Manufacturing and Experimental Validation of an Outer-Rotor Permanent Magnet-Assisted Synchronous Reluctance Motor for In-Wheel Electric Vehicle Drive

This study presents the prototype manufacturing and experimental validation of a 1 kW, 750 rpm three-phase outer-rotor permanent magnet-assisted synchronous reluctance motor (PMASynRM) designed for in-wheel electric vehicle applications. The work is based on a previously reported electromagnetic design and finite element method (FEM)-based optimization framework and focuses on the physical implementation and experimental evaluation of the proposed motor. The prototype was manufactured using M470-50A grade electrical steel laminations and arc-shaped N35H NdFeB permanent magnets embedded within a three-barrier transversally laminated anisotropic rotor structure. A custom-built experimental test bench consisting of the PMASynRM prototype, a PMSM generator with a controllable resistive load bank, a torque transducer, and a precision power analyzer was developed to evaluate motor performance under controlled operating conditions. Experimental investigations were carried out under four steady-state load conditions—no-load, 13 Nm, 20 Nm, and 26 Nm—as well as during dynamic stepwise load transitions representative of in-wheel drive operation. The measured results show good agreement with FEM predictions, with a maximum efficiency of 90.55% at nominal load and efficiency values remaining above 87% under overload conditions up to 26 Nm. Minor differences between simulation and experimental results are mainly associated with mechanical friction, bearing losses, and manufacturing tolerances that are not fully captured in the numerical model. The study provides experimental validation of an outer-rotor PMASynRM prototype under multi-load steady-state and dynamic operating conditions for in-wheel electric vehicle applications.