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  • Final Year Project - Electric Vehicle: Electric Motor Design Improvement

    Too Jun Lii

    Member

    Updated: Oct 26, 2024
    Views: 1.3K
    Hi! I'm a mechanical engineering undergraduate at University of Science Malaysia and I will be entering into my final year in September. Currently doing my internship.
    I was given an opportunity to propose my own final year project title, as long as it has the potential to be commerciable.

    I've always wanted to have electric vehicles (EVs) plying on our road, so I've decided to develop this area for my final year project.

    Besides mileage per single charge problem (associated with premature battery chemistry. I'll leave that to the chemists to go figure...), and recycling wasted braking energy (my friend is doing Regenerative Braking System for his paper), I was wondering if I could improve the efficiency or cost of electric motors.

    But I'm not sure what problems electric motors have, or even if there is any space for improvement (other than trying to develop a hot superconductor for the armature coils. I'll leave that for the material guys/chemists to solve...).

    So CE guys,
    -I need some kind of problem statements for electric motors. What is the latest electric motor technology used in EVs and what's the usual complaints on that? (Maybe the motors on Mitsubishi iMiEV, Nissan Leaf, or Tesla Roadster)
    -other ideas related to electric vehicles (such as alternative/auxiliary energy recovery systems & devices, transmission for maintaining high torque at high rpm, continuous variable transmission, etc.)

    It'll be great if you could provide some ideas that can be commercialized/practical so that I can get better chances of approval from my professor, & of course get EVs on the road quickly & cheaply. We'll choke on CO2 and die if we don't. haha
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  • Harshad Italiya

    Member • May 18, 2011

    Well as now a days Electric bikes are available in market they are using BLDC motor. So For Car BLDC motor is one Option.
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  • Too Jun Lii

    Member • May 18, 2011

    godfather
    Well as now a days Electric bikes are available in market they are using BLDC motor. So For Car BLDC motor is one Option.
    BLDC motor seems very promising, as it has a lot more advantages compared to the brushed ones (although at a higher cost).
    But I've heard there's also the brushless AC variety. What's the pros and cons of BLAC motors compared to BLDC?
    Do you think it's much easier to work with the BLDC than the BLAC due to the additional controls involved?
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  • Abhijeet Khandagale

    Member • May 18, 2011

    I would like to know are you interested in doing research on coil systems used in motors or a project? BLDC is largely used these days and Li-ion batteries to give a decent life. check this link: #-Link-Snipped-#
    It is my personal research on hybrid systems to be used on existing vehicles. If you could contribute to it, we could do a further research on the topic.
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  • Too Jun Lii

    Member • May 19, 2011

    abhijeetkhan
    I would like to know are you interested in doing research on coil systems used in motors or a project? BLDC is largely used these days and Li-ion batteries to give a decent life. check this link: #-Link-Snipped-#
    It is my personal research on hybrid systems to be used on existing vehicles. If you could contribute to it, we could do a further research on the topic.
    I don't know if I have to do research on coil systems to determine the one with the best efficiency and performance, but I will definitely be doing a project to improve the design and modify/build the motor as a working prototype/product, with great potential to be commercialized.

    You've got yourself a nice journal article there, abhijeetkhan! I'll be delighted to share with you unique findings I can get on BLDC motors! I'm also pretty much leaning towards in-wheel BLDC motor like what you have for your front wheels. I hope to be able to have results similar, equal or better than the one I saw in the link below:
    #-Link-Snipped-#
    Very interesting to note that there's such low speed constant torque motor behaviour beneficial for going slow on a slope.
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  • Harshad Italiya

    Member • May 19, 2011

    @Too Jun Lii ~
    You can start a separate thread in which you can share all about BLDC motor from its Concept to construction and working.
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  • Abhijeet Khandagale

    Member • May 19, 2011

    that would be a major research project then! I hope your team is ready for it.. you'll need all of them to do an in depth research!
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  • Too Jun Lii

    Member • May 22, 2011

    godfather
    @Too Jun Lii ~
    You can start a separate thread in which you can share all about BLDC motor from its Concept to construction and working.
    Maybe later. I'm going to need to specifically define my focus of my project here if I were to improve the design of electric motors. I'm leaving an open options for other types of motors before I fully delve into BLDC motors.

    Come to think of it, why does most electric vehicle producers use BLDC motors instead of other types of electric motors?
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  • Too Jun Lii

    Member • May 22, 2011

    abhijeetkhan
    that would be a major research project then! I hope your team is ready for it.. you'll need all of them to do an in depth research!
    Thanks, abhijeetkhan! I hope to be able to find something new during the course of my project.

    Perhaps to help start off my project, which books do you recommend on anything electric motors and electric vehicles?
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  • Abhijeet Khandagale

    Member • May 22, 2011

    all i do is GOOGLE! 😉
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  • Too Jun Lii

    Member • May 23, 2011

    Uncle Google, huh? He sure knows everything. Hahaha!

    But I prefer some books or technical articles where all relevant information concentrates in pages. Information in Google is scattered everywhere, & sometimes it's hard to find specific in-depth concepts/equations/analysis.

    I just managed to download an e-book on electric motor designs. I hope it's of use.
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