A Four-Quadrant HEV Drive System
Sture Eriksson
Dept. of Electrical machines and Power Electronics
The Royal Institute of Technology
Stockholm, Sweden
e-mail: sture@ekc.kth.se
Abstract— A research project for a drive system for
hybrid electric vehicles is described. The main target is to
develop a system, which enables the combustion engine
(ICE) to operate at optimal conditions, thus decreasing
fuel consumption and emissions. The electrical system
consists primarily of an electrical machine with two rotors
and one stator, two converters and a battery. The concept
enables the vehicle to be operated at different speed and
torque independent of the engine’s operating point. The
sizes of the electrical components are limited depending on
the required variation in speed and torque. Simulations
show a significant reduction of fuel consumption for
vehicles in urban traffic. The concept, which is very
compact, can be implemented with both radial and axial
flux electrical machines. Several modes of operation are
possible, such as hybrid mode, electrical mode, pure ICE
driving, cranking and regenerative braking.
Keywords—hybrid vehicle, hybrid driveline, permanent magnet
motor, double- rotor motor
I. INTRODUCTION
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) are currently the most
realistic concept for introduction of vehicles with alternative
drivelines. The battery electric vehicles suffer from the well
known limitations in battery performance and the fuel cell
vehicles are yet far from cost effective. The HEVs have
become an interesting option to conventional vehicles due to
their capability of reducing fuel consumption and emissions
while maintaining the same high performance as conventional
vehicles. A key factor for achieving this is to let the internal
combustion engine (ICE) operate under as optimal conditions
as possible.
A number of different HEV driveline concepts have been
developed and demonstrated, a few also in commercial
applications. All of them have their advantages and
disadvantages related to the type of vehicles and drive cycles
they are intended for. The series hybrid, in which the ICE
drives a generator, which then provides the motor with electric
power is a fairly simple concept. It is with respect to the drive
system similar to the battery and fuel cell electric vehicles. It
allows the ICE to operate under optimal conditions but it
requires a full-sized electric system and the efficiency suffers
from many series connected components. In the parallel
hybrid, the electric motor and the ICE are both mechanically
connected to the wheels. Such a system contains fewer
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Chandur Sadarangani
Dept. of Electrical machines and Power Electronics
The Royal Institute of Technology
Stockholm, Sweden
e-mail: chandur@ekc.kth.se
components and the electric components have a lower rating.
A drawback however is that the ICE load is more dependent
on the actual driving situation. So called power-split hybrids,
which try to combine the advantages of series and parallel
hybrids have been introduced. The system described in this
paper belongs to this category.
The Department of Electrical Machines and Power
Electronics at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm
has been working with various HEV drive system projects for
almost 15 years. The present paper presents some ideas from a
currently on-going project, which engages four postgraduate
students, and in addition a few seniors. The present project
originates from an earlier one reported in a thesis by Thomas
Bäckström with the title “Integrated Energy Transducer Drive
for Hybrid Electric Vehicles”, Stockholm 2000. In that
project, the ICE was directly coupled to a double-rotor electric
machine (DRM), thus enabling the ICE to operate at an
optimal speed independent of the vehicle speed. In order to
also allow variation of the torque, a CVT (continuously
variable transmission) was inserted after the DRM. A CVT
has some significant drawbacks related to cost and efficiency.
In the current project, an electrical machine (SM) is therefore
used to replace the CVT.
II. CONCEPT
The main target for the present project is to find a compact
and cost-effective HEV drive system, which allows for
optimal operation of the ICE and consequently reduces fuel
consumption and emissions. The proposed system combines
advantages of a series hybrid with some of the advantages of
parallel hybrids. Most important is that it allows independent
ICE operation while it at the same time limits the size of the
electrical components and the power these have to handle. A
simple block diagram of the system is shown below (fig. 1).
Red.
ICE DRM SM gear
~ ~
= =
Battery
Figure 1. System concept.
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DRM Red.
ICE + SM gear
~ ~
= =
Battery
Figure 2. System with concentric electical machines.
The core of the system consists of two electrical machines
and two converters. The first machine is a double rotor
machine directly connected to the ICE. The inner rotor has a
three-phase winding, which is connected to the converter via
sliprings and brushes. The outer rotor, which has permanent
magnets mounted on its inside, is mechanically directly
connected to the rotor of the second machine, the SM. This
machine is also a permanent magnet machine and has a three-
phase winding connected to the other converter. The rotor of
the SM is also connected to a mechanical transmission, which
in this case can be a simple reduction gear or perhaps a two-
shift gear. In order to build the system as compact as possible,
it is possible to integrate the DRM and the SM and place the
stator concentrically around the outer double rotor, which in
such a case has to be provided with magnets on both its inside
and outside (Fig. 2).
III. FUNCTION
The basic idea is to let the ICE operate at its optimal
operation line, i. e. with best efficiency in a torque-speed
diagram. This is achieved through control of the speed and
torque of the DRM and the SM.
The system allows the vehicle to operate in all four
quadrants relative to almost any operating point of the ICE.
That is why the system is referred to as “Four Quadrant
Transducer” (4QT). The DRM transfers the torque from the
ICE and it can increase or decrease the speed depending on the
slip-frequency between the two rotors. It has to be
dimensioned for transmitting the ICE torque, but the power is
limited depending on which maximum slip-speed is required.
The SM (stator machine) increases or decreases the torque and
its size depends on the level of the required torque variations.
Therefore, with a reference to the torque-speed diagram in Fig.
3, the sizes of these machines and of the two converters are
determined by the required ∆T and ∆n.
The efficiency of this system can be considerably better
than in a traditional series hybrid because the amount of
electric power, which is transmitted, is mostly much lower
than in the series hybrid. At steady-state operation with ∆T
