Optimal Design of TEFC Induction Machine and Experimental Prototype Testing for City Battery Electric Vehicle

This article presents the optimal design and experimental prototype testing of a low-cost motor applied for a city battery electric vehicle, zero emission A-segment. Respecting the car performance specifications, the aluminum cage rotor induction machine is designed to reduce motor cost using totally enclosed fan-cooled technology and a commercial speed encoder of internal combustion engine. An optimization approach and finite elements analysis validation are coupled with thermal calculations and used to size the thermo-electromagnetic parts of the machine. The prototype is manufactured with full instrumentation. During the experiments, an indirect flux-oriented control model is built based on simulations in MATLAB/Simulink environment. Using this real time control platform, the motor control is calibrated on the prototype in test-bench, to ensure the optimum energy consumption and the current and speed regulations in the entire large operating range. Finally, the experimental prototype testing results are shared to show the ideal design solution in term of peak performances, efficiency, thermal and noise, vibration, and harshness behaviors.