Computationally-Efficient Finite-Element-Based Thermal and Electromagnetic Models of Electric Machines

Abstract: With the modern trend of transportation electrification, electric machines are a key component of electric/hybrid electric vehicle (EV/HEV) powertrains. It is therefore important that vehicle powertrain-level and system-level designers and control engineers have access to accurate yet computationally-efficient (CE), physics-based modeling tools of the thermal and electromagnetic (EM) behavior of electric machines. In this dissertation, CE yet sufficiently-accurate thermal and EM models for electric machines, which are suitable for use in vehicle powertrain design, optimization, and control, are developed. This includes not only creating fast and accurate thermal and EM models for specific machine designs, but also the ability to quickly generate and determine the performance of new machine designs through the application of scaling techniques to existing designs. With the developed techniques, the thermal and EM performance can be accurately and efficiently estimated. Furthermore, powertrain or system designers can easily and quickly adjust the characteristics and the performance of the machine in ways that are favorable to the overall vehicle performance.