International Journal of Electrical Engineering.

ISSN 0974-2158 Volume 5, Number 7 (2012), pp. 843-852

© International Research Publication House
http://www.irphouse.com

Torque Analysis of Magnetic Spur Gear with

Different Configurations

G. Muruganandam1, Dr. S. Padma2 and P. Selvakumar3

1
Associate Professor, Department of EEE, Sona College Of Technology, Salem -5,
Tamilnadu, India , email- [email protected]
2
Professor, Department of EEE, Sona College Of Technology, Salem -5,
Tamilnadu, India , email- [email protected]
3
Assistant Professor Department of EEE, Sona College Of Technology, Salem -5,
Tamilnadu , India, email - [email protected]

Abstract

This paper presents design and torque analysis in various types of magnetic
gear with different magnetic materials and air gap. This type of gear offer both
high speed and high torque required for drive applications. In the proposed
gear analysis the low speed side is connected to prime mover and high speed
side is connected to load, suitable for wind power, automobile applications
and group drive applications etc. The torque of the radial magnetic coupling
between magnetic gears with different magnetic materials and different air gap
length has been simulated usin MagNet software and the gear performances
are compared. Finally, it is concluded that the result in this paper may help to
initiate a shift from mechanical gears to magnetic gears.

Indexed Terms – Analytical modeling, Finite element analysis, High torque,

Magnetic gear.

Nomenclature
 0 - Initial phase angle of the stator ring.
 0 - Initial phase angle of the high speed rotor
 0 - Initial phase angle of the low speed rotor
T1   - Pull out torque on low speed rotor
T2   - Pull out torque on high speed rotor
p1 - Pole pair of high speed rotor.
844 G. Muruganandam et al

p2 - Pole pair of low speed rotor.

1 - Rotational speed of high speed rotor.
 2 - Rotational speed of Low speed rotor.

Introduction
Permanent magnets have fascinated and inspired many people through the ages,
because a permanent magnet produces a flux and magnetic force [1].
Recently, the concept of magnetic gears has been proposed. Because of physical
isolation between the input and output shafts, it offers some distinct advantages
namely minimum acoustic noise, free from the lubrication and extremely low
vibration and noise-levels, free from maintenance, improved reliability, high
efficiency and inherent overload protection. They can operate through a separation
wall; transmit torque without any physical contact. Therefore, it is quite suitable for
using in any type of (all the) environments.
The literature survey made with different papers concludes that magnetic gears are
highly efficient with better torque by eliminating frictional losses. But the constraint
is that the above statements were not validated through any mathematical proof.
The torque of magnetic coupling decreases with increasing the distance between
the magnetic gears. For different multi-pole magnetic couplings with the same
magnetic field strength, the torque of magnetic coupling increases as the number of
magnetic poles increases for distances smaller than a critical separation distance lg,
but it is reversed as the separation distance becomes larger.
The objective of this paper is to propose and implement a magnetic gear for
various applications like wind power generation, automobile and mills etc. For all the
mathemetical modeling, simulation and analysis, MagNet software (version 7.1.3)
involving finite element analysis has been used in this paper.
This paper is divided into 7 sections. Section 2 deals with design of various type
of magnetic gear. Section 3 deals with Finite Element Analysis of the permanent
magnetic gear with high torque. In section 4 torque equations are developed. In
section 5 Determination of gearing ratio are formulated. After that simulation results
and analysis is made in section 6 and finally the conclusion is given in section 7.

Magnetic Gear Design

Fig 1 shows the permanent magnet spur gear with 4 pair of poles in low speed side
(prime mover side) and 2 pair of poles in high speed side (load side). But in this type
of arrangement, lots of the magnets are inactive and cannot generate useful torque in
load side [2-3]. Also it takes more space between two gear rings because two gear
rings are separated. In order to improve the useful flux in the magnet and also to
reduce the space between two gear rings, Inner type spur gear arrangement is being
used which is shown in fig.2. Further to improve the load torque the high speed rotor
is fixed at the centre of the prime mover rotor (outer rotor). The no of poles in the
load side (High speed side) is 2 pair and prime mover (low speed side) side is 4 pair
Torque Analysis of Magnetic Spur Gear with Different Configurations 845

which is shown in fig.2. So the gear ratio is 1: 2. Optimum utilization of magnet

modified spur gear to salient pole type spur gear with same poles and gear ratio
specifications which is shown in fig 3.

