Rotor Design to Reduce Secondary Winding
Harmonic Loss for Induction Motor in Hybrid
Electric Vehicle Application
Haodong Li
Advanced MotorTech LLC.
Pinellas Park, Florida
hli@advancedmotortech.com
Abstract—Induction motor rotor designs are investigated in this
paper to reduce secondary winding harmonic losses in hybrid
electric vehicle (HEV) applications. The induction motor is more
and more popular to use for the traction drive, but its’ secondary
winding harmonic losses are significantly higher than the usual
when having high frequency and high power density in the HEV
application. Thus, the major cause of the high secondary winding
losses is analyzed and evaluated in the paper. The losses of rotor
bars due to harmonic fields are calculated and analyzed for a
typical eight pole induction motor by using the finite element
method (FEM). Several rotor structures are proposed to decrease
the harmonic losses and improve efficiency. Finally, the rotor
design methods of the induction motor are compared to achieve a
high efficiency and high power density based on the reduced
harmonic losses, increased efficiency and output torque. The
results show the secondary winding losses of the induction motor
can be reduced by up to 43% when using the new rotor structure
design.
Keywords— rotor design, induction motor, HEV, FEM, harmonic
losses, efficiency
I. INTRODUCTION
Induction motors for the HEV applications have magnetic
field time harmonics and slot harmonics, with high order
frequency components, in the air gap, at the stator surface and at
the rotor surface [1]. Because the HEV induction motor needs to
have high power density, it also has high flux saturation and
high operating frequency, so the secondary winding (rotor
winding or rotor bar) loss is significantly higher than the typical
values, and high eddy current loss is generated in the bar area.
This eddy current effect reduces the bar’s effective cross section
area and increases the secondary winding AC resistance and slip.
The output performance of the induction motor is decreased
with the increase of the secondary winding harmonic losses. The
conventional induction motor rotor structure design is not good
enough to be used in the HEV application, and high secondary
winding losses due to the magnetic field harmonics become a
major problem, causing the low efficiency and overheating [1]-
[4]. The rotor winding loss can be even higher than stator
winding loss [1].
In the classical rotor design theory of the induction motor,
many papers focus on the optimal rotor slot design for torque
characteristics, including line-start conditions, and compare
different rotor slot designs of the speed-torque curve [5]-[9].
These induction motors are for the application of NEMA class
978-1-5090-0737-0/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE
Keith W. Klontz
Advanced MotorTech LLC.
Pinellas Park, Florida
kklontz@advancedmotortech.com
A, B, C and D, but not for the HEV where high harmonic losses
are present. Some papers propose the skewed rotor to reduce
stray loss [10] [11], or using copper material to replace
aluminum to achieve high efficiency [12], but the harmonic
losses are not significantly high or not considered important in
these conventional rotor designs. A compound cage rotor is
mentioned in [4] to improve thermal performance and efficiency
by using a combination of two materials as one rotor bar, but the
slot design is more complicated and not symmetrical, and the
harmonic losses are also not considered and analyzed carefully.
The careful reduction of the harmonic losses is not analyzed in
the most conventional induction motor design.
To reduce the rotor bar loss, magnetic flux in the inverter-fed
induction motor has been analyzed when using slit shape rotor
design with non-symmetric rotor slot [1], bridged rotor slot with
