Applied Energy 253 (2019) 113549

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Systematic multi-level optimization design and dynamic control of less-rare- T

earth hybrid permanent magnet motor for all-climatic electric vehicles
⁎
Xiaoyong Zhua, , Deyang Fana, Zixuan Xianga, Li Quana, Wei Huab, Ming Chengb
a
School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, People’s Republic of China
b
School of Electrical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

H I GH L IG H T S

• Systematic optimization design and dynamic control are established for EVs.
• Comprehensive optimization of less-rare-earth PM motor is carried out.
• MOGA and RS method are both employed to realize the optimal motor design.
• Resonance compensation method is utilized to suppress torque and speed vibration.
• A motor test platform is built to verify proposed optimization strategy and motor.

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Motors that convert electrical energy to mechanical energy, have been considered as one of the most crucial
Systematic multi-level optimization components of all-climatic electric vehicles (EVs). In order to realize high-quality energy conversion, motor
Stator permanent magnet motor optimization has attracted considerable attention in the research field of motors. In this paper, systematic multi-
Less-rare-earth level optimization design and dynamic control strategy is proposed for a less-rare-earth hybrid permanent
All-climatic electric vehicles
magnet (LRE-HPM) motor. In the proposed systematic optimization strategy, the design requirements of the
Torque ripple
Energy conversion
motor design level and control level are considered comprehensively. In the motor design level, the compre-
hensive sensitivity analysis is adopted to stratify design parameters, and the response surface method and multi-
objective genetic algorithm are implemented respectively. In the motor control level, the resonance compen-
sation strategy is established to further suppress torque ripple and speed vibration. Finally, a prototype motor is
built and tested. Both simulation and experimental results not only verify the effectiveness of the proposed
systematic optimization and dynamic control strategy, but also offer a research orientation for realizing high-
quality energy conversion of all-climatic EVs.

1. Introduction functions to realize the energy conversion between electrical energy

and mechanical energy, the quality of energy conversion of motors
Recently, with the rapid development and worldwide promotion of usually determines the overall performances of motors [5]. Hence, it
electric vehicles (EVs), the environmental adaptation issues of EVs have means that the optimization design of driving motors is the key to
aroused considerable attention, e.g. the performance of EVs batteries realize the high-quality operation of all-climatic EVs [6]. However, it is
would degrade to large extent under low-temperature environment noted that traditional motor optimization methods can hardly apply to
[1,2]. Thus, the research of all-climatic EVs has attracted increasing the optimization design of motors of all-climatic vehicles directly, since
attention of worldwide automobile manufacturers and researchers. Al- traditional motor optimization mainly relies on the existing motor op-
though batteries technology which offers electric energy is the foun- timization experience and the design requirements can hardly be sa-
dation for EVs to realize the all-climatic operation, motors which con- tisfied comprehensively [7,8]. Consequently, in the research field of all-
vert electrical energy to mechanical energy is also the core component climatic EVs, it has been a hot but challenging issue on how to realize
of electrical propulsion system, especially when the batteries tech- the comprehensive and efficient optimization design for driving motors
nology still requires significant breakthroughs [3,4]. Since motors [9].

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zxyff@ujs.edu.cn (X. Zhu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.113549
Received 17 April 2019; Received in revised form 8 June 2019; Accepted 13 July 2019
Available online 29 July 2019
0306-2619/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
X. Zhu, et al. Applied Energy 253 (2019) 113549

Nomenclature wk resonant frequency

fT output torque of motor
P1 output power of motor frip torque ripple of motor
Dso outer stator diameter of motor βdemag demagnetization coefficient
la Stack length of motor J current density of motor
kd flux leakage factor of motor kpf winding filling factor of motor
ks skew slot factor of motor η motor efficiency
As line load of motor cs pole arc coefficient of stator teeth of motor
Bg maximum value of airgap flux density of motor dFe thickness of ferrite PM
n rated speed of motor wRe width of rare-earth PM
wFe width of ferrite PM wrt width of rotor tooth
dRe thickness of rare-earth PM Ld, Lq D-axis and q-axis inductance
wst width of stator tooth id, iq D-axis and q-axis current
Tcog cogging toque of motor Bm friction coefficient of motor
TL load torque of motor Jm inertia of motor
ωm angular velocity of rotor wc cut-off frequency
kr resonant coefficient Pr pole pairs of motor

The optimization design of motors has undergone a period of fast influence on the entire performances of the motor drive system. So, the
development [10,11]. From the perspective of optimization objectives, multi-objective optimization design is more essential and popular in the
motor optimization can be classified into two types, namely, single- research field of motor optimization. On one hand, in motor design
objective optimization design and multi-objective optimization design, level, some or all of popular design requirements, such as higher torque,
as shown in Fig. 1(a). For the single-objective optimization design, lower cogging torque, lower torque ripple, higher efficiency, less speed
there is only one optimization objective to be optimized. In Ref. [12], vibration, and lighter motor weight, are selected as the optimization
only the cogging torque is selected as the design objective and obtains objectives for achieving the multi-objective optimization design [13].
the optimal value successfully. It is observed that, although the single- On the other hand, for motor control level, the multi-objective opti-
objective optimization design can often realize one excellent perfor- mization is employed to realize the higher robustness and better quality
mance, some other key motor performances are often ignored or even of the steady-state and dynamic control of permanent magnet syn-
deteriorated during the optimization process. It may have a negative chronous motors [14]. Yet, it can be observed that all the above-

Fig. 1. Classification of motor optimization design. (a) Traditional component level optimization. (b) Systematic multi-level optimization.

