMAG
Number of poles 10 Shaft No-magnetic Titanium alloy
Number of slots 12 TC4
Motor diameter 120 mm housing Aluminum alloy 7075
Motor length 120 mm


is, the less flux leakage is, however, if the width is extremely
small, the magnetic bridge could not provide enough
mechanical strength especially when the rotor rotational speed
goes to a high level[6]. A balance between efficient flux
insulation capability and sufficient mechanical strength has to
be found in this case. A mechanical stress analysis of the rotor
is undertaken. Fig. 5 shows the mesh used in the mechanical
analysis, Fig. 6 shows the deformation and stress distribution
of the rotor lamination at 30000 RPM as to provide sufficient
margin. Results show the stress is within the material limits
listed in Table 2.
Fig. 7. Flux lines distribution at 8,000rpm open-circuit conditions
C. Electromagnetic Analysis
The most direct way to improve the electric motor power
density is to increase the magnetic and electric loading, while
this would pose a challenge to the thermal management. With
the limited space in motor axial length, a two-layer winding
has been chosen due to its short end-windings, hence copper
loss is reduced while efficiency is increased compared to
single layer. The machine flux pattern, permanent magnet flux
linkage, no-load back-EMF waveforms at 8000 RPM is shown
in Fig. 7-9 respectively.

Fig. 8. Permanent magnet flux linkage

Fig. 9. Open Slot Back EMF waveforms at 8000 rpm

Fig. 5. mesh used in mechanical analysis For stator slot geometry, two slot geometries as open slot
and semi open slot are simulated, Fig. 10 show both field
distribution at 8000 rpm open circuit. Fig. 11 reveals a
comparison of induced voltage harmonic distribution between
two slot geometries. Semi open slot geometry yields a higher
fundamental waveform for its higher fundamental airgap
magnetic flux density.

Fig. 6. Deformation results of rotor parts


 Fig. 12. Cogging Torque

Fig. 10. Open Slot Back EMF waveforms at 8000 rpm

Fig. 13. Maximum Electromagnetic Torque

D. Thermal Simulation
The motor is cooled down by the spiral water jacket along
the outside of the motor housing. Water is used as fluid flow
through the jacket for its larger specific heat capacity of
4.2ൈ103J/(kgÂԨ) and good thermal conductivity of
0.6233W/m/K. A flow volume rate between 10-15 l/min is
achievable by utilizing a water pump in the cooling path loop.
Fig. 11. Open Slot Back EMF waveforms at 8000 rpm
The inlet temperature is between 20-25 Ԩ as ambient
temperature the motor mostly works in. As in any other races,
Technical measures are required to minimize loss caused by
the car works in between acceleration and deceleration
high magnetic and electric loading in a high power-density
processes, thus hardly reaches any steady state. A lumped
motor. A laminated stator and rotor core laminations is
thermal network is built to predict the thermal behavior of the
achieved by applying high performance Cobalt-Iron alloy
motor. 7 typical endurance event driving cycles is considered.
sheets with a saturation magnetic flux density up to 2.35T.
Fig. 14 presents the radial temperature distribution with
This enables a low hysteresis loss. The sheet thickness is
maximum motor output. The temperatures are within the
chosen as 0.1 mm, resulting a low eddy current losses even
material limits as used in motor.
with frequency goes up to 1 kHz. As for magnet losses,
magnets are segmented in axial and radial directions generally.
For manufacturing purposes, in this design the magnets are
segmented in axial direction with 7 segments per pole [7].
Finally, Fig. 12-13 show cogging torque and maximum
electromagnetic torque. Consequently, the motor torque ripple
is estimated as

T max -T min 22.66-21.8

'T = =0.038
Tavg 22.34

Fig. 14. Motor radial temperature distribution


 IV. FABRICATION AND ASSEMBLING configuration is applied with a spoke type flux-concentration
In order to improve the power density, a low mass structure rotor structure. The motor design target, electromagnetic
design is undertaken by utilizing several low density materials design, optimization and thermal design are carried out for
stable operation. The motor had met the design target and is
in motor. For magnetic purpose, the shaft need to be designed
now in manufacturing process, further tests details on no-load
into non-magnetic, a titanium alloy shaft is used and
and full load motor behavior will be given out in further paper.
manufactured through wire-cutting technique. A hollow
structure is designed and drilled inside the shaft through which VI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
a mass reduction of shaft is achieved. The motor housing is This work was supported in part by the National Natural
made of aluminum while a cap with a spiral shaped water Science Foundation of China under the Grant 51607006
jacket is 3-D printed considering the degree of difficulty of Research Project.
manufacturing. Structural finite element analysis of different
parts is undertaken respectively to ensure a mechanical VII. REFERENCES
integrity. Fig. 15 reveal the motor integrated into the wheel [1] About - Formula SAE - SAE Collegiate Design Series - Students - SAE
rims, planetary gear transmission will be designed later. International. 2017.
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hub drive in automotive design. in Electric Drives Production
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[3] Carraro, E., et al. Formula SAE electric competition: Electrical motor
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[4] El-Refaie, A.M., et al., Advanced high-power-density interior permanent
magnet motor for traction applications. IEEE Transactions on Industry
Applications, 2014. 50(5): p. 3235-3248.
[5] Lechner, C. and E. Schmidt. Lightweight design and prototyping of high
performance permanent magnet synchronous machines for an electric
driven racing car. in Electric Machines & Drives Conference (IEMDC),
2015 IEEE International. 2015: IEEE.
[6] Wu, S., L. Song and S. Cui, Study on Improving the Performance of
Permanent Magnet Wheel Motor for the Electric Vehicle Application.
IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 2007. 43(1): p. 438-442.
[7] Sergeant, P. and A.V.D. Bossche, Segmentation of Magnets to Reduce
Losses in Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Machines. IEEE
Transactions on Magnetics, 2008. 44(11): p. 4409-4412.
Fig. 15. motor assembled inside the wheel rim

V. CONCLUSION
The development process of a high power density PMSM
motor is presented in this paper. A 10 poles 12 slots



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