Development and analysis of a five-phase pancake shaped switched reluctance motor

Switched reluctance motors (SRMs) show crucial attributes to some applications where light weight, high temperature adaptability, fault tolerance capability, ruggedness, and simplicity are strongly required. The axial-flux configuration has shown additional features. This paper presents the design improvement and analysis of the novel axial-flux SRM, that was presented in previous work. Detailed procedures of deriving the output power equation as a function of the motor dimensions and parameters are provided. The phase winding design approach is thoroughly explained, and a flowchart describing the design algorithm is also presented. The three dimensional finite element analysis unveils the excessive end core effect in the axial-flux configuration. Improvements on the pole shape design are also proposed.