the U-shaped rib at the top of the rotor bar [2] and bridged rotor
slot with straight rib in the rotor bar [3]. Additionally, a rotor
design with a short bar is presented for railway vehicle traction
in [13] for high efficiency, and the harmonic losses of the
secondary winding loss can be decreased. However, a single
rotor design methodology is discussed and the harmonics of the
magnetic flux are not evaluated precisely. A comprehensive
evaluation method is needed to achieve higher efficiency and
higher output power.
In this paper, the major cause of the high secondary winding
loss is analyzed using FEA for magnetic flux simulation. Eddy
currents are also evaluated and the location of the main part of
the secondary winding harmonic losses is evident. The main
frequency is calculated and found in the harmonic waveform of
the secondary winding, and the relationship of the main
harmonic frequency and the loss position is analyzed.
FEM modelling of several rotor designs are performed to
evaluate and compare reduction of the harmonic losses and the
improved efficiency based on the secondary harmonic and the
position. When using the proposed rotor designs, secondary
winding harmonic losses are significantly decreased by up to
43% compared to the conventional rotor slot design, and the
other influences of the new rotor designs are also mentioned and
compared for the induction motor of the HEV. Finally, an
optimal rotor design is evaluated by comparison of different
rotor designs with high efficiency, low secondary winding loss
and high output torque.
II. METHODS TO REDUCE SECONDARY ROTOR WINDING LOSSES
An induction motor for HEVs rated at 82kW, at a speed of
2750rpm is designed and evaluated in SPEED® software (by
CD-Adapco) and JMAG® FEA (by JSOL Ltd.). During the
SPEED and FEM simulation, the induction motor’s secondary
winding loss is calculated when the current is sinusoidal with
peak value of 450A. The motor geometry is shown in Fig. 1a.
The HEV induction motor has 48 stator slots and 64 rotor slots.
The main dimensions and parameters of this motor are shown in
Table I. The output power, the torque, the stator OD, the stack
length, etc., are from [14], an ORNL report for the Nissan Leaf
hybrid motor. In Fig. 1b, the rotor slot is a conventional parallel
tooth shape, with flat bottom and open slot. The entire rotor bar
slot area is filled by the rotor bar material.
Copper material is used for the rotor bars and end rings to
generally reduce the secondary winding losses and improve the
efficiency. However, in the FEA simulation, the rotor winding
loss is 8.05kW and about 8% higher than the stator winding loss
of 7.47kW, while the end ring loss is only 0.63kW. Thus, when
using the conventional rotor design of this HEV induction
motor, the rotor winding loss is mainly in the rotor bars. Also,
these losses are significantly higher in this high frequency, high
power density traction application, as compared to commercial
and industrial premium-efficiency induction motors.
A. HEV Induction Motor Rotor Loss for Conventional Rotor
Design
For the conventional rotor design of Fig.1 and Table I, the
flux density and current density are shown in Fig. 2 and 3, when
the output power is 82.2kW and the torque is 285.5Nm, for peak
operation. The flux density of the stator teeth is 1.88T and the
flux density of the rotor teeth is 1.75T. Both flux densities are
normal saturation values for peak performance of the HEV
motor. In Fig. 3, there are large eddy currents within the top part
of each rotor bar and the maximum current density is about
120A/mm2 in some areas. The high current density is from eddy
currents generated by the high frequency harmonic leakage
fields of the rotor air gap and can create high secondary winding
losses and significant heating.
Point1-top point

