International Journal of Engineering and Information Technology

Copyright 2010 waves publishers

IJEIT 2010, 2(1), 37-40

Vol 2 , No. 1
ISSN 0975-5292 (Print)
ISSN 0976-0253 (Online)

AIR GAP EFFECTS ON MAGNETIC

FLUX DENSITY OF
LINEAR INDUCTION MOTOR
Chetan Vasudeva#1, Sanjay Marwaha#2, Anupma Marwaha*3, Manpreet Singh Manna#4
#

Department of Electrical and Instrumentation Engineering,SLIET(Deemed-to-be-University),

Longowal,Distt.Sangrur(pb.), INDIA

chetan.vasudeva@gmail.com,2 marwaha_sanjay@yahoo.co.in ,4 mannasliet@gmail.com

*

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, SLIET (Deemed-to-be-University),

Longowal,Distt.Sangrur(pb.), INDIA,
3

marwaha_anupma@yahoo.co.in

Abstract: - It is important to understand the magnetic flux density to get better design of any machine. Magnetic flux in the air
gap of the electrical machines is reduced due to various losses such as fringing effect. This leads to larger effective air gap length.
The paper provides an overview of the Magnetic flux density available to assist in the design and performance efficiency
comparison of linear induction motor by varying air gap length. The COMSOL Multiphysics software used here is based on finite
element techniques in very advanced and provides reliable and accurate results.
Keywords:- Finite Element Method, Magnetic flux density, Linear Induction Motor

I. INTRODUCTION
Linear Induction Motors are electrical machines which
unlike normal machines do not have rotors in the
traditional sense, but elements which move in a straight
line when the machine is excited. In a normal three
phase induction motor, the stator produces a rotating
magnetic field which induces the rotor to rotate along
with it. One may consider the Linear Induction
Motor(LIM) to be constructed out of its rotary
counterpart where the stator and the rotor have been cut
and unrolled. Now, the stator produces a travelling
magnetic field instead of a rotating one.
The rotor is induced to move along it. The exciting
element of the LIM (like the stator in the normal rotary
machine) is called the primary and the element in
which currents are induced (like the rotor in the normal
rotary machine) is called the secondary of the LIM.
Usually either of the primary or the secondary is
stationary and extends over the entire range of motion
of the other element. Thus, LIMs may be classified as
either short - primary (also called short-stator in
literature) or short - secondary (called short-rotor)
LIMs. LIMs may also be classified based on its
construction as Single Sided LIM (SLIM) in which
there is one primary and one secondary placed one on
top of the other, Double Sided LIM (DLIM) in which
there are two primaries on the two sides of a secondary,
Tubular LIM (TLIM) in which the primary and
secondary are placed co-axially etc. They are also
classified as high-speed and low-speed LIMs.

Conceptually, all types of motors can have linear

configurations (e.g. DC, induction, synchronous and
reluctance). The DC motor and synchronous motor
requires double excitation (field and armature). This
makes the hardware application complex. The reluctance
motor produces poor thrust, since it has no secondary
excitation, thats why the most attention is diverted to the
induction motors. We designate the stator as the
primary and the rotor as the secondary. So primary has
the finite length called the active length of LIM, and it
has a beginning and an end [1].
II. MODEL CREATION
The LIM considered for analysis here is the single-sided
primary, short primary, long-sheet-secondary LIM. In
practice, one could have a movable primary and a fixed
secondary or a movable secondary and a fixed primary.
The former is economically feasible, but either the power
supply should be on board the moving primary or there
should be a sliding contact with a power line. The fixed
primary option is economically disadvantageous because
the primary windings will have to extend over a long
distance. However from a theoretical point of view, both
are equivalent and what matters is only the relative
speed. For simplicity, we consider the primary to be
fixed and the secondary to be movable.The secondary
considered here is simply a silicon mild steel. This is
analogous to the shorted rotor of the rotary induction
machine.
The primary core usually made of pure iron, permanent
magnets.

Manuscript was presented in National Conference RACTEE 09 at SLIET Longowal, Punjab, India and recommended for publication in this
journal by the review committee
-37-

Chetan Vasudeva and Etal,IJEIT 2010, 2(1), 37-40

Table.1 Model Parameters (Mover)

ITEM

Sym-bol

A1

A2

A3

A4

Slot pitch in mm

14.7

14.7

14.7

14.7

Slot width in mm

Ws

5.97

5.97

5.97

5.97

Slot depth in mm

28

28

28

28

Material

M-19

Silicon mild steel Silicon mild steel Silicon

steel

Conductivity in s/m

1.9

1.9

1.9

1.9

Velocity in m/s

35

35

35

35

Potential difference in V

165

165

165

165

Current density in A/m2

Iin

MOVER

mild Silicon
steel

STATOR
Pole pitch in mm

16

16

16

16

Height of magnet in mm

Width of magnet in mm

Ws

14

14

14

14

Distance b/w two magnets in Md

mm

Material of magnet

M1

Alinico

Alinico

Alinico

Alinico

Conductivity s/m

2.25

2.25

2.25

2.25

Remanent flux T

Br1

50963

50963

50963

50963

Material of magnet

M2

SnCo20

SnCo20

SnCo20

SnCo20

Conductivity s/m

1.176

1.176

1.176

1.176

Remanent flux in T

Br2

693000

693000

693000

693000

Back plate material

fe

Pure Iron

Pure Iron

Pure Iron

Pure Iron

Conductivity
Height of back plate

H1

10.44
10

10.44
10

10.44
10

10.44
10

Air gap between stator and

mover

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

38

mild

Chetan Vasudeva and Etal,IJEIT 2010, 2(1), 37-40

Figure1 shows the basic geometrical structure of

permanent magnet linear induction motor (PMLIM),
where an iron core of armature is wound by coil with
three phases and stator is attached to permanent
magnets, which faced with armature winding each
other with N and S poles.

