Investigation on Axial-Flux Switched Reluctance Machine with Different Winding Configurations

This paper investigates the impact of winding configurations on the electromagnetic performance of 3-phase, 12-slot/8-pole axial-flux switched reluctance machines (AFSRMs) with different winding configurations such as double and single layers as well as conventional and mutually coupled windings. Fulfilling the maximum torque design requirement, various square-wave current supplies have been considered, e.g., unipolar 120 degree and bipolar 240 degree. 2D finite-element analysis (FEA) has been applied to evaluate the machine performance in terms of phase inductance, on-load torque, axial force, and losses. On the other hand, to investigate the 3D effect of the AFSRMs, 3D FEA has also been carried out. The machine dynamic performances, such as torque-speed characteristics and efficiency map, between different winding configurations have been compared.