2018-01-0461

Published 03 Apr 2018

High Performance Motor and Inverter System for a

Newly Developed Electric Vehicle
Kazushige Namiki, Kohei Murota, and Mitsuhiro Shoji Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.

Citation: Namiki, K., Murota, K., and Shoji, M., “High Performance Motor and Inverter System for a Newly Developed Electric Vehicle,”
SAE Technical Paper 2018-01-0461, 2018, doi:10.4271/2018-01-0461.

Abstract
features allow for control logic that can optimally manage the

T
his paper describes a newly developed motor and temperatures of the power semiconductors and the motor to
inverter system with maximum torque of 320 Nm and facilitate the high torque performance of the system.
maximum power of 110 kW for a 2018 model year EV. The motor voltage management has also been optimized
The system achieves this performance with no increase in size in order to reduce the current level and thereby contributes
from the previous 2013 model year system with maximum to the system’s high power performance and high efficiency.
torque of 254 Nm and maximum power of 80 kW. The motor also adopts magnets with reduced heavy rare earth
The specific features of the new system described in this elements. This improves heat resistance and obtains
paper are summarized below. resource savings.
A new inverter power module that adopts a direct cooling In addition, one of the novel features of the new EV is
structure produces higher current density than the previous e-Pedal that provides not only deceleration but also stopping
model. The designs of components experiencing structural by operating only the accelerator pedal. This is achieved by
and electrical variation that affects heat generation by the motor control logic of the motor and inverter system that
power semiconductors were confirmed. Furthermore, the generates the optimum motor torque in response to each
motor temperature is estimated for thermal protection. These road grade.

Introduction
The inverter is positioned on the top of the motor. The Power

T
he Nissan LEAF electric vehicle (EV) was released as Delivery Module (PDM), which consists of the charger, DC/
the company’s first mass produced EV model in 2010. DC converter, and junction box, is positioned on the top of
The cumulative sales volume of the LEAF has reached the inverter. The reducer is positioned on the side of the motor.
more than 280,000 vehicles, the largest of any EV in the world. The electrified powertrain has a compact mechanically and
The motor became the first electrified powertrain ever to be electrically integrated structure.
named to Ward’s 10 Best Engines list. Figure 2 and Table 1 compare the appearance and speci-
The motor and inverter system was further improved for fications of the motor and inverter system between the 18MY
the 2013 model year LEAF (13MY LEAF). Further improve- LEAF and 13MY LEAF. The maximum torque and maximum
ment of the system has been achieved with the 2018 model power of the 18MY system have been improved from 254 Nm
year LEAF (18MY LEAF). and 80 kW to 320 Nm and 110 kW respectively. The connec-
This paper describes the measures adopted to improve tions of the motor and inverter system for the 18MY LEAF
the performance of the motor and inverter system of the 18MY with the PDM and reducer have the same geometry as those
LEAF compared with that of the 13MY LEAF. for the 13MY LEAF in order to secure connectability to the
other components and to save capital investment in the
production line, but its mass and volume have been reduced
by downsizing and lightening the internal components of the
System Overview inverter. This provides an advantage with respect to EV power
consumption. The motor, inverter, and PDM are electrically
Figure 1 shows the appearance of the electrified powertrain connected by 3-phase busbars and DC-link busbars, making
and the platform adopted for the 18MY LEAF. The electrified it possible to integrate them. The motor is an interior perma-
powertrain is positioned at the front of vehicle in the motor nent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM), the same type as
compartment in the same location as that of 13MY LEAF. that of the 13MY LEAF and provides high power performance.

© 2018 SAE International. All Rights Reserved.

 2 High Performance Motor and Inverter System for a Newly Developed Electric Vehicle

 FIGURE 1   Appearance of the electrified powertrain and

platform of the 18MY LEAF
Performance Improvement
Figure 3 shows motor torque and power characteristics for
18MY LEAF and 13MY LEAF. Improvement of the inverter
power module and optimization of the thermal protection
logic for the power module and the motor achieved a system
capable of outputting maximum torque of 320  Nm from
0 rpm. Optimization of motor voltage management contrib-
utes to maximum output of 110 kW.
The maximum torque from 0 rpm and a shaking vibration
control system that was adopted for 13MY LEAF enable
unique EV acceleration response at full throttle. Figure 4

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compares the acceleration response of the 18MY LEAF, 13MY
LEAF, and other OEM HEV/EVs which are representative
examples similar in specification and size of car to LEAF.
Figure 5 shows the efficiency of the motor and inverter
system for various motor torque and speed levels. Optimization
of the switching behavior of the power semiconductors and
 FIGURE 2   Comparison of appearance of the motor and
inverter system between the 18MY LEAF and 13MY LEAF  FIGURE 3   Motor torque vs. motor speed of the 18MY LEAF
and 13MY LEAF

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 FIGURE 4   Acceleration vs. time at full throttle acceleration
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of the 18MY LEAF and 13MY LEAF