Point2-middle point
Fig.2 Flux density

(b)
(a)
Fig.1 82kW HEV induction motor geometry

Table I: Motor main dimensions and parameters

pole number 8 slip 0.042

stator slot 48 torque 285.5Nm Fig.3 Current density
rotor slot 64 output power 82.2kW
stator OD 200mm rotor winding loss 8.05kW In Fig. 2, two points are also selected in the rotor bar to show
rotor OD 140mm line voltage 232.4Vrms
the flux density vs. time. Point 1 is in the top of the rotor bar
near the air gap, and Point 2 is in the middle of the rotor bar.
air gap 0.4mm line current 318.2Arms According to the flux density of Point 1, shown in Fig.4, the
stack length 150mm efficiency 83.0% high order harmonic frequencies for the magnetic leakage flux
exist only in the top region of the rotor bar, with a major
frequency of 2187Hz from the time cycle calculation. This
frequency generates significant eddy current losses during the
 Fig.4 Flux densities in rotor bar
motor’s operation in the HEV application. This matches the
current distribution of Fig. 3, which shows the highest current is
generated in the top part of the rotor bars in this HEV induction
motor.
From the analysis of the flux density curve in Fig. 4, the stator
slot harmonic is the source of the major frequency. The stator
slot harmonic frequency can be calculated by the slot number
and stator frequency in the equation (1) [15].
ொଵ
̴݂௦௟௢௧ ൌ ൈ ̴݂௙௨௡ௗ ൈ ሺͳ െ ‫ݏ‬ሻ (1)
௣
where, f_slot is the stator slot harmonic frequency, Q1 is stator
slot number, p is pole pair number, s is slip and f_fund is stator
fundamental frequency.
The calculated f_slot is 2199Hz, that is similar with the
measured major frequency of the Fig.4. Thus, the slot harmonic
frequency is the primary causes of the eddy current losses in the
top of the rotor bars.
B. Evaluation Method and Rotor Designs
To investigate reduction of harmonic losses the FEM is used
to simulate the eddy current of several rotor bar configurations,
when having the same current, same stator slot and same peak
performance. To minimize the stator and air gap leakage fluxes
and to maximize the torque, a closed stator slot is not be
recommended, and in this paper, the focus will be on rotor
designs to reduce the secondary winding losses. Thus, several
rotor slot designs are proposed to reduce the influence of the
stator slot harmonics, while also getting the other performance
data such as efficiency, line voltage, torque, etc.
To compare these parameters in the induction motor, equation
(2) is presented with weight values, wi, to evaluate the induction
motor’s performance. Based on the equation (2), a
comprehensive comparison can be done with different rotor
winding loss, efficiency, etc., at the same current and slip.
ଵ ௘௙௙
݊௙ ൌ ‫ݓ‬ଵ ൅ ‫ݓ‬ଶ
ಽ೚ೞೞೝ೎ೠ
ౣ౟౤ሺಽ೚ೞೞೝ೎ೠ ሻ
୫ୟ୶ሺ௘௙௙ሻ
்೛೐ೝಲ
൅ ‫ݓ‬ଷ ൅ ‫ڮ‬ (2)
୫ୟ୶൫்೛೐ೝಲ ൯
where, nf is the evaluated number, Lossrcu is rotor winding loss,
eff is efficiency, TperA is torque per ampere (torque constant) and
w1,w2,… are the weight values specified in the evaluation.
III. MOTOR MODELLING TO EVALUATE ROTOR LOSS
Several 2D magnetic field analyses are performed to simulate
the performance of the induction motor, with the same current,
slip, air gap, end ring and stator geometries. Decreasing the
harmonic effect in the rotor bar is important for the rotor
winding loss reduction. Only rotor slot and rotor bar are
modified to reduce the harmonic losses in this paper.
A. No Rotor Bar Conductor Material in Slot Opening
As seen in Fig. 3, eddy current flows near the slot opening
part of the rotor bar, and large slot harmonic flux passes through
the top part of the rotor slot, so the rotor design without a slot
opening part of the rotor bar is simulated first. The geometry
without rotor bar conductor material filled in the slot opening
part is shown in Fig. 5(a) and the results are listed in the Table
II. For the same slip and current, the rotor winding loss is
reduced by 30.4%, compared to the original secondary winding
loss, and the torque increases 2.3%. Thus, removing the rotor
bar from the slot opening is very helpful to reduce the harmonic
losses. In a design without rotor bar material in the slot opening,
fabricated copper bars might be used in the induction motor
application of the HEV. If the rotor bars are cast as a single cage,
special cast tooling or post-casting milling of the slot opening is
required to empty the slot opening space. In Fig. 6, the peak
current density is about 60A/mm2, at peak torque, which is 50%
of the conventional rotor design.
B. Deep Rotor Slot
A deep rotor slot opening is designed, as shown in Fig. 5(b). It
also removes the top part of the rotor bar and has a deep tooth
tip. This deep tooth tip keeps the bar material far away to the air
gap to reduce the harmonics effect, but reduces the area of the
bar. In Table II, the rotor winding loss is significantly reduced
by 48.7% in the deep rotor slot design, but the torque is
decreased by 3.7% and the torque per ampere is lower because
the rotor resistance has increased, causing a larger slip. The
deep tooth tip has more rotor flux linkage above the bar that
 Original (a). no slot opening (b). deep slot (c). short rotor bar (d). short rotor bar with (e). short rotor bar with
rotor bar bar material bridge close slot

