Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Shuzhen Liu

Wei Xu

Jiyao Wang

Zhichun Ma

An electric machine assembly for a vehicle is provided. The electric machine is in operational communication with a traction battery and includes a stator core defining a cavity and a rotor disposed within the cavity having an inner region defined by sets of triangle-shaped holes tessellated about respective central regions to form a truss structure such that the holes of the truss structure, during operational rotation, do not influence magnetic flux paths generated by magnets of the rotor. The rotor may have a strain energy value less than or equal to 16,100 Joules. The truss structure may include pairs of symmetrical portions each including segments arranged with adjacent rotor portions to define the triangle-shaped holes.

Rotor structure for electric machine assembly

An electric motor/generator includes a stator-core enclosing a rotor-core, which are each formed from stacked annular laminates. The stator-core laminates are configured to reduce vibration, and each have teeth extending radially inward from a root of an annular stator yoke/back-iron, to a flux-cap. Each tooth is formed to have opposite, lateral-edges spaced a distance-apart that changes between the root to the flux-cap, to establish a variable tooth-stiffness and a predetermined mechanical-resonance of the tooth. The opposite lateral-edges may each be configured with either a linear or a non-linear, curved edge-profile, and to have the variable tooth-stiffness and the lateral-edge distance-apart changing or decreasing between the root and the flux-cap. Each tooth may also have an edge-profile that is different from at least one adjacent tooth, and which is configured with a variable tooth-stiffness and a predetermined mechanical resonance that is different from the at least one adjacent tooth.

Optimized stator tooth for electric motor/generator

A powertrain for a vehicle includes and electric machine and a plurality of inverters. The electric machine may include a stator defining a plurality of stator teeth separated by slots that are configured to accept windings. The plurality of inverters may each be configured to exclusively drive a current in some but not all of the windings within slots such that some of the plurality of stator teeth within a sector of the stator are configured to be energized by only one of the inverters.

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Novi, MI, United States of America

Shuzhen Liu