IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 50, NO.

11, NOVEMBER 2014

8104904

A Novel Triple-Permanent-Magnet-Excited Hybrid-Flux Magnetic

Gear and Its Design Method Using 3-D Finite Element Method
Shan Peng, W. N. Fu, and S. L. Ho
Department of Electrical Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
This paper presents a novel triple-permanent-magnet-excited (TPME) hybrid-flux magnetic gear (MG) that integrates a transverseflux MG and an axial-flux MG into a single unit. Compared with its conventional counterparts, the proposed MG transmits a relatively
high-torque density. When compared with the transverse-flux MG, this new structure employs a new configuration on the highspeed rotor, an extra iron segment between the low-speed rotor and the high-speed rotor to modulate the magnetic field, and hence
contributing to the transmission of additional output torque. It also employs permanent magnets on the iron segments to produce
additional torque. The proposed TPME hybrid-flux MG can offer a much higher torque transmission capacity than its conventional
counterparts, making it more competitive for low-speed high-torque applications. A 3-D finite-element method is used for the analysis
of the magnetic field and evaluation of the output torque.
Index Terms Design method, finite element method (FEM), hybrid-flux, magnetic field, magnetic gear (MG), torque transmission.

I. I NTRODUCTION

AGNETIC gears (MGs), as an emerging technology,

are now competing with mechanical gears in many
applications as the former have no mechanical contacts, less
mechanical loss, and acoustic noise, as well as less maintenance [1][3]. Radial-flux MG, as shown in Fig. 1, is the most
basic type of topologies. Fig. 2 shows the situation in which a
radial-flux MG is combined with an electric motor. It is noted
that the main disadvantage of the radial-flux gear is that it
cannot be used in applications where the outer diameter of
the whole machine system is to be bound by a strict limit.
Unlike the radial-flux MG, the axial-flux MG has not been
studied to a great extent. A novel MG with a gear ratio of
6.5:1 and with radially positioned rotor magnets and axial-flux
flowing through ferromagnetic steel poles is presented, and
the computed torque density is 11 N m/L [4]. Hirata presents
a surface-mounted axial-flux MG with a 10:1 gear ratio and
a 120 mm diameter and a torque density of 19 N m/L [4].
This is realized using high-energy permanent magnet (PM)
materials, such as neodymiumironboron (NdFeB), for the
field system [5]. Mezani presents an axial-flux MG using
surface mounted NdFeB magnets; the calculated torque density is 70 N m/L [4]. It is well known that for a flatshape size, the axial-flux motor has the potential advantage
of having a higher torque density when it is compared with
its radial-flux counterpart [6][7]. More recently, Bronn [8]
presented an axial-flux gear motor based on the same principle
as a radial-flux magnetic planetary gear. It is shown that the
axial MGs topology could also reach a higher torque density
when compared with its radial-flux counterparts, when the
parameters of the structure are designed properly. However,
the axial-flux MG also needs large dimension in the radial
direction if large torque is required.

Manuscript received March 7, 2014; revised May 12, 2014; accepted

May 22, 2014. Date of current version November 18, 2014. Corresponding
author: W. N. Fu (e-mail: eewnfu@polyu.edu.hk).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2014.2327068

Fig. 1.

Overview of the radial-flux MG.

Fig. 2.

Installation topology of the radial-flux MG an electric motor.

Because the gear ratio of these devices is determined by

the ratio of the pole pairs between the outer rotor and the
inner rotor, it is commonly limited to the range between
3 and 25. Nowadays, a MG operating with transverse-flux is
an attractive alternative as its required space is only along the
axial direction [3]. However, compared with the radial-flux and
axial-flux counterparts, the torque density of the transverseflux MG is not very high. In many applications, a high-torquedensity MG with limited outer diameter is highly desired.
In this paper, a novel hybrid-flux MG that has not been
reported in the literature, is presented. It has a higher electromagnetic torque density when compared with those of
either the transverse-flux MGs or the axial-flux MGs. In what
follows the topology of this gear is described, and the analysis
method of the proposed configuration based on 3-D finiteelement method (FEM) is developed. The performance of the

0018-9464 2014 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

8104904

Fig. 3.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 50, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2014

Overview of the conventional axial-flux MG.

