PERFORMANCE OF STATOR SALIENT POLE DISC BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR FOR EV
E A Mendrela
-le University of Technology, Poland
INTRODUCTION
Among permanent magnet machines the disc-type
motors find a growing interest in direct drive of electric
vehicles (1,2,3). There are various versions of these
motors. One of them is the motor with double-sided
stator and twin rotors. In this category two versions can
be met: with teethed stator (4) and slotless stator, called
also a torus motor (5). The latter version is
technologically easier to manufacture and in case of
permanent magnets its ripple torque is lower than that
of its teethed counterpart. However, due to a large
nonmagnetic torque to mass @io is lower than
such a one of the motor with teethed stator.
The-magneticflux in the disc motors mentioned above,
when crossing an air gap towards the stator, changes its
axialdirection for the peripheral one in the stator core.
In the paper the new version of the disc motor is
presented with the magnetic flux crossing the air-gaps
and the stator axially. The stator of such a motor is
much easier to manufacture. It concerns both stator
core and a winding. The motor was manufactured with
the aim of driving the wheels of a light vehicle directly,
without the mechanical gear. In the paper the motor
A stator elements
I rotor disc
Fig. 1 Construction scheme of the disc permanent magnet machine
Power Electronics and Variable Speed Drives, 18-19 September 2000, Conference Publication No. 475 0 IEE 2000
489
R Drzewoski
Elektromechamka, Poland
with the three-phase winding is discussed and its
performance is analysed on the basis of the
measurements carried out on the motor prototype. The
performance of this motor is compared with the one of
torus-type machine.
DESCRIPTION OF MOTOR STRUCTURE
The motor structure is shown schematically in Fig.1.
The stator consists of electromagnetic elements made
of ferromagnetic cores (might be a laminated iron) and
coils wound on them. The elements are placed axially
and distributed uniformly on the stator circumference
and glued together by means of synthetic resin. At both
sides of the stator the rotors are placed. They are made
as steel discs with the permanent magnets glued to their
surfaces.
The coils can be connected in Merent ways. Here the
three-phase connection is considered as shown in Fig.2.
The number of magnets on the rotor surface differs
from the number of stator poles and in the motor,
which is discussed in this paper the ratio of these two
numbers is equal to 2/3.
 Performance characteristics

The motor prototype. which is the subject of the paper.

was iiiaiiufactured by ELEKTROMECHANIKA in
l l t Tomaszow Maz.. Poland. The motor is shown in Figs.
A2 82 C2 5 and 6. Its construction parameters are as follows:
Outer diameter of the stator core D,,= I60 inin.
Intenal diameter of the stator D,,= 90 iiun.
Fig.2. Layout of three-plnse stator winding Number of stator poles N, = 42.
Number of timis in tlie coil Z , = 6.
Air gap g = 1 iinn,
Tlie motor is supplied from the dc source via three- Nuinber of tlie rotor poles 2p = 28.
pluse inverter shown in Fig.4. It coininutates the stator Thickness of the rotor discs = 5 nun.
winding. The transistors are triggering by the signals Length of the motor = 70 nun.
coming up froin the Hall sensors placed between the
stator coils as shown in Fig.2. The permmetit magnets applied to the rotors are inade
of ND-Fe-B and their parameters are: B, = 1.2 T and H,
When the rotor magnets are Inoving, the adequate = 960 k
."
winding phase is switched 011 or switched off. Fig.4
shows the mutual position of stator poles and rotor
magnets at the two successive switcliiiig instants when
tlie transistors 1-5 aid 1-6 are closed.

Fig.4 explains also, why the limber of rotor poles

differs frorii the nwnber of stator poles. In case of the
saiiie nmnber. when the motor is not activated. the
rotor takes sucb a position that the stator (and rotor
poles are placed opposite to one another. The motor in
tliat position does not develop the starting torque.
Besides. the reluct<mcetorque is then very lug11 auld it
contributes'to an increase of torque ripple. FigS. View of the stator mid rotor of the disc motor

Fig 3 Three-phase inverter to conitnutate the stator A

K,,CI Fig.6. External view of tlie disc tilotor

Sbbw

Rntnt
To deterniine the iiiotor perforinaxe the laboratory
nieasiireine~itswere done. The inacliirie was supplied
from the 36 V battery. Fig.7 shows the
Xotor
electromeclmnical characteristics measured at steady
state couditioiis.
&iw
Iii general. tlie characteristics are siinilar to the ones of
Rmr
the shelit dc noto or with no ,annature reaction. Indeed.
the inagiletic flus is constant. predoininated by the
Fig.4. Miitid position of stator aiid rotor nagtietic inaglietic ficld of perinanelit nmgiiets. This illustrates
poles at the two successive switching instants io particular tlie straiglit airred-torque clwacteristic.

