Optimization and Comparison of Coaxial Magnetic Gears With and Without Back Iron

This paper deals with the analysis and optimization of radial, coaxial magnetic gears. Multi-objective optimizations of the modulator shape of two magnetic gear configurations, one with and one without back iron on the outer rotor, are presented and discussed. The focus of this publication is to show that a magnetic gear with the same total volume and output torque can provide a much higher efficiency when the outer rotor is built with no back iron. To guarantee comparable results, equal start geometries, objectives, and appropriate optimization parameters are considered. After the optimization process, the geometries of the two gear configurations show different optimal modulator shapes and, therefore, different flux distributions. The gear configuration without back iron achieves a comparable torque capability in comparison with the gear configuration with iron yoke. However, 2-D finite elements calculations estimate for the latter design a loss reduction of 70%.