www.ijesci.

org

International Journal of Energy Science (IJES) Volume 4 Issue 1, February 2014

doi: 10.14355/ijes.2014.0401.05

Study on PMSMs with wide Flux-weakening

Speed Range for New Energy Electric Vehicles
Bingyi Zhang1, Qingxu Li2, Hao Liu3, Guihong Feng4
School of Electrical Engineering, Shenyang University of Technology
No.111, Shenliao West Road, Shenyang, 110870, P.R.CHINA
zby541108@vip.sina.com; 2zhenliqingxu@163.com; 3416520056@qq.com; 4fenggh@sut.edu.cn

Abstract
This paper analyzes the permanent magnet synchronous
motor used for electric vehicle, and the influence of the builtin V type size parameters on direct axis inductance,
quadrature axis inductance as well as PM flux linkage. The
research is about the change rule of permanent magnet
torque and reluctance torque. In the view of the optimal
driving system, it summarizes the design method for rotor
magnetic circuit structure of PMSM used for electric vehicle,
and analyzes the influence on Flux Weakening ability of the
main electromagnetic parameters. It also includes the design
of two sets of prototype of 25 kW with different rotor
structure. Experimental results of the speed regulation
characteristic curve and efficiency MAP verify the feasibility
of the design rules proposed in this paper.
Keywords
New Energy Electric Vehicle; PMSM; Speed Adjusting with Fluxweakening

Introduction
As the main drive motor of Electric Vehicle, PMSM has
become one of the main core power systems because of
its high torque density, high efficiency, high power
factor, excellent characteristics under the circumstances
of low-speed driving and the wide range of speed
regulation. Flux-weakening control is needed upon
rated speed. If the highest operating speed is not
changed, the flux-weakening range will be enhanced
when the rated speed is reduced. Therefore, the
research of Flux Weakening character has great
significance.
Flux weakening property is directly related to the
magnetic circuit structure of PMSM and Control
Method. In order to broaden the range of speed,
usually, these two aspects above are taken into
consideration. Ai-meng Wang compared with the
inductance and Flux Weakening character of 5 kinds of
traditional magnetic circuit structure, the PMSM with
"V" type structure can be better. Lixiang Chen analyzed
one type of magnetic circuit structure with built-in
20

permanent magnet sectioned. This structure can

effectively increase the direct axis inductance and
improve weak magnetic properties. However, this only
analyzes the built-in radial "-" structure.
In conclusion, in the aspect of magnetic circuit
structure improvements, many methods have been put
forward. But when flux weakening can be realized,
there will be some new defects or complicated
structure against batch manufacturing. There is little
literature involved of the built-in "V" type magnetic
circuit structure, which is commonly used in the
industry.
This paper mainly studies the characteristics of speed
adjusting with flux weakening about the built-in "V"
structure. Analyze the influence of adjacent pole
spacing and pole center implant depth on direct axis
inductance, quadrate axis inductance, salient pole rate,
permanent magnet magnetic chain, permanent magnet
torque and reluctance torque. Design rules proposed in
this paper. Design and manufacture two set of
prototype which has the same rated parameters but
different rotor structure parameters. The rated power
is 25 kW. Get the characteristic curve of torque-speed
and efficiency map graph that can verify the feasibility
of the design rules summarized in this paper.
Structure Parameter Analysis of the Built-in
"V" Type
The built-in "V" type structure is relatively simple
compared with other structure such as the built-in "w"
type and so on. Therefore, it becomes the first choice of
a lot of prototype. As is shown in Fig. 1.
Rotor core

Slot of permanent magnet

FIG. 1 THE BUILT-IN V TYPE STRUCTURE

International Journal of Energy Science (IJES) Volume 4 Issue 1, February 2014

Usually, adjustable range of spacing between

permanent-magnet slot and outer edge of rotor is quite
small. Among them, the parameter b will also have
an impact on the direct axis inductance. Its principle is
similar to the built-in "-" type structure as is shown in
the paper of Lixiang Chen, Zhaoyu Zhang and
Renyuan Tang. There mainly is direct axis inductance;
quadrate axis inductance and PM flux linkage which
has directly effect on characteristics of flux weakening.
So the parameter above is analyzed firstly.
In order to analyze the relationship between the
magnetic circuit change, relevant parameters and weak
magnetic property, in this paper, two parameters are
defined as follows in the form of relative value.
tj
(1)
t* j =

(2)
h * = h1 / h 2
Per-unit value of spacing between the two adjacent
magnetic poles is shown in (1); Per-unit value of
implant depth of the pole center is shown in the paper.
t j is the actual value of spacing between the two
adjacent magnetic poles, t j = p p is pole arc
coefficient. is pole distance;
Impact Analysis of the Spacing between the Two Adjacent
Magnetic Poles on Flux Weakening
Change the adjacent pole spacing, and get different
magnetic circuit structure. Extract the fundamental
component of air gap flux density in 2D finite element
model in no load, equivalent direct axis state and
quadrate axis state. The change rule of direct axis
inductance, quadrate axis inductance and salient pole
rate can be calculated from the data above in the paper
of Qian-fan Zhang, Hong-xing Wu, Shu-kang Cheng.
As is shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3.

