This action, entitled “Development of high reliability motor drives for next generation propulsion applications”, is a 4-year research focused training program. It is aimed to form a coherent Research and Innovation Staff Exchange network so as to address technical challenges facing the electrifying transport industry, with a focus on high-reliability electrical traction drives.
Transport electrification has been considered as a major advancement to reducing CO2 emissions and improving energy efficiency. At the heart of the propulsion systems are electrical traction drives. But technological developments are still at an early stage. Industries are trying out different traction drive technologies. Permanent magnet synchronous motors, induction motors, reluctance motors and DC motors-based traction drives are all found in use while they have their inherent advantages and drawbacks. In academia and industry, there are no consensus on the best traction drive for a single application. Existing technologies cannot meet the ever-growing market needs for safe, fast, green and affordable transportation. Major challenges include demands for very high torque density, power density, fuel efficiency and fault tolerance, pushing the devices and components to their physical and material limits. Particularly operating motor drives at high speeds and harsh environments require a new mindset of component and system design for safety-critical high-reliability requirements, as well as multidisciplinary approaches to combine multiphysics (e.g. thermal, stress) with the conventional electromagnetic and electronic designs.
This program will bring together EU’s leading universities and industries, and utilise the latest technological discoveries in power electronics, motor drives, drivetrains and control, sensors and monitoring, communications, big data and artificial intelligence. The outcomes will be significant to impact on EU transport sector, EU research landscape and EU economy.
This is the first project of its kind to respond to the identified gaps and to address the challenges of electrifying the transport industry in a coordinated fashion. It proposes the following eight objectives:
O1) developing new designs of highly reliable PMSMs, IMs, and synchronous reluctance motors (SynRMs) utilising new materials, new manufacturing and new analytical methods.
O2) designing silicon and wide bandgap (WBG) device based high-frequency power converters utilising new design methods and analytical tools for reduced power loss and electromagnetic interference (EMI), and optimising power converter integration with WBG devices.
O3) establishing multiphysics powertrain models and implementing ageing models for performance optimisation and control.
O4) deepening new understanding of component fault mechanisms and failure models, developing fault-ride-through topologies and control strategies for traction drives in propulsion conditions.
O5) developing integrated designs of electrical motor drives, multiphase motors and multilevel converters for fault tolerant operation.
O6) setting up a real-time big data platform for parameter identification, digital twins for data monitoring, machine-learning for diagnostics and prognostics (D&P) over the service life.
O7) providing bespoke training programmes and secondments to early-stage researchers (ESRs) and experienced researchers (ERs); exposing them to cross-sector cross-disciplinary environments; equipping them with technical competence, employability and leadership skillset.
O8) strengthening synergies between participating organisations by sharing best practice, and promoting multi-disciplinary research and cross-sector knowledge transfer.
