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Axial Flux Induction Motor, Design and Evaluation of Steady State Modeling
Using Equivalent Circuit

Conference Paper · February 2017

DOI: 10.1109/PEDSTC.2017.7910351

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 8th Power Electronics, Drive Systems & Technologies Conference (PEDSTC 2017)
14-16 Feb. 2017, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Axial Flux Induction Motor, Design and Evaluation

of Steady State Modeling Using Equivalent Circuit
Amin Nobahari, Ahmad Darabi, Amir Hassannia

Faculity of Electrical and Robotic Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran
amin.nobahari@gmail.com

Abstract- This paper presents a design algorithm of a dual

rotor axial flux induction motor, constructed from two cage II. MOTOR DESIGN
rotors and a toroidal wound stator. The steady state performance The proposed structure includes a slotted stator fixed
of the motor is analyzed using equivalent circuit and time
between two disc rotors. Aluminum cage forms the electric
stepping 3D finite elements method (FEM). The results show the
correctness of proposed design algorithm and also show the high
current path in each rotor. Fig. 1 shows the proposed motor.
accuracy of equivalent circuit model for steady state behavior
prediction of axial flux induction motor. Furthermore it is shown
that 2D FEM can calculate the motor torque pulsations with good
precision in much less time. The proposed design by use of
equivalent circuit as a simple model can be used for optimum
design of such motor.

Keywords-axial flux; induction motor; equivalent circuit;

FEM.

1. INTRODUCTION
(a)
Induction Motors have some special advantages that make
them popular in different types of industrial applications.
Some of these favorable features are: Robust structure, Low
cost, high reliability, good controllability and acceptable
efficiency [1], [2], [3]. In other hand it can be fmd recently,
lots of research interests in development of axial flux motors
technology for some special applications like direct drive
systems [4-7] because of their special mechanical and
electromagnetic advantages [8]. The combination of these
advantages will give a competitive candidate motor for use in
such applications. Here we propose a dual rotor structure as
will be explain in the next part, and its design equations will
(b)
be presented. One of the most critical issues in design and
manufacturing of axial flux machines is the air gap length
owing to existence of strong axial force between rotor and
stator witch increases by shorten the air gap [4]. This will be
more critical in the case of induction motors since their
performance is intensively sensitive to air gap length [3]. Dual
rotor structure will be a solution to overcome the problem
since the net axial force to the rotor is about zero. Furthermore
dual air gap structure leads to access more power density [8].
Third part will introduce procedures to compute electric
equivalent circuit model as may be the simplest approach to
steady state performance prediction. Detailed information
about 2D and 3D FEM modeling will be presented in fourth (c)
part and the results of different models will be shown and
Fig. 1. One third of rotor (a) and stator (b), and assembled motor (c).
compared in fifth part. Authors believe that the conclusions
will help interested engineers to find the most efficient
modeling method according to their study and to improve their
own design.

978-1-5090-5766-5117/$3l.00 ©2017 IEEE 353

 Toroidal winding is used to reduce end winding and so And after that, parallel side slots will be made. Similar to
leads to less stator end effects. All stator and rotors cores are radial flux motors, (7) and (8) are good approximations for
laminated steels. Inner diameter (Di) and outer diameter rotor bars and rotor end rings currents respectively [3].

fhar = m Nc .
(Do ) of ferromagnetic cores are the main dimensions of axial ne
Kw PF f (7)
flux machines. Also the ratio between them ( Kd ) is an Qr ph
important free design variable.
f ha r
fend =
--. ---""---
" - - (8)
(1)
2sm(Yr 12)

Qr And f are each rotor slot numbers and stator

Reference [9] offers optimum values of Kd for axial flux
ph
nominal phase current respectively and rr is rotor slot pitch
motors. Outer diameter can be calculated as:
in electric Radian.

