Comparative Thermal Analysis of IPMSMs With Integral-Slot Distributed-Winding (ISDW) and Fractional-Slot Concentrated-Winding (FSCW) for Electric Vehicle Application

Fractional-slot concentrated-winding (FSCW) interior permanent magnet synchronous motors (IPMSMs) have been attracting considerable attention due to their high power density, high efficiency, short end winding, high slot fill factor, low cogging torque, excellent flux-weakening, and fault tolerance capability. However, compared to integral-slot distributed-winding (ISDW) IPMSMs, the key challenge of using FSCW configurations is the significant rotor losses, particularly at high speed. To figure out the IPMSM with which winding configuration is more suitable for electric vehicle (EV) application, the thermal behaviors of four IPMSMs with ISDW, single-, double-, and four-layer FSCWs are comprehensively and comparatively investigated in this paper. First, electromagnetic design and loss analysis of the four IPMSMs are investigated to meet the EV traction motor requirements. Second, finite-element method is employed to investigate the thermal performance of the IPMSMs under different rotational speeds and torque overload capacities. Thirdly, experiments implemented on an ISDW prototype are carried out to validate the presented analysis method. Finally, some conclusions are drawn for a suitable winding configuration selection and the PM traction motor design.