Analyzing the Profile Effects of the Various Magnet Shapes in Axial Flux PM Motors by Means of 3D-FEA

Abstract

Axial flux machines have positive sides on the power and torque density profile. However, the price of this profile is paid by the torque ripples and irregular magnetic flux density production. To gather higher efficiency, torque ripples should close to the zero and the stator side iron should be unsaturated. Torque ripples mainly occur due to the interaction between the rotor poles and the stator teeth. In this study, different rotor poles are investigated in contrast to stator magnetic flux density and the torque ripple effects. Since the components of the axial flux machines vary by the radius, analysis of the magnetic resources is more complicated. Thus, 3D-FEA (finite element analysis) is used to simulate the effects. The infrastructure of the characteristics which are obtained from the 3D-FEA analysis is built by the magnetic equivalent circuit (MAGEC) analysis to understand the relationships of the parameters. The principal goal of this research is a smoother distribution of the magnetic flux density and lower torque ripples. As the result, the implementations on the rotor poles have interesting influences on the torque ripple and flux density profiles. The MAGEC and 3D-FEA results validate each other. The torque ripple is reduced and the magnetic flux density is softened on AFPM irons. In conclusion, the proposed rotors have good impacts on the motor performance.