Design of axial flux permanent magnet brushless DC motor for direct drive of electric vehicle

Major car manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda, Ford and Hyundai are engaged in serious research, development and manufacture of hybrid electric vehicles in order to promote fuel efficient and environmentally friendly cars. Electric motor is one of the major energy consuming parts in a hybrid electric vehicle. Other than the requirement to should have high efficiency irrespective of driving conditions, the electric motor must also have high torque density and compact design. This paper presents the design of an electric motor for the direct drive of electric vehicle. A permanent magnet motor was designed in the form of an axial flux inner stator-non slot type. Preliminary design for a motor with 16 rotor poles was chosen in order to achieve high torque density and stable rotation at low speed. The motor design was simulated by using Ansoft Maxwell3D electromagnetic simulation finite element method (FEM) software to get certain parameters. The motor was fabricated and constructed on a test-bed. Data from the experimental tests were obtained and the results were compared to the simulation results.