IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 65, NO.

1, JANUARY 2018 67

Electromagnetic Design and Modeling of a

Two-Phase Axial-Flux Printed Circuit
Board Motor
Fabrizio Marignetti , Senior Member, IEEE, Giuseppe Volpe , Student Member, IEEE,
Seyyed Mehdi Mirimani, and Carlo Cecati, Fellow, IEEE

Abstract—Size and cost reduction are among the main [Lph ] Phase inductance.
issues of electric motor design and fabrication. This pa- [Q] Mutual inductance parameter.
per proposes an original layout for an axial flux permanent-
[R] Phase resistance.
magnet motor with printed circuit board (PCB) winding. In
contrast to other axial flux motors of the same type, which [STrack ] Cross section of printed circuit board (PCB) track.
are generally made with a three-phase fractional slot wind- [TLoad ] Load torque.
ing, the proposed motor has a two-phase wave winding [Tem ] Electromagnetic torque.
printed on either side of the PCB. This configuration al- [Y2 ] Distance between rotor and stator iron.
lows increasing the number of pole pairs and the supply
[Θpm ] Temperature of permanent magnets.
frequency so to reduce the stator and rotor core widths.
The winding is also characterized by a large copper per- [αB ] Reversible temperature coefficient of induction.
centage on the board, which improves the torque density of [αCu ] Thermal copper coefficient.
the motor. The results of the mathematical analysis, of the [αH ] Reversible temperature coefficient of coercivity.
numerical simulation and of the experiments are compared. [μ0 ] Absolute permeability.
A method for the computation of the phase inductances is
[μAT ] Atomet permeability.
also proposed and validated. The main dimensions of the
magnets are optimized via the finite-element method. The [μrec ] Recoil permeability.
experimental comparison shows the advantages of the pro- [ωe ] Electrical speed.
posed motor in comparison to the traditional shaded pole [ρCu ] Copper resistivity.
motor for household applications. [τm ] Magnet width.
Index Terms—Brushless, conductors, electromagnetic [τp ] Pole pitch.
modeling, lamination, mathematical model, micromotors, [θe ] Electrical angle.
motor drives, permanent-magnet machines, printed cir- [e] Back-EMF.
cuits, stators. [hpm ] Height of permanent magnets (PM).
NOMENCLATURE [i] Phase current.
[lph ] Total length of phase.
[ATrack ] Track surface. [ltot ] Total magnetic path.
[BM ax,1−2 ] Maximum flux density at y1 and y2 . [lx ] Track segment length.
[Br ] Residual induction. [n] Harmonic order.
[Dm ] Mean diameter. [p] Pole pairs.
[Hc ] Coercivity. [v1,2 ] Phase voltage.
[J] Moment of inertia. [L0 ] Total track segment inductance.
[LLeak ] Leakage inductance.
Manuscript received December 22, 2016; revised March 31, 2017; [LT ] Track PCB inductance.
accepted April 18, 2017. Date of publication June 16, 2017; date of [Li ] Track segment inductance.
current version November 16, 2017. (Corresponding author: Giuseppe [M+,− ] Positive or negative mutual inductance.
Volpe.)
F. Marignetti and G. Volpe are with the Department of Electrical and In- [N ] Number of turns.
formation Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, 03043 [S] Polar surface.
Cassino, Italy (e-mail: marignetti@unicas.it; g.volpe@unicas.it). [φM ,δ ] Maximum flux at air gap.
S. M. Mirimani is with the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol 47148- [f ] Electrical frequency.
71167, Iran (e-mail: mirimani@nit.ac.ir).
C. Cecati is with the Department of Information Engineering, Com- I. INTRODUCTION
puter Science and Mathematics, University of L’ Aquila, 67100 L’ Aquila,
Italy (e-mail: carlo.cecati@univaq.it). XIAL-FLUX permanent-magnet synchronous machines
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIE.2017.2716865
A (AFPMSMs) have been widely used in recent years. Their
fields of application include motors and generators for hybrid