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X. Zhu, et al. Applied Energy 253 (2019) 113549

mentioned optimization design belongs to component-level optimiza- PM motors, the less-rare-earth PM motor is selected as the optimi-
tion. It means that the existing optimization studies are mainly focused zation example, which is aimed at demonstrating the necessity and
on either motor design level or motor control level, while the system- the significance of motor optimization for achieving high-quality
level optimization study is seldom involved. energy conversion operation of all-climatic EVs.
Generally, the component-level optimization design may be rea- (3) In order to improve the quality of energy conversion of less-rare-
sonable for some traditional motors and their drive systems, where earth PM motors comprehensively, torque output, torque ripple,
there is much design experience that can be referred to and adopted and motor demagnetization withstand capability of less-rare-earth
[15–17]. Yet, extensive research practice indicates that the optimal PM motors are purposely selected as optimization objectives during
system performance needs to be pursued during the optimization design the optimization process.
process, rather than the optimal components performances. It is mainly
because just assembling individually optimized components into a The remainder of the paper is constituted as follows: The detailed
motor system cannot guarantee optimal system performance [18,19]. process of systematic multi-level optimization strategy is presented in
So, in order to realize the desirable design requirements of whole motor Section 2. To verify the reasonability and the effectiveness of the sys-
drive systems, it is necessary and meaningful for the motor and their tematic optimization strategy, by incorporating the concept of less-rare-
control system to be designed and optimized at the systematic level. earth PM into to stator PM motors, the less-rare-earth hybrid permanent
Consequently, it has been a new highlight on, how to realize systematic magnet (LRE-HPM) motor is selected as the research example to im-
optimization design and control of PM motors more comprehensively prove the quality of energy conversion in Section 3. In Section 4, the
and effectively, in the research field of PM motors [20]. systematic optimization in the motor design level is implemented to
This paper proposes a systematic multi-level optimization design obtain relatively high output torque, relatively low torque ripple, and
and dynamic control for less-rare-earth PM motors, in which the design desirable anti-demagnetization capability. Then, in Section 5, to further
requirements of both motor design level and motor control level are reduce the torque ripple and speed vibration, the resonance compen-
considered comprehensively, as shown in Fig. 1(b). Three main con- sation strategy is carried out in the systematic optimization in the motor
tributions of this paper can be summarized in the following. control level. Furthermore, experimental validation is demonstrated in
Section 6. Finally, conclusions are drawn in Section 7. Both the theo-
(1) A comprehensive system-level optimization strategy covering the retical analysis and the experimental results not only verify the rea-
design requirements both of motor design level and motor control sonability of the LRE-HPM motor, but also prove the effectiveness of the
level is proposed, which is required for the design optimization of proposed systematic multi-level optimization design and dynamic
high-quality PM motor drive system of all-climatic EVs. control strategy, which offers a research path for realizing high-quality
(2) Due to the unstable supply chain and fluctuating price of rare-earth energy conversion of all-climatic EVs.

Fig. 2. Concept framework of systematic multi-level optimization design and dynamic control for motor drive systems.

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X. Zhu, et al. Applied Energy 253 (2019) 113549

