ELECTRIC POWER COMPONENTS AND SYSTEMS, cilt.52, sa.10, ss.1936-1945, 2024 (SCI-Expanded)
Synchronous Reluctance Motors (SynRMs) have become very attractive alternatives to induction motors which have been widely used in industry in recent years. Axial-flux motor (AFM) structures have been studied in the literature as a new field. However, studies on axial-flux synchronous reluctance motors (AF-SynRMs) are very limited. In this study, optimization of an AF-SynRM has been performed to achieve optimal motor performance. In addition, the effects of the permanent magnets (PMs) have been investigated. In this design, PMs have been placed in the barriers using eight different ways, and motor performance has been examined. The placement of magnets on the barriers that are close to the air gap has an increasing effect on the average torque. However, the distorting effect on the torque ripple is seen to be quite high. In particular, the placement of magnet on all barriers improves the machine performance significantly. The negative impact on torque ripple is also low. Therefore, this study aims to provide guidance to researchers working on the design of AF-SynRMs, especially with PMs.