Comparative Analysis Between Various High Specific Power Permanent Magnet Motor Topologies for Aerospace Applications

Electrification of the aerospace application is crucial to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions. On the other hand, electrical machines are not yet competitive to turbo jet engines in terms power-to-weight ratio, referred to as Specific Power (SP). Thus, non-traditional design techniques should be employed to magnify aerospace motors SP. In this paper, three different machine topologies enabled by Aluminum additively-manufactured coils with integrated heat pipes will be discussed and compared for direct-drive as well as geared solutions. The additively-manufactured designs feature low weight coils, and tight integration to the drive and thermal management system. The three topologies are (i) Inner rotor surface PM (SPM), (ii) Outer rotor SPM, and (iii) Axial flux dual-rotor SPM. The analysis and optimization results will show significantly improved SP compared to the state-of-art electric motors. Additionally, the pros and cons of the various designs will be highlighted.