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A high-performance linear magnetic gear

K. Atallah, J. Wang, and D. Howe


Citation: Journal of Applied Physics 97, 10N516 (2005); doi: 10.1063/1.1853900
View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1853900
View Table of Contents: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/97/10?ver=pdfcov
Published by the AIP Publishing
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JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 97, 10N516 2005

A high-performance linear magnetic gear


K. Atallah, J. Wang, and D. Howe
Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Mappin Street, Sheffield S1
3JD, United Kingdom

Presented on 11 November 2004; published online 17 May 2005


Currently, the demand for high force density linear actuators is being met almost exclusively by
employing a leadscrew and nut to transform rotary to linear motion. The paper describes an
alternative technology, viz., a linear magnetic gear, which employs rare-earth magnets, and which
simulation studies have shown to have a highly competitive force density. 2005 American
Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.1853900
I. INTRODUCTION

The increasing demand for high force density actuators


is currently being met almost exclusively by employing a
leadscrew and nut to transform rotary to linear motion. However, the efficiency of such helical transformation systems
can be relatively poor, particularly for low helix angles. In
addition, wear and reliability can be significant issues, and
lubrication may be required. An alternative approach is to
employ a linear magnetic gear to increase the force capability of a linear brushless motor. To date, such an approach has
received little, if any, attention.
The paper describes the design and performance of a
linear magnetic gear having the tubular topology shown in
Fig. 1, whose principle of operation is similar to that of the
rotary magnetic gear, which was described in Refs. 1 and 2.
It is shown that, when rare-earth magnets are employed, such
a linear magnetic gear can have a transmitted force density in
excess of 1.7 MN/ m3. Thus, when combined with a linear
permanent magnet brushless motor, such a magnetic gear
could offer significant advantages in many applications.
II. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

Fundamental to the operation of the magnetic gear is the


modulation of the magnetic field produced by each of the

concentric tubular permanent magnet armatures by the ferromagnetic rings pole pieces, which are disposed between
them, such that the appropriate space harmonic having the
same number of poles as the other permanent magnet armature results. It can be shown2 that the number of pole pairs in
the space harmonic flux density distribution produced by either permanent magnet armature is given by
pm,k = mp + kns,
m = 1,3,5, . . . ,,
k = 0, 1, 2, 3, . . . , ,

and the linear velocity of the flux density space harmonics is


given by
vm,k =

mp
kns
vr +
vs ,
mp + kns
mp + kns

where p is the number of pole pairs on the armature, ns is the


number of ferromagnetic pole pieces, and vr and vs are the
linear velocity of the armature under consideration and the
linear velocity of the pole pieces, respectively.
From Eq. 2, it can be seen that the velocity of the space
harmonics, which result due to the introduction of the ferromagnetic rings, viz., k 0, is different to the velocity of the
armature whose magnetic field they modulate. Therefore, in
order to transmit thrust force at a different velocity, the number of pole pairs of the other permanent magnet armature
must be equal to the number of pole pairs of a space harmonic for which k 0. Since the combination m = 1, k = 1
TABLE I. Parameters of linear magnetic gear.
Parameter
Number of pole pairs on high speed armature
Number of active pole pairs on stationary armature
Number of active ferromagnetic rings
Airgap length
Outside diameter
Active length of high-speed armature
Total length of stationary armature
Total length of low-speed armature

ph = 4
pl = 9
ns = 13
1 mm
90 mm
100 mm
144.4 mm
157.7 mm

FIG. 1. Schematic of 3.25:1 linear magnetic gear.


0021-8979/2005/9710/10N516/3/$22.50

97, 10N516-1

2005 American Institute of Physics

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10N516-2

J. Appl. Phys. 97, 10N516 2005

Atallah, Wang, and Howe

FIG. 2. Variation of radial flux density due to high-speed permanent magnet


armature in airgap adjacent to the stationary armature.

