160 CES TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL MACHINES AND SYSTEMS, VOL. 3, NO.

2, JUNE 2019

Overview of the Rectangular Wire Windings AC

Electrical Machine
Yu Zhao, Student Member, IEEE, Dawei Li, Member, IEEE, Tonghao Pei, Student Member, IEEE,
Ronghai Qu, Fellow, IEEE
(Invited)

Abstract—The rectangular wire winding AC electrical machine

has drawn extensive attention due to their high slot fill factor,
good heat dissipation, strong rigidity and short end-windings,
which can be potential candidates for some traction application so
as to enhance torque density, improve efficiency, decrease
vibration and weaken noise, etc. In this paper, based on the
complex process craft and the electromagnetic performance, a
comprehensive and systematical overview on the rectangular wire (a) (b)
windings AC electrical machine is introduced. According to the
Fig. 1. The diagram of the different winding type. (a) Stranded winding.
process craft, the different type of the rectangular wire windings,
(b) Rectangular wire winding.
the different inserting direction of the rectangular wire windings
and the insulation structure have been compared and analyzed. 5) Low torque ripples and low acoustic noise.
Furthermore, the detailed rectangular wire windings connection As a result, a lot of outstanding scholars have conducted the
is researched and the general design guideline has been concluded. detailed research of the rectangular wire winding AC machine
Especially, the performance of rectangular wire windings AC including the material, process craft and electromagnetic
machine has been presented, with emphasis on the measure of performance. Different from the traditional stranded windings,
improving the bigger AC copper losses at the high speed condition
the copper conductor cross section area of the rectangular wire
due to the distinguished proximity and skin effects. Finally, the
future trend of the rectangular wire windings AC electrical windings is much bigger, which means that the choose of the
machine is prospected. copper materials should pay more attention considering the
impact of conductor bending, rebound and the insulation
Index Terms—AC copper losses, the rectangular wire winding damage. What’s more, depending strongly on the professional
AC electrical machine, process craft, winding connection. manufacturing equipment and complex production craft, there
is a huge distinction between the connection of the rectangular
I. INTRODUCTION wire windings and the stranded windings, where the welding

N OWADAYS, the requirement of the machine applying on

the traction application is more and more strict in terms of
the torque density, efficiency and other electromagnetic
performance. The rectangular wire winding AC machine has
aroused more and more attention due to their high power
density and high torque density, which can become the proper
candidate [1]-[3].
Compared with the traditional stranded windings machine,
the basic characteristics of the rectangular wire winding AC
machine are as follows:
1) Short end-windings, compact structure, and low cost;
2) High slot fill factor and high torque density;
3) Good heat dissipation between the conductor and the slot;
4) Strong rigidity and good steadiness;
Manuscript was submitted for review on April 28, 2019.
This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of
China (NSFC) under Project 51607079. (Corresponding author: Dawei Li.)
The authors are with the State Key Laboratory of Advanced
Electromagnetic Engineering and Technology, School of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Wuhan, 430074, China (e-mail: yuzhao@hust.edu.cn; daweili@hust.edu.cn;
pth@hust.edu.cn; ronghaiqu@hust.edu.cn ).
Digital Object Identifier 10.30941/CESTEMS.2019.00022
technic has been involved [4]. Thus, it is necessary to
reasonably design the connection and guarantee the reliability
of the welding and the insulation. Especially, it is found that at
the high speed condition the AC copper losses of the
rectangular wire windings are much serious due to the
distinguished proximity and skin effects, weakening the
advantage of the high efficiency, and it is an intractable
problem to restrict the bigger AC losses.
In this paper, based on the complex production craft and the
detailed electromagnetic performance, a comprehensive and
systematical overview on the rectangular wire windings AC
electrical machine is introduced. The organization of this paper
is as follows. First, the definition and classification of the
rectangular wire winding AC machine will be provided in
section II. Then, in section III, the craft process, the inserting
direction and the insulation type of the rectangular wire
winding is discussed, focusing on the difficulties and key points
of the production, as well as the machine performance. In
section IV, the general connection guideline of the rectangular
wire winding has been concluded, combined with the different
end-winding connection examples. Next, in section V, the
electromagnetic performance and thermal management
ZHAO et al: OVERVIEW OF THE RECTANGULAR WIRE WINDINGS AC ELECTRICAL MACHINE 161