Fig.5 Induction motor’s rotor designs

Table.II Performance parameters of new slot designs and original design

Short rotor bar with Short rotor bar with
Models Original No slot opening Deep rotor slot Short rotor bar
bridge close slot
torque 285.5Nm 292.2Nm 274.3Nm 292.6Nm 286.0Nm 288.8Nm
output power 82.2kW 84.1kW 78.9kW 84.2kW 82.3kW 83.1kW
rotor winding loss 8.05kW 5.60kW 4.13kW 4.62kW 4.51kW 4.59kW
line voltage 232.4Vrms 234.4Vrms 246.9Vrms 244.0Vrms 244.8Vrms 244.5Vrms
input power 98.9kW 98.4kW 92.0kW 97.6kW 95.6kW 96.5kW
Torque per ampere
0.897 0.918 0.862 0.920 0.899 0.908
(torque constant)
efficiency 83.0% 85.5% 85.8% 86.3% 86.1% 86.2%

doesn’t generate torque. For the same output torque, the current from generating the losses. The bridge is like a magnetic shield.
has to be increased and the efficiency may be reduced when With this bridge, the slot harmonic field can be reduced and the
using this deep rotor slot, so comparison with the weighted top part of the rotor bar has also been removed too. In Table II,
equation is required to be performed. In Fig. 7, the eddy current the rotor winding loss is also reduced by 44.0% and the torque
in the top of rotor part is decreased significantly, and the peak is the same as the original design. Thus, it is necessary to
current density is about 28A/mm2, which is 23.3% of the remove the top part of the rotor bar, which is eddy current area,
conventional rotor design. to significantly reduce the slot harmonic loss when designing
the induction motor for the HEV application. This slot structure
C. Short Rotor Bar can be used for the cast rotor process. In Fig. 9, the eddy current
The short rotor bar design shown in Fig. 5(c) keeps the original in the top of rotor part is also decreased, and the peak current
slot geometry to maintain the main flux and torque, but the rotor density is about 35A/mm2 and 29.2% of the conventional rotor
bar’s top part is also removed to reduce the eddy current high-
loss area. In Table II, the rotor winding loss is reduced by
42.6% and the torque is increased by 2.5%. The efficiency
increases 3.3% compared to the original rotor design. However,
the required line voltage is 5% higher than the original design,
so it may be required to increase the voltage level in the
batteries’ storage energy system. For the short bar design, using
fabricated copper bars or special cast tooling might be required
in the induction motor manufacture. In Fig. 8, the eddy current
in the top of rotor part is also decreased, and the peak current
density is about 30A/mm2 and is 25% of the conventional rotor
design.
D. Short Rotor Bar with Bridge
For this case, there is a steel bridge above the top of the rotor
bar, as shown in Fig.5(d), to prevent most of the harmonic flux
Fig. 6 current density in no slot opening design
 Fig. 7 current density in deep rotor slot design
Fig. 8 current density in short rotor bar design
Table.III. Evaluated number of new slot designs and original design
Models Original No slot opening Deep rotor slot
nf 91.9% 96.7% 97.5%
rotor design. We also note that the position, quantity, material
and shape of the rotor slot ferrous bridge(s) are all variables that
are anticipated and can be investigated for further optimizing
reduction of harmonic losses while increasing performance.
E. Short Rotor Bar with Close Slot
The closed slot design shown in Fig. 5(e), is applied to reduce
the slot harmonic influence of the rotor bars, and the top part or
the rotor bar is also removed to eliminate the eddy current area.
In Table II, the rotor winding loss is also reduced by 43.0% in
the design of the short rotor bar with the closed slot, and the
Fig. 9 current density in short rotor bar with bridge design
Fig. 10 current density in short rotor bar with close slot
design
Short rotor bar with Short rotor bar with
Short rotor bar
bridge close slot
98.9% 98.2% 98.4%
torque is a little higher than the original design. For a design
with a straight bridge and a closed slot, the effects of reducing
the slot harmonic are similar, but the closed slot design is more
general and the straight bridge design is easier manufacture.
Fabricated aluminum or copper bars are required to be used for