Plr
(2) Yr = (9)
Qr
Above equations will be used in below flowchart to design
WherePn, Elf, PF , n, and Kw are nominal power in the axial flux dual rotor induction motor
Watt, efficiency, power factor, synchronous speed in round
,//-----..'"
per second and winding factor respectively. Also B and A Start
I: End
g \
are known as special magnetic loading in Tesla and special
&
stator electric loading in Ampere per meter, are other Free Design Parameters Determination
Estimation ofEff & PF
important variables which should be selected carefully. a is
the ratio between average and maximum value of air gap flux
density. Equations (3) and (4) represent Kva and KD
g
defmitions:
& Cage 1sf Estimation
Validation ofEff
Calculation of Core Dimensions, Winding

(3) 1 yes
Equivalent Circuit Parameters

1"1 Estimation
<::������: : �:!;"'::>
t
t

(//
Validation of Kvag

(4) t
</
/
A"�::Pt:�I� 1st

Eh Vh
> Validation ofPF
"" Estimation? ,/
Where and are air gap and terminal voltages Estimation

p p
respectively. The number of coils per one phase is ne = qsP
"
"
"
"
"
"
'f'/ yes
t

for one layer and ne = 2q ,P for two layer winding. Where

Fig, 2, s Design f10wchart
P is pole numbers and qs is stator slots per phase in one side
of stator, divided by P . So the number of turns in each coil of m. EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT MODEL
stator will be:
Induction motor electric equivalent circuit is a well known
Ji Eph (5)
model to calculate steady state characteristics like copper loss,
Nc = ------'----- - electromechanical torque, output power, input current, power
ne lr f. FPP Kw factor, etc. This model cannot take Phenomenons like torque
ripple and current harmonics into account. But it is maybe the
In which f is supply frequency and FPP is flux per fastest method. Accordingly in our design algorithm this
pole (in one air gap). The stator and rotor tooth widths are model is used in each iteration to evaluate Kva ' copper loss
calculated according to their desire flux density in mean
g
and power factor. The per phase equivalent circuit of above
diameter [10, 11]:
dual rotor type motor can be determined as follow. Fig. 3
illustrates the magnetic equivalent circuit of the motor at no
(6) load condition by ignoring the rotor harmonic currents.
As can see in Fig. 3, the magneto motive forces of two air
gaps, are supplied in parallel, means a same magnetizing

354
current is needed for both of them. So in the electric
equivalent circuit we can indicate the electro motive forces of
two air gaps in series. In Addition toroidal winding can be
assumed as two separated windings in two air gaps, connected
in series. This means the resistances and leakage inductances
of each side of stator have to be presented in series. Fig. 4(a)
shows the per phase electrical circuit of the motor. If the
symmetry exists in both sides of the motor, this circuit can be
simplified to the well known form illustrated in Fig. 4(b).
The equations presented in appendix can be used to
calculate each circuit element. It should be noted that the end
effect leakages of rotors and stator are ignored.
Rrotorl
TV. FEM MODEL
Tn this paper the results of 3D FEM, are assessed in
different conditions. As done for electric circuit approach, the
end effect leakages are neglected in 2D analysis. But 3D
modeling takes them into account. Because of the symmetry
just one air gap of one pole pair is modeled to reduce the
calculation time. To create the 2D model of the motor, a cut
plan is assumed, crossing the motor at mean diameter �s
shown in Fig. 5. By neglecting the radial variation of magnetIc
field the 2D model is created. This connivance is the main
reas� n, causes discrepancy in 2D and 3D results.
All FEM calculations are performed by coupling magnetic
equations with external electric circuit supplied by voltage
source to obtain more realistic results. In this study the 3D
FEM results can be used to validate 2D FEM and electric
circuit model accuracies. As can be seen in TABLE I there is a
remarkable difference between 2D and 3D calculation times.
And as known the electric circuit calculation time is much
shorter. Fig. 6 represents calculated meshes for 2D and 3D
FEM.

Rrotor2

Fig. 3. No load magnetic equivalent circuit

Rs Xs X'r

•••••••••••••••
<,Xm

(a) Fig. 5. One air gap partial 3D presentation of Motor with the cut plan crosses
at mean diameter (a) and 2D model resulted from this crossing (b).
Rs Xs X'r

TABLE I. FEM CALCULATION TIME COST

2D 3D
Vph Xm
Number of nodes 10039 71094
Number of elements 18528 176874
(b) Each time step 6 sec 470 sec
calculation time (mean time)
Fig. 4. Per phase Electrical equivalent circuit of motor without (a) and with
(b) symmetry assumption.