high-quality energy conversion operation of all-climatic EVs, a rea-

sonable PM example motor needs to be selected first.
Recently, with the rapid development of permanent magnet (PM)
motors, stator PM motors, as a new member of PM motors, have be-
come promising candidates in many application fields, including
doubly salient PM motors [21], flux reversal PM motors [22], and flux
switching PM motors [23]. It is mainly due to the merits of a simple and
robust rotor, relatively high torque/power density, and easy thermal
management potential [24]. And different kind of stator PM motors
exhibits merits in different aspects. Furthermore, due to the unstable
supply chain and the fluctuating price of rare-earth PM material, less-
rare-earth PM motors have also drawn much attention [25,26]. By in-
corporating the concept of less-rare-earth PM motors into stator PM
motors, less-rare-earth hybrid permanent magnet (LRE-HPM) motor is
proposed as an optimization example. It is noted that the torque ripple
of the investigated LRE-HPM motor is relatively large due to the
adoption of the doubly salient structure [27]. So, a systematic multi-
level optimization is preferable to be conducted in both motor design
Fig. 3. The configuration of the investigated LRE-HPM motor.
level and control level for the selected motor, which contribute to
realizing the high-quality energy conversion of EVs.
2. Systematic multi-level optimization strategy Fig. 3 shows the configuration of the investigated 3-phase 12-slot/
10-pole LRE-HPM motor. In this investigated motor, two kinds of PM
In this paper, in order to realize the high-quality energy conversion material (ferrite PM and NdFeB) both serve as the magnetic sources. It
of all-climatic EVs, the systematic optimization design and control of can be seen that four little pieces of NdFeB are mounted on the surface
motors is proposed. Compared with conventional optimization, the of the designated rotor tooth. Also, to make full use of stator yoke space
design requirements of motor design level and motor control level can and provide relatively more magnetomotive force, ferrite PM material
be considered comprehensively in the proposed systematic optimiza- is purposely embedded in the stator yoke. Furthermore, as can be seen,
tion multi-level optimization strategy. In the proposed systematic multi- the ferrite PMs are tangentially magnetized, while NdFeBs are radially
level optimization strategy, the cooperation of motor design and motor magnetized, and the magnetization directions of adjacent two ferrite
control is required to be considered. For better presentation, Fig. 2 PMs or NdFeB are opposite. Due to the special magnetization directions
shows the concept framework of the system-level optimization strategy. of the two PM materials, the flux concentration effect can be achieved
As can be seen that, by arranging optimization objectives reasonably to obtain a relatively high torque output capability. In addition, three-
and comprehensively, the motor is optimized first in motor design level phase armature windings are wound around stator teeth. Since arma-
to obtain the optimal design parameters, then the motor performances ture windings and PM sources are all located in stator, thus resulting a
are further optimized in motor control level. For better clarification, the simple and robust rotor.
detailed system-level optimization process is introduced as follows:
Firstly, according to application backgrounds of EVs, the system-
3.2. Dimension equation
level design requirements of motors are determined and the optimiza-
tion objectives are arranged for motor design level and motor control
During the initial design stage of the LRE-HPM motor, it is very
level reasonably and comprehensively.
necessary to determine the initial dimensions of some key motor design
For the motor design level, based on the design requirements, a
parameters. Since the investigated LRE-HPM motor belongs to the
reasonable and appropriate motor type is selected. Then, initial design
stator PM motors, the dimension equation of the LRE-HPM motor is
parameters are determined based on corresponding design theory and
based on the design theory of stator PM motors [28], which is given by
design experience of such kind of motors. Furthermore, the multi-ob-
jective optimization is carried out in the motor design level to obtain P1
Dso2 la =
the optimal design. 2 π3
k k
144 d s s g
A B ncs η (1)
For motor control level, firstly, the motor control type and control
strategy are selected based on the motor performance in motor design where P1 is the output power, Dso is the outer stator diameter, la is the
level. Then, the initial control parameters are determined based on the stack length, kd is the flux leakage factor, ks is the skew slot factor, As is
theory of corresponding control strategy. Furthermore, based on the the line load, Bg is the maximum value of the airgap flux density, n is
selected optimization objectives in motor control level, the control the rated speed, cs is the pole arc coefficient of stator teeth, η is the
optimization model is built and the optimal control parameters can be motor efficiency. Table 1 shows the initial design parameters of the
derived. Finally, both simulation and experiments are carried out to LRE-HPM motor. As can be seen, Table 1 is made up of two parts,
verify the effectiveness of the systematic multi-level optimization de-
sign and dynamic control strategy. Table 1
Hence, by the proposed systematic multi-level optimization Initial design parameters of LRE-HPM motor.
strategy, the design requirements of motor design level and motor Items Values Items Values
control level can be satisfied comprehensively.
Rated power 2.5 kW Skew coefficient 0.95
Rated speed 1500 r/min Stator teeth width 13.7 mm
3. Motor design example Rated current 40 A Stator yoke thickness 13.7 mm
Rated torque 15.9 Nm Air-gap length 0.5 mm
3.1. Selection of candidate motor Stator outer radius 94 mm Rotor outer radius 52 mm
Stator inner radius 52.5 mm Rotor inner radius 20 mm
Stack length 75 mm Rotor yoke radius 15 mm
In this section, in order to investigate the effectiveness of the pro-
Turns per phase 100 Thickness of NdFeB 3.2 mm
posed systematic multi-level optimization design and dynamic control Skew angle 6 deg Thickness of ferrite PM 16.3 mm
and demonstrate the significance of motor optimization for achieving

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X. Zhu, et al. Applied Energy 253 (2019) 113549

including rated motor parameters and initial motor design parameters. 4. Systematic optimization in motor level
The rated motor parameters include rated power, rated speed, rated
current, and rated torque. Based on the design requirements of afore- Since the initial design parameters are determined, the systematic
mentioned rated motor parameters and design theory of relevant mo- multi-level optimization design and dynamic control are carried out to
tors, the initial motor design parameters can be obtained, which lays a obtain the optimal design of the investigated LRE-HPM motor. Fig. 4
foundation for the optimization design and control of the LRE-HPM shows the flowchart of the systematic multi-level optimization in motor
motor. design level. According to the flowchart, firstly, the optimization model
in motor design level is established, in which the optimization objec-
tives, design variables, and constraints are involved. Then, based on the

Fig. 4. Flowchart of the optimization design in motor design level.