0278-0046 © 2017 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
68 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 65, NO. 1, JANUARY 2018
and electric vehicles [1]–[2] microturbines [3], aerospace ac-
tuators [4], and turbines for wind generation [5] are just few
examples.
The cornerstone of the design of AFPMSM is represented by
the comparison between the AFPMSM and their radial counter-
parts [6]. It is well known that the torque density of axial-flux
(AF) machines increases both with the number of poles and the
aspect ratio [7]–[9], namely the ratio of the diameter to the ma-
chine length [1], [6]. In traditional radial-flux permanent-magnet
synchronous machines (RFPMSM), increasing the number of
poles, the torque density decreases. This behavior is mainly due
to the increase of core losses [10]. On the contrary, the torque
density of AFPMSM can be increased even for higher values of
the pole number, mainly because their end windings are shorter
and because a smaller volume of both stator and rotor iron cores
is required.
The advantages of AFPMSM make them suitable for planar
geometries with a high number of pole pairs. In these conditions,
the AFPMSM can provide, at the same time, higher power and
torque density than RFPMSM.
In recent years, AFPMSM with printed circuit board (PCB)
windings, have been proposed as spindle motors to drive hard
disks and digital video disks [11]–[12]. Among the main ad-
vantages of these machines are: simple construction and main-
tenance, superior current density achievable, no torque rip-
ple, and easy integration with the power electronic circuit and
control [13].
The aspect ratio of AFPMSM with a PCB winding is indeed
advantageous for household applications (e.g., fans for ovens
and fridges) as modern appliances have thinner outer walls to
increase the useful space in the inner room. The goal is to
propose a low cost motor, alternative to the common shaded
pole one, to substitute traditional motors in these applications.
This paper describes the design, the study and the construction
of a prototype of an AFPMSM with 48 poles, PCB copper
winding and working frequency of 1 kHz.
Despite their advantages, there are few examples in the lit-
erature of machines with PCB windings. The key problem in
making planar windings, starting from a traditional winding lay-
out, is that the classical coils are made with conductors or tapes,
which are wound into a number of turns, to increase the electro
motive force (EMF). In the PCB winding this is not possible, as
the conductive tracks of the PCB develop over a limited number
of flat layers and the PCB cost increases significantly with their
number. In the majority of scientific publications, the winding
layouts aim to replicate the shape of the conductors of tradi-
tional machines, resulting into spiral or rhomboidal winding
[12]–[14] often arranged into several layers [15]–[17]. Koechli
and Perriard [18] proposed an AFPMSM with PCB concen-
trated winding. The concentrated winding allows to improve
the back EMF of the motor by increasing the slots per pole, but
the active sides of the conductors become shorter toward the
magnetic axes of the windings. Moreover, the end connections
are long, increasing the Joule losses. The number of poles that
can be generated by a PCB winding with concentrated coils is
therefore limited. A partial solution to this problem comes from
the use of rhomboidal windings [12] , which, however, generate
unuseful components of force which, in the case of AFPMSM
may also unbalance the rotor.
The AFPMSM with PCB winding proposed in this paper,
instead, is based on a distributed two-phase winding with two
slots per pole and phase. The number of pole pairs is higher in
comparison to the concentrated winding AFPMSM, increasing
the force density, and the end connections are shorter. More-
over, the wave winding allows exploiting the two sides of the
PCB with a high copper percentage. The larger number of pole
pairs allows to reduce the thickness of both stator and rotor
iron cores, thus increasing the torque density of the machine,
similarly to switch-mode power transformers, providing also a
better integration with switch-mode power supplies.
As will be shown in Section II, although the winding pitch is
integer, the shape of the back EMF is close to sinusoidal. Other
advantages of the proposed machine are its adjustable air gap,
simple heat-removal and high electromotive force in comparison
to an electric machine at standard frequency [19]–[20].
II. ANALYSIS OF THE PCB AFPMSM
The PCB-winding AFPMSM (PCB AFPMSM) consists of
1) a stator core made either with a soft magnetic composite
(SMC) or a spiral wound steel lamination in order to reduce the
magnetic losses caused by the high frequency; 2) a two-phase
winding printed on the top and on the bottom layer of a circuit
board; and 3) one rotor carrying the PMs, supporting bearings
and the shaft.
The proposed machine has a winding made with a very high
number of pole pairs, in which the front connections are as short
as possible, the frequency is high, and the windings are etched
on a PCB. The PCB has only one top and one bottom layer, in
order to limit its thickness. Since the magnetic gap is given by
the sum of the mechanical air gap (distance between stator and
rotor), the thickness of the magnets and the thickness of the PCB,
a greater number of layers of the PCB implies a larger magnetic
gap. Moreover the cost of the PCBs increases with the number
of layers so it is preferable to employ a low cost dual-layer
PCB, although it is, however, possible to build machines based
on multilayer PCB, in order to realize multiphase windings.
On the basis of the aforementioned considerations, a two-phase
winding of the AFPMSM is proposed having two turns per pole
and per phase shown Fig. 2.
Thanks to what can be considered as a microscopic lamina-
tion, the SMC core allows to reduce significantly the losses with
the disadvantage of a reduced permeability compared to tradi-
tional ferromagnetic materials. The stator yoke and the rotor
disk are made of aluminum. The rotor core is made of iron and
the magnets are of NdFeB N35 with remanence Br = 1.17 T
and Hc = 867 · 103 A/m . The PCB with thickness of 200 μm
is double sided, with the first phase placed on the top layer and
the second phase on the bottom layer, second phase shifted of
90° to the first phase. Fig. 1 shows all parts of the PCB motor.
A. 3-D Finite-Element Method (FEM) Analysis
The design needs to be validated with FEM simulations. A
3-D model has been created (see Fig. 3) and analyzed (see
MARIGNETTI et al.: ELECTROMAGNETIC DESIGN AND MODELING OF A TWO-PHASE AXIAL-FLUX PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD MOTOR
Fig. 1. 3-D motor rendering with main parts pointed out.
Fig. 2. Two-phase PCB winding: The first phase (in red) is printed over
the top layer, while the second phase (in blue) is printed on the bottom
layer. Phase 2 is shifted by 90°.
Fig. 3. 3-D Model implemented in the FEM software (left) and the flux
density distribution (right).
Fig. 4. Flux density vectors on a 2-D plane through the air gap and on
a 2-D plane through one magnet.
Fig. 4), first of all to calculate the flux leakage. A 2-D plane was
assumed through the middle of the magnet to compute the flux
produced by each magnet. The flux linkage has been computed
over another plane located in the air gap close to the stator core.
69
Fig. 5. Flux leakage versus different magnet span to pole pitch ratio.
The slope of the leakage flux increases when the magnet span is larger
than 60% of the pole pitch.
Fig. 6. Flux leakage versus different magnet heights. The flux leakage
variation with the magnet height is unimportant.
The criterion for the assessment of the leakage flux is defined as
Magnet flux − Flux linkage
Leakage(%) = × 100. (1)
Flux linkage
A sensitivity analysis based on the magnet span to the pole
pitch ratio is performed to optimize the leakage flux, which is
usually high in such small machines [21]. The search was made
in the range 0.4–0.9. As it can be seen in Fig. 5, the leakage
remains almost constant (40%) below the ratio of 0.7. For larger
values of this ratio, also the leakage flux value increases. How-
ever, the linkage flux increases with the ratio, so higher values
must be selected. Therefore, the ratio of 0.7 has been chosen,
which represents the best compromise.
A sensitivity analysis, based on the magnets height, is carried
out to understand how the height of the magnets influences the
leakage flux.
The analysis (see Fig. 6) shows that the leakage flux in the
considered range of 1.2–1.8 mm is almost constant, hence, the
value obtained according to the conventional formulations to
achieve the desired magneto motive force (MMF) of 1.5 mm is
chosen.
To introduce the mathematical method, it is required that the
EMF varies sinusoidally or cosinusoidally with the rotational
electric angle θe . In Fig. 7 is possible to see the obtained AF
density curve, which is almost sinusoidal, even confirmed by the
harmonic contents shown in Fig. 8, which gives a total harmonic
distortion of 4.3%.
Afterwards the obtained torque versus time at 2750 r/min is
shown in Fig. 9.
70 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 65, NO. 1, JANUARY 2018

