Radial flux and axial flux PM machines analysis for More Electric Engine aircraft applications

In this paper the advantages, constraints and drawbacks of the aircraft More Electric Engine (MEE) are presented through a comparison between the radial flux and the axial flux Permanent Magnet (PM) machines for four different positions inside the main gas turbine engine. The electromagnetic preliminary designs are performed on the basis of self-consisting dimensioning equations, starting from the constraints of the available volumes. The actual baseline output generated power is assumed to be 300kVA. Taking into account the technical and reliabilities goals imposed by the specific application, in the paper some technological choices characterizing the projects are discussed too. In order to help the designers in the evaluation of the most promising solutions for this application, the comparison between different proposed design solutions is performed on the basis of several specific design indexes.