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X. Zhu, et al. Applied Energy 253 (2019) 113549

results of comprehensive sensitivity analysis, the design variables are 4.2. Design parameters stratification for optimization
stratified into two levels, high-sensitive parameters (HSP) and less-
sensitive parameters (LSP). Furthermore, the response surface (RS) Fig. 5 shows the parametric geometric structure of the LRE-HPM
method is applied to HSP, thus the variation range of HSP is further motor. As can be seen, six key design parameters are selected to be
refined. And, meanwhile the value of design parameters which are optimized. And, the corresponding variation ranges and initial values of
particularly sensitive to the motor performance are also obtained. Then, these parameters are listed in Table 3.
the multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) is implemented for HSP Since the structure of the LRE-HPM motor is relatively complicated
and LSP. For LSP, the parameters of MOGA are set conventionally. and there exists a large number of design variables, the influence of
While for the HSP whose variation range is improved after the RS design variables on optimization objectives is different. Consequently,
method, by purposely adjusting the corresponding parameters of MOGA in order to investigate the influence of the design parameters on the
(like variable crossover probability), the optimal design point of HSP optimization objectives efficiently, the comprehensive sensitivity ana-
can be determined with high efficiency. Finally, the whole optimal lysis is adopted to stratify the design parameters [31].
design of the LRE-HPM motor is obtained after the optimization in To explicitly reflect the influence of different design variables on
motor design level. design objectives, the sensitivity index is introduced [32]. And the
→
corresponding sensitivity index S (Xi ) can be given by
→
4.1. Optimization objectives and optimization model → Δf (Xi ) →
f (Xi )
S (Xi ) = →
ΔXi →
Xi → →
For the LRE-HPM motor, in order to realize high-quality energy X = Xi (4)
conversion, according to the design requirements of EVs, torque output → →
→ where Xi is the design variable, f(Xi) represents optimization objective.
capability fT (Xi ) is required to be maintained at competitive level,
→ According to (4), the sensitivity indexes of different design variables
while the torque ripple frip (Xi ) needs to be limited below an acceptable
to optimization objectives can be calculated and the corresponding
→
degree for system reliability, where Xi is the vector of design variables results are shown in Table 4 and Fig. 6. It is noted that each design
of the LRE-HPM motor. Hence, the output torque and torque ripple are variable possesses different sensitivities on different optimization ob-
selected as optimization objectives. Also, since the coercivity of ferrite jectives.
PM is about one-third of that of NdFeB, it may result in high risk of Based on the results of comprehensive sensitivity analysis and the
irreversible demagnetization for the LRE-HPM motor and could influ- design experience of this kind of motors, 0.16 is selected as the
ence the energy conversion significantly [29,30]. So, the motor anti- threshold value of the sensitivity degree. When the sensitivity of design
demagnetization capability is also selected as one of the optimization variable is above 0.16, such design variables will be considered as high-
objectives. In order to quantitively illustrate the level of motor anti- sensitive parameters (HSP), which is bold in Table 4, and the rest of
→
demagnetization capability, the demagnetization coefficient βdemag (Xi ) is design parameters will be regarded as less-sensitive parameters (LSP). It
defined as can be observed from Table 5 that there are two design variables belong
to HSP and four design variables in the LSP. Thus, the dimensions of the
→ B optimization problem can be reduced and the optimization efficiency
βdemag (Xi ) = overload
Brated (2) can be improved.

