Fundamental Characteristics of a Ferrite Permanent Magnet Axial gap Motor with Segmented Rotor Structure for the Hybrid Electric Vehicle

In newest hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) propulsion systems, permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) using high-performance rare-earth permanent magnets play an important role. However, rare earth materials employed in the high-performance rare-earth permanent magnets have problems such as price rise and export restriction. Thus, it is necessary to develop a rare-earth-free motor for the HEVs. In this paper, a novel ferrite permanent magnet axial gap motor with segmented rotor structure is introduced. In order to obtain the fundamental characteristics of this motor, a prototype is fabricated and tested. The experiment results of the prototype are shown in detail. It can be confirmed with the experiment results of the prototype that the proposed motor with the segmented rotor structure has the possibility of the development of the rare-earth-free motor enough.