it can be easily implemented. The parameters are numerically

computed and verified through experiments and FEA.
The hypotheses of the analysis are the following.
1) All the elements of the motor are linear and no core loss
is considered.
2) The EMF varies sinusoidally or cosinusoidally with the
rotational electric angle θe (which is valid as demonstrated
in the previous subsection).
3) Due to the low value of the MMF, winding inductance L
is constant and does not change with θe .
The equations that describe the model of a two-phase PCB
Fig. 7. Flux density in the air gap obtained by 3-D FEM simulations.
The flux density wave shape is sinusoidal, even though the magnets are AFPMSM, without harmonics, are as follows.
surface mounted. Top layer winding equation (or first phase)
d(Lph1 i1 (t))
v1 (t) = R1 i1 (t) + + e1 (t). (2)
dt
Bottom layer winding equation (or second phase)
d(Lph2 i2 (t))
v2 (t) = R2 i2 (t) + + e2 (t). (3)
dt
Electromagnetic torque
e1 (t) · i1 (t) + e2 (t) · i2 (t)
Tem = ·p (4)
ωe
Fig. 8. Harmonic contents of the air gap flux density at the middle of J dωe
air gap. The flux contains a trivial third harmonic. Tem − TLoad = (5)
p dt
dθe
ωe = . (6)
dt
To solve the system of equations, a procedure to compute the
back-EMF (e), phase inductances (L), phase resistances (R),
and moment of inertia (J) has to be envisaged.
1) Magnetic Flux Density From the Magnets: To ob-
tain the expression of the back-EMF e, as shown in (2) and (3),
it is necessary to calculate the maximum value of magnetic flux
density (BM ax ) in the air gap as a function of the temperature
[22].
The flux density distribution in the air gap can be computed
analytically by the integration of Maxwell’ s equations [23]. The
quasi 3-D approximation [24], which is based on intersecting
Fig. 9. Torque versus time at 2570 r/min. The torque component of the air gap with cylindrical surfaces, is commonly used to study
phase 1 is dotted, the torque component of phase 2 is dashed and the the electromagnetic problem. The magnets can be substituted
total torque is shown as a continuous line. The torque ripple is mainly
due to the difference of the amplitudes of phase 1 and phase 2 torque with an equivalent current distribution of amplitude Jˆn , which
components. is then decomposed into Fourier series. Introducing a Cartesian
reference system with the y-axis centered at the middle of one
magnet and the x-axis centered on stator-PCB contact surface,
B. Mathematical Model naming Y2 the distance between the surfaces of the stator and of
To design an AF machine, an accurate prediction of the mag- the rotor cores, the flux density distribution in the two dimen-
netic fields and inductances is required. Time-stepping FEA sions (x, y) is achieved for each equivalent current harmonic,
methods (as presented in the previous subsection) can be applied and then, summed as
to compute the performances of the machine, although they are
Jˆn μ0 sinh(un hpm )
generally time consuming and complex due to intrinsic three By n 2 (x, y) = cosh(un (Y2 − y)) cos un x
dimensionality of this type of electric machines. In addition to un sinh(un Y2 )
(7)
this, PCB windings have a very small thicknesses, therefore, they
where
must be either modeled as planar currents or meshed with very
small elements. In this paper, a lumped-parameter mathematical 4Br τm (ρ)
Jˆn = sin nπ (8)
model, based on the phase balance equations, is suggested and τp (ρ)μ0 μrec τp (ρ)
MARIGNETTI et al.: ELECTROMAGNETIC DESIGN AND MODELING OF A TWO-PHASE AXIAL-FLUX PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD MOTOR 71

