Design and Development of Drivetrain System for Electric Motorcycles

This paper presents the design and analysis of an efficient and low-cost drivetrain system for electric motorcycles (E-Motorcycles). Utilizing advanced CAD (computer-aided design) tools and simulation software such as SolidWorks and MATLAB/SIMULINK, the research evaluates various control strategies for permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) to determine the optimal control scheme. This work focuses on the design and development of a motor drivetrain system that includes an inverter, control systems, PMSM, and drivetrain system. SolidWorks is used to model the CAD of the E-Motorcycle and estimate the inertia of the proposed motor drivetrain system. The CAD analysis and models facilitate and assist the design and development of the motor drive system. A general inverter is designed and built to operate with scalar and vector control schemes for the PMSM, where the control systems are implemented into embedded systems, which are Six-Step, V/F, and Field Oriented Control (FOC) systems. The experiments affirm that the FOC provides the smoothest and most efficient operation, which ensures seamless integration and optimal performance. The integration of the PMSM with the custom-designed inverter demonstrated significant improvements in system efficiency and overall performance.