To overcome the shortcomings and limited applications of the traditional in-wheel motor applied practically in electric vehicles, a novel dual-rotor in-wheel motor (DRIWM) was proposed, which has three driving modes and can meet the operating requirements of electric vehicle under different driving conditions. Based on the principle of minimum energy consumption, the torque distribution strategy was presented to obtain the optimal torque distribution of the inner and outer motors under different working points, and the driving modes were also divided. Using the models built in Matlab/Simulink, the operating characteristics of the DRIWM under certain conditions were simulated. The results show that the
In recent years, with the promulgation and implementation of a series of new energy vehicle policies, the electric vehicle industry in some countries has achieved rapid development. The in-wheel motor driven electric vehicle has the unique advantages of simple and compact structure, high-efficiency transmission system, and independent control of driving torque and braking torque. It represents an important direction for the development of next-generation electric vehicles, and its key technologies have become research hotspots for automobile companies and scholars in university at home and abroad, such as rotor arrangement [
As a new electrical power coupling device applied in hybrid electric vehicles, the dual-rotor motor (DRM) was proposed more than ten years ago [
It is a meaningful study to apply DRM to in-wheel motor-driven electric vehicles. At present, there are few research reports on dual-rotor in-wheel motor, and only a few invention patents have been applied for [
Considering the above problems, this paper proposes a new integrated structure for electric wheel based on the DRM. Both mechanical ports of the DRM are used as power output sides. Then, the mechanical power is transmitted to the wheels through a planetary gear mechanism. Because the energy of two electrical ports can be independently controlled, it can realize multiple driving modes such as single drive and coupling drive for the inner and outer motors, which expand the application of the existing in-wheel motor-driven electric vehicle. In addition, when the vehicle is coupled to drive, it is a key problem to distribute the driving torques of the inner and outer motors. Therefore, a torque distribution strategy based on the principle of minimum energy consumption is presented.
This paper is organized as follows: Section
Figure
Integrated structure of the DRIWM. 1, DRM body; 2, clutch I; 3, clutch II; 4, planetary gear mechanism; 5, electromagnetic braking and friction braking system; 6, power supply and control system; 1–1, outer rotor; 1–2, middle stator; 1–3, inner rotor; 1–4, inner-layer permanent magnets; 1–5, inner-layer armature windings; 1–6, outer-layer armature windings; 1–7, outer-layer permanent magnets.
Cross-sectional diagram of the DRM body.
It can be seen that the DRIWM belongs to stator arranged with permanent magnet motor, which can be regarded as the combination of two conventional flux-switching motors in radial space. Due to the unique structure design, the inner and outer rotors of the DRIWM can rotate independently. Besides, the DRIWM utilizes different pole-pairs for the inner and outer motors to meet the power requirements under various driving conditions. In this paper, the pole/slot combinations of the inner and outer motors are adopted as 10/12 and 22/12, respectively.
By controlling the engaging and disengaging of the clutch I and clutch II as shown in Table
Driving modes of the DRIWM.
Mode | Inner motor | Outer motor | Clutch I | Clutch II |
---|---|---|---|---|
SIM | ● | ○ | ○ | ● |
SOM | ○ | ● | ● | ○ |
TC | ● | ● | ● | ● |
When the clutch I is disengaged and the clutch II is engaged, the DRIWM will work in the SIM mode, and the vehicle is drove alone by the inner motor. The power flow is shown in Figure
Power flow in the SIM mode.
When the clutch II is disengaged and the clutch I is engaged, the DRIWM will work in the SOM mode, and the vehicle is drove alone by the outer motor. The power flow is shown in Figure
Power flow in the SOM mode.
When both the clutch II and the clutch I are engaged, the DRIWM will work in the TC mode. It is mainly used in high torque requirements such as vehicle climbing or acceleration at a low speed. Figure
Power flow in the TC mode.
