Suspension and propulsion forces on can secondaries of linear reluctance motors

A novel model for representing the three-dimensional can-secondaries of linear reluctance motors is presented to predict the normal and the tangential forces in the two-dimensional MagNet software package program by means of the Maxwell stress tensor method. The difficult problem in modelling is that the can-secondary has a hollow cylindrical structure. The predicted results are compared with measurements at the positions when the maximum force values are obtained; the agreement is 7.5% for the suspension forces, and 6.5% for the tangential forces as percentage of the finite-element result.<>