Analysis of Single Side Axial Flux Brushless DC Motor with Two Different Stator Geometries

Finite element analysis was conducted for an axial flux single side three-phase brushless DC motor with two different stator geometries. Each motor has thirty two permanent rotor magnets and twelve stator electromagnetic poles. One of the motor has one stator segment with twelve electromagnetic poles and the other one has two stator segments with six electromagnetic poles on each stator segment. ANSOFT Maxwell 3D finite element analysis software was used to create 3D motor geometries and analyze motor models. Finite element analysis was conducted under transient solution type with mechanical motion. During the simulation, the applied load torque was non-linearly increased with the rotor speed. Mechanical and electromagnetic characteristics of the motor models were observed and recorded. According to the results, motor model with one stator segment has higher initial acceleration. On the other hand, both models have approximately similar steady state average speed and torque. Therefore, dividing the stator into two segments with same number of electromagnetic poles does not change the motor performance at the steady state.