Comparative study of axial-flux switched reluctance machine with different core materials

This paper investigates the impact of core materials on the electromagnetic performance of 3-phase, 12-slot/8-pole axial-flux switched reluctance machines (AFSRMs) with either soft magnetic composite or laminated silicon iron on the stator/rotor teeth and stator/rotor yoke. For the investigations, the double layer mutually coupled AFSRMs supplied by sinewave current have been chosen. 2D finite-element analysis (FEA) has been adopted to evaluate the machine performance in terms of inductances, on-load torque, and losses. Furthermore, the torque-speed characteristics between different core material configurations have been compared. The comparison results have shown that the design with laminated silicon iron stator and soft magnetic composite rotor can achieve similar torque performance with the silicon iron core AFSRM at rated current. However, the soft magnetic composite rotor could significantly ease the manufacture for an axial flux design.