where Brated is the average operating point of ferrite PM during rated

4.3. Optimization design and results
condition, while Boverload is the average operating point of ferrite PM
during overload condition. And, the amplitude of current during
For the design variables in HSP, in order to improve optimization
overload condition is twice that of the rated condition.
efficiency, the response surface (RS) method is utilized to fit for the
Consequently, based on the above analysis, the motor output
optimized region [33]. By the RS method, the three-dimensional re-
torque, torque ripple, and demagnetization coefficient are selected as
sponse-surface results of the LRE-HPM motor can be obtained, which
the optimization objectives. And, the multi-objective optimization
→ exhibits the interacting influences between different design objectives
model fobj (Xi ) is defined as follows:
and design parameters comprehensively [34], as can be seen in Fig. 7.
FT
Thus, the variation range of HSP is further improved and refined. And,
⎡ → ⎤ meanwhile the value of design parameters which are particularly sen-
→ ⎢ fT (Xi, c1 ) ⎥ βdemag
min: fobj (Xi ) = [ω1 ω2 ] ⎢ → ⎥ + ω3 → sitive to the motor performance are also obtained, which lays a solid
frip (Xi, c1 )
⎢ F ⎥ βdemag (Xi, c 2 ) foundation for the following multi-objective genetic algorithm
⎣ rip
⎦ (3)
(MOGA).
→ → In order to achieve the desirable performances of three optimization
where Xi, c1 and Xi, c 2 are the vectors of design variables of the LRE-HPM
objectives efficiently, the multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) is
motor under different operating conditions since output torque and
adopted for HSP and LSP [35]. Based on the characteristics of HSP and
torque ripple are obtained at rated condition, while the demagnetiza-
LSP, the parameters of MOGA are set respectively for improved HSP
tion coefficient is calculated at overload condition, FT, FPM and βdemag
after RS method and LSP purposely. Based on MOGA, the feasible de-
are the initial values of output torque, torque ripple and the de-
sign of LRE-HPM motor is shown in Fig. 8. As can be seen, there exists
magnetization coefficient of the LRE-HPM motor. ω1, ω2, and ω3 are the
weight coefficients of output torque, torque ripple, and demagnetiza-
Table 2
tion coefficient respectively. In this paper, considering the application
Boundary constraints.
background of less-rare-earth PM motors, the output torque is the most
important to satisfy the requirements. Therefore, ω1 is set as 0.6, which Design variables Variation range
is higher than the other two weight factors. In addition, to improve Output torque fT fT ≥ 15 Nm
system stability and comfort, low torque ripple and high anti-de- Demagnetization coefficient βdemag βdemag ≥ 0.8
magnetization capability are also required to be taken into full con- Torque ripple frip frip ≤ 25%
sideration, ω2 and ω3 are set as 0.2. In addition, the boundary con- Current density J 5 A/mm2 ≤ J ≤ 8 A/mm2
Winding filling factor kpf kpf ≤ 80%
straints of optimization objectives are shown in Table 2.

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X. Zhu, et al. Applied Energy 253 (2019) 113549

experience of this kind of motors, the THD of back-EMF of candidate

designs are compared [36]. Thus, the optimal design of LRE-HPM motor
can be determined. Finally, based on the optimization results, three
optimization objectives (bold) and key design variables of LRE-HPM
motor are listed in Table 6.

4.4. Performance evaluation

In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of systematic optimization

in the motor design level, electromagnetic performances are analyzed
by time-stepping finite element analysis (FEA). The no-load back-EMF
waveform of the LRE-HPM motor before and after optimization is
Fig. 5. Parametric geometric structure of the LRE-HPM motor. shown in Fig. 9(a). Then, by conducting the fast Fourier transform
(FFT) analysis on the back-EMF waveform, the corresponding FFT
Table 3 analysis results are obtained, as shown in Fig. 9(b). It is observed that
Initial value and variations range of design variables. the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the LRE-HPM motor is about
5.4% after optimization. Therefore, it is indicated that the proposed
Design variables Variation range Initial value
LRE-HPM motor possesses a symmetrical and sinusoidal back-EMF,
Thickness of ferrite PM dFe [10 deg, 13 deg] 10.4 deg which is suitable for BLAC control.
Width of ferrite PM wFe [9.8 mm, 12 mm] 10.8 mm In addition to basic no-load electromagnetic characteristics of the
Width of rare-earth PM wRe [13.5 deg, 16.5 deg] 15 deg LRE-HPM motor, the torque performances are also investigated. Fig. 10
Thickness of rare-earth PM dRe [2.5 mm, 3.5 mm] 3 mm
shows the torque current waveform when the current value of 40A is
Width of rotor tooth wrt [15 deg, 18 deg] 16.6 deg
Width of stator tooth wst [13.5 deg, 16.5 deg] 15 deg injected into the armature windings. It is observed that the average
torque of the LRE-HPM motor is about 17.8Nm the torque ripple of the
motor is about 14.4%. It is observed that motor torque ripple is reduced
Table 4 significantly after the optimization in the motor design level. However,
Sensitive indexes of LRE-HPM motor. the motor torque ripple is still relatively high and cannot be ignored.
Design variables Optimization objectives Comprehensive sensitivity
Thus, the torque ripple of investigated LRE-HPM motor is required to be
further reduced in the motor control level.
fT frip βdemag In order to investigate the demagnetization characteristics of accu-
rately and comprehensively, two typical points in ferrite PM and two
dFe 0.0352 0.101 0.744 0.190
wFe 0.0467 0.187 −0.394 0.144
representative points in NdFeB are selected to investigate respectively,
dRe 0.0371 −0.263 −0.205 0.116 as shown in Fig. 11. Then, the simulation results are post-processed to
wRe 0.0741 −0.146 −0.235 0.121 plot the flux density at each selected node along the magnetized di-
wrt −0.0932 0.622 0.00057 0.181 rection. According to the B-H curve of ferrite PM, the nodes are iden-
wst 0.0337 0.321 0.427 0.149
tified to be irreversible demagnetized when nodal flux density reduces
to less than 0.2 T. The operating points of the investigated points are
shown in Fig. 12. For better presentation, the operating points of ferrite
PM and NdFeB in the B-H curve are shown in Fig. 13. As can be seen,
the flux density ferrite PM is about 0.3 T. It is indicated that the anti-
demagnetization capability is improved after the optimization in the
motor design level. Also, since the adjustment of motor control para-
meters usually would not affect the anti-demagnetization capability of
motors, it can be verified that the proposed LRE-HPM motor possesses
relatively strong anti-demagnetization capability.
Furthermore, since the investigated motor is intended to realize the
high-quality energy conversion of EVs, the investigation on the char-
acteristics of torque and efficiency with the variation of the speed is
indispensable Fig. 14 depicts the torque-speed curve and the efficiency-
speed curve of the LRE-HPM motor. As can be seen, the motor efficiency
can reach 92.1% during the rated speed and the motor speed range is
Fig. 6. Sensitivity analysis results of design variables of LRE-HPM motor. relatively wide. Consequently, it is indicated that the LRE-HPM motor
satisfies the design requirements after the system-level optimization
and can realize the high-quality energy conversion of EVs.
Table 5
Parameters stratification results.
5. Systematic optimization in control level
Parameters stratification Design variables
During the optimization in the motor design level, it is observed that
High sensitive parameters (HSP) dFe, wrt
Less sensitive parameters (LSP) dRe, wRe, wFe, wst the output torque has improved effectively and the risk of irreversible
demagnetization is reduced significantly. However, it is noted that,
during the optimization process, the motor torque ripple is compro-
some candidates designs, and these feasible candidate designs can sa- mised to achieve better output torque and enhanced anti-demagneti-
tisfy the design requirements. However, considering the potential ap- zation capability. Also, due to the inherent doubly salient structure of
plication background of EVs, the investigated LRE-HPM motor are ex- the LRE-HPM motor, the torque ripple is still relatively large, which
pected to exhibit the merits of relatively sinusoidal back-EMF, which is influences the quality of energy conversion. Hence, it is essential for the
suitable for BLAC control and produce reduced loss. Based on the design torque ripple of the LRE-HPM motor to be further optimized in the