and ∆n close to zero, the electric power is limited to the losses
in the machines and the converters. It is possible to further
reduce these losses through introduction of a mechanical lock-
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up between the two rotors. Then remain only the iron losses in
the SM and some windage losses.
IV. OPERATION MODES
The system can be operated in several different modes. It
can operate in hybrid mode, when extra power can be either
drawn from or delivered to the battery. During acceleration
and other high load situations, the electric system serves as a
powerful booster with power drawn from the battery. Power is
supplied to the battery during regenerative braking or when
there is surplus power from the ICE. There are of course
certain limitations if the battery is already fully charged. Also
at power balance between the ICE and the vehicle, a certain
power can be circulated between the electrical machines and
through the converters in order to obtain the optimum
operation conditions.
Furthermore, pure electrical operation can be obtained
with the ICE switched off and locked. Both the DRM and the
SM can then operate as motors and the performance of the
vehicle is mainly determined by the battery capacity. Special
arrangements might be necessary to avoid currents through
non-rotating slip rings. Electric operation will probably be
fairly limited due to battery costs.
The system is able to crank the ICE so that even stop and
go functions can be implemented. It replaces thus the ordinary
start-motor. It eliminates also the necessity of a separate
alternator for auxiliary power, provided a suitable DC-DC
converter is installed in the system. As mentioned earlier, a
lock-up function between the two DRM rotors combined with
switch off of the electric system turns the vehicle into a pure
ICE-driven vehicle.
V. CONTROL STRATEGY OF THE ICE
There are of course several methods of controlling the
ICE. The choice of the most suitable control strategy will
depend on the drive cycle and the overall total cost of the
system taking into consideration both the reductions in fuel
consumption and emissions from the vehicle.
Torque
ICE operating point
∆T Vehicle
SM operating
point
∆n
DRM Speed
Figure 3. The vehicle can be operated in all four quadrants relative to any
optimal ICE operating point through variaton of torque and speed.
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 Two different control strategies have been studied in the
project, these are the power tracking and the load leveling
strategies, which will be briefly described in the following.
A. Power Tracking
In this mode of operation, the power output of the ICE is
made to track the road load demand, while the electrical
energy storage is used to take over the acceleration and
retardation demand. The signal of the output power is fed into
the control system where it is first filtered and then used to
determine the optimal operating point of the engine from its
efficiency map. A feedback between the battery and the
engine is also required to assure that the state-of-charge (SOC)
of the battery does not fall below a certain lowest acceptable
value. At this point the engine is made to operate at a
maximum power level until the SOC has reached its
maximum acceptable value.
B. Load Leveling
In this mode of operation, the vehicle is made to operate as
a pure electric vehicle until the SOC reaches its lowest
acceptable value. Then, the ICE is switched on and used to
provide the road load and at the same time charge the battery
until the SOC has reached the highest acceptable value. Once
this value is reached the engine is switched off and the vehicle
again is made to operate as a pure electric vehicle. Each time
the engine is switched on, it is made to operate at its optimal
efficiency point (full throttle).
VI. SIMULATIONS
Using the above strategies and their combination,
simulations have been carried out for both passenger cars and
heavier vehicles for optimization and comparison with other
systems. The engine is modeled with its efficiency map while
the electrical machines are represented by models for copper,
iron and stray losses. The copper losses are dependent on the
current and torque, the iron losses are dependent on the flux
and the speed, while the stray losses are dependent on a
combination of these parameters. The simulations were carried
out for the EC, Japan 10-15 and FTP75 drive cycles. Typical
results of the fuel consumption for the 4QT system are shown
for a passenger car (Fig. 4) and for a heavy vehicle (Fig. 5).
8 available space in the vehicle, the performance requirements
6
4 Conv. Car
4QT HEV
2
0 radial-radial concept has been built and will be ready for
EC Japan 10-15 FT P 75
Figure 4. Calculated fuel consumption (lit/100 km) for a mid-sized passenger
car with 4QT system compared to a conventional car.
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35
30
25
20
15 Conv. Vehicle
10 4QT HEV
5
0
FT P 75 FT P 75 100 km/h
4 kW 13 kW 4 kW
Figure 5. Calculated fuel consumption (lit/100 km) for a 12-ton distribution
truck. The power levels stated in the diagram are required auxiliary power.
For comparison the fuel consumption of a similar
conventional vehicle (ICE only) are also shown in the figures.
As can been seen from the results of the simulations the fuel
savings in city traffic are quite substantial, they are of the
order of 40-50 % for passenger car and 20-30 % for the heavy
vehicles [2].
VII. 4QT TOPOLOGIES
Both the DRM and the SM are foreseen to be permanent
magnet synchronous machines, although other alternatives
have also been considered. One important advantage of the
4QT machine-topology is that a high degree of integration can
be achieved between the two machines that make up the 4QT
machine-topology. In fact, it would be illustrative to describe
it as one slip-ring electrical machine with an extra permanent
magnetized rotor in the air gap.
Several topologies are possible as illustrated in the figure
below, which shows the radial-radial, axial-axial and radial-
axial topologies.
The different topologies have different space requirements
and thermal properties. In the radial-radial arrangement, the
inner rotor is the most critical from a thermal point of view,
while in the axial-axial arrangement the two machines are
almost equivalent from a cooling point of view. The axial-
radial arrangement is a compromise of the first two
arrangements from a cooling point of view and has potentially
the highest power density of the three arrangements.
The final choice of topology will greatly depend on the
and the cost of the different arrangements.
VIII. PROTOTYPE ARRANGEMENTS
To verify the simulations, a laboratory prototype for the
testing in autumn this year. Figure 7 below shows a three
dimensional view of the prototype. A special cooling
arrangement is made to ensure an adequate cooling of the
inner rotor [3].
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 Radial-radial flux Axial-axial flux Axial/radial-radial flux

