Concept of PCB Motor for Fan Applications with Ferrite Core

Small (up to five watt) brushless permanent magnet motors require low complexity for high-volume manufacture and cost reduction. This paper aims to reduce complexity, cost, and component count of such drives by proposing a new low-cost three-phase axial flux permanent magnet motor topology for fan applications based on a PCB instead of a conventional winding. Also, a high number of pole pairs and a ferrite core are used in the structure to increase efficiency and torque density. The motor’s design is explained in detail and, for proof of concept, investigations in the no-load and load conditions are performed using finite element analyses. In addition, important design considerations are discussed. The findings confirm the practicality of the proposed low-cost and straightforward motor topology.