School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

EEE8102 Machine Sizing

Design of Machines and Drives:

Sizing Electrical Machines
1

Machine Sizing and shear stress ............................................................................................................................... 1

Electric Loading ......................................................................................................................................................... 2

Example Design Scenario .......................................................................................................................................... 6

3.1.

Drive system 1: 2 In-Wheel Axial Motor ........................................................................................................... 6

3.2.

Drive system 2: Gearbox driven machine ......................................................................................................... 7

3.3.

Gearbox driven radial machine ......................................................................................................................... 7

1 Machine Sizing and shear stress

Can you get enough torque

Can we make it cheaper

Is the efficiency okay ?

Is current density okay

Is voltage okay at high speed

Is inductance acceptable
Figure 1-1

Electrical machine design is an iterative process see Figure 1-1. It is possible to design a number of different
machines capable of meeting a required performance. It is useful to have a method of estimating the size of machine
required before the detailed design process is started. For this, we assume electrical machines are primarily sized by
their torque requirement. One approach is to use shear stress to give an initial size of machine. Shear stress is the
reactive force a machine is capable of divided by its active area.

Force of a current carrying conductor is known to be B I L, where is L is the length of conductor in a field of strength
B i.e. B is the magnetic loading. The force per unit length is therefore

Electric loading is current per unit length across the field. Magnetic loading x electric loading is therefore

Nick Baker 2015

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

EEE8102 Machine Sizing

This gives an average value, if Bave and Aave are used and assuming the peaks of the electric and magnetic loading
coincide.
A better way of expressing this is in terms of the amplitude (or amplitude of the fundamental harmonic) of the two
loadings, and to include the phase angle between them

A typical electrical machine may have an average shear stress of 40kN/m2. This can be used for initial sizing of the
machine. E.g. to react 1kNm with a radius of 0.3m, the total force is 3.33kN. A machine capable of 40kN/m2 would
require an active area of 0.083m2, thus an axial length of 0.04m for a machine radius of 0.3m.
Magnetic loading is limited to 0.8-0.9T due to saturation of iron. The electric loading is governed by the current
density (Amps /mm2) and the dimensions of the slot. Figure 1-2 shows the slots of a machine stator. The dimensions
are tw for tooth width, h for tooth height (slot depth) and sw for slot width.

tw

h
sw
Figure 1-2

2 Electric Loading
The mmf in the slot drives the flux, and is equal to the number of turns x current being carried. It can also be
expressed in terms of the slot area and current density J (A/mm2)

NI h J sw
The Electric loading A is mmf per unit length of the stator, i.e.

NI
(t w sw )

For a fixed pole width slot width, slot depth and J can be used to increase A.
In reality, the entire slot cannot be filled with copper, Figure 2-1. The proportion of the slot filled with copper is
called the fill factor, f.

Nick Baker 2015

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

EEE8102 Machine Sizing

tw

h
sw
Figure 2-1

The true value of electric loading is given by

NI h J sw f
A

fNI
(t w sw )

For conventional wound machines f=0.3-0.4. With careful preparation and pressing of coils, it is possible to get f=0.8.
Consider the three single teeth shown in Figure 2-2. If the current density and pole pitch is held constant, each of
these will have a different electric loading. The resulting air-gap flux density for a range of slot dimensions is shown
in, Figure 2-3 assuming a current density of 20A/mm2.

Figure 2-2: Single tooth of radial machine

airgap flux density (T)

0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6

slot depth 5mm

0.5

slot depth 20 mm

0.4

slot depth 30mm

0.3

slot depth 90 mm

0.2

0.1
0
0

10

15

20

slot width

Figure 2-3: Air-gap flux density variation with slot dims. Tooth + slot fixed at 20mm

Nick Baker 2015

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

EEE8102 Machine Sizing

Figure 2-4: A very deep slot showing iron saturation and leakage

Clearly, for each slot depth, there is an optimum slot / tooth width combination often when they are about equal.
Increasing the slot width further to increase electric loading causes saturation in the iron. Increasing the slot depth
also increases electric loading. Initially torque will hence go up linearly with slot depth, but at very large slot depths
saturation and leakage dominate e.g. see deep slot of Figure 2-4
For a fixed outer diameter radial machine, increasing the slot depth decreases the rotor radius and hence the active
area of the machine - Figure 2-5. It is possible to look for an ideal slot depth for a given outer diameter.

Nick Baker 2015

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

EEE8102 Machine Sizing

Figure 2-5

Assuming the stator slots have parallel sides, area A will increase linearly with the difference between rotor and slot
diameter. If we define slot diameter ratio dr as the ratio of slot inner Diameter to slot Outer Diameter
; so

. Also rotor volume dr2 so

. The variation is shown in Figure 2-6. Also

shown is the case for parallel teeth. In both scenarios, for a fixed outer radius, a dr of about 0.7 gives the best torque.

dr

Figure 2-6: Output torque verses ratio of inner and outer diameter

Figure 2-7 Shows the difference between parallel teeth (left) and parallel slots (right and centre)

Figure 2-7

Nick Baker 2015

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

EEE8102 Machine Sizing

3 Example Design Scenario

In this self-directed learning exercise, you are going to be guided through the process of designing PM motors for
electric vehicles based on shear stress. You will compare two alternative drive systems. The aim of the SDL is to
check your knowledge of basic mechanics and give you experience of high level machine design.
The drive is for a small city vehicle
Tyre diameter 0.7 m.
0-100km/hr in 15 seconds
Mass = 1.3 tonnes
Ex 1 Calculate maximum acceleration
Ex 2 calculate total force exerted on the car to achieve this acceleration
Ex 3 calculate torque at the wheels
3.1. Drive system 1: 2 In-Wheel Axial Motor

motor
wheel

Figure 3-1: Plan of vehicle with in wheel motors

Each motor must fit in the space of wheel:

Rotor diameter limited to 0.5m
Axial length limited to 120 mm
Peak magnetic loading 0.9T
Ex 4 Calculate the active area for the in wheel motor (active area is the area of the airgap)
Ex 5 Calculate the required shear stress
Ex 6 For a peak magnetic loading of 0.8T in the airgap, what must the electric loading be ?

Nick Baker 2015

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

EEE8102 Machine Sizing

3.2. Drive system 2: Gearbox driven machine

gearbox
motor

A single motor must deliver the drive torque via a Gearbox with ratio 1:7. It is proposed to use a surface mounted
radial flux machine. The rotor diameter is fixed at 25cm. Find the axial length required for a machine which can react
45kN/m2
3.3. Gearbox driven radial machine

Ex 7 calculate torque at motor input

Ex 8 Calculate the required axial length of the machine

Nick Baker 2015