Performance analysis of radial and axial flux fractional horsepower motors

This paper shows that axial flux motors are compact, torque dense, efficient replacements for radial flux fractional horsepower motors. A commercially available radial flux fractional horsepower motor is used as baseline for design of its axial flux counterpart. The torque density and losses of the radial and axial flux motors, with identical permanent magnet utilization factors, are compared with finite elements. An additional design is presented to demonstrate its ability to overcome the major challenge of axial flux designs without compromising performance.