For the development of its electric vehicle products, Punch Powertrain has developed a powerful muti-disciplinary, multi-objective design optimization platform for E-motors operating on a large core count workstation. It performs global machine optimization based on electromagnetic, structural, thermal and NVH performance calculations. The thermal calculations module used by the platform is developed by the University of Ghent.

The platform is developed specifically for the optimization of hybrid synchronous machines (HSM). To reduce the dependency on rare earth materials found in the magnets of HSM, Punch Powertrain wants to investigate if rare earth free alternative machines can offer viable alternatives. One such machine is the externally excited synchronous machine (EESM) also known as the wound rotor machine. For this purpose, Punch Powertrain wants to integrate EESM into their design and optimization platform. To extend the platform to include EESM, parametrizable thermal models of EESM rotors need to be added to the thermal calculation module developed by UGent.