between the traditional stranded winding machine and the According to the distinctive structure, the preforming craft
rectangular wire winding machine has been compared and existing in the Hair-Pin winding can be removed in the I-Pin
analyzed in terms of the on-load capability, efficiency and cost, winding. What’s more, the other production craft including the
etc. Then, aiming to resolve the bigger AC losses, numerous inserting, welding and twisting are also different. Especially,
restricting measures have been provided in section VI. Finally, the Hair-Pin winding machine cooperating with shorter
in section VI, several conclusions are drawn and the end-winding, compact structure and higher torque density, has
development tendency is proposed. been the research hot topic [5]. And the detailed difference
between the Hair-Pin winding and the I-Pin winding has been
II. DEFINITION AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE RECTANGULAR compared and concluded in Table II.
WIRE WINDING AC MACHINE TABLE II
THE DISTINCTION OF DIFFERENT RECTANGULAR WIRE WINDINGS
A. Definition Characteristic Hair-Pin windings I-Pin windings
Consisted with the new winding structure, the rectangular
Forming Pre-forming No-preforming
wire winding AC machine has been quickly developed in recent
years due to the superior characteristic, which can be widely Inserting Complex Simple
used in the electrical vehicle (EV) or hybrid electrical vehicle End-winding length Short Long
(HEV) application, such as the Chevrolet Blot 2017 and Toyato Twisting One port Two port
Prius IV. Different from the traditional stranded winding Welding One port Two port
machine, which the stator winding is formed by coiling the
continuous round wire in slots. The rectangular wire winding
machine refers in particular to the stator winding having the III. PRODUCTION CRAFT OF THE RECTANGULAR WIRE
different conductor shape, different forming technic, different WINDING
connection pattern and so on, as shown in Fig 1. And the In this section, the production techniques in terms of the craft
detailed difference between the stranded winding and the process, inserting direction and the insulation structure have
rectangular wire winding has been compared and concluded in been introduced, which not only have an influence of the
Table I. production speeds and economic efficiency, but also play an
TABLE I
THE DISTINCTION OF DIFFERENT WINDING STRUCTURE important role in guaranteeing the reliability and performance
Rectangular wire of the machine.
Characteristic Stranded windings
windings
The shape of conductor A. Craft process
Round Rectangular
cross section Compared with the traditional stranded winding machine,
Slots/teeth shape Custom Parallel slots the complexity and the accuracy requirement of production
Slot fill factor Low (0.35-0.45) High (0.6-0.7) craft in the rectangular wire winding machine have been
Winding connection
Lap winding Wave winding
increased due to using the special materials and winding
configuration structure. The detailed production technology of the Hair-Pin
Insulation paper No-preforming Preforming winding machine has been researched in [4], with explaining
Forming craft Coiling Welding the characteristic of each craft step, as shown in Fig 3, which
pointed out that it is the key to keeping the reliability of
B. Classification end-winding welding and insulation.
Among the different production craft and the winding What’s more, the employ of the copper material with the bigger
structure, there are two major rectangular wire winding, named cross section area should take the negative influence of the
as the Hair-Pin winding and the I-Pin winding, respectively, bending and rebound into consideration. The main process is as
depicted in Fig 2, where one Hair-Pin winding can be follows:
considered as jointing two I-Pin windings. 1) Inserting the insulation paper into slots so as to produce
the insulation stack, and the different slot insulation structure
will be introduced hereafter;
2) Straightening the wire and stripping the paint, where the
former aims to eliminate the plastic deformation and the
manufacture error, and the latter aims to make the preparation
of the conductors contacting such as welding craft;
3) Shaping and forming the wire, which means to produce
the forming rectangular wire winding unit that will be inserted
in the stator slots. In [6], the detailed forming process has been
provided, which can be simply divided into two steps, that is,
(a) (b) U-bending and 3-D-shaping;
Fig. 2. The diagram of the different winding structure. (a) Hair-Pin 4) Inserting the forming wire windings into the stator slots,
winding. (b) I-Pin winding.
162 CES TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL MACHINES AND SYSTEMS, VOL. 3, NO. 2, JUNE 2019

machine has the advantage of high production rate, which is of

benefit to mass production.

