Impact of Soft Magnetic Composite Materials for Traction Applications

This paper focuses on analyzing the impact of the magnetic properties of Soft Magnetic Composites (SMC) on the performance of electric motors for traction applications. A sensitivity analysis is done to select the parameters for the SMC stator. This paper presents a comparison of the SMC stator with a laminated stator design which is designed to fit into the same frame. The core loss of an SMC material is tested using a toroidal measurement setup. State-of-the-art Honda Accord motor is benchmarked with laminated and SMC stator to prove the advantages of SMC material at higher frequencies. Three different SMC materials are compared for the same machine specification. Eddy current loss density is plotted using 3D FEA analysis for all three different materials. Efficiency maps are presented for the three designs for a maximum speed range of 10000 rpm. Higher pole designs such as 24-slot/16-pole and 36-slot/30-pole has been designed and analyzed with laminated stator and SMC stator design to prove the effectiveness of the SMC material at elevated frequencies. The SMC stator is designed with a 3D flux carrying capability to improve the torque density by eliminating the end winding. The tooth body length of SMC stator is varied from 36 mm to 56 mm to analyze the performance of the motor. Nodal force and mechanical stress is calculated for the final SMC stator design with and without fillet. The manufacturing steps of the SMC stator is presented for the final design. Finally, the experimental results are presented with FEA results for the SMC motor.