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X. Zhu, et al. Applied Energy 253 (2019) 113549

0.22
17.5
17.5 0.22

16.5 0.18 0.18

fT (Nm)
16.5

frip
15.5 0.14
15.5 0.14
14.5 0.1
18 13
17 13 12 18
12 17
16 11 16 0.1
11 14.5
15 10 10 15
(a) (b)

0.88
0.9

0.86
ȕdemag

0.85
0.84

0.8 0.82
18
17 13
12
16 11 0.8
15 10
(c)
Fig. 7. Response surface analysis of wrt and dFe of the LRE-HPM motor.

3
Te = TPM + Tr + Tcog = Pr ψ iq + (Ld − Lq) id iq + Tcog
2 m (5)

where id and iq is the d-axis and q-axis current of motor respectively, Ld

and Lq are the d-axis and q-axis inductance of motor respectively, Te is
electromagnetic torque, TPM is the permanent magnet torque,
Since the d-axis inductance Ld is approximately the same as the q-
axis inductance Lq in the LRE-HPM motor, the motor magnetic re-
luctance torque is relatively very little, thus the motor torque ripple is
mainly composed of the cogging torque. It means that the torque ripple
can reflect the characteristics of cogging torque, and the torque ripple is
regarded as one of the optimization objectives in this paper.
Recently, some control strategies have been proposed to suppress
the influence of cogging torque. In Ref. [38], a harmonic current in-
Fig. 8. The optimization results of the LRE-HPM motor by MOGA. jection method is employed to reduce the torque ripple obviously under
normal operation, and such method is further improved in [39] to
realize the torque ripple reduction under fault operation. It is indicated
Table 6
from the above references that the compensating torque is often gen-
Optimization results in motor design level.
erated to compensate the cogging torque, which can effectively sup-
Items Initial value Optimal value press the motor torque ripple. Thus, in order to produce the compen-
sating torque more accurately and compensate the cogging torque more
dFe 10.4 deg 11.5 deg
wFe 10.8 mm 11.8 mm
effectively, it is necessary to investigate the cogging torque character-
dRe 15 deg 15.2 deg istics of the LRE-HPM motor in detail.
wRe 3 mm 3.2 mm For the investigated LRE-HPM motor, the cogging torque is mainly
wrt 16.6 deg 17.5 deg caused by the interaction of PMs and iron steels due to the doubly
wst 15 deg 14.2 deg
salient structure. And, the waveform of the cogging torque Tcog is
fT 14.7 Nm 17.8 Nm
frip 37.3% 14.4% analyzed, as shown in Fig. 15(a). Then, by conducting the fast Fourier
βdemag 0.72 0.86 transform (FFT) method on the cogging torque, the FFT analysis results
can be obtained in Fig. 15(b). It can be seen that the cogging torque of
the LRE-HPM motor is periodically changed, and mainly consists of the
motor control level. 2nd harmonic. Therefore, the expression of cogging torque for the in-
vestigated LRE-HPM motor can be expressed as

5.1. Optimization model Tcog = Tc 2 sin(2Pr θr + θc 2) (6)

where Tc2 is the amplitude of the 2nd harmonic, θr is the rotor position
For the investigated LRE-HPM motor, the torque characteristics of
angle, θc2 is the phase angle of the 2nd harmonic, Pr is the pole pairs of
the LRE-HPM motor is presented in (5) [37].
motor.

