High-current density electric motor: System integration and design space exploration

High-power-density electric machines consist of more than just the electric motor. These machines also include the power converter, mechanical system, and thermal management system. These sub-systems must be designed to operate seamlessly and packaged together into a compact, lightweight system. Design choices in one sub-system can have a significant impact on the design of another system. For example, the motor geometry necessitates a particular current density to meet the power requirement which in turn will require a certain number of embedded cooling channels that will displace winding material. The displaced winding material then causes a design change to the motor and so on. In this study, an integrated system model, which includes representations of all the major components in the system, has been developed to allow the coupling between the design of the motor sub-systems and overall system optimization.