Design and manufacturing considerations of flux-switching permanent magnet motors for mass productions used in EVs and HEVs

Published researches on flux-switching permanent magnet (FSPM) motors are focused on the analysis methods of electromagnetic performance, optimization design of lamination dimensions, combinations of stator slots and rotor poles, different kinds of field-excitations, and mechanical stability, etc. However, the manufacturing considerations for mass productions and their influences on the electromagnetic performances of FSPM motors, especially for the applications of electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), have not been covered in previous works, which instead, are the main contributions of this paper. The complex stator structure of FSPM motors give challenges not only on mass production, but also on the cooling systems, since the permanent magnets (PMs) are surrounded by concentrated armature coils which contain the main heat source. Hence, the modular manufacturing methods are proposed and investigated. Then, a water-cooling system and the idea of an improved real time control scheme taking into account temperature variations are proposed and implemented. Moreover, inaccurate concentricity problems and unbalanced radial forces on rotor are also introduced considering the EVs/HEVs applications.