According to the previous electromagnetic performance analyses of the DRIWM, it is found that the no-load back-EMF and permanent magnet flux of the inner and outer motors exhibit good sinusoidal characteristics, and the degree of electromagnetic coupling between the two motors is small. Therefore, the electromagnetic coupling can be ignored when the mathematical model of the DRIWM is built. In the rotating coordinate system, the stator voltage equation of the inner motor can be expressed as follows:
The expression of the inner stator flux is
The electromagnetic torque equation can be written as
The mechanical motion equation of the inner motor is
Similarly, the mathematical model of the outer motor can be written in the same way as the inner motor. Note that when the DRIWM works in the TC mode, the inner and outer motors are still controlled separately after they have obtained the optimal distributed torque. Therefore, in this mode, the other mathematical equations of the DRIWM are the same as those of the inner and outer motors in the single-motor drive mode except that the total electromagnetic torque equation can be written as
Because the no-load back-EMF of the inner and outer motors is sinusoidal and the inductances of the
The sliding mode variable structure control system can change with time, which makes the current state of the system follow the preset “sliding mode” state trajectory [
According to equation (
Assume that the speed error of the inner motor is
The first-order sliding mode surface function is selected as
Taking the derivative of equation (
According to Lyapunov’s stability principle, the function
Similarly, the design of the sliding mode speed controller for the outer motor is the same as that of the inner motor.
The inner and outer motors of the DRIWM have different torques and efficiency characteristics. In order to achieve the minimum energy consumption when the vehicle runs in the TC mode, a torque distribution strategy that can make full use of the high-efficiency areas of the inner and outer motors is needed.
The goal of optimal energy control is to meet the traction requirements of the vehicle with minimal total motor energy consumption at different vehicle speeds [
The DRIWM will be equipped in a four-wheel drive electric vehicle. To simplify the model, it is assumed that the axle load distribution of the front and rear axles is the same, and the demand power is evenly distributed to four in-wheel motors. For the inner and outer motors, the instantaneous power consumption can be expressed as follows:
Diagrams of efficiency characteristics: (a) inner motor; (b) outer motor.
For the sake of calculation, it is assumed that the wheels roll purely. According to equations (
We use
Thus, the total instantaneous power consumption of the driving system can be expressed as
As can be seen from equation (
By solving the above optimization problem, the optimal torque distribution ratios of the inner motor under the conditions of different vehicle speeds and demand torques were obtained, as shown in Figure
Optimal torque distribution ratio of the inner motor.
To make full use of the high-efficiency areas of the inner and outer motors and expand the efficient operating conditions of the vehicle, the driving modes of the DRIWM are divided according to the calculation results of the optimal torque distribution, as shown in Figure When the vehicle speed satisfies 0 < When the vehicle speed satisfies 5 km/h < When the vehicle speed satisfies 28 km/h < When the vehicle speed satisfies 35 km/h < When the vehicle speed satisfies 54 km/h < When the vehicle speed satisfies
Driving modes division.
Based on the mathematical model of the DRIWM mentioned above, the simulation models are built in Matlab/Simulink. The driving control strategies under the operating modes of single-motor drive and dual-motor coupling drive were analyzed, respectively. The basic parameters of the DRIWM are shown in Table
Basic parameters of the DRIWM.
Component | Item | Value |
---|---|---|
Inner motor | Rated/peak power (kW) | 1.25/6.5 |
Rated/maximum speed (rpm) | 1600/2500 | |
Rated/maximum torque (N·m) | 7.5/40 | |
Outer motor | Rated/peak power (kW) | 4/7.5 |
Rated/maximum speed (rpm) | 900/1300 | |
Rated/maximum torque (N·m) | 40/75 | |
Planetary gear mechanism | Characteristic parameters | 3 |
With the adoption of the
Operating characteristics in the single-motor drive mode: (a) inner motor; (b) outer motor.
Assume that the vehicle is driving on three kinds of slopes with gradients of 10%, 15%, and 20% at a speed of 20 km/h. Based on the torque distribution strategy with a minimum energy consumption, the simulation curves of the driving torques of the inner and outer motors in the coupling drive mode are shown as Figure
Operating characteristics in the dual-motor coupling drive mode: (a) torque; (b) speed.