355
 B. No Load
,'" • , '" ' " >

3D FEM and equivalent circuit models are created for no

��� ��"!'": ';��'� ?�F� 7';-:$ ::!�: �� :;�� :f:'. f�' :�� .:��� s..� �.� ��'!l
�iI"'" "d r..� �,.� ...... � � 'SI/I�� �i'1'iII' �,.� &.: I\o� ��� �iI"'" � 1lII' �;!'''�'' �1.1!61 �l' ''''' �1'iII'

load condition modeling. The motor is assumed to work at

" " synchronous speed, fed by nominal voltage supply. The no
;,( � ',� �' i;:: l'; i, ' <' �l �:
� � � � , � , �

'. 1 )� j .. .N. f' l L�r � ... load currents are illustrated in Fig. 8. As can be seen in this
<

:,� )13. ��gl

� � � � � � � � � �
� � )

� ,�
, >
� T"
figure there is a high Coincidence in results except the
.
� , , 0, •
equivalent circuit cannot calculate current harmonic
components. The only parameters affect no load results are
stator resistance and leakage reactance and of course
magnetizing reactance. The rotor effects can be ignored in this
condition. Also the stator end winding leakage (which is not
taken into account in circuit model) has negligible effect on
the results because its value is just a few percents of
magnetizing flux.

(b) No Load Current

40 ,----:--�====�
Fig. 6. 2D (a) and 3D (b) meshes - Equ. Circuit
--3DFEM
20 ----------

V. <r:: 0 -------
COMPARISON & RESULTS

A. Designed Motor
----
-20
By use of above design procedure, the following motor
(TABLE IT) for direct drive electric vehicle application is
designed.
After designing process, equivalent circuit is the first -400 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02
model built for steady state analysis. Its results for computing Time (s)

output power, torque and stator current versus speed are Fig. 8. No load current waveform
shown in Fig. 6.

TABLE II. NOMINAL VALUES OF DESIGNED MOTOR C. Full Load

Output Line Phase Pole- 95 percents of synchronous speed (slip equal to 0.05) is
Power Voltage Number Frequency selected for full load regime of motor. In this slip the output
power of motor is the nominal value according to equivalent
lOkW J30V 3 6150Hz circuit model (see Fig. 6). Fig. 9 and Fig. 10 compare torque
and current calculated from different models, respectively. Tn
this situation, rotor end ring resistance is the most important
Output Power, Torque & Current Vs speed end effect parameter which is calculated in both 2D FEM and
5 equivalent circuit. Owing to small value of slip, the effects of
---------- -'-Output Power
: ----... -......... -Torque end ring leakage are too slight. Also end winding leakage has
------- 1 - - - - - - - - - - ...---....... - --'Current less value when motor is working under load [12]. All these
4 ',����--�
1
'.. reasons mean that it should be a high equalization in different
1 ....
3 ------1------------------- ------ '- modeling results as can be seen in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10.
1 "
;::l
�
- - - - - - ��;-; ... - ----. , --
\
2

..'
, ., . D. Locked Rotor
.. '
------- - - - - �",.--.. .;
: , . -- - ------ - ----
As no load and full load conditions, time stepping method
.
.-� -

....
'1'" • .". . ""'... is used to calculate locked rotor torque and current of 3D FEM
.. .. . I
.. .
o .-.... I model which are illustrated in Fig. 12 and Fig. 13 respectively
o 200 400 600 800 1000 and compared with equivalent circuit outcomes. Locked rotor
speed (rpm)
regime is maybe the most challenging condition for equivalent
circuit model. Although in unit slip mode, the end effect
Fig. 7. Motor performance prediction by Equivalent Circuit
leakages are minimum [12], none of them can be neglected.
Anyway we can see that the precision of equivalent circuit

356
compared to 3D FEM is almost acceptable (less than 8%) for
Locked Rotor Current (A)
calculating locked rotor torque and current.
300 ,------��--
295 +-----------===:-----�""'----
290 +------
Full Load Torque Profile
285 +------
115 ,-------�---,
2RO +------
275 +--���---
270
265
260
EquivalentCircuit 3D FEM Total 3DFEM h1
RMS Harmonic

Fig. 12. 3D FEM and equivalent circuit locked rotor currents

-3DFEM
VI. CONCLUSIONS

0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 The paper presents equations to design of a dual rotor axial
Time (s) flux induction motor and evaluates the equivalent circuit
ability to predict steady state performance. The circuit model
Fig. 9. Full load torque profile doesn't contain end effect leakages. It was seen that the
equivalent circuit calculates motor characteristics with high
accuracy in both no load and full load conditions (about 3%
Full Load Current
100
error). Also it was shown that the model can predict the locked

