Selective Utilized Phase Number of Multiphase Induction Motors Strategy to Enhance Electric Vehicles’ Drive Range

Multiphase Induction Motors (MIMs) are increasingly gaining attention in recent years. Compared with conventional three-phase induction motors, MIMs are applicable in higher power with more reliability thanks to the higher number of phases. Therefore, they are attractive alternative for propulsion applications in Electric Vehicles (EV), naval transportations, and aviation industries. Although higher power and more reliability are the main targets of MIMs, maximum efficiency could also be approached in all operation conditions using such structures. This paper deals with finding suitable number of phases in an MIM from efficiency aspect, employed in EVs. It is confirmed that using suitable number of phases in some operation conditions like driving the EV in traffic results in more efficiency of MIM. A scalar controlled 13-phase induction motor is modeled to find suitable number the phases in different operation modes of a typical drive cycle. It is shown that for each torque-speed set point, there is a certain number of phases results in maximum efficiency of the system.