O pe n slot Se mi-closed slot

(a) (b)
Fig. 4. The diagram of the different inserting direction. (a) Radical
direction. (b) Axial direction.

B. Inserting direction
Relating to the production difficulty, the machine structure
and performance, the inserting direction of the rectangular wire
windings can be divided into two types, that is, the radical
direction and the axial direction, depicted in Fig 4, where the
radical inserting direction is same as to the traditional stranded
windings which is inserted from the slot opening to the slot
bottom. Therefore, limited to the bigger cross section area of
the copper conductors, the slot shape of the rectangular wire
winding machine is always the parallel slot structure consisting
with the open slot, which cause the bigger torque ripples and
acoustic noise, as well as deteriorated the AC copper losses.
TABLE III
COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT INSERTING DIRECTIONS
Characteristic Radical direction Axial direction
Inserting direction Radical Axial
Number of
Craft Low Large
welding dots
Difficulty Simple Complex

Fig. 3. The diagram of the craft process. Structure Slot opening Long Short

which the detailed inserting location is determined by the
conductor phase per slot, where the star of the slots in the
traditional stranded can still be used;
5) Twisting and welding the end of rectangular wire
windings. The twisting direction and welding not distribution
have a vital impact of the end-winding structure. In [7], the
challenges in the manufacturing of hairpin windings and
application opportunities of infrared lasers for the contacting
process have been discussed.
6) Checking the reliability of the welding and insulation,
avoiding the failure occurrence, such as the lack of welding and
pseudo soldering. According to the mechanical stress and
thermal distribution under different running conditions, an
assessment of the machine reliability has been provided in [8].
And in [9], a method of quality monitoring of laser welding in
the hairpin windings machine has been introduced.
Compared with the traditional stranded winding machine,
the maintainability of the rectangular wire winding machine
has been decreased, i.e. once some trouble have been occurred,
the overall machine wound be damaged. Nevertheless,
cooperating with the proper craft, the rectangular wire winding
Torque ripples Big Small
Performance Acoustic noise Big Small
AC copper losses Big Small
The axial inserting direction, that is, the inserting direction is
from one port of the stator stack steel, named as inserting port,
can employ the semi-closed slot structure avoiding the open
slot, which is useful to improve the torque ripples, acoustics
noise and AC copper losses. However, the twisting can only be
accomplished after the rectangular wires have been inserted in
the slots, which furtherly raises the production difficulty. In
[10], the electromagnetic performance of the machine
consisting with the different slot opening shape and different
winding structure has been compared and analyzed, shown as
Table III.
C. Insulation structure
The insulation performance is the foundation to keep the
machine reliability. Considering the complex production craft,
some scholars have designed different insulation structure with
emphasis on the damage risk during the welding process.
ZHAO et al: OVERVIEW OF THE RECTANGULAR WIRE WINDINGS AC ELECTRICAL MACHINE 163

