Name: Surajit Saha, Entry Number: 2022EEZ8194

Introduction to Electric Vehicles (CTL703)

Report on Lecture 38

● Propulsion motor requirements: The basic requirements that have to be taken into
consideration for the EV traction motor are, operating temperature, Torque-Speed
characteristics, ruggedness, peak and continuous power, maximum torque and rated torque,
rated and base speed, rated power, starting torque, noise and vibrations, water intrusion, back
emf (specified by the rating of the inverter switches), etc.
An electric motor, which can be used in electric vehicle application, should have the following
attributes:
1. Ability to produce high torque at low speed, including zero speed, for operation without a
clutch. This torque must be produced with fast dynamics, calling for high performance control
strategies.
2. Operation with a high field-weakening (constant-power) speed range (CPSR), up to at least
five times the base speed. The base speed is the speed up to which the motor is capable of
producing its rated torque at rated voltage, rated frequency and rated current.
3. Operation of the motor and its drive circuits over the whole speed range with high efficiency,
high reliability and low maintenance.
4. Ability to run with regenerative braking, returning the overhauling energy into a storage
device.
5. Low torque ripple, noise and vibration.
● Classifications of EV motors:
The types of machines that are generally used in electrified vehicles (EVs) may be DC
machines, induction machines, salient pole synchronous machines, surface permanent magnet
synchronous machines, interior permanent magnet synchronous machines, switched reluctance
machines and variable reluctance machines. In present days, mainly three classes of machines
are popularly used in Electrified vehicle applications namely three-phase permanent magnet
synchronous machines and squirrel cage induction machines, wound field synchronous
machines, synchronous reluctance machines and switched reluctance machines are being
researched. In most recent electrified vehicles, various configurations of machines are
popularly used including axial flux and radial flux permanent magnet synchronous machines,
switched reluctance machines, synchronous reluctance machines, flux switching machines,
hybrid and PM assisted machines. Under the synchronous machines category, salient pole
synchronous machines are typically used in power generation, and are not commercially used
for EV motors, though they have been applied in the past for different automotive applications.
Wound-field synchronous machines have been identified as potential candidates with the high
specific power required for electric vehicles.
1. DC motors: For the traditional DC commutator motors the control principle is much simple
because the in this case field mmf and armature mmf vectors are perpendicular to each

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 other. But the major problem with dc motors, due to the presence of the commutator and
brushes which makes them unsuitable for maintenance free operation and also less reliable.
2. Synchronous motors: The disadvantages of synchronous motors controlled in traditional
ways are they are not self-starting and possibility of rotor can suddenly fall out of
synchronism due to sudden load torque disturbances. This can be avoided in the permanent
magnet synchronous motor (PMSM). A PMSM or Brushless DC motor (BLDC) is an AC
machine, with a balanced three phase winding in the stator and a permanent magnet in the
rotor. There is no requirement of slip-rings, commutator and brushes, so it is maintenance
free and simple in construction and rotor do not carry any winding so no rotor copper loss
is there. In PMSM, there are no losses due to excitation which means high efficiency.
3. PMSMs: PMSMs have higher torque and output power per unit volume (power density)
than when we are using electromagnetic excitation in case of Permanent magnet less
machines [4]. By using V/f control of induction machine a large constant power speed range
(CPSR) cannot be obtained because the maximum torque decreases with the speed and at
a critical speed the breakdown torque is reached. Any attempt to operate the motor at the
maximum current beyond this speed will stall the motor. This is also the limit of constant
power operation. In EV traction motor drive application, where speed control in a wide
range is required and the torque demand in high-speed range is low, the control beyond the
constant power range is required. To prevent the torque from exceeding breakdown torque,
the machine is operated at constant slip speed and the machine current and power will start
decreasing. Whereas by using Interior PMSMs (IPMSMs) a large CPSR can be obtained
that makes it more suitable for electric vehicle application. IPMSM drives are controlled
by Maximum torque per ampere (MTPA) control at low speeds and a flux weakening
method at high speeds.
4. SRM: Switched reluctance motors (SRM) are also suitable for EV application for their less
cost, fault tolerance and rigid design. A very large CPSR can also be obtained with SRMs.
But the most crucial disadvantages of SRMs are high noise, vibrations and torque ripple.
● Disadvantages of PMSMs and induction motors: Rare-earth permanent magnets (PMs)
have been subject to market volatility and are largely single sourced from a foreign power.
Permanent magnets in EV traction interior permanent magnet synchronous motors (IPMSMs)
are a significant fraction of the cost and impose temperature limitations. Additionally, the PMs
provide a fixed flux level, therefore requiring additional current to be injected into the machine
during field weakening to buck the magnetic flux. This additional current sometimes lowers
the power factor of the machine, and the power factor at the stator terminals cannot be
controlled independently. Induction machines (IMs) must also draw reactive current from the
traction inverter to magnetize the machine leading to a lower power factor compared to
PMSMs.
● EV motor duty operation:
S1: Continuous duty, S2: Short time duty, S3: Intermittent periodic duty, S4: Intermittent
periodic duty with starting, S5: Intermittent periodic duty with regenerative braking, S6:
Continuous operation with intermittent load, S7: Continuous operation with electrical braking,
S8: Continuous operation with periodic changes in load and speed.
For S1 and S2 duty the motor size will be higher and for S3 and S7 duty the motor size will be
lower for same rated power.

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 Required torque-speed characteristics for any traction motor drive

● Induction machines:

Induction machine torque-speed characteristics

V/f control of induction motor: V/f control principle is to produce a circuit called voltage-
controller oscillator with oscillator frequency. It is a voltage-dependent capacitance, when
subjected to a change in voltage, its capacity will change, and then the change in capacity will
cause changes in the oscillation frequency, resulting in variable frequency. This controlled

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frequency is used to control the frequency of the output voltage, in order to achieve speed
changes of the controlled electric motors.

Block diagram of V/f control

Slip-frequency control of induction motor:

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Vector control technique: The electromagnetic torque equation of an induction machine can
be expressed as,
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Tem_IM = 4 PIM (λds_im iqs_iM − λqs_im ids_iM )

Here, PIM = Number of poles

The Instantaneous electromagnetic torque equation depends on the d and q axes flux linkages
and currents. Therefore, the torque can be maximized by forcing the q axis rotor flux to zero,
and the q axis stator current is maximum at any operating conditions. Thus, the instantaneous
electromagnetic torque is only related to the function of stator and rotor MMF, in other words,
indirectly, the rotor MMF is directly proportional to the stator d-axis current, and the modified
fast electromagnetic torque equation looks like,

3 Lm
Tem_modified = 4 PIM ∗ (λdr_im iqs_im )
Lr

In this method, by controlling iqs_im we can control the torque.