Lightweight Design And Simulationof An All-electric Aircraft Drive Motor

The replacement of secondary energy by the electric energy makes the all-electric aircraft producing zero emission and zero fuel, as a result, it has aroused widespread concern in many countries since its high efficiency and reliability and many other advantages. Drive motor is the most important power source, and its performance influences the performance and reliability of all-electric aircraft which needs high power density and high efficiency to meet the requirement of effective load in limited space. As the workspace and loading condition of the airplane is special compared to normal conditions, the reliability of the motor is more necessary. There are considerable problems, such as how to make full use of load conditions to reduce the weight of drive motor, and how to improve payload and flight performance of the aircraft. Therefore, the research on electromagnetic design method and mechanical lightweight design method of all-electric aircraft’s drive motor is needed for the wide spread of all-electric aircraft with great significance.In order to choose the overall design method of the drive motor, taking the power density of the motor and the working environment to ensure reliability into account, the paper did some research on the special working environment and load conditions. The requirements of the motor and motor material selection scheme were analyzed in the condition that the cost raised appropriately. The paper chooses 2024 and 1J22 to be the structure material and fractional-slot concentrated-windings synchronous permanent magnet machines with multi phases to be the target design motor. Studies show that this method could increase the power density and reliability of the motor.To ensure the high power density of the motor, the electromagnetic parameters of driving motors, derived the calculation expression of the main structural parameters were optimized. ANSOFT simulation model for the motor is established. The structural parameters of the motor power density were studied and the power density of the motor was optimized. The results showed the motor met the requirements of electromagnetic in all working points, the weight of the motor with electromagnetic optimization could be reduced by 3.3%. Nominal power density was increased by 3.1%, and electromagnetic power density was increased up to a maximum of 4.79 k W/kg.Under the premise of ensuring the reliability requirements of motor, the structure design and optimization were made considering the contradiction between the lightweight design and reliability. Research on the lightweight structure optimization method according to the load analysis was done. The stress field simulation of the key parts and the whole structure of the driving motor was simulated with the mechanics software ABAQUS. In the end, the objective function was set up in the stress field, the structure of the key parts was optimized, and the strength of the whole structure of the drive motor was checked. The results showed the lightweight method of the key parts of the parts is a suitable method for the lightweight. After optimization, the weight of the overall structure of the drive motor was reduced by 9.3% which can withstand 3 times the mechanical overload, the power density of the motor can be increased to 3.08 k W/kg.