IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. MAG-23, NO.

1, JANUARY 1987 273

The Analysis of Fields and Torques in Spherical

Induction Motors
KENTDAVEY,GEORGE VACHTSEVANOS, AND RICHARD POWERS

Abstract-The advent of roboticsandautomatedmanufacturing FIELDANALYSIS

processes has brought about an urgent need for novel electromechan-
ical transducers with unusual design and performance characteristics. The first analysis step involves a general representation
Operating flexibility, ruggedness, size, force-to-weight ratio, and ro- of the fields in the conductor constituting the secondary
bust control capabilities are design attributes which place a heavy bur- member. The geometry is shown in Fig. 1. It is assumed
den on conventional machines used for manipulation purposes. The
that the source (stator) current is 0 directed. This stator
spherical induction motor is an electromechanical drive which holds
considerable promise in these application areas. A general analysis of field is sinusoidal and is exciting a traveling field in the 4
both the fields and resultant forces generic to the spherical induction direction. We represent this as a free surface current at
motor i s presented. Theanalysis ptoperly accounts for the diffusion of radius r = c which can be resolved into one or more azi-
the magneticfield with changing frequency andmotor speed. To aidin muthal harmomics
the prediction and conceptualizationof the torque and commensurate
-
motor losses, normalized plots of these parameters are given for var- Kf = K sexp j ( u t - m4)cie (1)
ious limiting values of skin depth ratio to conductor thickness. Results
indicate that the device is capable of continuous speed control and ef-
where K contains both magnitude and phase information.
ficient torque production.
The more realistic source will have &dependence as well;
as will be seen shortly, this can be handled as a sum over
INTRODUCTION various Legendre functions. Both this outer stator current
and the inner conducting slab rotor are backed by in-
R ECENT ADVANCES in robotics, intelligent end ef-
fectors, and flexible manufacturing systems have
provided the motivation for the resurfacing of unusual
finitely permeable iron.
The radial and $-directed magnetic fields are repre-
designs with certain motors and electromechanical trans- sented as the curl of a &directed vector potential ( E = V
ducers. A flurry of research activity is currently underway X A d e ) . This is valid as long as the source (stator) cur-
in direct drives involving dc, stepping, and brushless rents are f3 directed. This is not to say that ABis not itself
electromechanical actuators. These devices are normally a function of 6; by the nature of the spherical geometry
employed to accomplish a single degreeof motion manip- both Kf and A must generally have like &dependence.
ulation at each joint. The spherical induction motor pre- With a rotor velocity V the governing equation forAs (sub-
sents some attractive possibilities for combining pitch, script dropped henceforth) is the magnetic diffusion equa-
roll, and yaw motion in a single joint while maintaining tion
the control functions required for completing accurately
and precisely its manipulation tasks. Laithwaite et al. [ 11-
[3] performed the original analysis on one form of a
spherical induction motor. General flux linkage argu-
ments and estimates of magnetic diffusion times were used
to predict forces and torques on a realization of the device
which was built and successfully tested. Their application
was in speed control-achieved by controlling the direc-
tion of the stator wave excitation at an arbitrary angle to Equation (1) becomes
the motor axis. Since the work of Laithwaite et al. little
attention has been given to the spherical motor with the
exception of a patent [4]and gyroscope applications [5]-
[6]. A field analysis of the motor is presented, aiming at
predicting torque and motor lossunder various condi- - ( m 2 + 1) a = j p u ( w - mQ)A.
tions. r2 sin2 e
One can now employ the standard separation of vari-
Manuscript received September 3, 1985; revised May 16, 1986. ables technique-multiplying through by r2 and equating
The authors are with the School of Electrical Engineering, Georgia In-
stitute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332. the radial part to a separation constant K2 = n ( n 1- 1 )
IEEE Log Number 8610809. +
and the &dependent part to -n ( n 1). With = A( r )a
0018-9464/87/0100-0273$01.OO O 1987 IEEE
274 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS. VOL. MAG-23, NO. I , JANUARY 1987

Fig. 1. Cross section of spherical induction motor; central rotor consists of conducting ball of thickness ( b - a ) filled with
infinite p material.