2) Back-EMF: Starting from the general expression, the

back-EMF for the top layer winding, is
dφM ,y 1 cos(ωe t)
e1 (t) = (14)
dt
while for the bottom layer or second phase, it is
Fig. 10. Two-dimensional scheme of the machine with the first phase dφM ,y 2 sin(ωe t)
shown in red and the second phase in blue. The main dimensions are e2 (t) = . (15)
also shown in (7) and (8). dt
Whereas the maximum total flux per phase can be ex-
pressed as φM = pNSBM ax substituting BM ax,1 andBM ax,2 , re-
spectively, in (14) and (15), we obtain

e1 (t) = − 2πf pNSBM ax,1 sin(ωe t) = −EM ,1 sin(ωe t) (16)

e2 (t) = 2πf pNSBMax,2 cos(ωe t) = EM ,2 cos(ωe t). (17)

3) Phase Inductance: The phase inductance of flat coils

is generally calculated with the expanded Grover method [26].
This method returns values close to the experimental ones, only
for PCB windings without magnetic cores. In the present case,
the second phase is directly in contact with the stator SMC core,
Fig. 11. Comparison of the AF density computed by 3-D FEM and
analytical analysis. while the first phase is separated from the second by the PCB
thickness.
with The flux linkage in electrical machines is generally the sum of
nπ many contributions. In slotless AF machines, it can be computed
un = (9) over the flux lines closing inside the iron core plus the flux lines
τp (ρ)
circling in air. The reluctances can be calculated by summing
where τm (ρ) is the magnets span, τp (ρ) is the pole pitch, ρ is these two contributions as reluctance of the two flux paths are
the distance from the shaft center, and hpm is the magnets height in parallel. Since the PCB has a thickness of 200 μm, it is
(see Fig. 10). The magnets span at the mean radius is often used reasonable to assume that the phase inductances are equal, but
for τm (ρ) [25]. The flux density obtained using (7) is compared as very low values are expected (in the order of 1 μH), a further
to the FEM result and it is shown in the Fig. 11. correction is possible (see Section III). The method is based
For the present scope, the magnetic flux density is calculated on the decomposition of the winding into n segments each one
for y1 = 200 μm (BM ax,1 ), on top of the PCB, and for y2 = of length lx,i . For each section, a self-inductance and a mutual
0(BM ax,2 ), contact surface between stator iron and PCB. inductance with the other sections is calculated. The current in
The BH curve of hard materials in the second quadrant is the ith segment can be in the same verse or in the opposite verse
nonlinear and is called demagnetization curve. Both the rema- with the current of the jth segment.
nence and the coercive field, which represent the intersections The expression of the phase inductance is
of this curve with the axes, vary with the temperature as
 αB  Lph1 = Lph2 = LAir + LIron + LLeak (18)
Br = Br 20 ◦ C 1 + (ΘPM − 20) (10)
100 LAir = L0 + M+ − M− (19)
 αH 
Hc = Hc20 ◦ C 1 + (ΘPM − 20) (11) n
100 L0 = Li (20)
where αB and αH are two thermal coefficients. i=1
Neglecting the area of the asymmetric hysteresis cycle, in the    
2lx,i w + th
saturation region, the B–H curve can be approximated with a Li = 2lx,i ln + 0.50049 + (21)
w + th 3lx,i
straight line whose slope is proportional to the recoil perme-
ability μ0 · μrec . The recoil permeability is generally around
n
n
M = 2lx,i Q (22)
1.1 for NdFeB magnets, so that the recoil characteristic can be i=1 j = j =1
approximated as ⎧ ⎫
⎪
⎨ l   
2
 1 ⎪
2 ⎬
B = μ0 μrec H + Br . (12) x,i lx,i
Q = ln + 1+
⎪
⎩ GMD GMD2 ⎪
⎭
Naming H0 the interception of this line with the x-axis, one
has, for the recoil coefficient
   1
2
1 Br GMD2 GMD
μrec = . (13) − 1+ 2 +
μ0 Hc lx,i lx,i
72 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 65, NO. 1, JANUARY 2018