IV. THE CONNECTION OF RECTANGULAR WIRE WINDING

The rectangular wire winding machine has applied the
special winding connection configuration, that is, the
rectangular wire distributed at the non-inserting port has been
connected with welding technology. And the corresponding
port is named as the welding port. It is important to reasonably
design the end-winding structure including the twisting
direction and the welding location, which is related to the
production difficulty and machine size, as well as the machine
(a) (b) (c) reliability and electromagnetic performance. Different from the
Fig. 5. The diagram of the different windings insulation structure. (a) S traditional stranded windings which the coil turns is flexible,
type. (b) B type. (c) U type. the copper conductor number per slot in the rectangular wire
The insulation structure can be classified into three types, i.e. winding machine is fixed, which means the number of parallel
S type, B type and U type, shown in Fig 5, corresponding to paths should be more and more possible so as to fulfill the
Chevrolet Voltec 2011 、Chevrolet Spark 2014 、Chevrolet limitation of the inverter voltage and current. Especially, the
Blot 2017, respectively. The S type insulation structure has winding connection should pay more attention to avoid the
been gradually phased out due to the existence of the potential circulating currents within the parallel paths. Therefore, a lot of
safety hazard in the insulation corner. The B type insulation works have been done relating to the rectangular wire winding
structure has been widely used in recent years due to connection configuration.
overcoming the safety problem. Especially, in view of the The different rectangular wire winding connection pattern
conductors per slot are on phase where the voltage difference has been provided in [11], [12], combined with the general
between the conductors can be neglect, the insulation structure design guideline:
between the conductors can be eliminated, which can furtherly 1) Determining the slot/pole combination of the stator, the
increase the slot fill factor and torque density. In [1], General number of conductor per slot, the number of parallel paths and
Electric Corporation has invented an insulation structure, the conductors phase per slot;
where two U type insulation possessing inverse direction has 2) Determining the connection of the elementary winding,
been superposed cooperating with the slot width increase, that is, the winding unit having the minimum conductors
which has the little influence of the machine performance. covered all the layers and all the slots per pole per phase;
Table IV compared the difference among the different 3) Determining the coil pitch, twisting direction and the
insulation structure. conductor welding relationship according to the elementary
TABLE IV winding. Then the detailed winding can be designed and
COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT INSULATION STRUCTURE
manufactured.
Characteristic S type B type U type Especially, the end-winding connection diagram of two
Amount of insulation
different elementary windings with four conductors per slot,
Large Large Small eight pole pairs and two slots per pole per phase has been drawn
materials
Conductors phase per in Fig 6 (a) and (b), where the solid line and the dashed line
Custom Custom One phase
slot represent the welding port and the inserting port of the stack
Safety degree Low High High steel, respectively. It can be seen that the coil pitch of the two
Chevrolet Chevrolet Chevrolet
winding connection pattern is flexible so as to match the
Application example requirement of the elementary winding and guarantee the
Voltec 2011 Spark 2014 Volt 2017
maximum parallel paths number without the circulating
Start

End
(a)
Start End

(b)
Fig. 6. The diagram of the different windings connection pattern. (a) Connection pattern one. (b) Connection pattern two.
164 CES TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL MACHINES AND SYSTEMS, VOL. 3, NO. 2, JUNE 2019

currents. What’s more, the rectangular wire winding shape, the types. In [18]-[21], a creative winding stator which can solve
twisting direction, welding position and the distribution of the the contradiction between the machine size and performance
outgoing lines are also different. Thus, the production difficulty, has been given. Furtherly, the type of forming winding and the
cost and reliability of the machine can be improved by production cost can be decreased, using the optimized
considering the winding connection. end-winding connection.
The rectangular wire winding machine has been produced in
some famous corporations and applied into the EV/HEV
application. Remy company has used the end-winding adjacent
layer connection, which can be thought as connecting multiple
double layer windings, except that jumper lines have been used
to stride to different double layer. Different from Remy, Hatichi
has invented the end-winding connection, which the conductors
distributed at the slot opening and the slot bottom have been
welded into one double layer. The winding connection in (a)
Honda Spirior can be considered as dividing all the conductors
per slot into one double layer. Toyato Prius has the single layer
and double layer hybrid winding connection, where the
conductors distributed at the slot opening and bottom have been
welded in one layer [13], [14].
The different end-winding connection distributed at welding
port mentioned above have been drawn in Fig 7, with 48 slots, 8
(b)
poles and 4 conductors per slot, where the three colors represent
the three phases, respectively.

(c)
Fig. 8. The diagram of the end-winding stator assembly. (a) Connection ring
assemnly. (b) Locking festure. (c) Retention reature [1].
In [22], an improved Hair-Pin winding has been introduced,
(a) (b)
where the end-winding shape has been reasonably designed
like the steps, shown in Fig 9, which can avoid the interference
between the adjacent end-windings and furtherly decrease the
machine size.