TABLE 1  Comparison of motor and inverter system

specifications between the 18MY LEAF and 13MY LEAF
18MY LEAF 13MY LEAF
Motor Type IPMSM IPMSM
Max Power 110 kW 80 kW
Max Torque 320 Nm 254 Nm
Max speed 10500 rpm 10390 rpm
Mass 54.1 kg 54.1 kg
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Volume 16 L 16 L

Inverter Max current 456 Arms 356 Arms
Mass 11.4 kg 15.3 kg
Volume 9 L 13 L
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 High Performance Motor and Inverter System for a Newly Developed Electric Vehicle 3

 FIGURE 5   Efficiency map of motor and inverter system of TABLE 2  Power module structure of the 18MY LEAF and
the 18MY LEAF and 13MY LEAF 13MY LEAF
18MY LEAF 13MY LEAF
PM type Direct cooling Indirect cooling
Size 213 × 97 mm 227 × 193 mm
Chip layout
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Structure

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 FIGURE 6   Efficiency of motor and inverter system of the
18MY LEAF and 13MY LEAF at the most efficient
operating point

inverter case. However, because there are seal interfaces with

the coolant channels inside the inverter, the module structure
has been designed to ensure satisfactory sealing performance
even after aging in order to meet identified market requirements.
© SAE International

Figure 8 shows the appearance of the DC bus capacitor.

Inductance between the DC bus capacitor and the power
module, which influences the losses and surge voltage of the
power module, has been reduced by 40% from that of the

optimization of motor voltage management achieve higher

 FIGURE 7   Power module installed on inverter case of the
efficiency than that of the 13MY LEAF, especially in the high
speed range. The efficiency change is about 1.2% at the most 18MY LEAF
efficient operating point as shown in Figure 6.

Inverter
The inverter components that contribute to improving perfor-
mance are described below.
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Table 2 compares the power module structure between

the 18MY LEAF and 13MY LEAF. The 13MY LEAF adopted
a 3-piece, 2-in-1 type power module without any insulation
on the inside. The 18MY LEAF has a single-piece, 6-in-1 type
power module with insulation on the inside and cooling fins.
This contributes to about a 50% reduction of the power module  FIGURE 8   Appearance of DC bus capacitor of the 18MY
size compared with that of the 13MY LEAF. Moreover, the LEAF and 13MY LEAF
new power module does not need the insulation sheet and
grease used for the 13MY LEAF because it has cooling fins.
Therefore, the reduced amount of low-thermal-conductivity
materials used between the power semiconductors and coolant
contributes to a reduction in thermal resistance. The amount
of difficult-to-use flexible materials used on inverter produc-
tion line can also be reduced, which contributes to improve-
© SAE International

ment of productivity and reduction of thermal resistance

variation. These effects enable the conduction of high
switching current, while simultaneously allowing size reduc-
tions. Figure 7 shows the power module installed on the
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 4 High Performance Motor and Inverter System for a Newly Developed Electric Vehicle

 FIGURE 9   Waveforms of power module switching for the  FIGURE 11   Temperature of the semiconductor chips at the
18MY LEAF time of inverter switching for the 18MY LEAF

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© SAE International
13MY LEAF. This was accomplished by expanding the lami-
nated area of the P- and N-phase busbars, based on a layout
optimization study, and by downsizing the capacitor by
approximately 20% by applying thinner films.
Optimization of the gate drive circuit also contributed to
reducing power module losses. Figure 9 shows the current and TABLE 3  Motor voltage management for the 18MY LEAF and
voltage waveforms of power module turn-on and turn-off 13MY LEAF
switching. With the aim of reducing switching loss, variation 18MY LEAF 13 MY LEAF
in switching response due to variation in electrical character- Line
istics of the power semiconductors was comprehensively voltage
analyzed; the relationship between switching loss and surge
voltage was optimized by tuning the gate driver circuit. This
reduced power module loss by about 14% from that of the
13MY LEAF, as shown in Figure 10.
The power semiconductor chips of the 13MY LEAF have

