The automotive industry is showing widespread interest in belt-driven electric motor–assisted (e-Assist)
systems. A belt-driven assist system (BAS) starts and assists the combustion engine in place of the conventional generator. In this study, a water-cooled wound rotor synchronous motor (WRSM) for the e-Assist system was designed and analyzed. The performance of the WRSM was compared with that of an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM). The WRSM efficiency can be improved for the BAS by adjusting the field flux at high speeds. The field current map to obtain the maximum efficiency based on the speed and torque was developed. To control the field flux via field current control in the WRSM, a general H-bridge circuit was added to the WRSM inverter to get the rapid current response in the high-speed region; the characteristics were compared with the chopper circuit. A WRSM developed for the belt-driven e-Assist system and a prototype 115 V power electronic converter to drive the WRSM were tested with a 900 cc combustion engine. The test results showed that the WRSM-type e-Assist system had good characteristics and could successfully start and assist the 900 cc combustion engine.