Fig. 6.

Fig. 4.

Exploded view of the proposed hybrid-flux MG.

Exploded view of the conventional axial-flux MG.

Fig. 7. Schematic installation topology of the proposed hybrid-flux MG with
an electric motor.
TABLE I
PARAMETERS FOR THE P ROPOSED MG

Fig. 5.

Overview of the proposed hybrid-flux MG.

proposed structure is quantitatively compared with those of its

conventional configurations.
II. P ROPOSED C ONFIGURATION
The configuration of the hybrid-flux MG proposed in this
paper is shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The schedule topology of
the proposed MG together with an electric motor is shown in
Fig. 7. In Figs. 36, the black color shows those PMs with
negative circumferential magnetization, the yellow color shows
PMs with negative radial magnetized direction, the red color
shows PMs with positive circumferential magnetization, the
green color indicates PMs with positive radial magnetization,
and the purple color indicates PMs with negative axial magnetization. The key parameters of the proposed MG are listed in
Table I. It has one high-speed rotor and one low-speed rotor
that are arranged in parallel along the axial direction. The
high-speed rotor and the low-speed rotor have, respectively,
phigh and plow pairs of rare-earth PM poles. It has specific
stationary iron segments with pFe = phigh + plow pairs of

poles, outside of the two rotors, which constitute a transverseflux MG. It also has stationary iron segments with pFe pole
pairs between the two rotors, which constitute an axial-flux
MG.
In this paper, the iron segments on the stator constitute
26 pole-pairs that modulate the magnetic field. They can
generate a magnetic field with the 22 pole-pairs on the lowspeed rotor as well as magnetic fields with the four pole-pairs
on the high-speed rotor. The governing rule of the PM polepairs and the iron segments is still the same as that of its
conventional counterpart. According to the fundamental rule
of MGs [9], the gear ratio of the proposed structure is
G r = N highspeed /N lowspeed .

(1)

PENG et al.: NOVEL TPME HYBRID-FLUX MG AND ITS DESIGN METHOD USING 3-D FEM

The relationship of the pole-pair numbers on the low-speed

rotor, the high-speed rotor, and the stator should be
N stator = N highspeed N lowspeed

8104904

TABLE II
PARAMETERS FOR THE C ONVENTIONAL A XIAL -F LUX MG

(2)

