Integration Principles and Thermal Analysis of an Oil-Cooled and -Lubricated Permanent Magnet Motor Planetary Gearbox Drive System

A permanent magnet traction motor integrated with a planetary gearbox is studied. A machine of this kind can be employed as a propulsion motor in off-road machines like agricultural tractors that have to produce either very high traction forces at low speeds or reach higher traveling speeds at lower torques. In principle, a constant power curve as a function of speed is desired, which means that the output torque of the drive system should be inversely proportional to the operating speed of the off-road machine. Such driving conditions are challenging as the electric motor has to be heavily overloaded at the lowest speeds. Therefore, it is essential to accurately evaluate not only the electromagnetic performance but also the thermal performance of the machine. This paper studies the integration principles of an electrical machine and a planetary gear. The integration poses some new challenges to the design. For example, also the lubrication and cooling can, and, in practice, must be integrated into the system. The thermal performance of the motor and cooling with the lubrication oil of the gear were analyzed. The long-term tests with the oil cooling system were carried out to verify the successful integration.