3 (e) we have where J , and H , are Bessel and Hankel functions of the
first kind, order v , and X = -jpu(o - ma) v 2 = ( n ( n
l a
-- (sin
sin 8 a9
8 g) -
+ e = -+ + 1)
(m2 I)
sin2 e
+
+ 1) $). For a complete list of terms, see the Nomen-
clature at the end of this paper.
The total %-directedvector potential can be written in
terms of the interfacial potentials which are assumed, at
any interface ( a , &-see Fig. 2), to have the form
01
+ n ( n + l ) ] A = 0. ( 5 ) A B ( ,; 0, 4, t ) = Re ~ ~ p i ( ce>
o exp
s ( j < o t- m4)).
Note that the presence of the m 2 + 1 (rather than m 2 ) in (8)
(4)and the r2poj ( o - ma ) in ( 5 ) make this problem more The appropriate choice of PI, is dictated by the source ex-
difficult than the standard spherical Laplacian problem. citation. One attempts to define transfer relations relating
The solution of (4) is simply the associated Legendre A and H4 across a conducting layer.The use of these
polynomial transfer relations and their development in cylindrical and
e @ )= P;(COS e) (6) axisymmetric problems in determining torque are excel-
where lently described by Melcher [7]. Across the spherical an-
nulus A ( r ) is described as
I = J m 2 + I.
(Legendre functions of the second kind e:(%)
which are
A { H ( X P )J , ( X r ) -J ( W ff(W)
singular in the interval 0 < 8 < x are excluded.) Equa-
tion ( 5 ) is a modified spherical Bessel equation whose so-
A(r) = -
m {H,(W J , ( W - J d W H , ( W )
lution is +- Ap { J( A 4 H,( w - HA x 4 J,( } w
m { J , ( W H ( W- H ( X 4 J ( W }
(9)
DAVEY et a!.: SPHERICAL INDUCTIONMOTORS 275

and
B: = Bf + A: = A:. (14)
Combining these relations with the transfer relations of
Tables I and I1 gives

Ad
ld'l =

Ab,
= = P
lo I.
(16)
At this point we rnust contend with the nature of the stator
excitation. The +directed torque is simply the Maxwell
stress moment integrated over the spherical rotor surface:
Fig. 2. Geometry of spherical annulus for defining transfer relations.
T+ = i2"b sin e ( B : H $ ) b2 sin 6 de.
JO 0
(17)
In the limit, when the conductivity goes to zero, it follows The free stator surface current can be represented via a
that Fourier representation as a sum
m m

(18)
where

One is nowin a position to relate A to IT+ across a
spherical annulus via the definition = (1 / p r )
( a ( r&) / a r ) . The transfer relations for both the noncon-
ducting and the conducting cases aregiven in Tables I and
11, respectively. The torque and general motor perfor-
mance are rather easily determined from these tables.
1 = Jm2 + 1
and Re designates the ''real part of. "
For a sinusoidal placement of windings in the d, direc-
tion, a two-pole machine would have m = 1, a four-pole
machine, m = 2 , etc: The specific &dependence is
embedded in P f , (cos 0 ) and must be represented as' an
appropriate sum of such functions. Note that when I is a
noninteger (as is the case here), no restriction exists on n
( n 2 m for Pf functions). One rather general represen-
tation of P f is in termsof hypergeometric functions, i.e.,

TORQUE CALCULATIONS
It is assumed that the stator surface current has a 0-
dependence given in terms of the Legendre functions
P f ,(cos e ) . The analysis focuses on an individual com-
ponent ( n , I ) commensurate with a field having
ej(w'-m')-dependence. At the interfacial surfaces shown where
in Fig. 1, boundary and jump conditions require
H$= R~ t j , j ( w t - m $ ) 9
(11)
H: = H:, (12) It is not necessary to belabor the analysis with undue
focus on the specific &dependence to gain an understand-
HZ = 0, (13) ing of the characteristic forces and losses at play.To elim-
2 76 IEEETRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. MAG-23, NO. I , JANUARY 1987

TABLE I
TRANSFER LINKING
RELATIONS H , TO A , FOR A NONCONDUCTING
SPHERICAL
ANNULUS

R o t a t i n gi n @ direction
w i t ha n g u l a rv e l o c i t y a

-
L i m i t i n g Cases
DAVEY et al.: SPHERICALINDUCTION MOTORS 277

TABLE I1
TRANSFER H4 TO AB FOR A CONDUCTING
RELATIONS LINKING ANNULUS

Limiting Cases

inate a morass of detail

on
Fourier decomposition of non-
integral Legendre polynomials, weshall focus onone n ,
m Fourier component. For any one n, m expansion term
( T,> = S, 2%'
1,
77

b2po ( j m ( ~ s ( % , +t>>Gn(b,
in (18) it follows that allthe fields will have a like depen- + Fn(c, b .) ~ .i .( r6 7, t ) )

