Difficulties and complexities encountered in the design of transverse flux machines

Transverse flux switched reluctance motors enable the application of a large MMF per pole to a machine with a large number of poles. This paper will investigate the difficulties of building these machines and their advantages and shortcomings. Electrical, magnetic and mechanical difficulties are investigated and ways to overcome these difficulties are fully explained. A novel hybrid construction technique is advocated in which both laminations and powdered iron is used together. The laminations are employed in regions of high saturation where the fields are laminar and the powdered iron in regions where the field is truly three dimensional. A prototype machine has been designed and fully tested and this was reported by the author in a previous paper. Some of complexities in building these machines are not encountered in any other type of machine because of the specific designs employed in these machines. Problems encountered in designing the laminations and the frames are also reported and solutions are found.