Cost Effective Rare Earth Free Flux Doubling, Torque Doubling, 8X Power Density Traction Motor with Near Zero Open Circuit Back EMF and No Clogging Torque

This concept paper proposes a novel Permanent Magnet (PM) motor & SiC converter based electric traction drive system that can achieve all strategic goals, viz., 125kW system with 8X power density (50kW/L motor with 100kW/L power electronics) improvement at half cost and 2X useful life (300Kmiles) established by Electric Drives Technologies (EDT) Research Consortium. This innovative machine topology offers unique magnetic amplifying capability to achieve 2X torque improvement attributed to radically new flux doubling principle with near-zero back EMF. SiC converter with higher current rating and direct in-slot cooling technique provide further 4X torque increase, resulting in effective 8X overall power density improvement. The project team brings complementary skills and expertise to make proposed project successful. QM Power has deep experience in motor technologies, product commercialization, understanding of businesses needs in the motion control space, and project management capability. A partnership agreement with University of North Carolina at Charlotte provides access to a variety of power electronic test equipment and motor dynamometer test beds. University of Kentucky adds expertise in fault-tolerant high-speed PM machines, and large-scale optimization of machine drive systems. Dr. Madhav Manjrekar, well-known for contributions in power conversion and motor drives, holds 10 US & international patents, published over 60 papers, and received 3 IEEE prize paper awards. Dr. Dan M. Ionel, IEEE Fellow, has more than 25 years industrial experience in electric machines and drives, published more than 200 papers with 4 IEEE awards, and has more than 30 patents. Charles Joseph (Joe) Flynn, CTO, QM Power, is a world-renowned subject matter expert on electric machines and magnetics, and inventor of Parallel Path Magnetics and Hybrid Permanent Magnet Motor technology. Joe has served as a lead PI on multiple US DoE funded projects. Dr. Hari K. Harikumar, CEO, QM Power, is an industry veteran with 30+ years of experience in leading motion control equipment businesses and technologies globally. Dr. Harikumar will lead commercialization of the Q-Mag system.