(@(I-, 8, t ) ) ) sin 19 d%d+

where ( T, ) = $ Re { 27rb2p0[ - j m c L G n ( b , c ) I?:]}
The
$ = Ae, H,, or H,.
time average torque ( T,) due to any one Fourier
component n , m follows from (17) and (15) as (recall B:
= BS)
- s (Pk(cos 0))" sin % dB.

(21)
 IEEETRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS,VOL. MAG-23, NO. I , JANUARY 1987

-------

I
0.00 1b.67 35.33 sb.00 $6.67 d3.33 lbO.00
SLIP
Fig. 3. Normalized torque versus slip ( p u b * ( ~- mQ)) as rotor radius is varied.
( T/27rb2hL,K~C,2,)

(In what follows, the brackets ( ) are always used to

indicate time average.) From (15) and (16), it follows that

With the assignment

c,, = 4 ioT (P;(COS e))2 sin 0 de

and normalized torque definition
( T+)
( T,) =
I
Po G r n I22rb2Cnrn
it follows that

I
d.00 16.67 33.33 50.00 66.67 8333 100.00
SLIP
Fig. 4. Deep rotor limit ( a = 0 ) normalized torque T/27rb2p, 1 K IC,z,,,
versus slip ( pub2(u - rnn)).
where it is easily verified that both sides of (23) are di-
mensionless. Embedded in this expression is the critical
follows:
parameter
a
Sk = slip = j X 2 b 2 = pub2(w - rnQ). (24)
At zero slip the rotor speed Q equals the field speed w / m .
Shown in Figs. 3 and 4 are the torque/slip curves for a
spherical motor. It is assumed that b = 0.9, c = 1.0, and
n = rn = 1 ( p conductor = p o ) . The effect of changing
where
a from 0.8 to 0.85 to 0.88 is shown in Fig. 3 . In Fig. 4
the rotor conductor is extended throughout the rotor (thick 0s u * thickness of shell,
conductor limit a = 0), using the limiting formula at the CY mean radius of shell(seeFig. 5),
bottom of Table 11. 11 H+ ( 1 jump in H+ across the shell.
THINSHELLLIMIT With (a sin 0 ) /a0 0 (or at least much smaller than the
=
In the limit, where the rotor conductor shrinks to a thin q5 spatial derivatives,a reasonable assumption for any
shell, Melcher shows that the H+ field is related to B, as practical design), H+ = 1/(sin e), a/&$ = -jm, and
DAVEY et al.: SPHERICAL INDUCTION MOTORS 219

A 0
0- Rr sin eiq,
1' 4

Rotating Spherical Shell

Fig. 5. Thin shell geometry for boundary condition (25).

B, = j m A e / ( r sin 6) we have
600 1187 f33 4.00 d.67 8hS l'o.00
SLIP
Fig. 6 . Thin
shell
limit ( ( b - a ) = A ) normalized torque
or, since H4 below the sheet is zero, T / 2 i r b 2 p , K ~ C , , ,versus
" slip ( p n s b ( u - m n ) ) .
, - jus(, -
fib - m a ) Ai.
(27 1 where
From (17) we can write -
E' electric field inthe moving frame, = E +3
x pop.
-+
z1 rotation velocity, = Q R sin 6 d,.
To find the average power dissipated, we simply integrate
pd over the conductor volume, Time-dependent quantities
have no temporal average. Furthermore, it follows from
From (15) and (27) it follows that Gauss's theorem that the volume integration can be re-
placed with a surface integral

conductor
volume

The time average torque becomes

(33)

s
The second term in (33) is zero since U d, = 0. Thus
or * b
slip mG;(b, c ) / b 2 ( P d ) = -12 Re (b2(EdH,)
( ") = 1 + (slipfF;(c, b)/b2 "
- a2(Ed H4)') 27r sin 6 de. (34)
where Recall that
slip = ( w - mQ)uspob.
A plot of this shell limit torque versus slip is shown in
Fig. 6 f o r n = m = 1.
where the last term follows from (2). Thus we can write
ELECTRICAL DISSIPATION
(for field components n, m )
As shown by Melcher [7, p. 6.191 the power dissipated
in a magnetoquasistatic system per unit volume is
(pd) = -
4K(w - mQ) Re { j b 2 ( A " A
2 e +)b

cnm.
- ja2(A"zA4)a) (36)
In the thick conductor limit with rotor iron p = 03 (con-
ductor has conductivity u, permeability p), (15) and (22)
280 IEEETRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. MAG-23, NO. 1, JANUARY 1987

