Hybrid field motor for next generation vehicles - Rare-earth Used is halved in Amount -

Key words:
Hybrid field motor, saved rare-earths, next generation vehicles, permanent magnets, electromagnets, output density, SMC, soft magnetic composites, motor core, rare-earth-dependency free technology
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A unique hybrid field motor used for the next generation vehicles has been successfully developed by Assistant Professor Dr. Kosaka (Nagoya Institute of Technology). The new hybrid field motor is featured by: 1) use amount of permanent magnet is halved when compared with of the incumbent motor used by the current hybrid vehicle. 2) the output density is high, and 3) the motor core was made of SMC（soft magnetic composites ）which has rarely been used for the core.

Most of the motors used for the next generation vehicles are being vigorously developed in many countries. Most of the motors used for current hybrid vehicles are IPMSMs. IPMSM = interior permanent magnet synchronous motor。
The motor uses the permanent magnet as literally indicated.
The permanent magnet uses rare earths. The countries which mine and sell the rare earths are limited in number.

The necessity of developing the technology to extricate from the situation essentially needing such rare earths for motor construction is essential when taking into account the difficulty of securing rare-earths, and real commercialization and rapid increase of the number of the next generation vehicles. See “Extract from dependency of rare-metals and rare-earths”.

The hybrid field motor as one of the technologies to extract from rare-earth dependency is now being actively developed in many countries. The hybrid field motor is constructed such that the permanent magnet and the electromagnet are combined to cooperatively generate magnetic force required for motor turn. Such a construction allows significant reduction of the use amount of the permanent magnet.

Kosaka et al focused their attention on the nature of soft magnetic composite, for example, excellent formability and workability, and used it for making the motor core. Few examples of using the SMC for the core have been reported. The researches created an SMC motor structure having a 3-D magnetic circuit. The unique motor structure was designed with the aid of the computer which operates based on 3D-FEM to successfully provide an optimum motor structure.
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