Markus Klöpzig

High-performance and highly efficient electric wheel hub drive in automotive design

The entire drive integration in the wheels of electric cars enables completely new vehicle drive train concepts and liberties within the interior design. Central motor, external gearing, differentials, axels and drive-shafts are no longer required, which leads to an enormous gain of free space for the passenger compartment or other car components. Fully new car concepts and designs will become feasible. As well it can help to reduce weight and costs and increases the efficiency of the whole drive system. In addition wear-out and maintenance expenditure are reduced to a minimum. Decentralized drives also feature new functionalities concerning vehicle dynamics. This aspect counts especially for wheel hub motors because of the direct access to the wheels without any component in between. Thought about the most promising machine type will be presented in this article. Also a suitable construction and assembly is considered. Advantages and disadvantages of the single tooth winding and a segmented stator are discussed. Because installing space is rare especially in this application a special high voltage connection for small packaged machines will be presented. The machine has been realized and assembled. Measurements on the test bench and on the test track are shown to acknowledge the considerations.

A novel hybrid excited synchronous machine for (H)EV applications

Numerous different motor types have been examined recently to be used as main traction drives for EV applications. The aims are typically to increase power density and efficiency, fulfill safety requirements and to save costs. Due to price fluctuations of rare earth magnets in the past, such magnets are identified as unpredictable future costs and their content in a motor should be minimized. In contrast, traction motor concepts without rare earth magnets typically cannot achieve a comparable power and torque density. In this paper, a new hybrid excited synchronous motor concept is presented, combining aspects of permanent magnet (PM) machines and electrically excited synchronous motors. The benefits of each concept are combined while overcoming the individual drawbacks. After a presentation of the concept, the prototype design and manufacturing are explained. Test bench results proof the functionality of the concept. The highlights and benefits of this concept are summarized.

Numerical simulation and investigation of induction through‐heaters in dynamic operation mode

Purpose – Because of their widespread use in industry, induction through‐heaters of various metal products must be of high effectiveness not only in “quasi” steady‐state operation but in different transient modes as well. Nowadays, they are usually designed to provide the required characteristics in “quasi” steady‐state operation mode mainly. The purpose of this paper is to examine numerical simulation of transient processes in induction through‐heating lines generally and investigate dynamic temperature fields during the first start of the heaters particularly.Design/methodology/approach – The research methodology is based on coupled numerical electromagnetic and thermal analyses using FEM approach. ANSYS simulations are supported with the developed tools for imitation of mass transfer effects in continuous induction heating lines.Findings – The results show that transient temperature fields in the heated strip or slab significantly differ from their “quasi” steady‐state descriptions. Local temperature v...

Numerical calculations of a hybrid power train for motor vehicles

In a cooperation between the dutch TNO and Siemens AG a hybrid power train for motor vehicles is analysed, constructed and put on a test bed. The power split solution comprises two coupled concentric electrical machines, for which various numerical calculations are performed.