Preliminary Sensitivity Analysis and Optimisation of a Wound Field Synchronous Motor for Traction Applications

The automotive field is switching to electric propulsion to guarantee a more efficient and sustainable transportation. Several motor configurations can be adopted for this purpose. Permanent magnet-based motors are usually preferred, but they are the most expensive and the least sustainable, especially when rare-earth materials are employed. Wound Field Synchronous Motors (WFSMs) represent an interesting alternative for their reduced costs, excellent field controllability, acceptable torque performance and inherent fault tolerance. Most importantly, being a rare-earth free technology, they fit with the ever more stringent sustainability demands required by the automotive sector. The aim of this research is to highlight the influence that rotor design parameters of a traction WFSM have on the performance in terms of average torque and torque ripple. To this purpose, multi-objective optimisations are performed. Future study will also focus on cost, weight, efficiency, and sustainability.