where Nhighspeed is the number of high-speed rotor

PM pole-pair; Nlowspeed is the number of low-speed rotor
PM pole-pair; and Nstator is number of the iron segments on
the stator. To achieve high-output torque, Nstator should be
Nhighspeed + Nlowspeed .
The proposed structure is a combination of the two aforementioned conventional topologies and the space within the
MG can be properly and fully utilized. The high-speed
rotor has a new configuration, and an extra iron segment is
employed between the low-speed rotor and the high-speed
rotor to modulate the magnetic field and contributes to the
transmission of additional output torque. There are also PMs
employed on the iron segments to increase the output torque.
The total torque consists of three parts, one is produced by the
high-speed rotor and the low-speed rotor that is modulated by
the iron segments between the rotors, another is produced by
the high-speed rotor and the low-speed rotor that is modulated
by the iron segments outside of the rotors, and the last one
is produced by the low-speed rotor and the PMs on the iron
segments that is modulated by the iron segments on the highspeed rotor. When the rotors rotate, the iron segments will
modulate the transverse and axial magnetic fields at the same
time, and the PMs on the stator will work with the PMs on the
low-speed rotor to produce a magnetic field, thus the capacity
of the torque being transmitted can be enhanced and improved
significantly. Quantitative analysis using 3-D FEM shows it
has a better performance.
III. P ERFORMANCE A NALYSIS AND R ESULTS
This structure has two rotors and one stator, and the novel
point is that there are two sets of iron segments on the stator
where one is between the two rotors, the other is outside the
two rotors. Among these iron segments, extra sets of PMs are
inserted. They will produce a magnetic field with the PMs
on the rotor modulated by the iron segments on the rotor.
Essentially, it integrates a radial-flux MG with an axial-flux
MG, and the total output torque density of this hybrid-flux gear
will be increased dramatically as a result of such integration
and combination.
The performance analysis of the proposed structure is elaborated. 3-D FEM of the magnetic field and mechanical motion
coupled computation is employed to evaluate the dynamic
electromagnetic torque comprehensively. The 3-D FEM formulation can be found in [9] and [10]. However, 3-D FEM
requires a long time for computation and preprocessing [11].
Virtual work method is hence being used to compute the
electromagnetic torque and its details can be found in [12].
This paper is aiming to comparing the output power per unit
volume among the proposed novel triple-PM-excited (TPME)
hybrid-flux MG, transverse-flux MG, and the conventional
axial-flux MG. The MGs being studied all have two rotors
and are evaluated under the same situation. For the sake of
simple performance comparison, the design parameters of the
conventional axial-flux MG are shown in Table II.

Fig. 8. Torque of the proposed structure when the high-speed rotor is locked.

On the basis of the magnetic fields produced by the PMs on

the high-speed rotor side and the PMs on the low-speed rotor
side, the extra PMs being employed on the stator will produce
a magnetic field with the PMs on the rotor at the same time,
resulting in corresponding increases in output torque.
To reveal the advantage of the proposed hybrid-flux MG,
the performances of these two structures are analyzed and
compared using 3-D FEM.
The proposed hybrid-flux MG, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6,
is the proposed topology that has the arrangements of PM
with positive circumferential magnetizationironPM with
negative circumferential magnetizationironPM with positive circumferential magnetizationironPM with negative
circumferential magnetizationiron. . . on the low-speed rotor,
and the arrangements of PM with negative circumferential
magnetizationPM with negative radial magnetizationPM
with positive circumferential magnetizationironPM with
negative circumferential magnetizationPM with negative radial magnetizationPM with positive circumferential
magnetizationiron. . . on the high-speed rotor. This topology
is novel because it is fabricated with PMs among the stator
iron segments. The torque curve when the high-speed rotor is
locked is shown in Fig. 8.
The radial-flux MG, as shown in Fig. 1, is a commonly
used topology in designing MGs. It is a conventional one with
surface-mounted PMs that has the arrangements of N poleS
poleN poleS pole . . . on both outer and inner rotors. There
are no PMs on the ferromagnetic segments.

8104904

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 50, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2014

proposed MG has the largest value among the three configurations. In Table IV, it can also be seen that even though
the proposed structure has the largest PM volume, it has the
biggest torque per unit PM volume.
IV. C ONCLUSION

Fig. 9. Torque of the conventional axial-flux MG when the high-speed rotor

is locked.
TABLE III
T ORQUE C OMPARISON OF T HREE C ONFIGURATIONS

This paper presents a novel TPME hybrid-flux MG.

A torque performance analysis for this new topology is evaluated using a 3-D model when utilizing the ferrite magnetic
materials properly. The use of the novel topology allows
the proposed MG to reach a relatively high output torque,
when compared with those of its conventional counterparts.
Compared with conventional MGs, this new configuration has
three PM layers, which creatively constitutes multi magnetic
fields inside one frame, resulting in significant enhancement in
its output torque density. Based on FEM analysis, the proposed
TPME hybrid-flux MG can output at least an additional 20%
more torque when compared with that by axial-flux MG.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