FIG. 4. Variation of radial flux density due to the stationary permanent


magnet armature in airgap adjacent to high-speed armature.

results in the highest asynchronous space harmonic, the number of pole pairs of the other armature must be equal to ns
p. The gear ratio is then given by

III. SIMULATION STUDIES

This may be the preferred operating arrangement since it


simplifies the overall mechanical design of the gear and enables a higher force to be transmitted, the increase being
dependant on the gear ratio, which changes from that which
results with stationary ferromagnetic rings, i.e., Eq. 3 compared with Eq. 4.

Table I gives the parameters which have been assumed


for the linear magnetic gear shown in Fig. 1, which is
equipped with sintered NdFeB permanent magnets having a
remanence of 1.25 T. Two-dimensional axis-symmetric magnetostatic finite element analysis has been employed to predict the flux density wave forms and the torque transmission
capability of the gear.
Figure 2 shows the variation of the radial component of
flux density due to the high-speed, low pole number permanent magnet armature in the airgap adjacent to the stationary
high pole number armature, while Fig. 3 shows the corresponding space harmonic spectrum. It can be seen that the
presence of the ferromagnetic rings results in a number of
asynchronous, viz., k 1, space harmonics, the largest of
which is the nine pole-pair space harmonic m = 1 , k = 1,
which interacts with the nine pole-pair permanent magnets
on the stationary armature to transmit a thrust force.
Similarly, Fig. 4 shows the variation of the radial component of flux density due to the permanent magnets
mounted on the stationary armature in the airgap adjacent to

FIG. 3. Space harmonic spectrum of radial flux density due to high-speed


armature in airgap adjacent to stationary armature.

FIG. 5. Space harmonic spectrum of radial flux density due to stationary


permanent magnet armature in airgap adjacent to high-speed armature.

Gr =

ns p
p

when the modulating ferromagnetic rings are held stationary,


i.e., vs = 0. On the other hand, if the other permanent magnet
armature is held stationary, the thrust force is transmitted to
the ferromagnetic rings and the gear ratio becomes
Gr =

ns
.
p

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10N516-3

J. Appl. Phys. 97, 10N516 2005

Atallah, Wang, and Howe

FIG. 7. Variation of system force density with gear ratio for a linear magnetic gear force density of 1.7 MN/ m3.
FIG. 6. Variation of maximum force on low-speed and high-speed
armatures.

the high-speed armature, while Fig. 5 shows the corresponding space harmonic spectrum. It can be seen that the presence of the ferromagnetic rings results in a dominant four
pole-pair asynchronous space harmonic m = 1 , k = 1, which
interacts with the four pole-pair permanent magnets on the
high-speed armature to transmit thrust force.
Figure 6 shows the variation of the maximum thrust
force, which is exerted on the low-speed and high-speed armatures as they move linearly. As can be seen, a force of
1600 N can be transmitted, and given the active dimensions of the gear, a force density of 1.7 MN/ m3 can be
achieved. Figure 7 shows how the system force density of a
combined linear magnetic gear and a linear permanent magnet brushless machine varies with the gear ratio and the force
density of the linear machine, 0.3 and 0.6 MN/ m3 being
typical for naturally cooled and liquid-cooled permanent
magnet linear brushless motors, respectively. As can be seen,

the system force density for a gear ratio as low as 3.25:1 can
be 100% greater than that of a naturally cooled linear motor
and 50% greater than that of a liquid-cooled linear motor.
Therefore, combining a linear magnetic gear with a permanent magnet linear motor results in a system having a significantly higher torque density than the latter.
IV. CONCLUSIONS

A high-performance linear magnetic gear has been presented. It has been shown that, by employing rare-earth magnets, a thrust force density of 1.7 MN/ m3 can be achieved
for the proposed magnetic gear. It has also been shown that a
high system i.e., combined linear magnetic gear and linear
electrical machine force density can be achieved, even with
a relatively low gear ratio.
K. Atallah and D. Howe, IEEE Trans. Magn. 37, 2844 2001.
K. Atallah, S. D. Calverley, and D. Howe, IEE Proc.-Elect. Power Appl.
151, 135 2004.

1
2

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