Comparison between 3-ph and 6-ph PMSM drives for the electric propulsion of unmanned aerial vehicles

The full electric aircraft concept requires accurate design and suitable choice and integration of all the used components. Obviously, the electric propulsion drive is one of the most important on-board equipment. Both power converters and electric motors must have low weight, suitable overload capacity and high reliability. In this paper, two possible solutions of electric propulsion motor for unmanned aerial vehicle are investigated. Sizes, weight and some features of a three-phase PMSM motor are compared to those of a six-phase motor obtained by an appropriate rewinding of the armature, with fixed stator and rotor magnetic circuits. The losses obtained from the numerical analyzes are compared to evaluate the convenience of one solution over the other.