A Novel Power-train Using Coaxial Magnetic

Gear for Power-split Hybrid Electric Vehicles

1

Linni Jian1, 2, Guoqing Xu1, 2, Yuanyuan Wu1, 2, Zhou Cheng1, 2, 3, Jianjian Song1, 2
Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, Shenzhen, China
2
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
3
Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China
E-mail: ln.jian@siat.ac.cn

AbstractThis paper proposes a novel power-train for powersplit hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). The key is to integrate two
permanent magnet motor/generators (M/Gs) together with a
coaxial magnetic gear (CMG). By designing the modulating ring
of the CMG to be rotatable, this integrated machine can achieve
both power splitting and mixing, and therefore, can seamlessly
match the vehicle road load to the engine optimal operating
region. With the one-side-in and one-side-out structure and the
non-contact transmission of the CMG, all the drawbacks aroused
by the mechanical gears and chain existing in the traditional
power-train system can be overcome. Moreover, the proposed
power-train possesses the merits of small size and light weight,
which are vitally important for extending the full-electric drive
range of HEVs. The working principle and the design details are
elaborated. By using the finite element method, the
electromagnetic characteristics are analyzed. Finally, system
modeling and simulation are conducted to evaluate the proposed
system.

operating region. However, the reliance on mechanical gears

(including the planetary gear set and the counter gear) and the
silent chain inevitably causes the drawbacks of transmission
loss, gear noise and regular lubrication. In order to overcome
these shortcomings, the combination of two concentrically
arranged machines was proposed to realize power splitting and
mixing for HEVs [6]-[8]. Unfortunately, slip rings and carbon
brushes have to be equipped to inject/withdraw currents
into/from the rotating armature windings. With no doubt, this
will degrade the reliability of the whole system.

Index Termshybrid electric vehicle, power-train, coaxial

magnetic gear, power-split, Halbach array.
I.

INTRODUCTION

According to the types of the power-train, hybrid electric

vehicles (HEVs) can be generally classified as series HEVs,
parallel HEVs and power-split HEVs, in which the power-split
HEVs combine the benefits of both the parallel types and the
series types, hence offering the merits of ultralow emissions
and high fuel economy [1]-[2]. The power-train of power-split
HEVs is also termed as electronic-continuously variable
transmission (E-CVT) system, which was firstly adopted by
Toyota Prius in 1997 [3]. Then, several derivatives such as the
GM-Allison compound E-CVT, the Timken compound split
E-CVT and the Renault compound split E-CVT were
introduced [4]-[5].
Fig. 1 depicts the basic architecture of the power-train of
Toyota Prius. It mainly consists of a planetary gear set, two
electric motor/generators (M/Gs) and two power electronic
inverters. The engine shaft is connected to the planet carrier,
and the rotor shafts of the two M/Gs are attached to the sun
gear and the ring gear, respectively. The ring gear is connected
to the final driveline through a silent chain and a counter gear
to drive the wheels. By controlling the switching modes of the
inverters, multiple power flows among the engine, the M/Gs
and the battery can be achieved. Thus, this power-train can
seamlessly match the vehicle road load to the engine optimal

Fig. 1. Architecture of power-train of Toyota Prius

Recently, a high performance coaxial magnetic gear (CMG)

has been proposed [9]-[11]. It can provide non-contact torque
transmission and speed variation using the modulation effect
of permanent magnet (PM) fields. Since all the PMs are
involved to transmit torque, the CMG can offer as the torque
density as high as its mechanical counterpart. Thus, it has
promising industrial applications, such as EV drives [12] and
wind power generation [13]. The purpose of this paper is to
develop a novel power-train for power-split HEVs, in which
the CMG is adopted to supersede the mechanical planetary
gear set. By integrating the two PM M/Gs together with the
CMG, the one-side-in and one-side-out mechanical structure
can be achieved so as to eliminate the silent chain and the

(a)

(b)

(c)
Fig. 2. Proposed power-train. (a) Architecture. (b) Cross-section of integrated machine. (c) Constitution of integrated machine.