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X. Zhu, et al. Applied Energy 253 (2019) 113549

Fig. 9. No-load back-EMF waveform and corresponding FFT results of the LRE-HPM motor. (a) Back-EMF waveform. (b) FFT results.

Fig. 10. Steady torque and phase currents of the LRE-HPM motor in motor
design level.

Fig. 13. The operating points of NdFeB and ferrite PM.

Fig. 11. Investigated points in ferrite PM and NdFeB.

Fig. 14. The torque-speed curve and the efficiency-speed curve of the LRE-HPM
motor.

friction coefficient, ωm is angular velocity of rotor, Tcog is cogging

torque, and Jm is the inertia of the LRE-HPM motor. By substituting the
expression (6) into (7), the dynamic characteristics of the motor can be
further deduced as

dωm T − TL − Bm ωm T sin(2Pr θr + θc 2)
= PM + c2
dt Jm Jm (8)
Fig. 12. Flux density variations of different investigated points.

As can be seen, since cogging torque mainly consists of 2nd har-

Furthermore, in order to further investigate the influence of cogging monics, it means that cogging torque and corresponding torque ripple
torque on the driving performances of LRE-HPM motor, the motor dy- of LRE-HPM motor is mainly periodic disturbance with respect to rotor
namic characteristics is given as position. Also, it is indicated from (8) that torque ripple has a sig-
nificant influence on the speed vibration of the LRE-HPM motor. Re-
dωm
Te = TPM + Tcog = TL + Bm ωm + Jm cently, proportional-integral-resonant control strategy has been put
dt (7)
forward to minimize the periodic torque ripple and smooth speed
where Te and TL is output torque and load torque respectively, Bm is the control of motor drive system. Therefore, the resonance compensation

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X. Zhu, et al. Applied Energy 253 (2019) 113549

Fig. 15. The waveform of the cogging torque and corresponding FFT results. (a) Cogging torque waveform. (b) FFT results of cogging torque.

Fig. 16. Block diagram of the optimization in the motor control level. (a) Block diagram of the control system. (b) Block diagram of resonator in the current loop.

control strategy is purposely utilized during the operation process. effectively. The transfer function of the resonator is
Fig. 16(a) shows the diagram of the proposed control scheme. For
the resonance compensation control strategy, considering that motor 2kr wc s
GR (s ) =
cogging torque varies periodically with respect to rotor position, the s 2 + 2wc s + wk2 (9)
cogging torque is firstly mathematically modeled. Then, the compen-
sating q-axis current which also changes periodically with rotor posi- where kr is the resonant coefficient, wc is the cut-off frequency, wk is the
tion is purposely injected. By the introduction of compensating q-axis resonant frequency.
current, the corresponding compensating torque is generated, which It can be seen from (9) that kr, wc, and wk have a significant influ-
exhibits the same amplitude and opposite phase angle with cogging ence on the tracking capability of the PIR controller. By adjusting kr and
torque. Thus, the torque ripple of the LRE-HPM motor is suppressed wk reasonably, the periodic disturbance can be suppressed effectively.
effectively. And, in order to enhance the tracking capability of current, Consequently, the optimization objectives for the motor control
proportional-integral-resonant (PIR) controller is constructed by con- level are defined in such a way that motor output torque and speed
necting the resonator in parallel with a PI controller in the current loop, should be as close as possible to the referenced values, which means the
and the detailed diagram of resonator in current loop is shown in sum of RMS errors (RMSE) of torque and speed should be minimized.
Fig. 16(b). The PI term acts as the main controller, which determines Thus, the optimization model of LRE-HPM motor in motor control level
the dynamic performance of the system and produces dc control output. is defined as
The resonant terms can deal with periodic references and disturbances

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X. Zhu, et al. Applied Energy 253 (2019) 113549

Fig. 19. The experimental platform of the LRE-HPM motor.

Fig. 17. Waveforms of torque optimization by resonance compensation control
strategy. (a) Torque. (b) Speed.

→ →
→ RMSE (T (Xc )) RMSE (nc (Xc ))
fc (Xc )min = λ1 + λ2
Trated nrated (10)
→
where Xc is the control parameters, λ1 and λ2 are the weight coefficients
of RMSE values of output torque and speed.
The corresponding constraints are given by
→
⎧0 ⩽ RMSE (T (Xc ))
⎪ Trated
⩽ 0.05
→
⎨ RMSE (nc (Xc ))
⎪0 ⩽ nrated
⩽ 0.05
(11)
⎩
And, in order to achieve the relatively high efficiency and stability
for optimization in the control level, the boundary constraints in
Table 2 are also adopted.
Fig. 20. Measured back-EMF waveforms of the motor.