FIG. 2 INDUCTANCE

FIG. 3 SALIENT POLE RATE

It is known that the direct axis inductance increase a

little with the increase of the adjacent pole spacing
from the overall trend. But the quadrate axis
inductance increases more. The main factor having
impact on direct axis inductance is the magnetic
resistance characteristics near the axis of each pole.

www.ijesci.org

Along with the adjacent pole spacing increases, the

quadrate axis reluctance reduce greatly, so the
quadrate axis inductance increases obviously.
Using the parametric scanning function of ANSOFT
software, change the rotor position, and get the characteristic curve of torque and angle. As is shown in Fig. 4.
After the data processing, the Fig. 5 can be gotten.

FIG. 4 RESULTANT TORQUE FIG. 5 TORQUE COMPONENT

When the current of external controller is constant,

reluctance torque depends mainly on the difference of
direct axis inductance and quadrate axis inductance. If
the adjacent pole spacing is too big, growth rate of
quadrate axis inductance will be greater than the direct
axis inductance. It also leads to a substantial increase of
reluctance torque.
Permanent magnet torque only depends on the
magnetic chain of permanent magnet and quadrate
axis current. The magnetic chain of PM reduces due to
the increasing of adjacent pole spacing. So, on the
whole, permanent magnet torque decline. But because
of the influence of higher order harmonics, harmonics
of permanent magnet torque increase lead to small
increase of permanent magnet synthetic torque when
the adjacent pole spacing is too big.
Impact Analysis of the Implant Depth of the Pole Center
on Flux Weakening
In the guarantee constant adjacent pole spacing,
change implant depth of pole center, and get change
rules of inductance as is shown in Fig. 6. Sensitivity of
direct axis inductance to pole center implant depth is
low. In most of the interval, direct axis inductance
changes little until depth of per-unit is close to 2. And
then it appears to drop considerably. The quadrate axis
magnetic circuit mainly locates in physical axis of
adjacent poles. Most of the quadrate axis magnetic
passes through radial inside of the "V" type permanent
magnet. If the implant depth increases, the distance
between permanent magnet and inner diameter of
rotor will decrease. And then local saturation may
emerge.
The permanent magnet torque also presents the linear
21

www.ijesci.org

International Journal of Energy Science (IJES) Volume 4 Issue 1, February 2014

trend of increase. And reluctance torque generally

decreases, as is shown in Fig. 7. Electromagnetic torque
of synthesis also increases.

FIG. 6 INDUCTANCE

FIG. 7 TORQUE COMPONENT

The back EMF is the induced voltage generated by

permanent magnet at the rated speed. In this paper, it
is expressed as e0. In order to reflect the influence of
electromagnetic design scheme on flux weakening
more intuitively, the back EMF is taken to express the
magnetic field strength. When the controller capacity,
maximum inverter voltage and peak current is not
changed, the back EMF and direct axis inductance will
determine the highest ideal speed in (10).
u lim
n max =
e 0 2 p
(10)
Ld i lim

nN
60
Usually, the back EMF is greater than the
demagnetization component. So the characteristics of
flux weakening more depend on rational design of the
back EMF. Type (11) can be deduced from type (10).
e0
nN
2 p
1
(11)
n L i
=
+
u lim n max
60 N d lim u lim
TAB 1 APPROXIMATE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FLUX WEAKENING RATIO
AND THE BACK EMF

A. Change implant depth of the poles center

pole center
implant depth
(per-unit value)
2.489
1.432
0.672
0.384

direct axis
inductance
Ld(mH)
0.111
0.179
0.182
0.176

per-unit value ratio of flux

of back EMF weakening
(nmax/nN)
/(E0/UN)
0.988
1.322
0.886
1.948
0.786
2.453
0.723
2.800

size of magnetic circuit and calculate parameters above.