counter gear employed in the traditional power-train. Thus, the

aforementioned drawbacks aroused by the mechanical
planetary gear set can be overcome. Moreover, due to the high
torque density of PM machines and the high extent of
integration, the proposed power-train possesses the merits of
small size and light weight, which are vitally important for
extending the full-electric drive range of HEVs.
II. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION AND OPERATING PRINCIPLE
Fig. 2 shows the architecture of the proposed power-train.
The key is to integrate the two M/Gs into a CMG. PMs are
mounted on both the inside and outside surfaces of the rotor of
M/G1, which also serves as the inner rotor of the CMG.
Similarly, PMs are mounted on both the inside and outside
surfaces of the rotor of M/G2, which also serves as the outer
rotor of the CMG. The stator of M/G1 is deployed in the inner
bore of the CMG and the stator of M/G2 is located at the
periphery of the CMG.
The engine shaft is connected to the modulating ring of the
CMG, and the rotor shaft of the M/G2 is attached to the final
driveline. The working principle of the CMG lies on the
magnetic field modulation of the modulating ring [10]. This
modulating ring consists of several ferromagnetic segments
which are symmetrically deployed in the airspace between its
inner rotor and outer rotor. By defining p1 and p2 as the polepair numbers of the inner and outer rotors of the CMG,
respectively, and ns as the number of ferromagnetic segments

on the modulation ring, the CMG can achieve stable torque

transmission when they satisfy the following relationship:
n s = p1 + p 2

(1)

When the modulating ring is fabricated as a stationary

component, the CMG can offer fixed-ratio variable speed
transmission, and the corresponding speed relationship is
given by:

1 =

p2
2 = G r 2
p1

(2)

where 1, 2 are the rotational speeds of the outer rotor and

inner rotor respectively, Gr is the so-called gear ratio, and the
minus sign indicates that the two rotors rotate in opposite
directions.
In order to achieve multi-port power flow distribution,
herein, the modulating ring is purposely designed as another
rotational component. The corresponding speed relationship is
governed by:

1 + G r 2 (1 + G r ) 3 = 0

(3)

where 3 is the rotational speed of the modulating ring.

Without considering the power losses occurred in the CMG, it
yields:
T1 1 + T 2 2 + T 3 3 = 0

(4)

T1 + T 2 + T 3 = 0

(5)

where T1, T2 and T3 are the developed magnetic torques on the

inner rotor, the outer rotor and the modulating ring,
respectively.
Equations (3)-(5) demonstrate that when the modulating
ring is designed to be rotatable, the CMG possesses similar
functions as the planetary gear set [3], thus offering the
capability of both power splitting and mixing.

non-magnetic shielding cases are sandwiched within the two

rotors so as to offer further decoupling. The adoption of
Halbach arrays can also help reduce the cogging torque and
increase the torque transmission capability of the CMG [14].

TABLE I. POWER SPECIFICATIONS OF M/GS

(a)
Rated power of M/G1

15 kW

Rated speed of M/G1

2500 rpm

Rated phase voltage of M/G1

100 V

Rated power of M/G2

30 kW

Rated speed of M/G2

950 rpm

Rated phase voltage of M/G2

100 V

III. MACHINE DESIGN

The gear ratio Gr of the CMG and the power specifications
of the two M/Gs are governed by the expected performance of
the vehicle to be designed. Herein, Gr=2.6 which is the same
with that in Toyota Prius is adopted and the power
specifications of the two M/Gs are listed in Table I.

Fig. 3. Construction of PM poles and rotors.

The pole-pair numbers of the CMG are governed by (2).

Hence, p1 and p2 equal to 5 and 13, respectively, are chosen to
result in the gear ratio of 2.6. Consequently, ns equals 18 can
be deduced from (1). For this integrated machine, the
decoupling of electromagnetic fields in the CMG and the two
M/Gs is very important since it can directly affect the
controllability of the system. Thus, the Halbach arrays are
employed to constitute the PM poles on the two rotors. As
shown in Fig. 3, each pole of PM is divided into 4 and 2
segments for the inner rotor and the outer rotor, respectively.
The corresponding magnetization directions are indicated by
the arrow lines. It is well known that the Halbach arrays can
offer the merit of self-shielding. Therefore, the back iron of
the two rotors can be designed to have small thickness, leading
to save iron material and reduce the system size. Moreover,

(b)
Fig. 4. Slots and winding connections of two M/Gs. (a) M/G1. (b) M/G2.