Fig. 12. Left: second phase printed on stator core used for calculate
S Tra ck . Right: element of track divided into segments used to calcu-
late (21). Black arrows indicate the current direction useful to calculate Fig. 13. Prototype of two-phase PCB AFPMSM. Left: rotor with NdFeB
all M + and M − (example: M − for L1-L10 or L3-L11, M + for L1-L11 or magnets. Right: stator with shaft, ball bearing and PCB winding.
L3-L10).
TABLE I
PROTOTYPE DIMENSIONS
where Li is the segment inductance in nanohenries, lx,i is the
generic segment length in centimeters in which the winding (or Parameter Value
track) is divided, w is the segment width in centimeters, th is the Rated current 4.5 A
segment thickness in centimeters, M+ and M− are the positive or Rated voltage 7V
negative mutual inductance that must be, respectively, computed Rated frequency 1.8 kHz
Number of phases 2
if the segment currents share the same direction or the opposite Number of poles 48
one, Q is the mutual inductance parameter, and GMD is the Outer radius 80 mm
geometric mean distance between the two conductors, which is Inner radius 40 mm
Magnet length 14 mm
approximately equal to the distance between the track centers Magnet thickness 1.5 mm
[26]. The inductance of the flux lines running inside the iron Stator thickness 5 mm
core can be computed as Copper thickness 0.104 mm
PCB thickness 200 μm
Air gap 1.2 mm
μ0 μAT ATrack Winding type Wave type with two conductors per pole per phase
LLeak = . (23)
ltot

LLeak leakage inductance of the track on stator core with N

= 1 turn, ATrack the surface area of the ATOMET EM1 sta-
tor core surface in contact with the bottom layer track and
ltot = πDm where Dm is the mean machine diameter. Fig. 12
represents the proposed method.
4) Phase Resistance: The phase resistance was calcu-
lated by Ohm’s law with thermal compensation

lph Fig. 14. Back EMF of Phases 1 and 2 analytically calculated.

R = ρC u
STrack
R = R20 ◦ C (1 + αC u ΔΘ) .
5) Moment of Inertia J: In order to calculate the moment
of inertia, an FEM software was used, as the rotor is composed
by different materials (rotor yoke, rotor core, and magnets).
The use of a finite-element software is in fact mandatory in the
calculation of mechanical quantities for components of small
sizes and made of different materials.
III. RESULTS AND EXPERIMENTS
The PCB AFPMSM was manufactured, according to the de-
sign outline shown in Section II. A cantilever shaft supported
on one end by a ball bearing was used. For this structure and in
the presence of an axial force, angular contact ball bearings are
used. The selected ball bearing is the SKF 3200 ATN9.
The manufactured PCB AFPMSM is shown in Fig. 13.
(24)
(25) A. Measurement of the Phase Inductances and of the
Back-EMF
In order to verify the accuracy of the method used to compute
the phase inductances, they have been measured with an
impedance meter (model Fluke 6306) on a motor whose main
dimensions are in Table I. A comparison between analytical,
FEM, and experimental back-EMF waveforms is shown in
Figs. 14–16.
Table II shows the comparison between the experimental and
the analytical results. It is possible to observe that the results
obtained by the calculation and from the experiments are very
similar. The largest difference is in the Lph1 = 2.36 μH. The
reason of this difference resides in the simplifying assump-
tion of neglecting the field attenuation on the two PCB lay-
ers, as mentioned in Section II, in (18). To calculate Lph1 with
greater accuracy, it must be considered that the flux den-
sity distribution of the two layers is different, i.e., the flux
MARIGNETTI et al.: ELECTROMAGNETIC DESIGN AND MODELING OF A TWO-PHASE AXIAL-FLUX PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD MOTOR 73

Fig. 15. Measured back-EMF of Phases 1 and 2. The back EMF is

sinusoidal.

Fig. 17. Experimental setup used for the characterization of the PCB
motor prototype.

Fig. 16. Back-EMF of Phases 1 and 2 obtained by FEM simulations.

TABLE II
COMPARISON WITH EXPERIMENTAL (EXP) AND ANALYTICAL (ANL) RESULTS
AT 30 °C AND 1028 HZ, FOR EACH PHASE (PH)

Parameter AnlPh1 Anl Ph2 Exp. Ph1 Exp. Ph2

Inductance (L ph ) 2.36–2.10 μH 2.36 μH 2.12 μH 2.47 μH

Resistance (R) 0.53 Ω 0.53 Ω 0.51 Ω 0.52 Ω
Back-EMF (e) 2.89 V 2.55 V 2.84 V 2.58 V

