Analysis of a Novel Dual-Rotor Induction Motor for Pulsed Power Driving System

A novel dual-rotor induction motor (DRIM) is proposed as a potential substitution of the traditional motor/generator with a flywheel (MGFW) used in the pulsed power driving system (PPDS) which is especially deployed in mobile platforms. The DRIM is based on the integration of flywheel energy storage and electromagnetic slip coupling mechanism. The DRIM utilizes its outer rotor as a flywheel to store the input mechanical energy. By the interaction between the excitation field produced by the outer rotor and the eddy current induced on the surface of the inner rotor, an electromagnetic torque is generated and simultaneously acted on the two rotors. So the stored energy in the outer rotor can be directly transferred to the inner rotor with the mechanical load through the torque. The substitution of MGFW with DRIM holds potential for simplifying the PPDS and improving its compactness. The configuration and operation mechanism of the DRIM are firstly introduced in this paper. Then transient characteristics of the DRIM are analyzed by the 2D finite element method (FEM). The influences of the excitation pole number and the excitation coil turns on the performance of the DRIM are investigated. Finally, the feasibility of the DRIM is experimentally verified by a prototype.