In-wheel motor design for electric vehicles

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1124807 (Table of Contents)

In this thesis an in-wheel electric motor prototype has been designed for experimental purposes. In-Wheel Motor (Hub motor) can be used in electric cars with 4 wheel independent drive configuration. Within every wheel, there can be one "Direct- Drive In-Wheel Motor" to generate the necessary torque per wheel. Unlike conventional "central drive unit" systems, torque as well as the power and speed can be supplied to each tyre independently. The difference in this work is the design of a direct drive electric motor which is able to carry transverse loading acts on the tyre. Type of the motor is called inverted configuration or outer rotor structure in the literature, in which the rotating element is the casing of the motor. The electric machine designed in the thesis is Switched Reluctance Machine. First a 3D solid model was created. Necessary strength analyses have been done. Simultaneously, electromagnetic FEA have been done, when it is necessary either of the designs were modified until it converged to a set of consistent dimensions for both mechanic and electromagnetic design. Last, the results of the electromagnetic analysis were embedded into a hybrid simulation model, in order to check the coherency between the design and the analysis. The results were coherent.