A comparison between axial and radial flux PM motor by optimum design method from the required output NT characteristics

Purpose - To design a high power density machine, an automatic design method is proposed. Hopefully, automatic design method uses only the requirements (torque and speed) and the information about sources (voltage and current). Design/methodology/approach - To calculate the volume, a necessary flux density and an inductance are calculated by the permeance method. All mechanical parameters, stator diameter, teeth width, turn number and so on, realize the necessary flux density and an inductance, and these parameters are expressed as a function of a rotor diameter. By using both conditions of current density and copper loss, a rotor diameter which realizes the minimum volume can be obtained. Findings - As a result of an optimum design, 50 kW SPMSM is realized only into 2[L] spaces, which copper loss is only 500[W], 1 percent of the maximum output. Moreover, 50 kW axial flux type machine is realized only into 1.3[L] spaces. Accurate comparison is possible by only optimum designs because these have the solutions of the same conditions. In a comparison result, a volume of the axial flux machine is less than that of the radial flux machine, because the radial flux type cannot utilize the large rotor diameter. Thus the axial flux type motor is suitable to the high torque machine. Research limitations/implications - In this research, the length of the coil end and the iron loss, are ignored, because an axial length of stator is much longer than a coil end especially for the high power motor, and the iron loss estimation has not been established. Practical implications - By using this method, it is possible to perform the automatic design. If a designer inputs only the requested torque, speed and device information, an automatic calculation will be done, and a designer can automatically get a motor structure. Originality/value - Although some papers can calculate the mechanical parameters which realize only torque, all requirements, torque, speed and power are satisfied in this paper. In addition, an optimum point of the volume is theoretically obtained. In industrial applications, because the power range is very important, especially for electric vehicles and so on, this paper provides more compact and more powerful machines.