TABLE II. SPECIFICATIONS OF PROPOSED MACHINE

No. of stator slots of M/G1

12

No. of pole-pairs of M/G1

No. of phases of M/G1

No. of stator slots of M/G2

24

No. of pole-pairs of M/G2

13

No. of phases of M/G2

No. of ferromagnetic segments

18

Length of airgaps

1 mm

Thickness of PMs

6 mm

Thickness of modulating ring

15 mm

Thickness of shielding cases

4 mm

Thickness of back iron of rotors

4 mm

Inside radius of stator of M/G1

30 mm

Outside radius of stator of M/G1

86.5 mm

Inside radius of stator of M/G2

153.5 mm

Outside radius of stator of M/G2

195 mm

Effective axial length

200 mm

Fractional-slots and concentrated windings are adopted in

the stators of the two M/Gs. The concentrated winding refers
to the armature winding that encircles a single stator tooth. It
can offer several significant advantages over the distributed
winding [15]: 1) Reduction in the coil volume and hence the
copper loss in the end region; 2) Shortened machine axial
length; 3) Reduction in machine manufacturing cost; 4)
Compatibility with segmented stator structures that makes it
possible to achieve higher slot fill factor values. Moreover, it
has been proven that by adopting fractional-slots and
concentrated windings, the d-axis inductance of the armature
windings can be dramatically increased, which helps achieve
optimal flux weakening of surface-mounted PM machines [16].
This feature is advantageous for widening the speed
adjustment range of the M/Gs. Fig. 4 illustrates the slots and
winding connections on the stators of the two M/Gs. The
numbers of slots are 12 and 24 on M/G1 and M/G2,

respectively. Thus, the slot-per-phase-per-pole (SPP) of 2/5

and 8/13 are achieved for the M/G1 and M/G2, respectively.
IV. FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
The electromagnetic characteristics of the proposed
integrated machine can be analyzed by using the finite element
method (FEM). The specifications are listed in Table II.
Firstly, the electromagnetic field distributions of the
proposed machine under no-load and full-load are illustrated
in Fig. 5. It can be observed that almost no flux line goes
through the shielding cases, which demonstrates that due to
the adoptions of Halbach arrays and shielding cases, excellent
field decoupling among the CMG and the two M/Gs can be
achieved. With no doubt, this can help improve the
controllability of the whole system. Therefore, the
electromagnetic behavior of each component (namely the
CMG and the two M/Gs) can be analyzed and modeled
individually in spite of its integration.

Secondly, as shown in Fig. 6, the back electromotive force

(EMF) waveforms can be obtained by rotating the two rotors
of M/Gs at their rated speeds. Thirdly, the torque transmission
capability of the CMG can be assessed by calculating the
Maxwells stress tensors in the airgaps while keeping the outer
rotor and the modulating ring standstill, and rotating the inner
rotor step by step. Fig. 7 depicts the resulting torque-angle
curves. It can be found that the torque-angle curves vary
sinusoidally, in which the maximum torque values denote the
pull-out torques. Thus, the pull-out torques of the inner rotor,
outer rotor and modulating ring are 226.7 Nm, 589.7 Nm and
815.9 Nm, respectively. The ratio of the pull-out torques on
the two rotors is 2.601, which has a very good agreement with
the designed gear ratio of 2.6. In addition, the above three
pull-out torques agree well with (5) since there is a phase
difference of between the curve of the modulating ring and
the curves of the two rotors.

Fig.7. Torque-angle curves of CMG.

(a)
(b)
Fig. 5. Electromagnetic field distributions in integrated machine. (a) No load.
(b) Full load.

Fig. 8. Vehicle road load.

V. SYSTEM MODELING AND SIMULATION

(a)

(b)
Fig. 6. Back EMF waveforms at rated speeds. (a) M/G1. (b) M/G2.

As shown in Fig. 8, the vehicle road load Fl consists of

three main components: aerodynamic drag force Fd, rolling
resistance force Fr and climbing force Fc [2]:
Fl = Fd + Fr + Fc

(6)

Fd = 0.0386 Cd Av 2

(7)

Fr = C r Mg cos

(8)

Fc = Mg sin

(9)

where Cd is the aerodynamic drag coefficient, is the air

density, A is the vehicle frontal area, v is the vehicle velocity,
M is the vehicle mass, g is the gravitational acceleration, Cr is
the rolling resistance coefficient, and is the angle of incline.