TABLE IV
T ORQUE P ER U NIT PM V OLUME C OMPARISON

This work was supported by the Research Grant Council

of the Hong Kong SAR Government under Project PolyU
5153/13E.
R EFERENCES

The conventional axial-flux MG, as shown in

Figs. 4 and 5, has the arrangements of PM
with
positive
circumferential
magnetizationiron
PM with negative circumferential magnetizationiron
PM with positive circumferential magnetizationironPM
with negative circumferential magnetizationiron. . . on
the low-speed rotor, and the arrangements of PM with
positive circumferential magnetizationironPM with negative circumferential magnetizationironPM with positive
circumferential magnetizationironPM with negative
circumferential magnetizationiron. . . on the high-speed
rotor. Fig. 9 shows the torque of the conventional axial-flux
MG when the high-speed rotor is locked.
It can be observed that in Figs. 36 that the proposed
structure is the most complex one among them. Because of this
drawback, it is more difficult to manufacture. Furthermore, it is
noted the extra PM being employed in the proposed structure
will result in cost increases. Nonetheless, the torque per unit
PM volume of the proposed machine is highest among all the
other MGs being compared.
In Table III, the maximum output torques on the low-speed
rotor are compared, among the three types of configurations being considered. It can be shown that the torque of the

[1] K. T. Chau, C. C. Chan, and C. Liu, Overview of permanent-magnet

brushless drives for electric and hybrid electric vehicles, IEEE Trans.
Ind. Electron., vol. 55, no. 6, pp. 22462257, Jun. 2008.
[2] K. T. Chau, D. Zhang, J. Z. Jiang, C. Liu, and Y. Zhang, Design
of a magnetic-geared outer-rotor permanent-magnet brushless motor for
electric vehicles, IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 43, no. 6, pp. 25042506,
Jun. 2007.
[3] M. Muramatsu, M. Yamamoto, and K. Hirata, Proposal of an axial gap
magnetic harmonic gear, in Proc. 21st SEAD, 2009, pp. 535540.
[4] V. M. Acharya, J. Z. Bird, and M. Calvin, A flux focusing axial
magnetic gear, IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 49, no. 7, pp. 40924095,
Jul. 2013.
[5] T. F. Chan, W. Wang, and L. L. Lai, Performance of an axialflux permanent magnet synchronous generator from 3-D finite-element
analysis, IEEE Trans. Magn, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 669676, Sep. 2010.
[6] A. Parviainen, Design of axial-flux permanent-magnet low-speed
machines and performance comparison between radial-flux and axialflux machines, Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. Energy, Lappeenranta Univ.
Technol., Lappeenranta, Finland, 2005.
[7] N. L. Brown, Compact electrical generators for diesel driven generating
sets, Ph.D. dissertation, School Eng., Durham Univ., Durham, NC,
USA, 2002.
[8] L. Bronn, Design and performance evaluation of a magnetically geared
axial-flux permanent magnet generator, M.S. thesis, Dept. Elect. Electron. Eng., Stellenbosch Univ., Stellenbosch, South Africa, Mar. 2012.
[9] M. Aubertin, A. Tounzi, and Y. L. Menach, Study of an electromagnetic gearbox involving two permanent magnet synchronous machines
using 3-D-FEM, IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 44, no. 11, pp. 43814384,
Nov. 2008.
[10] S.-H. Lee et al., Characteristic analysis of the slotless axial-flux type
brushless DC motors using image method, IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 42,
no. 4, pp. 13271330, Apr. 2006.
[11] P. Zhou, W. N. Fu, D. Lin, S. Stanton, and Z. J. Cendes, Numerical
modeling of magnetic devices, IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 40, no. 4,
pp. 18031809, Jul. 2004.
[12] W. N. Fu, S. L. Ho, and N. Chen, Application of shell element method
to 3-D finite-element computation of the force on one body in contact
with others, IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 46, no. 11, pp. 38933898,
Nov. 2010.