(c) (d)
Fig. 7. The end-winding of the rectangular wire windings. (a) Adjacent layer
connection. (b) End-to-end connection. (c) One double layer connection. (d)
Single layer and double layer hybrid connection.
What’s more, in order to maintain the stability of the
end-winding connection and optimize the distribution of the
outgoing lines, some special equipment has been employed,
such as the connection ring. In [1], the Chevrolet Bolt stator
assembly includes a connection ring for the termination of the
phase leads, as shown in Fig 8.
The detailed forming rectangular wire windings possessing
different coil pitch, including full-pitch, short-pitch and
long-pitch have been comprehensively studied in [15]-[17],
with 72 slots, 6 conductors per slot and 3slots per pole per
phase, where the end-winding connections have the different
Fig. 9. The diagram of the end-winding structure.
V. THE ELECTROMAGNETIC PERFORMANCE AND THERMAL
MANAGEMENT OF THE RECTANGULAR WIRE MACHINE
A. Electromagnetic performance
In order to furtherly evaluate the rectangular wire winding
machine, the performance of the machine in terms of the
on-load capability, efficiency, flux-weakening characteristic
and so on, has been systematically researched. In [2], [23]-[26],
the electromagnetic performance, production difficulty and the
cost of the traditional stranded winding machine and the
rectangular wire winding have been compared and analyzed,
ZHAO et al: OVERVIEW OF THE RECTANGULAR WIRE WINDINGS AC ELECTRICAL MACHINE
shown in Fig 10, where the red line and blue line represent the
peak torque and the rated torque, respectively. It indicated that
the hairpin winding machine due to the bigger slot fill factor
can be the good choice to boost the torque density and power
density.
(a) (b)
(c)
Fig. 10. The comparison of different winding machines. (a) Pulled winding.
(b) Hairpin winding. (c) Concentrated winding [25].
Furthermore, the AC copper losses have also been
investigated, the rectangular wire winding having the bigger
conductor cross section lead the distinguished proximity and
skin effects, which deteriorated the advantage of the smaller
DC resistance especially at the high frequency condition. And
the detailed DC resistance, AC resistance and total losses have
been compared in Fig 11. In [1], the copper losses of the same
machine except the different winding structure have been
compared, which pointed out that the AC copper losses of the
rectangular wire winding machine with 4 conductors per slot
would excess the stranded winding machine when the speed is
up to 4000rpm.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 11. The comparison of different winding machines. (a) The trendency of
the AC/DC resistance versus frequency. (b) The trendency of the total losses
versus frequency [25].
165
The comprehensively design guideline of the high power
density rectangular wire winding machine have been given in
[27], [28], combined with the optimization of the stator slot
opening shape and slot/pole combination, which can achieve
the low torque ripples and high efficiency, simultaneously. And
the rectangular wire winding machines with the fractional slot
and the integer slot have been studied in [29], where the
fractional slot distributed winding machine is superior in terms
of machine size, efficiency.
For the EV application, the design, optimization and control
of the rectangular wire machine have been systematically given
in [1], [30], [31], where taking the Chevrolet Spark 2014 and
Chevrolet Bolt 2017 as examples, and the comparison of which
in terms of the torque density, permanent magnet mass and the
overall machine mass has been shown in Fig 12. It can be seen
that the development tendency of the rectangular wire winding
EV machine is to further enhance the torque capability, as well
as decrease the usage of the expensive magnet material so as to
reduce machine size and save the cost.
Fig. 12. The comparison of different machines [1].
Fig. 13. The diagram of the spray oil at the end-winding [32].
B. Thermal management
The cooling technic is the key to guarantee the machine
quality, as overheating will result in degradation of insulation
materials, magnet demagnetization and life loss of the machine.
Thus, it has drawn more attention to the thermal management of
the machine. At present, the water cooling and oil cooling are
the two major cooling types of rectangular wire winding
166 CES TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL MACHINES AND SYSTEMS, VOL. 3, NO. 2, JUNE 2019

machine. Especially, the spray oil cooling at the end-winding

has been applied in the Chevrolet Voltec, depicted in Fig 13,
which can dramatically improve the heat dissipation and
enhance the torque density due to the bigger rectangular wire
winding interval compared with the stranded winding [32].

VI. THE RESTRICTION OF THE AC COPPER LOSSES OF THE

RECTANGULAR WIRE WINDING MACHINE
Considering the disadvantage of the AC bigger copper losses
of the rectangular wire winding machine at the high speed (a) (b)
condition, a lot of outstanding woks have been done. Fig. 15. Different conductors per slot. (a) Four conductors. (b) Six
conductors.
First, in order to investigate the origin of the AC copper
losses, the relationship between of the machine structure
parameters and the copper losses have been studied [33].
Especially, some detailed models employing either numerical
and analytical approaches have been built to predict the AC
copper losses [34]-[39].