The motive force F available at the wheels is required to

overcome the above road load Fl and to drive the vehicle with
an acceleration a. If Fl is greater than F, it becomes a
deceleration and a is a negative value. It is expressed as:
a=

1
(F Fl )
kr M

(10)

where kr denotes a correction factor that there is an apparent

increase in vehicle mass due to the inertia of rotational masses.

kq = Lkq iqk

(19)

kd = Lkd i dk + kpm

(20)

T mk =

3
p k kd iqk kq idk
2

(21)

where superscript k=1 is for the case of M/G1, and k=2 is for
the case of M/G2, subscript q represents the q-axis component,
and d represents the d-axis component; v, i, L and are the
stator voltage, stator current, stator inductance and stator flux
linkage; s is the rotational speed of the stator flux linkage
and pm is the flux linkage excited by the PMs.

Fig. 9. Rotational parts of integrated machine (from left to right: inner rotor,
modulating ring and outer rotor).

Fig. 9 indicates the rotational parts of the integrated

machine. Their motions are governed by:
d1
dt

(11)

d 3
Te + T3 = J 3
dt

(12)

T1 + T m 1 = J 1

T 2 + T m 2 T fd = J 2

d 2
dt

(13)

where J1, J2, J3 are the moments of inertia of inner rotor of

CMG (rotor of M/G1), outer rotor of CMG (rotor of M/G2) and
modulating ring of CMG, respectively; Tfd, Tm1 and Tm2 are the
load torque of final driveline, output torque of M/G1, and
output torque of M/G2, respectively. In addition, assuming that
the initial torques are zero at the time instant t=0, the
developed magnetic torques in the CMG can be given by [17]:
T1 = T P 1 sin ( p 1 1 + p 2 2 N s 3 )dt
0

(14)

t
T 2 = T P 2 sin ( p 1 1 + p 2 2 N s 3 )dt
0

(15)

T 3 = T P 3 sin ( p 1 1 + p 2 2 N s 3 )dt
0

(16)

Fig. 10. Power distributions under FUD 48 driving mode.

For simplicity, the engine is assumed to be shut down and

the vehicle is driven under the full-electric mode. As shown in
Fig. 10, the FUD 48 driving mode is engaged. The maximum
speed is 48 km/h and the time span is 55 s. The power
distribution between the two M/Gs is defined as: 1) during the
time period of 0-18 s, the M/G1 and M/G2 supply 1/3 and 2/3
of the propulsion power; 2) during the time period of 18-48 s,
the M/G2 supply all the power needed; 3) during the time
period of 48-55 s, the M/G1 and M/G2 collect 1/3 and 2/3 of
the dynamic power of the vehicle.

where Tp1, Tp2 and Tp3 are the pull-out torques developed on
the inner rotor, outer rotor and modulating ring, respectively.
On the other hand, the M/Gs can be modeled by following
equations:
v qk = r k iqk +
v dk = r k idk +

d kq

+ sk kd

(17)

d kd
sk kq
dt

(18)

dt

(a)

REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]

[8]
(b)
Fig. 11. Simulated responses of rotational speed, electromagnetic torque and
stator current. (a) M/G1. (b) M/G2.

[9]
[10]
[11]

Fig. 11 shows the simulated responses of the M/G1 and

M/G2. It can be observed that the rotational speeds of the two
M/Gs are with opposite directions, and the ratio of their
quantities is consistent with the gear ratio. This is in
accordance with the speeds relationship constrained by (3)
since the engine is shut down during the whole process.
Moreover, during the acceleration stage (0-18 s), the torque
and speed of each M/G are with the same direction, which
means that the two M/Gs deliver power to the driveline
simultaneously. Then, when the vehicle runs at the high speed
range (18-48 s), the torque of M/G1 is zero while the M/G2
solely supplies the power needed. Finally, during the
deceleration stage (48-55 s), the torque and speed of each M/G
are with opposite directions, which means that the two M/Gs
recycle the braking power of the vehicle, namely regenerative
braking.
VIII. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a new power-train for power-split HEVs has
been designed, analyzed and modeled. The key is to integrate
two PM M/Gs together with a CMG. First, by purposely
designing the modulating ring of the CMG to be rotatable, this
integrated machine can achieve both power splitting and
mixing, and therefore can seamlessly match the vehicle road
load to the engine optimal operating region. Then, with the
one-side-in and one-side-out structure and the non-contact
transmission of the CMG, all the drawbacks aroused by the
mechanical gears and chain existing in the traditional powertrain can be overcome. Finally, the proposed power-train
system possesses the merits of small size and light weight,
which are vitally important for extending the full-electric drive
range of HEVs.

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[14]
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[16]
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