Figure 1 . Permanent magnet spur gear

Figure 2. Inner type spur gear

Figure 3 Salient pole type spur gear

The torque of magnetic coupling depends on the number of magnetic poles, the
area of poles covered by the magnets, the magnetic field strength of magnets and the
separation distance between the magnetic gears [4].
846 G. Muruganandam et al

Table 1 shows the particulars of various dimensions.

TABLE I

Description Units Spur Inner type spur Salient pole type

Gear Gear spur Gear
No of low speed rotor poles - 8 8 8
Outer radius of low speed rotor mm 28 30 25
Inner radius of low speed rotor mm 20 21.75 21
No of high speed rotor poles - 4 4 4
Outer radius of high speed rotor mm 15.5 10 20
Inner radius of high speed rotor mm 10 12.5 12.5
Length of the magnetic material mm 100 100 100
Air gap length mm 1 1 1
Permanent Magnet material - NdFeB & Sm2CO17
Permeability of air region (µ0) Tm/A 4x10 7
Relative permeability of magnets - 1.0523
µr = µ / µ0
Max torque N.m 6 22.5 30

To maintain better gear ratio we design more poles on the low speed side and
fewer poles on the high speed side.

Finite Element Analysis

The mentioned magnetic gears shown in Fig1, 2, and 3 are used for FEM to analyze
the performance of magnetic gears. The parameters of the gears are listed in table I,
the flux lnes are shown in figure 5,8 and 11, while the flux density are shown in
figures 4,7 and 10. The calculated torque versus time curve is shown in fig 6, 9 &12.
The curve is obtained by evaluating torque mentioned in torque equation (8) [5-11].
For the Spur gear, the maximum Torque obtained is 6 Nm, for Inner type spur
gear, the max.torque is 22.5Nm and for salient pole type spur gear the max. Torque is
30.0 Nm (as per Table II).The above torques is calculated with the help of finite
element method (FEM).

Torque equation
According to the principle of transformation of magnetic energy to mechanical energy
the following equation can be obtained
W ( )
T ( )   - (1)
 ( )

Where,
W(  ) – Magnetic energy.
Torque Analysis of Magnetic Spur Gear with Different Configurations 847

Assuming that the magnetic energy is stored only in the air gap, W(  ) is
expressed as,
1 2
W ( )   B dV - (2)
2 0 V

Where,
 0 - Permeability in vacuum.
V – Volume of the air gap.
B – Magnetic flux density in the air gap.

The initial rotor angle of the high speed rotor is assumed as  0 . Then, a rotor
angle  is given to the high speed rotor. Then, equation (2) is transformed to (4), with
the volume difference of the air gap v shown in (3)

 d 
v  LS lg 1 2rg 1   LS lg 1rg 1d - (3)

 2 
L S lg 1r g 1 2 - (4)
W ( )  B d
2  0 V

Where,
LS – Axial length of the air gap.
lg1 – Air gap length between Low speed rotor & stationary pole pieces.
rg1 – Average air gap radius.

The Pull out torque is obtained as

 L S lg 1 r g 1 2

   B d 
T 1( )   2 0 V  - (5)
 ( )

Where,
T 1( ) - Pull out torque on low speed rotor.

