Electromagnetic analysis and control of a six-phase low-voltage permanent-magnet synchronous motor for automotive powertrain

The adoption of low-voltage multiphase motors is a new trend in electric vehicles (EVs) for urban mobility and is an ideal choice for light electric vehicles designed for urban centres. At the design level, this emerging technology offer several advantages such as failsafe robustness, lower insulation costs and high compatibility with civil safety requirements and modularity. This thesis explores the design parameters and proposes an optimised control scheme for a dual three-phase electric motor with a hairpin construction powered by a 52V inverter. The motor is virtually modelled considering the influences of harmonics and losses by extrapolating the data calculated in Ansys Motor-CAD. The modelling of the control follows the Vector Space Decomposition (VSD) approach, the electrical quantities are represented in a vector space in 4 dimensions [d; q; z1; z2], paying attention to the optimisation of the torque required from the system efficiently by means of control techniques already known in literature for more classic three-phase motors. The proposed control guarantees the required torque tracking performance and can be implemented on a dual inverter system selected for the application; this structure lends itself to simulating case studies such as differences in battery voltages or faults of one of the two three-phase.