490
 rinatiire reaction in dc sliiuit itiotors diaiiieter of the stator core D,,= 230 in111
I. Outer
ds on the ~mmtureciirrent I only at iaineter of the stator core D,, = 180 in111
@according to equation: Nuniber of niagnetic poles p = 20
Pernianent niagpct thickness g,,, = 8 111111.
T = K,#- I (1)
Noniber of tiinis in the coil N,= 1.3
Air gap g = I nun.
Type of magnets' Nd-Fc-B with B, = I 2 T. H, =
900 kA/iii.

Fig.7. Electromechaucal cliaracteristics of the motor

Fig.%.Bndiless dc tonis iiiotor

An exception is tlie speed-torque characteristic. In
lieaw load range it is straight line as for sliunt dc
motors according to equation
IJ-R.I
mnl =
K d
where: U,,, - is the rotor angular speed. f i - is the
supply voltage and R - is the winding resistance.
I n the sinall load mige the rotor speed strongly
depends on the load. This conies from the influence of
the winding inductance. wliicli c,m be neglected in the
conventioiial dc commutator motors. According to (6).
when there is relatively high winding inductance the
torque-speed relation at steady-state can be expressed
by tlie following equation
The niotor was supplied from the 24V battery and its
electroniecliaiucaI cliaracteristics measured in
laboratory conditiolis are shown in Fig.9.
As one can see the character of curves are similar to
(2)
that of stator salient pole motor. An exception is speed-
torque characteristic. wluch is a straight line in the
whole speed range. Due to a large noiutmgnetic gap
(the winding tlucluiess is 7 mm) the winding
inductance is much snialler now. Thus. there is a little
iilfliieiice of tlus indiictaiice on tlie motor speed.
performance characteristics at 24V

where: (on,,, - is the rotor speed at no load. E; - is the

constant and z - is the stator winQiig time constait.

Nornially. tlie inductance is sinall in the surface

nioiiiited iiiagnets bnisliless dc motors. in particular in v
8 1 II II II I
I I
slotless version. The machine. which belong to tlie " 0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
latter group is the tonis-type iiiotor (5). This type of torque Nm
motors were nianufactiued too by the
ELEKTROMECHANIKA (see Fig.8) as a gear-less Fig.9. Electroniecliaiucal cliaracterktics of the tonis-
drive for a wheelchair (3). Their coiistnictioii data are type iiiotor ( 3 )
as follows:

49 1
Tlie another feature which differs tlie two types of
motors is the reluctance torque tllat increases the torque
ripples. hi torus motor there is no such a torque
component. The stator salient pole motor develops tlie
inaxiniuiii reluctance torque eqwil to 2.1 N-m. There
are drives. wlucli cannot tolerate such a torque aid a
slotless niotor must be applied. As far as electric
veliicles are concerned the tonis motor is recommended
for a wheelcllair drive. while the stator salient pole
motors can be used in other electric vehicles.
One of an important coefficient is a motor specific
torque. which in the bnishless motors is sometimes
much liglier tlian such one in conunutator machines.
For the particular stator salient pole motor analysed
liere the ratio of torque developed at stator current
density of 6 A/mm’ to the inass of tlie motor active
material. (stator poles, rotor dscs. magnets and the
stator winding) is equalto 10.4 N.mn/kg.
Conclusions
Tlie paper presents the newly designed disc-type
brushless dc motor. Its simple construction allows
easing a tecluiological process in inanufacturing of tlus
kind of motors. The electroineclicmical characteristics
obtained from the measurements carried out on the
inotor prototype illustrate the perfonnmce similar to
that of dc shunt motor. Coinparing these two motors.
the brushless dc motor reveals not only better
492
efficiency but also the higher specific torque. Besides.
there is no need for maintenance of tlie commutator.
The electronic conimutator the motor is equipped with
allows to control the rotor speed and stator current mid
to realise the regenerative bralung what is particular
important in case of application of this kind of motor as
a dnve for electric vehicles.
References
1. Caricclu. F.. Crescimbini. F.. Fedeli. E.. and Noia.
G.. 1994. IEEE Trans. 011 Ind. ADPI.. 1. 254-261
2. Zliang. Z.. Profiuno. F.. and Tencorii A.. 1994,
Cold Rec. ICEM ‘94. Paris, 7-12
3. Drzewoski. R.. Jelonkiewicz. J.. and Mendrela.
E.A.. 1999. Wiadoiiiosci Elektroteclmiczne. 4. I88
- 193. (in Polish)
4. Mendrela. E.A., ‘and Macek-Kmiinska. K., 1999.
Archive of Electrical Enpineering, 1-2,s 1-62
5. Spooner. E.. Cllahners. B.J.. El-Missiq. M.M.. Wu
Wei. and Renfrew. A.C. 1991, Procc. IEE 5‘1’ Int.
Cord On Elec. Machines a i d Drives, 36-40
6. Firago. 8.. aid Goulkov. A.. 1998. MiS’98 Proc.,
Cold On Microinaclunes and Servodrives. 426-432