Different inductance and magnetic chain of permanent
magnet can be acquired. The relationship between the
back EMF and the ratio of flux weakening is shown in
Tab 1.
According to Tab 1, along with the back EMF
reduction, the ratio of flux weakening grows higher,
and increasing of direct axis inductance further
improves flux weakening ability. The maximum ideal
speed expressed in (10) is under no-load condition.
However, there must be quadrate axis component of
the current under the actual loading condition. So the
role of quadrate axis inductance will be highlighted.
Contrast Test and Analysis of Prototype
According to analysis above, it is known that the
characteristics of flux weakening depend on both
magnetic circuit structure and current control strategy.
This paper adopts the same flux weakening control
method to test two sets of prototype with the same
rated parameters for the purposes of comparison.
The difference between the two sets of prototype is
reflected in the back EMF and salient pole rate. As is
shown in Tab. 2. The test platform is shown in Fig. 8.
TAB. 2 THE MAIN PARAMETERS CONTRAST OF THE PROTOTYPE

Parameters
Rated power (kW)
Rated speed (r/min)
Rated current (A)
d-axis inductance (mH)
q-axis inductance (mH)
Salient pole rate
E0/UN

1# prototype
25
3800
107
0.1114
0.2239
2.010
0.97

2# prototype
25
3800
135
0.1439
0.4064
2.824
0.70

FIG. 8 PROTOTYPES TEST

FIG. 9 TORQUE VS. SPEED

BChange the adjacent pole spacing

direct axis
adjacent pole
inductance Ld
spacing
(mH)
(per-unit value)
0.029
0.057
0.229
0.286

0.111
0.162
0.173
0.178

per-unit
value of back
EMF/(E0/UN)

ratio of flux
weakening
(nmax/nN)

0.988
0.943
0.865
0.835

1.322
1.652
1.976
2.157

The ratio of the rated speed to the highest speed is

smaller, that is, the ratio of flux weakening is higher in
(11). And the back EMF should be lower. Take a
prototype of 25 kW for example. Adjust the structure
22

(A)1 # PROTOTYPE

(B) 2 # PROTOTYPE

FIG. 10 EFFICIENCY MAP DIAGRAM

International Journal of Energy Science (IJES) Volume 4 Issue 1, February 2014

The control strategy is MTPA under the rated speed,

and flux-weakening control is adopted upon the rated
speed. The characteristic curve of speed-torque in all
the speed range can be acquired in Fig. 9. The current
of the first prototype is much smaller than the second
one. The output torque decline obviously over the
rated speed in constant power speed regulation. The
efficient MAP of the two set of prototype is separately
shown in Fig. 10. According to the experimental data,
by contrast, the rated efficient of the first one is higher
than the second one.
According to the above experimental data, the
characteristics of flux weakening often contradict
performance indicators at the rated state, such as
efficiency, torque output, etc. If the character within
the rated speed of constant torque is pursued, the back
EMF should be close to the rated voltage. If the
character of flux weakening is pursued, the magnetic
field should be weakened.
Conclusion
In the field of PMSM used for electric vehicle, the
characteristic on certain working point should not be
over emphasized. The scope with high performance
should be broadened. If the working condition has low
demand for the characteristic of flux weakening, the
magnetic chain of rotor can be increased appropriately.
On the one hand, it is helpful to improve index in the
area of constant torque control. On the other hand, the
rated current will be decreased. If the working
condition has high demand for the characteristic of
flux weakening, the permanent magnet should be
reduced. In this way, the back EMF is low enough to
realize a wide speed range. At the same time, in order
to increase the torque output, the salient pole rate
should be improved. Make full use of reluctance
torque. Therefore, the adjacent pole spacing should be
increased and the implant depth of the pole center

www.ijesci.org

should be reduced appropriately in the built-in "V"

type magnetic circuit structure.
REFERENCES

Ai-meng Wang, Wei-fu Lu, "Performance Analysis and

Comparison of Five PMSM Topologies". Small & Special
Electrical Machines, 2010,30(4) ,20-23
Chen Lixiang; Zhang Zhaoyu; Tang Renyuan; A New
Structure of Permanent Magnet Traction Motor for
Improving Flux-Weakening Level [J]. Transactions of
China Electrotechnical Society, 2012,27(3): 100-104
Shu-kang Cheng, Ping Zheng, Shu-mei Cui, Li -Wei Song,
and Li-yi Li. "Fundamental Research on Hybrid Magnetic
Circuit Multi Couple Electric Machine". Proceedings of
the Csee. 2000, 20(4), 50-54.
Bingyi Zhang, Born in 1954, professor,
PhD supervisor, Mainly engaged in the
special motor design and control of low
speed high torque motor, low-voltage,
high-power motors, etc. zby541108@vip.
sina.com

Qingxu Li, Born in 1985, PhD, Electrical

and electronics, Shenyang university of
technology, Shenyang, China, Mainly
engaged in the motor design of PMSM
and
control
strategy
research
zhenliqingxu@163.com.

Hao Liu, Born in 1990, Postgraduate, Electrical and

electronics, Shenyang university of technology, Shenyang,
China, Mainly engaged in the motor design and analysis of
PMSM. 416520056@qq.com
Guihong Feng, Born in 1963, professor, Mainly engaged in
special motor design. fenggh@sut.edu.cn

23