To illustrate the validity of the proposed torque distribution strategy based on the minimum energy consumption principle, it was compared with a strategy that does not use an optimized torque distribution (the torques of the inner and outer motors are equally distributed). Aiming at the driving conditions of the vehicle on the above three types of slopes, the power consumption of the driving system under the two strategies was calculated by equation (
Power consumption comparison of the DRIWM under two strategies.
Climbing gradient (%) | Demand torque (N · m) | Nonoptimized torque distribution | Optimal torque distribution | Power consumption reduction (%) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Torque borne by inner/outer motor (N · m) | Power consumption (kW) | Torque borne by inner/outer motor (N · m) | Power consumption (kW) | |||
10 | 116 | 23.2/23.2 | 2.74 | 24.7/17.4 | 2.68 | 2.2 |
15 | 165 | 33/33 | 4.11 | 32.2/36.3 | 4.04 | 1.7 |
20 | 213 | 40/53 | 5.76 | 38.9/57.5 | 5.50 | 4.5 |
In order to further study the continuous driving characteristics of the DRIWM and the feasibility of its application in electric vehicles, a multimode drive simulation platform is built based on the forward simulation process in this section, as shown in Figure
Forward simulation model of electric vehicle equipped with the DRIWM.
Basic parameters and performance indicators of the vehicle.
Item | Description | Value |
---|---|---|
Basic parameters | Fully loaded mass (kg) | 1440 |
Windward area (m2) | 1.913 | |
Drag coefficient | 0.33 | |
Tire rolling radius (m) | 0.277 | |
Rolling resistance coefficient | 0.015 | |
Performance indicators | Maximum speed (km/h) | 120 |
Acceleration time of 0–50 km/h (s) | 8 | |
Acceleration time of 50–80 km/h (s) | 10 | |
Maximum climbing gradient of 15 km/h (%) | 20 |
It is assumed that the SOC value of the power battery is sufficient to meet the power requirements of the vehicle, and the change in this value is ignored. At the same time, it is considered that the switching process of the three driving modes is ideal; that is, the switching time is zero by default, and the switching process is smooth. To verify the efficiency characteristics of the DRIWM when the vehicle is running at low speed and high speed, the performance simulation was performed under a standard new European driving cycle (NEDC). Figure
Tracking change in the target vehicle speed.
The change curve of the demand driving torque of the vehicle with time is shown in Figure
Demand driving torque of the vehicle.
Under the conditions of different vehicle speeds and demand torques when the vehicle runs, the DRIWM should automatically match different working modes based on the rule of driving modes division. Thus, it ensures that the inner and outer motor work at a higher efficiency to reduce energy consumption, while the power requirement is satisfied.
Figure
Driving mode switching changes in the DRIWM.
Speed changes in the inner and outer motors.
Torque changes in the inner and outer motors.
The distributions of the working points of the inner and outer motors under the NEDC condition are shown in Figures
Working point distributions of the DRIWM under NEDC condition: (a) inner motor; (b) outer motor.
From the above analyses, the conclusions can be drawn that the rule of driving mode division designed for the DRIWM is reasonable, and the proposed torque distribution strategy based on the minimum energy consumption principle when the vehicle runs in the TC mode is effective.
In this paper, a new electric wheel-integrated structure based on a dual-rotor motor was proposed, which has the advantages of the inner-rotor deceleration driving and outer-rotor direct driving in-wheel motor. It can realize three driving modes, such as single inner motor drive, single outer motor drive, and dual-motor torque coupling drive, which can meet the operating requirements of electric vehicle under different driving conditions. Based on the principle of minimum energy consumption, the torque distribution strategy was presented to obtain the optimal torque distribution ratio of the inner and outer motors at different working points in the TC mode, and the driving modes division was also designed. The simulation results show that the
In the future, the problem of power interruption during the mode switching will be investigated to ensure driving comfort of the vehicle. The operating performance test of the prototype will also be conducted.
The data used to support the findings of this study are included within the article.
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 51875258) and the Key R&D Plans of Zhenjiang (Grant no. 2018022).