I
0.00 1k.67 $3.33 $0.00 d6.67 d3.33 lbO.00
SLIP
Fig. 7. Normalized rotor power dissipation (PD/(2aK:b/uC,,))versus slip ( p u b 2 ( w - m n ) ) as a varies.

to give
4ab2(w - m a )
2 Ie m 12Po

( pd )
= ( p o ob2 (w - mQ))
I
2nCnm Pm b / o I

d.00 1'6.67 33.33 5000 $6.67 d3.33 iOO.00

SLIP

Fig. 8. Deep rotor limit ( a = 0 ) normalized rotor power dissipation Pd/

( 2 . r r ~ S ( b / oc) , , ~ ) slip ( pub2(w
versus -rn~)).

or
Clearly, the power dissipated vanishes as the slip pa-
rameter reduces to zero, but is proportional to slip for large
slip values. A plot of the normalized power dissipated is
shown in Fig. 7 for n = m = 1, b = 0.9, c = 1.0, again
allowing a to vary from 0.8 to 0.85 to 0.88. Fig. 8 shows
the corresponding curve for the deep rotor
( a = 0).
conductor limit
G:(b,
1 + (slip)'F;(c,
' ) l bb )2/ b 2 (38) 1.
This dependence is shown in Fig. 9. Both of these nor-
Finally, the appropriate limit for the thin shell is ob-
malized power dissipation results (37) and (38) are essen-
tained. When (29) and (15) are inserted into (36), we have
tially the normalized torque times the slip.
PRACTICAL EXAMPLE
To get a feel for the type of numbers expected for this
device, consider a spherical motor whose radius b is 10
cm with a = 9.44 cm and c = 11.11 cm. Suppose also a
INDUCTION
DAVEY et al.: SPHERICAL MOTORS
1
d.00 1!67 h 3 500
SLIP
$67 i.33
Fig. 9. Normalized rotor power dissipation P d / (27rbK; / us) versus slip
( p u , b ( w - m a ) ) for the thin shell limit ( b - a = A ) .
slot (cut in the 8 direction) exists every 10 carrying ten
turns of #18 wire with 5 A at 60 Hz. With six poles ( m
= 6 ) we can get a reasonable estimate of performance
assuming the C,, factor to be unity. The rotor is consid-
ered tobe made of copper with conductivity 5 X lo7
mho / m . This machine corresponds to that marked a =
0.85 in Fig. 3. Normalized slip = 8.0 is a reasonable
operating point for nearly peak torque generation. Under
these conditions the torque generated by this motor would
be 0.997 N m, with apower of 8.325 W ( T = 1.9).
The corresponding power dissipation is found in Fig. 7
(Po = 16.0). The rotorlosses under these conditions
would be 1.336 W. Thus the overallmotor efficiency (due
to rotor losses alone) is 84 percent.
CONCLUSION
A general analysis technique has been presented for the
spherical induction motor. The methodology allows for
an assessment of the effects on output torque and power
dissipation,of such design parameters as rotor thickness,
air-gap length, surface current excitation, etc.
Thetorquecurves reflect the typical shape expected
from most induction devices. The various cases of the
variable thickness rotor agree well with the limiting cases
of thick and thin shell rotors. Note the gradual increase in
peak torque as the rotor shell thickness is diminished; the
power dissipation ais0 increases, of course. From another
perspective this can be thought of as the high-frequency
limit, with current limited to the perimeter of the rotor
due to skin effect. As shown clearly in Fig. 3, as the rotor
thickness is diminished thepeaktorque moves out to
larger slip values as expected. The shell limit torque and
power dissipation are plotted versus slip using os = uA;
A being the thickness of the shell. This slip must be mul-
tiplied by b / A for it to be equivalent to the thick rotor
cases. Thus the curves doindeed show a natural gradation
from deep rotor to finite rotor to thin shell limit.
28 1
NOMENCLATURE
A Magnetic vector potential ( V X A = B ) .
Magnetic vector potential containing only a
dependence.
Dimensions of spherical motor (Fig. 1).
Magnetic field density.
Constant containing &dependence of the sta-
tor source field, = ( 1 / 2 ) i: (Pfi cos sin
13 de.
&dependent electric field, = J / o .
