Monitoring critical temperatures in permanent magnet synchronous motors is crucial for improving working reliability. Aiming at resolving the difficulty in online temperature estimation, an accurate and simple five-node lumped parameter thermal network (LPTN) is proposed and the mathematical model of the LPTN is built. Both radial and axial heat transfer paths inside the motor are considered to model the complete thermal circuit. In addition, an innovative parameter identification method based on multiple linear regression is applied to identify the parameters of the LPTN model. The parameters in the state equation are identified instead of the data of the motor, which are strongly dependent on the material and geometrical parameters. Finally, an open-loop estimation scheme based on the state equation and Kalman filter algorithm is adopted to predict the motor temperature online. The model performances are validated by extensive experiments under varying speed and torque conditions in terms of the accuracy and robustness. The results indicate that the temperature estimation error is within the range of ±5 • C in most cases and the proposed model can quickly follow the load variation. Besides, the online temperature estimation scheme and parameter identification method are easy and convenient to implement in an embedded system, which is feasible in automobile applications. Appl. Sci. 2019, 9, 3158 2 of 18 permanent magnet but also changed the transient resistance of the rotor. If the transient resistance of the rotor can be obtained, the temperature of the rotor can be obtained indirectly. Therefore, when the rotor transient impedance was observed under the condition of high-frequency voltage, the rotor temperature information can be obtained by the relationship between the transient resistance and the temperature [12].However, the above-mentioned methods have some drawbacks. FEM has high estimation accuracy, but this method depends on the motor geometry, material properties, and boundary conditions, resulting in complex calculation and longer computing times. Thus, it can only be used for off-line analysis in the motor temperature field. Although the motor rotor temperature estimation algorithm based on rotor flux linkage is simple and easy to conduct, it is only able to predict the rotor temperature. In addition, the estimation accuracy depends on the observation accuracy of the rotor flux linkage, and the change of the flux linkage caused by temperature is not completely linear. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain a more accurate estimation of the rotor temperature. Compared with the method based on the rotor flux observation, the advantage of the approach based on the high frequency injection is that the change in rotor transient impedance is easier to detect. However, the injected high frequency signal may bring additional rotor loss, causing an increase in temperature.A suitable alternative to monitor motor temperature is lumped parameter thermal networks (LPTNs). This thermal network model is a simplifi...