access icon openaccess Design route towards a PM machine for rotorcraft environments

This is an open access article published by the IET under the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Received 21/06/2018, Accepted 31/07/2018, Published 22/01/2019

This paper discusses the design route followed in the development of a permanent magnet (PM) machine for electrical power generation on board a rotorcraft (helicopter). The focus of the machine design is to optimise system power density, efficiency, and robustness – all of which are crucial considerations in aerospace applications. A matrix of designs was created consisting of two stators with different winding conductors – copper and aluminium – and three rotors, each using different containment sleeve materials. These include two semi-permeable metallic sleeves, which act to decrease the effective air gap. Combinations of the different materials will yield different system-level power densities and efficiencies. Here, all the designs are presented along with the initial test results for the baseline machine combination validating the design predictions.

Inspec keywords: stators; air gaps; permanent magnet machines; aircraft power systems; rotors; helicopters; conductors (electric)

Other keywords: machine design; PM machine; baseline machine combination; electrical power generation; semipermeable metallic sleeves; containment sleeve materials; system-level power densities; permanent magnet machine; aerospace applications; winding conductors; rotorcraft environments

Subjects: Conductors; Aerospace power systems; a.c. machines; Transportation

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