An Advanced Permanent Magnet Motor Drive System for Battery-Powered Electric Vehicles

Recent availability of high-energy neodymium-ironboron (Nd-Fe-B) permanent magnet (PM) material has focused attention on the use of the PM synchronous motor (PMSM) drive for electric vehicles (EV's). A new Nd-Fe-B PMSM is proposed for the drive system, which possesses high power density and high efficiency, resulting in greater energy and space savings. The design and optimization of the motor employ finite element analysis and computer graphics. Increasingly, a new PWM inverter algorithm is developed for the drive system, which can handle the nonconstant battery voltage source. An efficiency optimizing control is adopted to further improve the energy utilization of the drive system. Both the control strategy and the PWM generation are implemented in a single-chip microcontroller. As a result, the motor drive achieves high power density, high efficiency, and compactness. A prototype of the 3.2-kW battery-powered drive system has been designed and built for an experimental mini-EV. © 1996 IEEH.published_or_final_versio