Axial flux motor

A miniature DC brushless axial motor used in a Digital Data Storage drive, showing the integration with PCB construction techniques. The rotor shown to the right is magnetized axially with alternating polarity.

An axial flux motor (axial gap motor, or pancake motor) is a geometry of electric motor construction where the gap between the rotor and stator, and therefore the direction of magnetic flux between the two, is aligned parallel with the axis of rotation, rather than radially as with the concentric cylindrical geometry of the more common radial flux motor.[1][2] With axial flux geometry torque increases with the cube of the rotor diameter, whereas in a radial flux the increase is only quadratic. Axial flux motors have a larger magnetic surface and overall surface area (for cooling) than radial flux motors for a given volume.[3]

  1. ^ Parviainen, Asko (April 2005). "Design of axial-flux permanent-magnet low-speed machines and performance comparison between radial-flux and axial-flux machines" (PDF). MIT.
  2. ^ EP2773023A1, Woolmer, Timothy; King, Charles & East, Mark et al., "Axial flux motor", issued 2014-09-03 
  3. ^ "Axial Flux technology". AXYAL Propulsion. Retrieved 2024-04-03.