COMPEL - The international journal for computation and mathematics

in electrical and electronic engineering

Axial force reduction of a homopolar machine
Slawomir Wiak Dieter Gerling Marcin Pyc

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Slawomir Wiak Dieter Gerling Marcin Pyc, (2012),"Axial force reduction of a homopolar machine", COMPEL
- The international journal for computation and mathematics in electrical and electronic engineering, Vol. 31
Iss 5 pp. 1513 - 1520
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Axial force reduction

of a homopolar machine

Axial force
reduction

Slawomir Wiak
Institute of Mechatronics and Information Systems,
Technical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland

1513

Dieter Gerling
Electrical Drives and Actuators,
University of the German Federal Armed Forces in Munich,
Munich, Germany, and

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Marcin Pyc
Institute of Mechatronics and Information Systems,
Technical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the optimization process of a homopolar machine.
The work has been focused on a reduction of axial forces acting on the rotor.
Design/methodology/approach A novel machine design has been proposed and a detailed FEM
analysis has been performed.
Findings The source of the axial force in the homopolar machine has been indicated and a new
method of axial force reduction has been presented.
Originality/value A detailed comparison shows that the applied changes lead to a significant
axial force reduction and allow the usage of cheaper and less prone to axial forces bearings.
Keywords Force measurement, Stress (materials), Optimization techniques, Homopolar machine,
Axial forces, Finite element method
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
In Gerling and Pyc (2008) a development process of a homopolar machine has been
presented.
A homopolar machine is an AC excited synchronous machine, equipped with an
armature and excitation winding on the stator side of the air-gap. The machine is
equipped with a rotor divided axially and each of the rotors salient poles in each rotor
part has the same polarity. The homopolar flux produced by a ring-formed excitation
winding flows axially through the rotor shaft and closes through the stator teeth and
stator yoke. In Figures 1 and 2, the principle of operation of a homopolar machine is
presented (Kummel, 1986).
Because of the fact that both excitation and armature windings are on the stator side
and do not rotate with the rotor, no sliding contact is required and the total machine
can be reduced. It makes the construction very robust and this kind of machine is
especially intended for high speed applications. The stator winding carries sine wave
currents although there are examples in the literature of homopolar machines with
square wave currents (Goodier and Pollock, 2002). The windings, as in the case of the
previously mentioned PM machine, can be realized as a concentrated or lap winding.

COMPEL: The International Journal

for Computation and Mathematics in
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Vol. 31 No. 5, 2012
pp. 1513-1520
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0332-1649
DOI 10.1108/03321641211248264

COMPEL
31,5

Stator Yoke
Armature
Winding

1514

Flux Path
Rotor Poles
Rotor Shaft
Excitation
Winding

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Figure 1.
Principle of operation of
a homopolar machine

Figure 2.
Flux distribution in a
homopolar machine

When using a concentrated winding, the winding can be produced in two different
ways. It can go along the whole machine whereas the stator poles have to be
mechanically 908 rotated against each other; another possibility is to divide the
armature windings axially into two parts, rotate them 908 electrically and keep the rotor
poles non-rotated against each other. The second solution would require more copper,
increase the reliability but its cost and weight as well. The homopolar machine is rarely
discussed in the literature although it combines many advantages of reluctance and
PM machines. It has neither an excitation winding nor magnets rotating with the rotor,
and compared to a reluctance drive, it has additional excitation. Due to this fact, not
only reluctant torque, but also much higher electromagnetic torque can be produced

and additionally, the excitation can be freely adjusted. Due to the absence of magnets,
there is no risk of demagnetization of magnets.

1515

Axial forces investigation

The existing FEM model of the machine described in Gerling and Pyc (2008) has been
again deeply investigated. A simulation, with a special focus on the axial forces has
been performed. Already the first simulation showed high peak values of forces acting
in the axial direction (Figure 3).
The maximum value of 183 N means a peak to peak value of above 360 N and it was
far beyond the maximum allowed axial force tolerance of the bearing.
The aim of the further work was to reduce the axial force and at the same time, to
keep all significant parameters like torque and torque ripple at least on the same level.
In order to find the source of the axial force, the air-gap region of the machine has
been analyzed. A thin air cylinder has been placed in the air-gap and the z-direction
forces have been displayed on the surface of the cylinder. It has been found out that the
peak values of the axial forces are concentrated in the air-gap regions where the rotor
teeth end (Figures 4 and 5).
In order to understand the background of this phenomenon, the principle of
operation of a homopolar machine should be considered. In an ideal case, the flux
produced by the excitation flows axially in the shaft, distributes in the rotor poles and
crosses the air-gap perpendicular to the shaft. This case is shown in Figure 6 by means
of a black dotted line. In the prototype machine, the flux chooses the shortest path and
therefore, the flux crosses the air-gap at an angle different from 908. This produces an
200
150
100
Force [N]

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Current stage of the project

The calculated model was fulfilling project requirements and it has been decided, to
build a real machine based on the existing computer model. The first impression was a
relatively loud operation and vibrations of the machine, increasing with the rotational
speed. After few hours of operation, an additional noise appeared. It has been stated
that the reason for the noise was a destroyed bearing (Stack et al., 2003). Further
investigations of the bearing proved that there are signs of axial forces acting on the
shaft of the machine (ISO, 1995). The next step of the research was to find the origin of
the source of the axial forces.

