Investigation of the magnetic circuit and performance of less-rare-earth interior permanent-magnet synchronous machines used for electric vehicles

The less-rare-earth interior permanent-magnet synchronous machines (LRE-IPMSMs), which have the advantages of high power density, high efficiency, and low cost, are promising candidates for electric vehicles (EVs). In this paper, the equivalent magnetic circuit (EMC) of LRE-IPMSM is established and analyzed to investigate the machine design principles, and then the performance of an optimized machine is analyzed. Firstly, the equivalent magnetic circuits of the LRE-IPMSM are established by taking the saturation effect into consideration. Secondly, the effects of geometric parameters, such as the permanent-magnet (PM) width, the PM thickness, the flux barrier thickness, the flux barrier span angle, and the bridge width, on no-load flux, q-axis flux, and d-axis flux are investigated, respectively. The results calculated by the EMC method and finite-element analysis (FEA) are analyzed and compared, which proves the effectiveness of the EMC method. Finally, an optimized design of LRE-IPMSM obtained by the magnetic circuit analyses is proposed. The electromagnetic performances and mechanical strength of the optimized LRE-IPMSM are analyzed and verified, respectively.