Shaft Design for Electric Traction Motors

This paper presents shaft design techniques specifically for applications in electric traction motors for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs). The typical characteristics of several shafts used in traction motors for commercial HEVs/EVs are studied. Then, the shaft design for a 24/16 switched reluctance machine (SRM) is presented. The 24/16 SRM is designed to replace an interior permanent magnet synchronous traction motor used in an HEV application. The requirements of shaft design, design procedures, circumferential positioning, bearing positioning, and design of output end and sensor end are presented and discussed in this paper.