An optimal flux-switching permanent magnet machine for hybrid electric vehicles

Flux-switching permanent magnet machines (FSPMMs) have been investigated for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). This paper presents an optimal FSPMM with 12 stator poles to meet the performance specifications required by the drive machine in the Prius HEV. After a qualitative analysis based on size equation to briefly compare performances of FSPMMs with four rotor topology structures, a quantitative analysis method based on multilevel optimization is presented to obtain an accurate performance comparison. It is found that FSPMMs with different topology structures have different optimal structural parameters, and the optimal one with 13 rotor poles has the best performances in terms of output power and efficiency among four different rotor structures.