density over the bottom layer is lower than the one at the
top layer. Therefore, an attenuation coefficient may be used
to reduce the inductance Lph1 . Considering (7) and knowing Fig. 18. Phases 1 and 2 measured input voltage versus frequency.
that μrec = 1.13, hpm = 1.5 mm, Br = 1.15 T, the flux density
BMax,1 = 0.659 T, and BMax,2 = 0.581 T are obtained. These
erence. The machine is connected to a hysteresis brake type
values correspond to a flux density reduction of ΔB = 11%.
Magtrol HD-400-7 controlled with a Magtrol DSP6000 sys-
Being the first phase raised respect to the second one only for
tem for adjusting the values of the torque. Measurements have
the PCB thickness, Lph1 = 2.10 μH is obtained using the reduc-
been performed within the speed range of 1000–4500 r/min
tion factor.
(400–1800 Hz). The load torque has been increased with steps
It is important to highlight that an accurate calculation of the
of 0.0980 Nm (0.1 kg·cm) obtaining the following results. For
phase inductance for this kind of machines is quite complex,
an easy reference of the figures, only the most significant points
especially when PCB tracks are close to a ferromagnetic core.
are reported in the graphs.
Moreover, as mentioned in the introduction, is that the increase
Figs. 18 and 19 show the voltage and the current in each phase
of PCB layers, for polyphase machines, must be a factor to be
versus the supply frequency.
considered carefully in order to avoid an excessive reduction of
The maximum value of torque is of 0.076 Nm achieved at a
the useful magnetic flux density in the air gap.
speed of 2000 r/min (800 Hz) (see Fig. 20).
The maximum efficiency is 40%, which is reached at
B. On-Load Tests 3500 r/min (1400 Hz) as shown in Fig. 21.
The experimental setup shown in Fig. 17 has been developed The joule losses slightly decrease, when frequency increases
in order to evaluate motor performance. The motor is supplied by because the current decreases, while the equivalent resistance
a three-phase sensorless inverter commanded by a Zilog micro- increases.
controller, type Encore MC Z8FMC16100, to provide two-phase Obviously the magnetic losses increase when frequency in-
power supply. One of the three outputs is used as a common ref- creases, however, the increase is limited thanks to the use of soft
74 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 65, NO. 1, JANUARY 2018
Fig. 19. Phases 1 and 2 measured input current versus frequency.
Fig. 20. Measured machine shaft torque versus frequency.
Fig. 21. Measured efficiency versus frequency.
magnetic composite material. It is worthwhile noticing that the
SMC material operates at low flux density levels, as the machine
is unslotted and the number of poles is high. The mechanical
losses are considered as 5% of the input power. Considering
the ball bearing chosen (SKF 3200 ATN9), the friction of the
bearing has been computed.
Fig. 22. Comparison of copper, mechanical, and magnets losses.
Fig. 23. Thermal mapping of the motor operating under load at 5-A
current.
The value of the axial force is obtained from the FEM sim-
ulations and it is 60.3 N. At 3000 r/min, under the given axial
force, considering an operating temperature of 40 °C, viscosity
95 mm2 /s and grease as lubrication type, the total frictional
moment of the bearing is 0.005 Nm and the losses are 1.6 W.
Including the windage losses of 1.3 W, estimated as [27], the
total value is 2.9 W, which represents 5% of the input power.
The loss trend is shown in Fig. 22.
High Joule losses were predictable due to very small section
of the conductors, although the temperature is very low thanks
to the excellent thermal properties of the PCB. The maximum
temperature in the steady state is less than 32 °C as shown in
the thermal mapping camera Fig. 23.
C. Measurement of the Stall Torque
To carry out the stall torque measurement, the motor was
supplied with a dc current, while the rotor shaft was connected
to a horizontal bar of 20 cm to whose end a weight equal to
50.86 gr is placed. A single stator phase is supplied with an
increasing current up to the value that allows the bar to remain in
the horizontal position. Once this value is achieved, the current
is decreased until the bar is released. The value of the release
current is 6.6 A. The mechanical torque is 9.96 Kg·cm obtained
as the product of gravity acceleration, known the weight and the
length of the bar. Hence, the Torque constant is obtained as the
ratio of the mechanical torque and of the release current. The
MARIGNETTI et al.: ELECTROMAGNETIC DESIGN AND MODELING OF A TWO-PHASE AXIAL-FLUX PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD MOTOR
Fig. 24. Shaded-pole motor and PCB motor efficiency–torque compar-
ison.
Fig. 25. Shaded-pole motor and PCB motor efficiency–power compar-
ison.
value of the constant is 1.509 Kg·cm/A. The obtained value is
the torque constant in correspondence of the maximum torque,
hence, it represents the torque peak as a function of the load
angle.
D. Comparison Between PCB Motor and Shaded-Pole
Motor
The proposed PCB AFPMSM was compared to a shaded-pole
induction motor (SPIM) used in kitchen fans. The two motors
have the same volume. The test bench is shown in Fig. 17 with
the SPIM mounted on its support. The voltage is fixed to the rated
value (230 V) while the motor is loaded in steps. The maximum
torque of the induction motor divides the motor characteristic
