**4. Exemplary Design Optimization of an IM**

The presented optimization environment is used to design an IM as a traction drive for a small vehicle. The aim of the optimization is to minimize the losses occurring over a driving cycle while at the same time minimizing the required installation space. Starting with a rough design of the machine, it is optimized using the presented multi-stage optimization environment, considering geometric and thermal constraints. The resulting machine is compared with a reference machine, which is used as a benchmark. To model the IM, different electromagnetic machine models with different value ranges and level of detail are used. The thermal behavior of the machine necessary for the evaluation of the thermal constraints is modeled with an equivalent thermal network with four nodes, as presented in [37].