Hypergeometric function, order v, p.
Functions describing transfer relations be-
tween H4 and A*.
Magnetic field intensity.
Kf Surface current density (A/m) ( 8 directed).
lb.00 KS Stator surface current density.
1 Order of the associated Legendre polynomial
in which the source is represented.
rn $-directed multiplicity of the field ( d m @ ) ,
Le., ~rpole pairs in $ direction.
n Order of associated Legendre polynomial re-
flecting the shape of the source excitation
(P:(COS e ) ) .
Power dissipation in rotorhormalized.
Associated Legendre polynomial.
Standard spherical coordinates.
Relative slip, = Ab2 = pabz(w - m a ) .
Time.
$-directed torquehormalized.
Conductivity/surface conductivity ( a* thick-
ness ).
x Reciprocal field penetration depth into the ro-
tor, = d-jpu(w - ma).
Mechanical rotor angular velocity in the $ di-
rection.
V = J n ( n + 1) +
1/4.
W Radian frequency, = 21rf.
REFERENCES
[l] F. Williams, E. Laithwaite, and L. Piggot, Bmshless variable-speed
induction motors, Proc. Inst. E l m . Eng., vol. 104A, pp. 102-122,
June 1956.
[2] F. Williams, E.Laithwaite, and J. F. Eastham, Development and
design of sphericalinduction motors, Proc.Inst. Elec. Eng., vol.
106A, pp. 471-484, Dec. 1959.
[3] E. Laithwaite, Design of spherical motors, Elec. Times, vol. 9, pp.
921-925, June 1960.
[4] I. Laing and N. Laing, Rotodynamic pump with Spherical motor,
US Patent 4352646, Oct. 5, 1982.
[5] I. V. U. Zaved, Electromagnetic processes in an asynchronous motor
with a sphericalhollow rotor, Electromekh, pp. 1231-1239, Nov.
1976.
[6] A. Lebedev and P. Shinayev, Moments acting in a spherical rotor in
a magnetic suspension, Priborostroegie, vol. 16, pp. 85-88, 1973.
[7] J. Melcher, ContinuumElectromechanics. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press, 1981.
[8] I. Gradshteyn and I. Ryzhik, Table of Integrals, Series,and Products.
New York: Academic, 1980.
[9] E. R. Laithwaite, InductionMachines for Special Purposes. New
York: Chemical Publishing Co., 1966, pp. 266-273.
282 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. MAG-23, NO. I , JANUARY 1987
KentDavey was born in New Orleans, LA on September 29, 1952. He
received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering (EE) in 1974 from Tulane
University, New Orleans, LA, the M.S. degrees in physics from the Uni-
versity of Pittsburghand in powerengineeringfromCarnegieMellon,
Pittsburgh, PA, both in 1976, and the Ph.D. degree in EE from the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, in 1980.
During the years 1974-1976 he worked for Westinghouse as a Devel-
opment Engineer analyzing fields and forces in large turbine generators.
From 1979 to 1980 he worked at Texas A&M University as an Assistant
Professor in EE. There he worked on magnetic induction devices suitable
for energy storage purposes. From 1980 to the present he has worked at
Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA where he is now an Associate Professor. His
research interests include electric and magnetic field interaction with bio-
logical tissue, numerical solution of electromagnetic scattering problems,
and prediction o f fields in magnetoquasistatic problems, both transient and
steady state.
Richard Powers is with the School of Electrical Engineering, Georgia In-
stitute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332.
George Vachtsevanos received the Ph.D. degree from theCity University
of New York, New York.
He is a Professor of electrical engineering at the Georgia Institute of
Technology, Atlanta, GA. Prior to joining the faculty at Georgia Tech he
was a Professor at the University of Thrace. His research interests include
power systems, renewable energy sources, and the application of control
techniques to power systems.