Flux line

Rotor connected to engine Rotor connected to gearbox Permanent Magnets

Stator Winding Slip rings

Figure 6. Illustration of three different electrical machine concepts for the 4QT system.

A major goal for the project is to investigate the different

4QT topologies and evaluate their advantages and
disadvantages. To this goal, a radial-axial arrangement has
also been designed [4].
A special theoretical and experimental study of an
innovative design of a toroidal winding, axial flux machine
has also been carried out as part of the project. It was also a
permanent magnet machine and primarily intended as SM in
the 4QT system [5].
IX. LABORATORY TESTING
A laboratory test rig has been developed for testing the
different 4QT topologies that are under investigation. The test
rig uses the DRM and a separate SM to represent the 4QT
concept. In a future arrangement these machines will be
replaced by the developed 4QT prototypes. Figure 8 below
shows the laboratory set up [6] that has been built in the
Electrical Machine Laboratory at the department.

Figure 7. A blow-up of the radial-radial flux prototype machines for a 4QT Figure 8. Laboratory set up for testing of 4QT prototypes.
system. The outer rotor is shown in the center of the picture and is provided
with permanent magnets on both the outer and the inner sides.

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 In the laboratory set up the ICE and the load are
represented by 2 separate electrical machines, which are each
controlled by their respective converters. Testing of the 4QT
topologies will include drive cycle testing and efficiency
measurements of the different machines.
X. CONCLUSIONS
A unique hybrid drive system, the so-called 4QT hybrid
system has been presented. This system belongs to the group
of split power hybrids and the basic idea is to enable the ICE
to operate at its optimal operating point independent of the
working point at the wheel.
Simulations of the system show that a substantial fuel
saving of the order of 40-50% can be achieved in urban traffic
for passenger cars and 20-30% for heavy vehicles.
Several 4QT topologies are presented and advantages and
disadvantages are characterized. A prototype has been built
and will be ready for testing in the autumn of 2002.
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A laboratory test rig has been built and tested using the
double-rotor machine and a separate synchronous machine,
awaiting the actual 4QT prototypes.
REFERENCES
[1] T. Bäckström, Integrated Energy Transducer Drive for Hybrid Electric
Vehicles, PhD-thesis, June 2000, Stockholm, Sweden.
[2] E. Nordlund, P. Thelin, C. Sadarangani, Four-quadrant Energy
Trandsducer for Hybrid Electric Vehicles, 15th International Conference
on Electrical Machines, ICEM, August 2002, Brugge, Belgium.
[3] E. Nordlund, C. Sadarangani, Four-quadrant Energy Transducer for
Hybrid Electrical Vehicles Simulations and System Description, EVS19,
2002, Busan, Korea.
[4] F. Magnussen, C.Sadarangani, Electromagnetic Transducer for Hybrid
Electric Vehicles, NORPIE, August 2002, Stockholm, Sweden.
[5] M. Cirani, Analysis of an innovative design of an axial flux Torus-
machine, Licentiate thesis, June 2002, Stockholm, Sweden..
[6] S. Chatelet, C.Sadarangani, Four-Quadrant Energy Transducer Test
Bench, EVS19, 2002, Busan, Korea.