ELECTRIC TIRE USING PERMANENT MAGNET LINEAR GENERATORS

CHAPTER 1
ELECTRIC TIRE USING PERMENENT MAGNET LINEAR
GENERATORS

1.1Introduction:

Electrification of automobiles relies mainly on integration of power sources such as

batteries, supercapacitors and or fuel cells on board of a vehicle. These electrochemical
devices provide energy and power to the vehicle through conversion of chemical energy
to electrical energy with very high efficiency. The current battery used for vehicle
electrification have their own limitations in terms of low to moderate capacity and
power capability, degradation and capacity fading, and limited cycle life. These
problems are compounded when the battery operates beyond a narrow range of
temperatures. Generation of electricity on-board,a vehicle without chemical conversion
can significantly enhance the autonomy of electric driving,and extend the life and
performance of electrochemical energy conversion devices such as batteries, capacitors,
and fuel cells.

Methods aimed to capture some energy while the vehicle is moving are known in
the art [2], [3]. The inventors in [2] proposed a method to convert parasitic displacement
motion and vibrations encountered under normal urban driving conditions to a useful
electrical energy. Nevertheless, the saved energy is still not sufficient to extend the
range of electric vehicles to an acceptable level. Another method to capture the ram air
energy resulting from the movement of an electric vehicle through the air mass was
proposed in [3].

However, this method is known to cause excess air drag which might outweigh
the credit of the captured energy. Research on innovative topics in the field of electricity
generation has been conducted such as the permanent magnet linear generator (PM-LG)
design for backpack energy harvesting in [4]. The proposed design in this paper
provides a new method to generate electricity on board of a vehicle by using deflection
of the tire while vehicle is moving. More specifically, this new concept uses local
changes in pressure and shape of a tire to generate electricity.

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1.2 Description of Electric tire concept:

The proposed idea utilizes the principle of electromagnetism to generate electricity

inside a tire of a vehicle in a new way that has not been exploited in electrification of
vehicles. The rolling of the wheel on the road causes local change in the tire symmetric
shape, and makes it flat at the contact area with the road surface, as shown in Fig. 1.2.1
The dynamic deflection changes the radial distance between the wheel axis and the
circumference area of the tire when it is in contact with the ground. This localized
deflection in the tire can be utilized by adopting a set of 16 linear generators
incorporated in a vehicle wheel as depicted in Fig. 1.2.2.

Fig. 1.2.1 Schematic of tire deflection and shape change when in contact with the
road
The angular displacements between adjacent generators are designed to maintain
smooth tire rolling on the road surface. A single generator at a time can utilize the
relative linear movement between its translators which is fixed internally to
the tire, and its stator that is fixed to the rim. An alternating current is induced in the
stator winding by Faraday's law of induction each time this movement occurs. The
magnitude of the current depends on the relative movement between the two parts
(stator and translator) of the complete magnetic circuit of the generator, the speed at
which this movement occurs, the number of turns and nature of wire winding, the
strength and nature of the magnet as part of the magnetic circuit, as well as damping

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factor of the tire related to the nature of tire deflection – inflation during tire’s
movement.

Fig. [Link] Isometric view.

Fig. [Link] Side view.

Fig. 1.2.2. Cross section of the proposed E-tire integrated system showing the set of
16 linear generators.

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1.3. Factors considered while designing the E-Tire:

1.3.1. Effect of Forces on the E-Tire:

The proposed concept in this paper is related to action of harvesting energy from a
moving vehicle on the road, therefore it is very essential to study the vehicle dynamics
while focusing on analyzing all different kind of forces specially those acting on the
wheels. And, since, the linear generator proposed in this work moves only along the
vertical axis of the wheel, it is valid to only analyze the dynamics of the vehicle in a 2-
dimensional (2-D) plane. Also, the analysis considers the forces acting on a vehicle
while it is on a horizontally flat road, since the generation action is only related to the
relative interaction between the wheel and the road surface regardless if it was flat,
upgrade, or downgrade road.

Fig. [Link] Main forces acting on the vehicle in 2-D plane.

The main forces acting on the vehicle are depicted in Fig. [Link]. The tractive
effort, Ft, in the contact area between tires of the driven wheels and the road surface
propels the vehicle forward. While the vehicle is moving, there is resistance that tries
to stop its movement. The resistance usually includes tire rolling resistance,
aerodynamic drag, and uphill resistance. The dynamic equation of vehicle motion along
the longitudinal direction is expressed by eqution (1).
MvdV/dt = (Ftf+Ftr)-(Frf+Frr+Fw+Fg) (1)
where dV/dt is the linear acceleration of the vehicle along the longitudinal direction,
Mvis the vehicle mass, Ftf andFtr are the tractive efforts of the front and rear tires, Frf and
Frr are the rolling resistances of front and rear tires, which are represented by rolling
resistance moments Trf and Trr, aerodynamic drag is Fw, and Fg is the grading resistance.