Axial force
reduction

50
0

10

15

20

25

30

Figure 3.
Axial forces acting on the
rotor of the homopolar
machine

50
100
Rotor position [mech deg]

COMPEL
31,5

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1516

Figure 4.
Axial forces distribution
in the air-gap of the
homopolar machine

Figure 5.
Direction of axial forces
acting on the rotor poles

additional axial force component. It is marked with a red dotted line in Figure 6. This
phenomenon is not typical for any other machine types and seems to be a problem
associated with the homopolar machine.
In the next step, a new model with changes in rotor teeth has been prepared.
All other machine parts remained unchanged. It has been done in order to prove that

Axial force
reduction

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1517

Figure 6.
Flux flow in the prototype
machine (red dotted line)
and preferred flux flow
(black dotted line)

the previously found phenomenon is really the reason for high axial forces. The idea
was to cut out a part of the stator teeth in their middle part. This should allow the flux
direction to be perpendicular to the axis. This solution is shown in Figures 7 and 8.
A simulation of the new machine model has been performed. The calculated model
has been analyzed analogously to the previous version. In the first step, an air cylinder
in the air-gap has been created and the z force component has been displayed on it.
A direct comparison between two resulting figures showed a significant reduction of
the peak values of the axial force. Comparing to the previous machine version (Figure 4)
the peak axial force value on the cylinder has been reduced to 1/3 of the initial value
(Figure 9).
It can be seen that compared to the previous machine version, the peak axial force
value on the cylinder has been reduced to 1/3 of the initial value.
As the previously mentioned cuts made in the stator teeth did not completely
eliminate the z-component of the force, new considerations regarding the next version of
the machine were made. The forces acting on the rotor were considered separately for
each of the rotor axial parts. This is shown in Figure 10 and this figure explains how the
total axial force is created. When the machine rotates, both rotor parts generate an axial
force of the same amplitude. It can be seen that if it was possible to introduce a 308 shift
between the curves, the force would amount to 0 for every rotor position. This would
only be possible if there was an additional 308 rotational shift between each rotor pole or
each stator part. However, that would unfortunately lead to a significant decrease in the
torque the machine produces.
Summary
As a result of the experiment, the source of the axial force in the homopolar machine
has been indicated and a new method of axial force reduction has been presented.
A detailed comparison shows that the applied changes lead to a significant axial force

COMPEL
31,5

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1518

Figure 7.
Cuts made in the stator
tooth of the homopolar
machine

Figure 8.
Homopolar machine with
cuts made in the stator
teeth

Axial force
reduction

Figure 9.
Axial forces distribution
in the air-gap of the
homopolar machine with
cuts made in the stator
teeth

100
Force on the left rotor part
Force on the right rotor part
50
Force [N]

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1519

0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50
100
Rotor position [deg mech]

reduction and allow the usage of cheaper and less prone to axial forces bearings.
Also the noise caused by the pulsating forces acting on the rotor and stator should
meaningly decrease.
References
Gerling, D. and Pyc, M. (2008), Optimisation of a homopolar machine, paper presented at 19th
International Symposium on Power Electronics, Electrical Drives, Automation and
Motion, Speedam, Ischia.
Goodier, E. and Pollock, C. (2002), Homopolar variable reluctance machine incorporating an
axial field coil, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 38 No. 6.

Figure 10.
Axial forces acting on the
left and right part of the
rotor of the homopolar
machine with cuts made in
the stator teeth

COMPEL
31,5

ISO (1995), Mechanical Vibration Evaluation of Machine Vibration by Measurements on

Non-rotating Parts Part 1: General Guidelines, ISO 10 816-1:1995(E), International
Organization for Standardization, Geneva.
Kummel, F. (1986), Elektrische Antriebstechnik, Teil 1. Maschinen, Springer, Berlin.
Stack, J.R., Habetler, T.G. and Harley, R.G. (2003), Effects of machine speed on the development
and detection of rolling element bearing faults, IEEE Power Electronics Letters, Vol. 1 No. 1.

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1520
About the authors
Professor Sawomir Wiak, DSc, PhD, MEng, MIEEE, MICS is Dean of Faculty of Electrical,
Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering, Technical University of Lodz, Poland. His
specializations are: computer science and electrical engineering (computer aided design,
computer modeling and simulation, data base and expert systems, mechatronics, engineering
knowledge). He has given invited lectures at: University of Southampton, UK, National Technical
University of Athens, Greece, University of West Bohemia Plzen, University of Prague, Czech
Academy of Sciences, University of dArtois, France, University of Maribor, University of Pavia,
Italy and University of Vigo, Spain. He is a member of: IEEE, ICS, ICS IEEE, Polish Society of
Applied Electromagnetics. He is also a member of: International Steering Committees: SMC,
COMPUMAG; Chairman of ISEF; and the Editorial Boards of CEFC, ICEM, EWOIPE, ACEMP,
ELECTROMOTION, ICEMS (China), ICREPQ (Spanish, Portuguese), ICEFHE, IJEET, ICAISC.
Dr Dieter Gerling obtained his diploma and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the
Technical University of Aachen, Germany in 1986 and 1992, respectively. From 1986 to 1999 he
was with Philips Research Laboratories in Aachen, Germany as a Research Scientist and later as
Senior Scientist. In 1999 he joined Robert Bosch GmbH in Buhl, Germany as Director. Since 2001
he has been Full Professor and Head of the Institute of Electrical Drives at the Universitaet der
Bundeswehr Muenchen, Germany.
Marcin Pyc received his MSc in Computer Engineering from the Technical University of Lodz
in 2003 and PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Federal Armed
Forces Munich, Germany in 2009. He is presently an Assistant Professor at the Technical
University of Lodz, Poland. His research interests concern computer aided design, computer
modeling and simulation and especially electrical machines. The main topic of his research is
homopolar machine. Marcin Pyc is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: Marcin.
Pyc@p.lodz.pl

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