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a thermal sensor on the chip for monitoring the chip tempera- Nominal 1.0 0.7 – 0.8
ture. However, the power semiconductor chips of the 18MY peak
LEAF do not have such a thermal sensor. Therefore, the modulation
thermal protection logic adopted for the latter chips uses the ratio
power module temperature monitored by a thermistor on the
power module substrate and the monitored coolant tempera- motor magnet characteristics was ascertained based on the
ture. In a preliminary experiment, the chip temperature was actual results for the 13MY LEAF, and because the influence
measured not only by the temperature dependence of the chip of the variation in the magnet characteristics was logically
electrical characteristics (e.g., Vce and Vge) at the time of DC analyzed and verified. This contributes to the higher power
conduction, but also by using an IR camera at the time of performance and higher efficiency of the system.
inverter switching that applied load to the motor, as shown in
Figure 11. Based on the results, the thermal protection speci-
fication was determined for a condition of high
current conduction. Motor
In the software of the inverter, motor voltage management
was optimized as shown in Table 3 in order to reduce the Figure 12 shows the components of the motor for the
current level. The nominal peak modulation ratio for the 18MY LEAF.
control system of the 13MY LEAF is used in a range under The motor continues unchanged the basic configuration
0.8, but the modulation ratio for the control system of the of the motor employed on the previous model so as to facilitate
18MY LEAF is used in a range up to 1.0. That is now possible use of the existing production facilities. Neodymium magnets
because the variation in the temperature dependence of the are used in the rotor core. The stator core is made of thin
laminated electromagnetic steel sheet in order to reduce iron
losses. A resolver is used as the rotational position sensor.
 FIGURE 10   Power module loss ratio of the 18MY LEAF and Heavy rare earth elements such as dysprosium (Dy) are
13MY LEAF added to the neodymium magnets used in the rotor core to
maintain magnetic force under high temperatures. For the
18MY LEAF, the magnet particle size was made finer and
heavy rare earth elements are diffused only at the grain
boundary interfaces as shown in Figure 13. These measures
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improve heat resistance and reduce the quantity of heavy rare

earth elements used, thereby achieving resource savings.
The motor adopts a new thermal protection logic for the
coil because of the high torque and increased frequency of low
© 2018 SAE International. All Rights Reserved.
 High Performance Motor and Inverter System for a Newly Developed Electric Vehicle 5

 FIGURE 12   Components of the motor for the 18MY LEAF  FIGURE 14   Schematic diagram of the thermal protection
logic of the motor coil for the 18MY LEAF
© SAE International

© SAE International
 FIGURE 13   Reduction of rare earth elements for
motor magnets

1. Acceleration/deceleration by using only the

accelerator pedal.
2. Smooth vehicle stopping without using the
brake pedal.
3. Deceleration and stopping on any road grade just like
on flat roads.

e-Pedal is achieved by a cooperative regenerative function

that distributes the braking requirement from the accelerator
© SAE International

pedal operation to regenerative motor torque and mechanical

braking force. The control block diagram for the e-Pedal
inverter is shown in Figure 15.
The accelerator pedal angle and vehicle speed are input
to a driving torque table that outputs the driving torque
speed driving due to the e-Pedal system. In a situation where command value TD. If a small accelerator pedal angle is input,
the motor coil temperature markedly increases during the the table outputs a large regenerative motor torque command
conduction of high current, it is assumed that the motor value. This facilitates acceleration and deceleration by using
current is conducted locally in only one phase under a condi- only the accelerator pedal.
tion of a low motor speed. A thermal protection logic has been
 FIGURE 15   Control block diagram for e-Pedal inverter
adopted that can estimate the maximum motor coil tempera-
ture based on the monitored motor temperature, coolant
temperature, and current command because the system has
only one temperature sensor for the motor. Figure 14 shows
a schematic diagram of the thermal protection logic of the
motor coil. Motor loss is calculated by current command and
motor coil resistance, and coil temperature is estimated by
the motor loss, thermal resistance model based on simulations
and evaluations, and coolant temperature. Which of the esti-
mated temperature and the monitored temperature is used
for the protection is judged by the rotor speed.

Vehicle Control - e-Pedal -

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A new feature called e-Pedal has been added to the 18MY

LEAF. The specific features of e-Pedal are explained below.
© 2018 SAE International. All Rights Reserved.
 6 High Performance Motor and Inverter System for a Newly Developed Electric Vehicle

The disturbance observer for road grade estimation These features and development of motor control logic
consists of an inverse system of the vehicle model and a low-pass matching the power module and motor characteristics
filter. The e-Pedal motor torque command value Te and motor bring  out the maximum performance of the motor and
angular speed ωm are input into the observer, which outputs inverter system. These performance improvements
the disturbance torque command value d̂ . The disturbance provide drivers with a unique EV driving experience and
torque command value d̂ compensates the motor angular speed powerful performance.
feedback torque command value TFB and driving motor torque
command value TD. Because the disturbance torque command
value d̂ converges to a motor torque value that matches the road
grade, the driving motor torque command value is compen-
sated toward the plus side on an uphill road and toward the
References
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stopping on any road grade just as on a flat road.
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Newly Developed Electric Vehicle,” SAE Technical Paper
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1. A new inverter power module, which adopts a direct
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cooling structure, and control logic for optimally
Nijmeijer, H., “Evaluating the Energy Effi ciency of a one
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2. Optimized motor voltage management in the inverter
software contributes to the high power performance
and high efficiency of the system. Contact Information
3. The motor magnets with reduced heavy rare earth NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
elements achieve resource savings. 1-1, Morinosatoaoyama, Atsugi
4. A new feature called e-Pedal reduces the driver’s Kanagawa 243-0123, Japan
workload for acceleration/deceleration operations on Phone: +81-90-9833-6397
any road grade. [email protected]

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