Design of an interior permanent magnet synchronous traction motor for high speed railway applications

This paper describes a PMSM traction motor with novel rotor structure for high speed rail vehicles. A nonmagnetic shaft sleeve is introduced in the design to reduce the flux leakage. The non-uniform air gap is adopted and optimized to provide sinusoidal flux linkage and back EMF. FEM simulations have been carried out to verify the design. The mechanical stress of the rotor and the thermal dissipation of the motor are analysed. Finally, the PMSM prototype is manufactured and tested. The initial experiment results are presented to provide a reference for further optimization.