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The tire rolling resistance on hard surfaces is primarily caused by the hysteresis
in tire materials due to the deflection of the carcass while rolling. The hysteresis causes
an asymmetric distribution of ground reaction forces. The pressure in the leading half
of the contact area is larger than that in the trailing half, as shown in Fig. [Link]. This
phenomenon results in the ground reaction force shifting forward. This forwardly
shifted ground reaction force, with the normal load acting on the wheel center, creates

Fig. [Link].1 High inflation pressure.

Fig. [Link].2 Low inflation pressure.

Fig. [Link] Demonstration of source of rolling resistance.
a moment that opposes the rolling of the wheel. To better understand what impacts the
rolling resistance, the same tire but rather with low inflation pressure is investigated.

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The ground reaction force further shifts to the leading half as shown in Fig. [Link].2.
The moment produced by the forward shift of the resultant ground reaction force is
called the rolling resistant moment. It is directly proportional to the length of
displacement, a, as shown in Fig. 1.3.1, and can be expressed as in equation (2).
Tr=FgA (2)
This moment is seen at the wheel axis as opposing force, Fr, to the traction force, Ft,
exerted by the drive system. Therefore, the drive system has to overcome this resistive
force that can be expressed as in equation(3).
Fr=Tr/rd=Fga/rd (3)
where rd is the effective radius of the tire. In this way, the rolling resistant moment can
be replaced equivalently by horizontal force acting on the wheel center in the opposite
direction of the movement of the wheel.

1.3.2 Justification of the E-Tire concept:

A number of factors affect the rolling resistance of a pneumatic tire. They include the
structure of the tire (construction and materials) and its operating conditions (surface
conditions, inflation pressure, speed, temperature, etc. . For the new concept proposed
in this paper to be valid, it should be verified that adding these generators inside the
tire, their distribution, and any forces they produce do not increase the rolling
resistance. Also, the source of energy that is captured by this new concept should be
clarified.
Every generator during each rotation of the wheel tries to minimize the flat area
of the tire, or in other words, tries to keep the tire as circular as possible. While, on the
other hand, the weight of the vehicle opposes this action. The weight of the vehicle
represented by Fg, tries to push away the two counterpart poles of the of the stator and
translator. The proposed concept here is designed to capture this interactive action
between the two opposing forces. Also, from the extensive analysis in the previous
section, the reduction of flatness level of the tire reduces the rolling resistance. Hence,
the integration of these generators inside the wheel should not increase the rolling
resistance.

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1.4 Linear generator design and configuration:

Fig. 1.4.1 3-D Representation of the linear generator.

Fig. 1.4.2 The linear generator integrated into a vehicle wheel.

Fig. 1.4.3 The linear generator with a single magnet located in the middle of
the translator core.

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The linear generator which consists of stator and translator has two permanent magnets
(PMs) located at the two ends of a U-shape magnetic circuit that forms the translator
part. The stator which is wound individually is located between the two ends of the U-
shape translator, as can be seen in Fig. 1.4. The translator will move between aligned
and unaligned positions with respect to the stator part, depending on the deflection
status.
In another design approach, a single magnet may be placed in the middle of the
translator’s core as shown in Fig. 1.4.3. The main flux in the generator of this design is
generated by permanent magnet. The flux magnitude is affected by some factors, i.e.,
the dimension and material properties of generator magnetic components. The magnetic
design has to ensure that the flux densities in the steel cores of the generator are below
1.6 -1.7 Tesla. If the flux density exceeds this limit its permeability drops significantly,
and the magnet magneto motive force (mmf) will be wasted in driving flux through the
steel. The selection of permanent magnet is another important aspect that needs to be
considered in the generator design. The most important parameters that need to be
observed are remanance flux density (Br) and coercive force (Hc), depending on the
application requirements.

Fig. 1.4.4 Fluxes, reluctances and magnetomotive forces in the EMC of the proposed
linear generator.

The equivalent magnetic circuit (EMC) is then used to find the operating point
on the hysteresis curve of the same magnet within the magnetic circuit. As shown in
the EMC in Fig.1.4.4 there are three main fluxes; the magnet flux, the airgap flux, and
the leakage flux. And there are three reluctances; the reluctance of the magnet, the air
gap, and the leakage reluctance. The core reluctance is relatively very low and can be

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neglected. The leakage reluctance can be neglected for the initial step of the design.
The permanent magnet reluctance is given by (4).

(4)
where, LM is the magnet length in the direction of magnetization, AM is the magnet
pole area, µrec is the relative recoil permeability, and µo is permeability of free space.
The airgap reluctance can be calculated according to its dimension and to the air
permeability µo. The magnet operating point is found at the intersection of hysteresis
curve of the same magnet with the line representing the external magnetic circuit
permanence.

