Characteristics of Interior Permanent Magnet Magnetic Gear made of Amorphous Alloy

Abstract

  Magnetic gears can transmit torque without any mechanical contacts. Hence, vibration and acoustic noise caused thereby are very low, and maintainability is high. Various types of magnetic gears have been proposed. Among them, a flux-modulated type magnetic gear has higher torque density in comparison with conventional magnetic gears. In a previous paper, an interior permanent magnet (IPM) flux-modulated type magnetic gear was proposed in order to reduce eddy current loss in the magnets. However, reduction of iron loss is also important to further improve the efficiency. This paper discusses characteristics of the IPM magnetic gear made of amorphous alloy by using finite element method (FEM). In addition, the prototyped gear is tested. The results reveal that amorphous alloy contributes to improve both efficiency and torque.