This paper presents a critical review of the drivelines in all-electric vehicles (EVs). The motor topologies that are the best candidates to be used in EVs are presented. The advantages and disadvantages of each electric motor type are discussed from a system perspective. A survey of the electric motors used in commercial EVs is presented. The survey shows that car manufacturers are very conservative when it comes to introducing new technologies. Most of the EVs on the market mount a single induction or permanent-magnet (PM) motor with a traditional mechanic driveline with a differential. This paper illustrates that comparisons between the different motors are difficult by the large number of parameters and the lack of a recommended test scheme. The authors propose that a standardized drive cycle be used to test and compare motors.

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Electrical Motor Drivelines in Commercial All-Electric Vehicles: A Review

This paper presents a technical overview for low-noise switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives in electric vehicle (EV) applications. With ever-increasing concerns over environmental and cost issues associated with permanent magnet machines, there is a technical trend to utilize SRMs in some mass production markets. The SRM is gaining much interest for EVs due to its rare-earth-free characteristic and excellent performance. In spite of many advantages compared with conventional adjustable-speed drives, SRMs suffer from torque ripple and radial distortion (and thus noise and vibration) by their nature. Therefore, for high-performance vehicle applications, it is important and urgent to optimize the SRM system to overcome the drawbacks of the noise and vibration. In order to present clear solutions to the acoustic noise in SRMs, this paper starts by analyzing the mechanism of the radial vibration and torque ripples inherent in the motors, and then focuses on the state-of-the-art technologies to mitigate the radial force and torque ripples. It highlights two categories for low-noise SRMs, including the machine topology improvement and control strategy design for radial vibration mitigation and torque ripple reduction. Advanced technologies are reviewed, classified, and compared accordingly. In addition to these methodologies, the schemes that have been developed by authors are also presented and discussed. Finally, the research status on this topic is summarized and forecast research hotspots are presented. It is our intention that this paper provides the guidance on performance improvements for low-noise SRM drives in EV applications.

A Review on Machine Topologies and Control Techniques for Low-Noise Switched Reluctance Motors in Electric Vehicle Applications

This paper describes four main fault types of the asymmetric bridge power converter in switched reluctance motor drive on power transistors. Two on-line fault diagnosis methods for power transistors in the power converter are proposed. The principle of the proposed diagnosis methods is to detect the real-time current state from some particular positions, and then obtain the diagnosis result and the fault location by logical judgment. One fault diagnosis method is proposed using single current sensor monitoring the chopped bus current; the other method is using dual current sensors scheme monitoring the upper freewheeling bus current and excitation bus current. The simulation results of current states from certain positions of a three-phase 12/8 motor and its power converter are analyzed. Experiments have verified the effectiveness of the proposed fault diagnosis methods. It is shown that the dual current sensors scheme monitoring the upper freewheeling bus current and excitation bus current has the fastest fault response.

Fault Diagnosis Digital Method for Power Transistors in Power Converters of Switched Reluctance Motors

This paper proposes a modular multilevel converter (MMC) based switched reluctance motor (SRM) drive with decentralized battery energy storage system for hybrid electric vehicle applications. In the proposed drive, a battery cell and a half-bridge converter is connected as a submodule (SM), and multiple SMs are connected together for the MMC. The modular full-bridge converter is employed to drive the motor. Flexible charging and discharging functions for each SM are obtained by controlling switches in SMs. Multiple working modes and functions are achieved. Compared to conventional and existing SRM drives, there are several advantages for the proposed topology. A lower dc-bus voltage can be flexibly achieved by selecting SM operation states, which can dramatically reduce the voltage stress on the switches. Multilevel phase voltage is obtained to improve the torque capability. Battery state-of-charge balance can be achieved by independently controlling each SM. Flexible fault-tolerance ability for battery cells is equipped. The battery can be flexibly charged under both running and standstill conditions. Furthermore, a completely modular structure is achieved by using standard half-bridge modules, which is beneficial for market mass production. Experiments carried out on a three-phase 12/8 SRM confirm the effectiveness of the proposed SRM drive.

MMC-Based SRM Drives With Decentralized Battery Energy Storage System for Hybrid Electric Vehicles

This paper investigates the design principles and performance optimization for segmented-rotor switched reluctance motors (SRSRMs) with different rotor pole numbers for belt-driven starter generators of hybrid electric vehicles. For the design principles, several constraints are derived for the numbers of stator and rotor poles, the dimensions, and the number of winding turns. Two SRSRMs with 16/10 and 16/14 stator/rotor poles are presented according to these principles. For the performance optimization, the two motors are optimized individually for maximizing the torque. To evaluate the effect of different segmented-rotor numbers, the overall performances of the two SRSRMs are investigated and compared. It is found that the 16/14 SRSRM has higher flux linkage and static torque. The 16/14 SRSRM exhibits higher torque and lower torque ripple at low speed operation, whereas at high speed, the 16/10 SRSRM performs better in terms of torque and power densities. Compared with the 16/14 SRSRM, the 16/10 SRSRM has higher final steady speed under the same startup condition. The 16/10 SRSRM can achieve higher steady speed under starter mode and provide higher generated power under braking mode. Moreover, the 16/10 SRSRM exhibits higher efficiency in the most feasible speed range, especially in high speed range, and it has wider high-efficiency area. Finally, a 16/10 SRSRM is prototyped and tested to validate the simulation results.

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Study on Segmented-Rotor Switched Reluctance Motors With Different Rotor Pole Numbers for BSG System of Hybrid Electric Vehicles

This paper presents two three-phase switched reluctance machine systems. One is the dual motors drive for the electric locomotive traction; the other is the variable-speed generator system for wind power applications. The principles of the switched reluctance machine system operated at four quadrants, the scheme of the symmetrical traction at quadrant I and quadrant III, and the scheme of the symmetrical regenerative braking control at quadrant II and quadrant IV, are given. The transient phase current analysis and the energy analysis of the switched reluctance machine system at the operational state of braking or generating are evaluated, and the rotor position and the peak value of the phase current at three different conditions are given. The closed-loop rotor speed control of the main motor, synchronization of the rotor speed, and balance distribution of loads between the main motor and the subordinate motor have been implemented by the fuzzy logic algorithm. The closed-loop output power control of the switched reluctance wind power generator system implemented by regulating the turn-on angle of the main switches with fuzzy logic algorithm and fixed turn-off angle of the main switches is also presented. The major components of the two prototypes are explained in detail. The experimental results of the dual 7.5-kW three-phase 6/4 structure switched reluctance motors (SRMs) parallel drive system prototype are included. It is shown that the maximum difference in the output torque of the two motors at the same given rotor speeds is within 10.00% and the maximum difference in the practical rotor speed of the two motors is within 5.00%. The tested results of three-phase 12/8 structure switched reluctance variable-speed wind power generator system show that the error of the closed-loop output power control is within 2.2%, while the rotor speed range is close to the ratio of 1:3 with the low rotor speed 405 r/min. The average dc line current of the power converter can be utilized as a feedback signal for the actual output torque of SRM drive or a feedback signal for the actual output power of switched reluctance generator system.

Hao Chen

Papers

Implementation of the Three-Phase Switched Reluctance Machine System for Motors and Generators