I
-Equ. Circuit rotor regime with acceptable precision (error less than 8%).
�3DFEM Generally in high speed, the model's validity is more
50 remarkable. Also it can be deduced that we can use the
equivalent circuit to optimize the power/torque density, copper
loss, starting torque/current, power factor, etc as objective
functions. 2D FEM can be a faster alternative for 3D one to
evaluate torque pulsation in loaded condition where circuit
model is unable. But it can't show the skewing.
For future works it can be proposed to develop an
equivalent circuit model which:
-100 • Contains an estimation for end winding and end
o 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02
Time (s) ring leakage reactances
• Has load dependent parameters
Fig. 10. Full load current waveform

References
1. Boldea. S. A. Nasar. "The Induction Machines Design Handbook",
Locked Rotor Torque [1]
Second Edition, CRC Press, 2010.
140 ,--- -ne)-y----
[2] R. K. S. Chitroju, "Improved Performance Characteristics of Induction
139 +------ Machines with Non-Skewed Asymmetrical Rotor Slots" Licentiate
138 +----- Thesis, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stokholm, Sweden, 2009.
137 +----- [3] 1. Pyrhonen, T. Jokinen, V. Hrabovcova, "Design of Rotating Electrical
136 +------ Machines" Second Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2014.
135 +------'--'="- [4] Z. Nasiri-Gheidari, H. Lesani, "Optimal Design of Adjustable Air-gap,
134 Two Speed, Capacitor Run, Single Phase, Axial Flux Induction Motor",
133 IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 543-552,
September 2013.
132
Equiva lentCircnit 3DFEM [5] W. Zhang, M. Lin, D. Xu, X. Fu, L. Hao, "Novel Fault-Tolerant Design
of Axial Field Flux-Switching Permanent Magnet Machine, IEEE
Transactions on Applied Superconductivity", vol. 24, no. 3, June 2014.
Fig. 11. 3D FEM and equivalent circuit locked rotor torques [6] F. Zhao, T. A. Lipo, B. Kwon, "A Novel Dual-Stator Axial-Flux Spoke­
Type Permanent Magnet Vernier Machine for Direct-Drive
Applications", IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 50, no. II,
November 2014.
[7] C. H. T. Lee, K. T. Chau, T. W. Ching, F. Le, "A High-Torque
Magnetless Axial-Flux Doubly Salient Machine for In-Wheel Direct

357
 Drive Applications", IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 50, no. II,
November 2014.
(10)
[8] Z. Nasiri-Gheidari, H. Lesani, "A Survey on Axial Flux Induction
Motor", PRZEGLf\D ELEKTROTECHNICZNY (Electrical Review),
pp. 300-305, 2012.
[9] C. C. Chan, "Axial-Field Electrical Machines, Design and (11)
Applications", IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. EC-2, no.
2, pp. 294-300, June 1987.
l erldill
[10] : M. Valtonen, "Performance Characteristics of an Axial-Flux Solid­ Rendin ==
(12)
Rotor-Core Induction Motor", Doctoral Thesis, Lappeenranta University (YAL CS'Aend
of Technology, 2007.
[11] Z. Nasiri-Gheidari, H. Lesani, "Theoretical Modeling of Axial Flux . IendOUI
Rendout ==
Squirrel Cage Induction Motor Considering Both Saturation and (13)
Anisotropy", European Transactions on Electrical Power, 2012. (YAT. CSAend
[12] R. D. Weerdt, E. Tuinman, K. Hameyer, R. Belmans, "Finite Element
h ( hend
Analysis of Steady State Behavior of Squirrel Cage Induction Motors
Compared with Measurements", IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol.
Iendin = 1r(Kd Do -� ) 'nd
& Iendow = 1r D
0 +2
) (14)
33, no. 2, March 1997.

VIT. ApPENDIX (15)

Tn the following, equations for calculate equivalent circuit
parameters are presented.
(16)

(17)

] (18)

[
(a) p
" 2

[
p
" (19)
4m KWN,.nc 2 1
X"'J XmJ +C ( )
=

2Q, sine )
h Q, 2 )
2Q,

X
[- --h"
-+
hs
2h4 -+-+-5g
""'--- - W2
/----'.- )
3W" W,,+W2 W2 5+ 4g / W2
(b)

(20)

TABLE II!. OTHER PARAMETERS INTRODUCTION

Stator winding End ring

length per phase height from
lw hend rotor iron

Copper & Air gap

(Yell '
Aluminum special g length
(Y AT. conductivity
(c) (d)
Fig. 13. Stator and rotor slot dimensions. (a) and (c): stator, (b) and (d): rotor CSA, Stator winding Kc Carter factor
cross section area

CSAend End ring winding K.,at Saturation

cross section area factor

358

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