Testing and analysis of axial gap permanent magnet DC motors

Mohammad, Mohammad T.N. (2004) Testing and analysis of axial gap permanent magnet DC motors. University of Southampton, School of Engineering Sciences, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

This thesis is concerned primarily with the testing and analysis of design variations of the Lynch motor, which is an axial gap permanent magnet dc machine. These variants include: a standard production motor, a motor with low iron volume, a motor with bigger area of magnets and a motor using powder iron instead of laminations. The powder iron motor was constructed by the author, while all the other motors were provided by the Lynch Motor Company.
Tests were conducted to evaluate motor circuit parameters, losses and efficiency using a purpose built test rig which was built in the first stage of the project. Finite element analysis (FEA) was used to determine the levels of the magnetic saturation in the different motors and calculate torque, inductance and EMF. The FEA was also used as bases for comparison with analytical electromagnetic calculations. A dynamic circuit model, whose parametric were derived from FEA and analytical calculations validated by test, was also constructed to study the effect of brush thickness on circulating current and torque production.
The results of the work revealed that the larger magnet motor has a high level of saturation resulting in a higher slope of the torque-speed curve. The lower iron volume motor and the powder iron cored motor produced less torque and have less flux density than the standard Lynch motor. The test results proved that the selected powder iron material is usable in the Lynch rotated armature but it still needs improvements to close the performance gap with laminations. The powder iron motor has back emf that is 10% lower than the standard motor, and consequently a lower efficiency.
The results show that performance of the Lynch motor can be improved by optimising the size of the saturated parts of the motor, which are the stator discs and the armature teeth. In addition, careful selection of brush number, geometry and type can improve the motor performance.
An alternative single gap motor was also studied. The test results show that it has more armature reaction than the dual gap motor and therefore it produced less torque with less efficiency.

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