And similarly for the high speed rotor,

 L S lg 2 r g 2 2

   B d 
T 2 ( )   2 0 V  - (6)
 ( )

Where,
T 2 ( ) - Pull out torque on high speed rotor.
r g 2 - Average air gap radius
lg 2 - Air gap length between the high speed rotor and stationary pole pieces.
848 G. Muruganandam et al

The stable torque developed on the low and high speed rotor can be expressed as
 NS 0  p 2 0  p1 0 
TLOW  T 1( ) sin   - (7)
 p2 
 NS 0  p 2 0  p1 0 
THIGH  T 2( ) sin   - (8)
 p1 
Where,
p1 – pole pair of high speed rotor.
P2 – pole pair of low speed rotor.
β0 - Initial phase angle of the stator ring.
α0 - Initial phase angle of the high speed rotor.
 0 - Initial phase angle of the low speed rotor.
Ns = p1 + p2

Torque decreas rapidly with the increase of the air gap length. Considering the
limitation of manufacturer and installation the suggested air gap length is between
0.5mm to 0.7mm.
Torque ripples are caused by the interaction of the rotor permanent magnets with
the ferromagnetic pole pieces i.e. cogging torque Fig. 6, 9 &12 shows the variation of
the transmitted torque on the high speed rotor.

Determination of Gearing Ratio

The gearing ratio is derived in [5] covers all the types of magnetic gear operations. By
defining p1 and p2 as the pole pair number of the outer and inner rotors respectively
and Ns as the number of Ferro magnetic pole pair of rotors. A large difference
between pole pair p1 and p2 in (9) results in a higher gear ratio.
1 p2 - (9)
G
r 
 2 p
1

Where,
 1 - Rotational speed of high speed rotor.
 2 - Rotational speed of Low speed rotor.
The minus indicates that the two rotors rotate in opposite direction.

Simulation results and Analysis

Transmission torque of different type of magnetic gear and different magnetic
materials are measured under different air gap with the same load. After comparison
the torque of magnetic gear increases with decreasing the distance between the two
rotors, magnetic materials and amount of useful flux involved between the two
magnets.
Table 2 Torque transmission under different air gap, different materials and
different types of gears.
Torque Analysis of Magnetic Spur Gear with Different Configurations 849

Table 2

Types of Magnetic Gear Sm2Co17 NdFeB

Air gap distance 1mm 2mm 3mm 1mm 2mm 3mm
Torque in Spur Gear (Nm) 5.3 4.3 3.2 6 4.8 3.9
Torque in Inner type spur Gear (Nm) 21.7 20.1 17.9 22.5 20.5 18.7
Torque in Salient pole type spur Gear (Nm) 28.8 25.7 24.2 30.0 26.9 25.3

6 a Spur Gear Results

Figure4 Flux density distibution in spur gear (airgap 1mm, NdFeB)

Figure 5. Flux line in spur gear (airgap 1mm, NdFeB)

Figure4 shows the simulation result for Torque versus Time for spur gear from the
waveforms the max torque is 6 Nm.

Figure 6. Torque vs time for spur gear (airgap 1mm, NdFeB)

850 G. Muruganandam et al

6 b. Inner type Spur Gear Results

Figure 7 Flux density distribution in Inner type spur gear (airgap 1mm, NdFeB)

Figure 8. Flux line in Inner type spur gear (airgap 1mm, NdFeB)

Figure 8 shows the simulation result for Torque versus Time for inner type spur
gear from the waveforms the max torque is 22.5Nm.

Figure 9. Torque vs time Inner type spur gear (airgap 1mm, NdFeB)
6 c Salient pole type Spur Gear Results
Torque Analysis of Magnetic Spur Gear with Different Configurations 851

Figure10 Flux density distribution in salient pole type spur gear (airgap 1mm, NdFeB)

Figure11. Flux line in salient pole type spur gear (airgap 1mm, NdFeB)

Figure 12 Torque vs time for salient pole type spur gear (airgap 1mm, NdFeB)

Figure12 shows the simulation result for Torque versus Time for salient pole type
spur gear from the waveforms the max torque is 30 Nm.

Conclusion
A high performance magnetic gear topology has been presented and it has been
shown that by employing rare earth magnets, a high torque density can be achieved.
Rare earth magnets are very useful in different electromechanical devices, permanent
magnetic torque couplers and magnetic gears having many advantages in comparison
852 G. Muruganandam et al

with classical mechanical couplers and gears. Based on the finite element analysis
results of various types of gears with different magnetic materials, it is proved they
are best suitable for various applications like wind power, automobile applications,
group drive applications etc.

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