into two branches, i.e., the stable and the unstable part. The
stable part provides obviously the higher efficiency values. The
maximum efficiency reached by the SPIM is 16% at 2300 r/min
with a torque of 0.19 Kg·cm. The PCB motor measurements
are carried out at two speed levels (1500 and 3000 r/min ). The
results are shown in Figs. 24 and 25.
As it was expected, the performances of the SPIM both in
terms of torque and of power are worse than those of the pro-
posed PCB AFPMSM. From Figs. 24 and 25, it can be noticed
that the efficiency of the PCB AFPMSM even at1500 r/min is
higher than the maximum SPIM efficiency.
75
IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a new structure of the PCB AF permanent-
magnets motor was presented. The motor has a two-phase wind-
ing, occupying the two sides of a PCB. Although the proposed
wave winding has an integer slot winding, the harmonic com-
ponents of the back-EMF are close to sinusoidal. The motor
operates at the rated frequency of 1028 Hz, which provides
the machine with advantages that make it the rotating counter-
part of the switch-mode power transformer. A suitable analytical
model was used to compute the main parameters of the machine.
Finite-element simulation was used to validate the mathematical
model and to optimize the flux linkage. The experiments have
confirmed the efficiency and torque improvements of the motor
and its advantages in comparison to a shaded pole induction mo-
tor with the same volume. The motor is suitable for household
applications like kitchen fans and other kitchen tools. Although
increasing the number of PCB layers increase the air gap length,
the motor is suitable to be further developed into a three-phase
PCB motor.
REFERENCES
[1] P. Campbell, “Principles of a permanent-magnet axial-field d.c. machine,”
Proc. IEE, vol. 121, no. 12, pp. 1489–1494, Dec. 1974.
[2] P. Campbell, “The magnetic circuit of an axial field d.c. electrical ma-
chine,” IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. MAG-11, no. 5, pp. 1541–1543, Sep.
1975.
[3] A. A. Pop, M. M. Radulescu, H. Balan, M. Chirca, and V. Zaharia, “Elec-
tromagnetic design and finite-element analysis of an axial-flux permanent-
magnet machine,” in Proc. Int. Conf. Appl. Theoretical Elect., Oct. 2014,
pp. 1–4.
[4] J. Wu, “Design of a miniature axial flux flywheel motor with PCB winding
for nanosatellites,” in Proc. Int. Conf. Optoelectron. Microelectron., Aug.
2012, pp. 544–548.
[5] K. Latoufis, K. Troullaki, T. Pazios, and N. Hatziargyriou, “Design of
axial flux permanent magnet generators using various magnetic materials
in locally manufactured small wind turbines,” in Proc. 21st Int. Conf.
Elect. Mach., Sep. 2016, pp. 1545–1551.
[6] F. Caricchi, C. F., and O. Honrati, “Modular axial-flux permanent-magnet
motor for ship propulsion drives,” IEEE Trans. Energy Convers., vol. 14,
no. 3, pp. 673–679, Sep. 1999.
[7] S. Huang, J. Luo, F. Leonardi, and T. Lipo, “A comparison of power
density for axial flux machines based on general purpose sizing equa-
tions,” IEEE Trans. Energy Convers., vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 185–192, Jun.
1999.
[8] L. H. Neil Brown and J. Bumby, “An idealised geometric ap-
proach to electromagnetically comparing axial and radial flux per-
manent magnet machines,” in Proc. Int. Conf. Elect. Mach., 2002,
pp. 26–28.
[9] K. Sitapati and R. Krishnan, “Performance comparisons of radial and axial
field, permanent-magnet, brushless machines,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl.,
vol. 37, no. 5, pp. 1219–1226, Sep./Oct. 2001.
[10] A. Cavagnino, M. Lazzari, F. Profumo, and A. Tenconi, “A comparison
between the axial flux and the radial flux structures for pm synchronous
motors,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 38, no. 6, pp. 1517–1524, Nov./Dec.
2002.
[11] G. Jang and J. Chang, “Development of an axial-gap spindle motor for
computer hard disk drives using PCB winding and dual air gaps,” IEEE
Trans. Magn., vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 3297–3299, Sep. 2002.
[12] M.-C. Tsai and L.-Y. Hsu, “Design of a miniature axial-flux spindle motor
with rhomboidal PCB winding,” IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 42, no. 10,
pp. 3488–3490, Oct. 2006.
[13] R. D. Stefano, F. Marignetti, and M. Scarano, “Optimal feeding of an
etched winding mini-motor,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. Ind. Electron., Jul.
1997, vol. 2, pp. 474–479.
[14] R. Hanitsch, R. Belmans, and R. Stephan, “Small axial flux motor with
permanent magnet excitation and etched airgap winding,” IEEE Trans.
Magn., vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 592–594, Mar. 1994.
76 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 65, NO. 1, JANUARY 2018
[15] R. Hanitsch and D. S. Choi, “Axial flux permanent magnet motor with
etched windings and magnetoresistive rotor position sensing,” in Proc. 6th
Int. Conf. Elect. Mach. Drives, Sep. 1993, pp. 448–451.
[16] F. Cupertino and S. Ettorre, “Torque production capabilities of electrical
machines with planar windings,” in Proc. 38th Annu. Conf. IEEE Ind.
Electron. Soc., 2012, pp. 2080–2085.
[17] F. Cupertino and S. Ettorre, “Optimal traces arrangement in planar mag-
netic based slotless PMSM,” in Proc. IEEE Energy Convers. Congr. Expo.,
2012, pp. 4656–4662.
[18] C. Koechli and Y. Perriard, “Analytical model for slotless permanent