5.2. Optimization results in motor control level

of 120 r/min. The waveforms of output torque and speed of the LRE-
HPM motor before and after the adoption of the resonance compensa-
According to the above analysis, the resonance compensation con-
tion method are shown in Fig. 17(a) and (b), respectively. It is observed
trol strategy takes part in the current loop at a certain rotor position,
that the ripple torque is reduced from 5 to 0.8 Nm, with the assistance
when the rotational speed of LRE-HPM motor reaches the setting speed

Fig. 18. Prototype of LRE-HPM motor. (a) Rotor of the LRE-HPM motor. (b) Stator of the LRE-HPM motor.

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X. Zhu, et al. Applied Energy 253 (2019) 113549

Table 7
Comparison of simulation and experimental results.
Items Simulation value Experimental value

Back-EMF peak values 9.3 V 9V

THD of back-EMF 5.4% 4.8%
Output torque before optimization 5.1 Nm 4.8 Nm
Torque ripple before optimization 28% 23%
Output torque after optimization 4.9 Nm 4.7 Nm
Torque ripple after optimization 8.6% 8.3%

Fig. 23. Dynamic torque, speed, and current waveform with the resonance
compensation strategy.

respectively. Fig. 19 shows the experimental platform of the LRE-HPM

motor. It is observed that the torque sensor is installed between the
prototype motor and magnetic powder brake to measure the torque
performance. And the rotary encoder is installed on the other side of the
shaft to obtain the speed and rotor position signal.
The measured no-load back-EMF waveforms at 300 r/min are shown
in Fig. 20. From the figure, it is observed that the back-EMF of the LRE-
HPM motor exhibits the merits of sinusoid and symmetry, thus laying a
Fig. 21. Measured speed-current waveforms acceleration to deceleration. solid foundation for the brushless AC (BLAC) control. Moreover, Table 7
lists the comparison of the simulation and the experimental values. It is
observed that the measured deviations of the peak values of back-EMF
and corresponding THD are about 0.3 V and 0.6% respectively, in-
dicating that the experimental values agree well with the simulation
values. Also, the measured speed-current waveforms of the LRE-HPM
motor of acceleration and deceleration are presented in Fig. 21. It is
indicated that the investigated LRE-HPM motor can realize the accel-
eration and deceleration swiftly and flexible.
Furthermore, Fig. 22 shows the steady-state torque and corre-
sponding phase currents waveforms under id = 0 control method during
the speed of 120 r/min. When the motors are applied the phase currents
of 12A, the output torque is about 4.8 Nm. Also, it is noted that the
torque ripple of the proposed LRE-HPM motor is relatively large before
optimization in motor control level, which is about 23%. Then, Fig. 23
shows the dynamic torque and currents waveforms with the adoption of
the resonance compensation control strategy. It is also observed from
Table 7 that the torque ripple has been reduced to 8.3%, while the
average torque is almost kept unchanged and the speed vibration is
Fig. 22. Steady-state torque and current waveforms of LRE-HPM motor. relatively small. Therefore, it indicates that the torque ripple is reduced
significantly, verifying the effectiveness of the optimization in motor
control level to a large extent.
of resonance compensation strategy. And the corresponding torque
ripple is reduced to 8.6%. Also, the average value of the output torque
7. Conclusion
is almost unchanged. In addition, the speed of the LRE-HPM motor
vibrates greatly around the speed of 120 r/min at first. Then, with the
In this paper, in order to realize high-quality energy conversion and
introduction of the PIR controller, the speed vibration is suppressed
satisfy design requirements of all-climatic EVs comprehensively, sys-
obviously to 1.7%, indicating that the smooth speed control can be
tematic multi-level optimization design and dynamic control strategy is
realized. Therefore, it can be concluded that, in the motor control level,
proposed for the LRE-HPM motor, in which the optimization is con-
the investigated resonance compensation method can further suppress
ducted in motor design level and motor control level comprehensively.
the torque ripple and speed vibration in the motor drive process.
In the motor design level, the MOGA and RS method is implemented to
realize the reduction of torque ripple with desirable output torque, and
6. Experimental validation relatively high anti-demagnetization capability. In the motor control
level, with the assistance of the resonance compensation strategy, the
In order to validate the reasonability of the LRE-HPM motor and the compensating torque is produced to further suppress torque ripple and
effectiveness of the proposed systematic multi-level optimization design the speed vibration effectively. Both the simulation and experiment
and dynamic control strategy, a prototype motor is manufactured. The results not only verify the feasibility of investigated LRE-HPM motor,
stator and rotor of the LRE-HPM motor are shown in Fig. 18(a) and (b) but also reveal the effectiveness of the systematic multi-level

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X. Zhu, et al. Applied Energy 253 (2019) 113549

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