IV RESULTS
The magnetic flux distribution of SLIM after
getting it simulated with Comsol Multiphysics is
shown in figure.3 for four different air gap varying
from 0.5mm to 2.0mm with difference 0.5mm. It is
evident that the magnetic flux density reduces with the
increase in the length of air. The Magnetic flux
distribution in the LIM is effected by air gap between
the stator and mover. The air gap (and also the surface
resistivity) affects length of penetration differently at
low speed and high speeds. So by varying the air gap
the optimum performance can be achieved without
compromising to the speed of the motor. But this large
air-gap is responsible for introducing the fringing effect
and fringing flux. This fringing flux leads to following
two undesirable consequences:a) The inductance is increased due to an effective
increase in the air-gap cross-sectional area,
thereby reducing the reluctance of the gap[4].
b) Fringing flux induces eddy currents in the
surrounding surface of the neighbouring coil
conductors that cause the total power losses to
increase. In addition, a temperature rise takes
place in conductor, which leads to further
increase in the ohmic losses[4].

Figure:1 Dimensional View

III. MESH GENERATION
After defining the distinguished boundary
conditions, meshing is performed with following statics
for the different air gaps varies from 0.5 mm to 2.0 mm.
Mesh refinement has been done by Adaptive Mesh
technique (as shown in figure.2). After applying the
Adaptive Mesh refinement technique the degree of
freedom could be increased to 9.6 times and number of
boundary element increased to 1.45 times of the
slandered meshing statics (as shown in Table 2).
The two dimensional mesh geometry of SLIM has
further been solved for analysis of magnetic flux
density by post processing tool of Comsol Multiphysics
ver 3.5.[9]
Table 2 Adaptive Meshing Refinement Statics

The rise of fringing effect due to the number of poles

in the mover member magnets which are of the same
material i.e. silicon steel. The number of poles hence
reflect in the form of number of peaks / surges / spikes
in the plot which are 12 ( corresponding to the 12 poles
of the mover).

Figure: 3 Magnetic Flux density plot

V CONCLUSION

Figure: 2 Adaptive Mesh Refinement

COMSOL Multi physics can be used as a viable tool

for assessment of various critical parameters which
affects the performance of LIM. Use of such
application software can offer improved performance
by fine coarsening of mesh. Magnetic flux density plot
with the variable air gap is analyzed in this paper. The
selection of actual air gap in the critical region i.e. in
between primary and stationary is pointed out.

39

Chetan Vasudeva and Etal,IJEIT 2010, 2(1), 37-40

The Magnetic flux distribution in the LIM is affected

by air gap between the stator and mover. The air gap
(and also the surface resistivity) affects length of
penetration differently at low speed and high speeds.
VI REFERENCES
1 Boldea, and Nasar, S.A., Linear Motion
Electromagnetic systems, John Wiley 89 & Sons
Inc., New York, 1985.
2 Manna M.S., Marwaha S., Marwaha A, Eddy
currents analysis of induction motor by 3D FEM
IEEE Trans. on POWERCON-08, 2008. Pp-1-4.
3
Manna M.S, Marwaha S, Vasudeva C, Finite
element method as an aid to machine design: the
state of art, Proc. of National Conf. on RAEE2008, C-2, Pp-15
4. Fetcher J., B.Williams and Mahmoud M., Air gap
flux fringing reduction in inductors using open circuit copper screens, IEE proceedings 2005.
5. Manna M.S., Marwaha S. and Marwaha A., 3D
FEM Computation and Analysis of EM Force for
Electrical Rotating Machines using FEM . IEEE
Proc of PEDES-06 International Conf. on Power
and Electronics, drives and Energy Systems for
Industrial Growth. 2006. ieeexplore.ieee.org

6. Vasudeva C., Two Dimensional Quasi Static Field

Analysis of Linear Induction Motor using
Adaptive Finite Element Method M.Tech
Dissertation, SLIET,Longowal, India. 2009.
7. Manna M.S, Marwaha S, Vasudeva C Two
Dimensional Quasi Static Magnetic Field Analysis
of SLIM using Adaptive Finite Element Method
in International joint journal conference in
computer, electronics and electrical 2009 CEE
2009.
8. Manna M.S, Marwaha S, Vasudeva C, Analysis
Of Parmanent Magnet Linear Induction Motor
(PMLIM) using Finite Element Method in
International conference on advances in recent
technologies in communication and computing,
ARTCOM 2009. Pp:540-542
9. www.comsol.com

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