magnet axial flux motors,” in Proc. Int. Elect. Mach. Drives Conf., May
2013, pp. 788–792.
[19] F. Marignetti, V. Delli Colli, and Y. Coia, “Design of axial flux pm
synchronous machines through 3-D coupled electromagnetic thermal
and fluid-dynamical finite-element analysis,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron.,
vol. 55, no. 10, pp. 3591–3601, Oct. 2008.
[20] R. Di Stefano and F. Marignetti, “Electromagnetic analysis of axial-
flux permanent magnet synchronous machines with fractional windings
with experimental validation,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 59, no. 6,
pp. 2573–2582, Jun. 2012.
[21] X. Ding, G. Liu, H. Guo, and C. Zhang, “Accurate prediction of leakage
flux boundaries for an axial-flux MEMS micromotor design,” IEEE Trans.
Appl. Supercond., vol. 26, no. 7, pp. 1–5, Oct. 2016.
[22] J. F. Gieras and M. Wing, Permanent Magnet Motor Technology, Design
and Applications. New York, NY, USA: Marcel Dekker, 2002.
[23] J. R. Bumby, R. Martin, M. Mueller, E. Spooner, N. Brown, and B.
Chalmers, “Electromagnetic design of axial-flux permanent magnet ma-
chines,” Proc. Inst. Elect. Eng., vol. 151, no. 2, pp. 151–160, Mar. 2004.
[24] A. Parviainen, M. Niemela, and J. Pyrhonen, “Modeling of axial flux
permanent-magnet machines,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 40, no. 5,
pp. 1333–1340, Sep./Oct. 2004.
[25] J. Y. Choi, S. H. Lee, K. J. Ko, and S. M. Jang, “Improved analytical
model for electromagnetic analysis of axial flux machines with double-
sided permanent magnet rotor and coreless stator windings,” IEEE Trans.
Magn., vol. 47, no. 10, pp. 2760–2763, Oct. 2011.
[26] H. Greenhouse, “Design of planar rectangular microelectronic inductors,”
IEEE Trans. Parts, Hybrids, Packag.., vol. PHP-10, no. 2, pp. 101–109,
Jun. 1974.
[27] R. Wrobel, G. Vainel, C. Copeland, T. Duda, D. Staton, and P. H. Mellor,
“Investigation of mechanical loss components and heat transfer in an axial-
flux PM machine,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 3000–3011,
Jul./Aug. 2015.
Fabrizio Marignetti (M’00–SM’08) received the
Laurea (Hons.) and Ph.D. degrees in electrical
engineering from the University of Naples Fed-
erico II, Naples, Italy, in 1993 and 1998, respec-
tively.
In 1998, he joined the University of Cassino
and Southern Lazio, Cassino, Italy, where he
is currently an Associate Professor of power
electronic converters, electrical machines, and
drives. Since 1996, he has also been lecturing
at the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio
on electrical machines, electric vehicles, and generators and converters
for renewable energies. His research interests include design, analysis,
and digital control of electrical machines, renewable energies, and power
converters. He is the Managing Director of the spin-off company LEDA
srl. He is the author or coauthor of more than 180 publications in his
research field and is the holder of three patents.
Dr. Marignetti has received three paper awards.
Giuseppe Volpe (S’16) received the B.Sc. and
M.Sc. degrees with honors in electrical engi-
neering from the University of Cassino and
Southern Lazio, Cassino, Italy, in 2013 and 2015,
respectively, where, since November 2015, he
has been working toward Ph.D. degree focused
on the design and advanced losses calculation
in electrical machines for automotive and motor
sport applications.
During his studies, he has submitted a num-
ber of technical papers to conferences and
journals.
Mr. Volpe received the prestigious G. D’Angelo Prize for the most
outstanding thesis of the year at the University of Cassino and Southern
Lazio for his M.Sc. thesis work. In 2015, he was chosen to take part in a
Marie Curie FP7 European funded project, spending several months at
Shenyang University of Technology, China.
Seyyed Mehdi Mirimani was born in Babol,
Iran. He received the B.Sc. degree in electrical
engineering from the University of Mazandaran,
Babol, Iran, in 2007, and the M.Sc. and Ph.D.
degrees in electrical machines from the Iran Uni-
versity of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran,
in 2013.
He is currently an Assistant Professor of elec-
trical machines at Babol Noshirvani University
of Technology, Babol. His research interests in-
clude the design, modeling, control, and finite-
element analysis of electrical machines and other electromagnetic de-
vices.
Carlo Cecati (M’90–SM’03–F’06) received the
Dr.Ing. degree in electrotechnical engineering
from the University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy, in
1983.
He has been with the University of L’Aquila
since 1983 and has been a Professor of indus-
trial electronics and drives with the Department
of Information Engineering, Computer Science,
and Mathematics since 2006. He is also a Qian-
ren Talents Professor (1000 Talents Program
Distinguished Professor) with the Harbin Insti-
tute of Technology, Harbin, China. He has authored more than 180 jour-
nal and conference papers. His current research interests include power
electronics, distributed generation, and smart grids.
Prof. Cecati coreceived the 2012 and 2013 Best Paper Awards from
the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS and the 2012 Best
Paper Award from the IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine. He was the
Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS
from 2013 to 2015.