Width
Fig. 16. AC copper losses with different conductors per slot.

Height

Fig. 14. Conductors shape.

The eddy-current losses and thermal analysis of an
inverter-fed cage induction machine with a multi-conductor
stator winding have been presented, which pointed out the
installment of the magnetic wedges at the slot opening is a
simple way to reduce the eddy-current loss [40]. And the
influence of the air gap size and the winding position on the
copper losses has been researched, which indicated that (a) (b) (c)
increasing the distance between the winding and the air gap can
improve the copper losses. And based on the foundation that the
AC copper losses at the slot opening is serious, positioning the
conductors near the slot bottom, reducing the slot opening size
and applying the transposition method can reduce the copper
losses effectively[41-42]. What’s more, the conductors shape
has also an impact of the AC copper losses [43], shown in Fig
14.
However, the model mentioned above is the 2-D neglecting
the end-winding copper losses, the influence of the
end-winding size on the proximity in high speed machine has (d) (e) (f)
been provided in [44]. Fig. 17. AC copper losses with different conductor phase arrangements.
In view of the conductor layer number per slot, the related (a)AAAA. (b)ABBB. (c)AABB. (d)AAAB. (e)ABAB. (f)ABBA
research has been carried out, which pointed out that the Furthermore, some scholars have found that the conductors
increase of the conductor layer number can significantly phase per slot has a vital impact of copper losses in [45]-[48],
decrease AC copper losses so as to improve the machine where six different conductor phase arrangements have been
performance at the high speed condition. In [1], the AC copper compared with 4 conductors per slot , shown in Fig 17, which
losses of Chevrolet Spark 2014 and Chevrolet Bolt 2017 have indicated that conductor phase arrangements of ABAB and
been compared, using 4 conductors and 6 conductors per slot, ABBA have the minimum AC copper losses. However, the
respectively, where the diagram of the conductors distribution conductor phase arrangement of the same phase has the most
and the copper losses are depicted in Fig 15 and Fig 16. serious condition. Thus, it is necessary to reasonably design the
ZHAO et al: OVERVIEW OF THE RECTANGULAR WIRE WINDINGS AC ELECTRICAL MACHINE 167

