Investigation of Axial Field Switched Flux Memory Machine by a Combined Analytical Method

This article proposes a novel axial field switched flux memory machine (AF-SFMM) which is analyzed by a combined analytical method. Compared with conventional axial field (AF) permanent magnet (PM) machines having magnets in the rotor side, the AF-SFMM benefits from good heat dissipation, high rotor robustness, and improved power density. Meanwhile, because of the utilization of low coercive force PM materials, the proposed machine can flexibly regulate air-gap flux. This analytical method is characterized by the combination of a quasi-3-D (quasi-3D) finite element method, a magnetomotive force–permeance-based method, and a virtual linear hysteresis model of low coercive force PM. In addition, compared with conventional time-consuming 3-D finite element analysis (FEA), the proposed method can improve the computational efficiency significantly with satisfactory accuracy. This makes the proposed combined analytical method suitable for preliminary sizing determination of AF-SFMM. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of the proposed analytical method is validated by FEA results.