1.5 Finite element analysis on the designed E-Tire:

Due to the fact that all of the main machine flux lay in the same plane with the motion,
a 2-Dimentional (2-D) FEA is sufficient to simulate the generator performance at this
stage. The 2-D model of a single generator is built employing MagNet software from
Infolytica Corporation. Starting from the initial analytical design parameters obtained
by the equivalent magnetic circuit, while considering all the requirements and
restrictions such as the available space, cost simplicity and ease of installation, several
FEA models with all the possible options are built and simulated to verify the theoretical
studies. The first step is to test different materials for the magnet to be used. Multiple
kinds of magnets with specific grading are built in FEA. Fig. 1.5.1. shows the arrow
plot of the magnetic flux density as they flow throughout all parts of the core and
magnetic material, with the same direction of the two magnets’ flux density. The
magnets used in this case are Alnico 5-7. The relatively high level flux density as seen
in the translator core near the magnets, revels that further modifications and
improvements can be done for these regions. Fig. 1.5.2. shows the arrow plot of the
magnetic flux intensity solution for the generator with the same magnets. The
simulation is performed for a speed of the vehicle of 60 km/h. This speed is, of course,
converted to a linear speed using the data of the wheel diameter, angular displacement
between two adjacent generators located inside the tire. The level of strength of the
magnetic flux intensity can be read from the color of the arrows, not from the shaded
color of the core. By taking a closer look at the direction of the arrows, it can be seen
that the arrows inside the magnet core are in opposite direction with the arrows in the

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rest of the magnetic paths. This represents a negative magnetic field across the magnet
poles, which validates that the magnet is operating in the demagnetizing region.

Fig. 1.5.1 FEA magnetic flux density for the generator with Alnico 5-7 magnet
100km/h 80 turns.

Fig. 1.5.2 FEA arrow plot of magnetic flux intensity solution for the generator with
Alnico 5-7 magnets at 60 km/h.

Four different kinds of magnets are built in FEA models, namely; Neodymium
Iron Boron, Samarium Cobalt, Alnico, and Ceramic. Fig. 1.5.3 presents the simulated
results of analyzing the cogging force in the generator due to the use of the
aforementioned magnets. Significant difference in cogging force was observed, high
cogging forces in Neodymium Iron Boron and Samarium Cobalt magnets as compared
to the other two. This can be attributed to the high values of coercive forces.

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Fig. 1.5.3 Cogging force produced by the linear generators built with four different
materials of magnets.

Fig. 1.5.4 Instantaneous magnetic co-energy obtained for individual generator

repeated for different numbers of winding turns.

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The co-energy method is utilized to select the optimum number of turns per
single generator. The results in Fig. 1.5.4. suggest that the range from 50 to 100 turns
is acceptable. The desire to generate higher emf, calls for selection of a higher number
of turns. However, for higher speed of operation, higher back emf can be generated by
the coil with large number of [Link], an acceptable trade off can be 80 turns,
which is found suitable for the range of speeds in this application.

Fig. 1.5.5 FEA results for the generated current and EMF for three different speeds of
the vehicle.

Fig. 1.5.6 The 2-D FEA results for the generated current and EMF for three different
speeds of the vehicle.

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The generated electromotive force and current were obtained for a generator
with 80 winding turns and Alnico magnets. The FEA simulation was performed over
variable vehicle speeds and under 10 Ohm load. The results as shown in Figs. 1.5.5 and
Fig. 1.5.6 validate the proposed concept, as the significant generated power on a
continuous basis, and by all vehicle wheels can make great difference in regard to
extending the range of electric vehicles.

1.6 Issues with piezoelectric systems in wheel:

Several groups reported piezoelectric energy harvesters attached inside tire. The tire is
deformed largely when it contacts road during [Link] device inside tire
experiences very large shock periodically on every rotation and it is used as a
mechanical energy source for electrical power generation. But these methods have
severe disadvantages such as large rolling noise, complex tire exchange and cost of the
piezoelectric materials is high.

1.7 Literature survey:

In accordance with the problem stated above, a survey has been conducted and the
author has collected the following literature related to the issues of generating
electricity from the wheel.
There are different methods to generate electricity from wheel using
piezoelectric materials but this has some disadvantages but there is a new method to
generate electricity from a moving tire. From a paper [1] It is verified that we can
generate electricity on board of a vehicle by using deflection of the tire while vehicle is
moving. More specifically, this new concept uses local changes in pressure and shape
of a tire to generate electricity using permanent magnet linear generators. The base of
this paper is from [4] electricity generation has been conducted such as the permanent
magnet linear generator design for backpack energy harvesting in.

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CHAPTER 2
CONCLUSION

2.1 Conclusion:

The report provides a new method to generate electricity inside a tire of a vehicle that
has not been exploited in electrification of vehicles. The proposed electric tire concept
and the design of the generator are sufficiently analyzed. A Permanent Magnet Linear
Generators is built in Finite Element Analysis. The results validate the proposed
concept as they show the significant power that can greatly enhance the autonomy of
electric driving.

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