Design and Control of an Axial-Flux Machine for a Wide Flux-Weakening Operation Region

This paper describes the strategy to design and control an axial-flux (AxF) surface-mounted permanent-magnet machine for achieving a wide flux-weakening (FW) operating region. By using a slotted stator with fractional-slot windings and additional cores enclosing end windings, the AxF machine satisfies the specification of a wide constant-power speed range. The design procedure is presented for increasing FW capability while obtaining low-harmonic back electromotive force and low cogging torque. This technique is applied to design an 8-Nldrm AxF prototype machine that exhibits about 3 : 1 FW range. To the aim of exploiting full capability of the machine, an FW controller is designed and implemented. This controller utilizes the voltage difference between the current regulator and the output voltage, limited by a voltage source inverter. With this method, the output torque in the FW region is higher than that achieved using the conventional FW method based on the voltage-magnitude feedback. The goodness of both design and control algorithm is proved by experimental tests on a prototype.