Abstract
The emergence of carbon nanotube-copper composite conductors has opened a new degree of freedom in the electric machine design to improve the machine's performance: the conductivity of the winding. The goal of the present study is: 1) to determine how much improvement in power per unit volume and performance can be achieved with the increase in winding conductivity; and 2) to investigate any physical limitations on the effectiveness of this degree of freedom in improving the power per unit volume and performance of electric traction motors. Conventional electric motor topologies affected by ferromagnetic saturation as well as slotless topology that is not affected by saturation are analyzed. It was found that the ferromagnetic saturation of the lamination materials reduces the effectiveness of highly conductive winding in improving the power per unit volume. For machine topologies that are not affected by ferromagnetic saturation, the power density improvement reaches the theoretical expectation. In both cases, highly conductive winding improves the efficiency map by enlarging high efficiency operating area into light load as well as high speed operations.
