This article details the design of a permanent magnet synchronous electric motor prototype dedicated to the direct drive of the propeller for VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) and CTOL (Conventional Take-off and Landing) aircrafts. Our main aim is to maximise the power-to-weight ratio whilst not compromising the efficiency and the reliability. The originality of the research is based on the implementation of an armature winding using solid copper bars; we show that it is possible to use such an approach in an electric machine operating at very high frequency (1800 Hz) through a precise study on the shape of the bars to counter the additional losses. A prototype has been successfully manufactured; manufacturing details and some of the experimental test results are presented here.

In this paper, we present the use of a solid bar winding for a permanent magnet synchronous motor dedicated to the electric drive of a full electric boat. For the winding, we chose to use cylindrical bars for the electric vehicle motorizations of a power lower than 10 kW. The choice of a 60 VDC low-voltage power distribution requires resorting to a solid bar winding with one bar per slot (single turn). Hence, the solid conductors dissipate additional copper losses (higher AC resistance). An analysis of these additional copper losses was carried out to accurately assess the effective AC resistance of the winding and, hence, the efficiency of the electric motor. A prototype for a POD propulsion was designed, built and tested. The characteristics of its electric motor were presented. The feasibility this type of cylindrical bar winding has been proven. A study on the optimization of the slot has demonstrated the performance of this type of winding.

Electric vehicles are often designed in the same way as their conventional counterparts based on the internal combustion engine, they are heavy machines for comfort and safety reasons, and increasingly powerful. Under these conditions, in order to simplify the motor electrical supply system by reducing the current levels, the voltage chosen for the battery is very high and can go up to 700 V. However, for many applications where the power is relatively low (< 30 kW per motor), it can be more beneficial to size the system at very low voltage (< 60 V). This approach allows to overcome many constraining safety requirements and also to use off-the-shelf components (motor controllers, connectors, etc.) that are more easily available on the market in this voltage range. There are also many regulatory provisions that may require to stay within this voltage limit. This article presents a variety of very low voltage motorisation solutions with a required power up to 100kW. They use two complementary approaches. The first is to implement an original permanent magnet synchronous machine technology with an optimised armature winding for low voltage operation. The second is based on power splitting where the electrical machine being designed to be driven by multiple controllers. Many examples of low-voltage motorised vehicles (sporty vehicle, tractor, re-motorised automobile, etc.) are illustrated in this article.