the short rotor bar with the close slot. In Fig. 10, the eddy
current in the top of rotor part is also decreased, and the peak
current density is about 39A/mm2 and is 32.5% of the
conventional rotor design. Again, the thickness of the bridge,
depth of the tooth tips, and the choice of the material that fills
the opening above the bar, if any, are all variables that are
anticipated and can be investigated for further optimizing
reduction of harmonic losses while increasing performance.
IV. COMPARISONS OF ROTOR DESIGN WITH REDUCED LOSS
The secondary winding loss, efficiency and torque per ampere
are selected and evaluated for improved rotor design of this
paper. Equation (2) is used and the weight values are also
chosen. We chose w1 of 10% for the secondary winding loss; w2
of 55% for the efficiency and the w3 of 35% for the torque per
ampere (torque constant).
Efficiency will be increased with a decrease of the rotor
winding loss, so the efficiency will show total loss as a
parameter of the comparison. The battery capability and range
of the vehicle’s energy system is also strongly affected by the
efficiency of the induction motor, so the efficiency weight value
is highest.
From the results of the Table II, the deep slot design has the
lowest rotor secondary winding loss, with 31.5% of total loss. In
the original design, the rotor winding loss is about 48.0% of the
total loss, so the improved rotor design significantly reduces
loss by 16.5%. The rotor winding loss is selected as one of the
compared parameters because this winding loss will create
significant rotor heating, even though the loss is ‘double
counted’ since it affects efficiency, also.
The torque per ampere in Table II can show the output power
per ampere and vehicle acceleration performance, and at the
same current, when this number is larger and the design is better,
provided there is not a voltage limitation to get the required
current into the machine. A low torque per ampere may mean
the induction motor has low loss, but does not assure better
thermal conditions.
For the six rotor designs of this paper, comparison is
performed by using the equation (2) with the rotor winding loss,
efficiency and torque per ampere. The results are shown in
Table III, where the design of the short rotor bar, shown in Fig.
5(c), has a highest evaluated number and is best design in this
paper’s simulations. For the short rotor bar design, the original
slot shape is maintained to reduce the flux leakage for the high
torque per ampere, and the top part of the rotor bar is removed
to reduce the stator slot harmonic losses.
V. CONCLUSION
The major cause of the high secondary winding losses is
analyzed in 80kW induction motor with 8 poles, suitable for EV
and HEV applications. The stator slot frequency is the main
frequency of the rotor bar harmonic leakage fields. To reduce
the secondary winding losses (rotor bar losses), improvement of
the rotor slot shapes are presented and discussed. Decreasing the
stator slot frequency can reduce the rotor winding losses too,
and will be discussed in a later paper.
Several induction motor rotor designs are presented and
investigated to reduce the secondary winding loss in this paper,
and a comprehensive comparison is performed using weighted
values for the rotor winding loss, efficiency and torque per
ampere. The following points are notable:
• The secondary winding loss in the rotor is significantly
higher in the induction motor of the HEV due to the stator
slot harmonics, so it is necessary to do a detailed FEM
simulation to reduce the rotor bar losses.
• The rotor slot harmonic leakage flux needs to be minimized,
while maintaining a high torque constant. However, the
torque constant will be reduced for the deep rotor bar, the
bridged slot and a closed slot, even though using the steel
reduces the harmonic magnetic flux impinging on the bar
• There are large eddy current losses in the top part of the
rotor bars, so removing the top part is necessary to reduce
the harmonic losses and achieve high efficiency in the
induction motor design of the HEV application.
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