winding connection taking the AC copper losses into

consideration.
In [49], an optimal twisting criterion has been proposed
which achieved the minimization of the copper losses due to
parasitic circulating currents and reduced the number of twists
and the length of the coils.
In [50], hybrid rectangular bar windings consisting of copper
bars which are located close to slot bottom and aluminum bars
which are located close to the slot opening have been
introduced, which can not only decrease the copper losses, but
also reduce the machine mass, shown in Fig 18. Fig. 19. The stator of the rectangular wire winding machine.
wire winding machine, there are still some problem waiting to
Low resistivity be researched, which are described as followed:
conductor 1) Improving the production craft. It is the key to guarantee
the accuracy and reliability of production technology, which
decided the machine safety and performance. What’s more,
High resistivity combined with mature craft, the mass production and launching
conductor to the market can be achieved.
2) Optimizing the winding connection. At present, the
winding connection of the rectangular wire winding has seldom
been researched in terms of the different conductor number per
slot, different slot/pole combination and different parallel path
Fig. 18. Hybrid conductors distribution.
number. And the difference and relationship among different
TABLE V end-winding connection, cost, production difficulty and
RESEARCH AND RESTRICTING METHOD OF THE AC COPPER LOSSES reliability has seldom been given.
Characteristic Restricting methods 3) Reducing the production cost. It can be seen that the
Decreasing from slot opening to production of the rectangular wire winding is complexity which
The current density distribution
slot bottom strongly depended on the expensive professional equipment.
The copper losses distribution Gathering at the slot opening Thus, it may be one of the constraints that restricting the
Slot wedge Magnetic wedges development of rectangular winding machine. However, with
Winding position Approaching the slot bottom the full automation and mass production, the cost can be
reduced.
Slot opening shape Reducing the slot opening
4) Restricting the AC copper losses. Although a lot of works
Conductor shape Reducing the height have be done using different methods to reduce the copper
Conductor layer number per slot Increasing the layer number losses, it would cause the bad influence of other characteristic
Conductor phase per slot Different conductor phases of the machine such as increasing cost, torque ripples and
Conductor material Hybrid materials
torque density. Thus, it is valuable to investigate the more
effective measure to optimize the losses, save cost and boost the
efficiency.
VII. OPPORTUNITY AND CHALLENGE OF THE RECTANGULAR
WIRE WINDING MACHINE VIII. CONCLUSION
A. Opportunity This paper has presented the overview of the rectangular
In order to resolve the environment pollution and resource wire winding machine with a focus on the production craft and
shortage, the focus on the EV/HEV has been dramatically electromagnetic performance. What’s more, the winding type,
increased in recent years due to the superior performance, inserting direction, insulation structure and winding connection
where the traction machine is the core of the vehicle. Limited to have been researched, combined with the production
the slot fill factor, heat dissipation and machine cost, the technology. Furthermore, the electromagnetic performance and
traditional stranded winding machine can seldom achieve the thermal management of the machine having the different
requirement of the higher torque density and higher efficiency. winding structure have been compared and analyzed, which
However, the rectangular wire winding machine can be the indicated the superior characteristic of the rectangular wire
optimal replacement due to the good electromagnetic winding machine that satisfies the requirement of the EV/HEV
performance. At the same time, a lot of famous models have application. Especially, in view of the weakness of the bigger
employed the rectangular wire machine and mass production, AC copper losses, some methods have been provided so as to
which proved the vast development potential. furtherly improve the machine efficiency. In a word, the
rectangular wire winding machine has the vast development
B. Challenge prospect due to the high torque density, high power density and
Although the more attention has been paid to the rectangular so on.
168 CES TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL MACHINES AND SYSTEMS, VOL. 3, NO. 2, JUNE 2019
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Yu Zhao (S’17) was born in China, in
1995. She received the B.E.E. degree in
electrical engineering from Southwest
Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China, in
2017. She is currently working toward the
master’s degree in electrical engineering at
Huazhong University of Science and
Technology, Wuhan, China.
Her research interests include design,
analysis, and optimizing of permanent-magnet machines.
Dawei Li (S’12–M’15) was born in China.
He received the B.E.E. degree from the
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin,
China, in 2010, and the Ph.D. degree from
Huazhong University of Science and
Technology, Wuhan, China, in 2015, both
in electrical engineering. In July 2015, he
joined Huazhong University of Science
and Technology. He has authored more
than 60 published technical papers and is the holder of more
than ten patents/patent applications. His research interests
include the design and analysis of flux-modulation
permanent-magnet brushless machines.
169
Dr. Li was the recipient of the Best Poster Presentation
Award from the XXIIth International Conference on Electrical
Machines (2016), and Hubei Province Excellent Doctoral
Dissertation (2016), China.
Tonghao Pei (S’16) was born in Wenzhou,
China, in 1994. He received the B.E.E.
degree in electrical engineering from
Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou,
China, in 2016. He is currently working
toward the master’s degree in electrical
engineering at Huazhong University of
Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
His research interests include design,
analysis, and optimizing of permanent-magnet machines.
Ronghai Qu (S’01–M’02–SM’05–F’18)
was born in China. He received the B.E.E.
and M.S.E.E. degrees from Tsinghua
University, Beijing, China, in 1993 and
1996, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree
from the University of Wisconsin Madison,
Madison, WI, USA, in 2002, all in
electrical engineering.
In 1998, he joined the Wisconsin
Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortiums,
University of Wisconsin–Madison, as a Research Assistant. In
2002, he became a Senior Electrical Engineer with Northland, a
Scott Fetzer Company, Watertown, NY, USA. Since 2003, he
has been with the Electrical Machines and Drives Laboratory,
General Electric (GE) Global Research Center, Niskayuna, NY,
USA, as a Senior Electrical Engineer. Since 2010, he has been a
Professor with Huazhong University of Science and
Technology,Wuhan, China. He has authored more than 230
published technical papers and is the holder of more than 50
patents/patent applications.
Dr. Qu is a full member of Sigma Xi. He has been the
recipient of several awards from the GE Global Research
Center since 2003, including the Technical Achievement and
Management Awards. He was also the recipient of the 2003 and
2005 Best Paper Awards, third prize, from the Electric
Machines Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications
Society (IAS) at the 2002 and 2004 IAS Annual Meeting,
respectively.