Considerations for the design of a tubular motor for an aerospace application

This paper deals with the design of high force density tubular linear permanent magnet motors for aerospace applications. The main requirements of aerospace applications such as force density and fault tolerance are considered in a general review of recent high force density linear machines, highlighting the merits and disadvantages of each motor. Analytical considerations, including two dimensional finite element analyses are used to compare the performance of two main tubular machine topologies, namely a single air-gap tubular motor with inset permanent magnets and its double air-gap counterpart. An experimental validation is presented comparing the predicted analytical results with the measured results on a built motor prototype.