Replacing Copper With Aluminum in Hairpin Windings Motors Intended for Utility Cars
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Along with efficiency and torque density, one of the key design objectives in today's traction electric machines is sustainability. This is especially true in the automotive segment, where a transition to electrification is occurring. A sustainable electric machine design implies the reduction of high environmental impact materials, such as copper for the windings or rare-earth materials for the permanent magnets. To this end, this study analyses the adoption of aluminum to replace the hairpin windings of an automotive 400 V interior permanent magnet machine, originally optimized with copper windings. First, a detailed optimization process for a copper-based motor is carried out, adopting a multiobjective genetic algorithm. Consequently, the efficiency map of the resulting design is compared to its aluminum-based version, which is directly obtained by changing the winding material. To validate the simulation and optimization trends, a copper-based prototype and its identical aluminum version are built and tested, and their efficiency maps are comprehensively compared and discussed.
Authors: Gregorio Cutuli, Stefano Nuzzo, Davide Barater, Tianjie Zou, Shafigh Nategh, Tommaso Bertoncello
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4407948627