A FLUX FOCUSING FERRITE MAGNETIC GEAR

K. Uppalapati*, J. Bird
Laboratory for Electromechanical Energy Conversion and Control
Electrical Engineering Department
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
9201 University City Boulevard
Charlotte, NC, 28223, United States
kuppalap@uncc.edu* , j.bird@uncc.edu

Keywords: flux focusing rotor, magnetic gear, ocean

generation, spoke type rotor, wind generation
Rotor 1: P1
magnet pole
pairs

Abstract
A magnetic gear offers many advantages over its mechanical
counterpart such as contact free torque production, no gear
lubrication and inherent overload protection. However,
current magnetic gear designs use large quantities of rareearth magnet material and unfortunately the high cost of rareearth material makes the magnetic gear uncompetitive with
alternative technology. This paper investigates a low-cost
magnetic gear using ferrite magnets.

1 Introduction
Wind and many rotary based ocean energy conversion
devices rely on a mechanical gear system to increase their
speed so as to match the requirements of the electromagnetic
generator. However, mechanical gear systems suffer from
reliability issues. For instance, wind turbine gearboxes are
failing to achieve their design life goal of 20 year [19]. As the
gearbox is one of the most expensive components in a wind
turbine system the high failure rate adds to the cost of wind
energy. The reliability requirements will be even more acute
for submersed ocean generation devices.
A magnetic gear (MG) enables a contactless mechanism for
speed amplification to be achieved. MGs do not require gear
lubrication, they have inherent overload protection and they
have the potential for high conversion efficiency. High torque
density MGs comparable to mechanical gears have been
reported in the literature [6]. A MG, as shown in Figure 1,
consists of p 1 pole-pair permanent magnets (PMs) on an inner
ring rotating at 1 , a p 3 pole-pair PM outer ring rotating at
3 and a middle ring with n 2 ferromagnetic steel poles that
can rotate at 2 . The inner and outer rings that contain PMs
interact with the middle steel poles to create space harmonics
[2, 17]. If the relationship between the steel poles is chosen to
be p 1 =|p 3  n 2 | then the rotors will interact via a common
space harmonic component [2], and the angular rotational
velocities for each ring is related by

:1

p3
n2
:3 
:2
p3  n2
n2  p3

(1)

Rotor 3: P3
magnet pole
pairs

Rotor 2: n2
steel poles

Figure 1: Magnetic gear using surface PMs. p 1 =4 polepairs, n 2 =17 steel poles and p 3 =13 pole-pairs on outer rotor.
Typically the central steel poles are fixed in place leading to a
speed ratio

:1

G13:3

(2)

p3
,
p1

(3)

where the gear ratio, G 13 , is

G13

for the example in Figure 1 the gear ratio is G 13 =-3.25.

The invention of magnetic geared devices has a long history
within the patent literature. For instance, Neuland filed a
patent in 1913 for an electromagnetic geared system similar
to that shown in Figure 1, the main difference being that only
one (fixed) member contained a magnetizing winding.
Martin appears to have been the first to propose the MG
system (as shown in Figure 1) in which two of the three rotary
cylinders have a plurality of PMs. Further variations on
Martins design were proposed by Laing [13] and Ackermann
et al. [1]. Despite a number of patents it appears that Atallah
et al. was the first to publish a paper analyzing this type of
MG topology [3]. Since this time a variety of other MG
topologies have been proposed. For instance, Rasmussen et
al. designed a 5.5:1 MG with a spoke-type inner rotor and
surface mounted outer rotor. Frank et al. investigated a
similar 5.5:1 topology but with buried magnets in a V
topology [5]. Li et al. has considered a surface mounted outer
rotor with spoke-type inner rotor MG with a 7.33:1 gear ratio
[22]. In addition Li studied a 7.33:1 topology with surface
mounted inner rotor with buried magnet outer rotor [16]. Jian
et al. investigated a 1:4.25 Halbach rotor topology [9, 11].

Currently, MG technology is being investigated for a variety

of applications such as traction [2], wind [10] and ocean
generation applications [20]. Invariably, rare-earth material,
such as a neodymium iron boron alloy (NdFeB), is used for
the magnet material. Unfortunately, it appears that it is
unlikely that renewable energy generation systems that rely
on large quantities of rare-earth material will be cost
competitive with more traditional generation technology for
the foreseeable future [18]. The purpose of this paper is
present predicted MG torque density capabilities when using
ferrite magnets.

Magnets

Steel teeth

Steel
poles
on cage
rotor

1 A Flux Focusing Magnetic Gear

The air-gap flux density in a ferrite magnet rotor can be
substantially increased by arranging the magnets in a flux
focusing arrangement also called a spoke-type [7-8, 12, 14]
and flux concentration [4, 21] arrangement. Ignoring fringing
the theoretical focusing capability of a rotor is related by [15]
Bgm

Bm

(4)

Figure 2: 2-D model of a flux focusing magnetic gear with a

p 1 =4 pole-pairs, n 2 =17 steel poles and p 3 =13 pole-pairs on
outer cylinder. 1:4.25 gear ratio.

where B gm , is the air-gap flux density, B m , is the flux density

in the magnet and P is the number of poles. In order to take
advantage of the flux focusing the rotor must have more than
4 poles. Figure 2 shows the cross-sectional view of the flux
focusing magnet gear topology (FFMG) being investigated. It
has p 1 =4 pole-pairs, n 2 =17 steel poles and p 3 =13 pole-pairs
on the outer cylinder. In this design the outer cylinder is
VWDWLRQDU\ 3 =0, therefore the gear ratio is

:1

n2
:2
p1

G12 : 2

(5)

where G 13 =4.25. This combination of poles was chosen

because it has a low cogging factor, C f =1, and because Gouda
indicated that a low gear ratio has a higher torque density [6].
The cogging factor is defined as [23]
Cf

2 p1 n2
LCM (2 p1 , n2 )

(6)

where LCM=lowest common multiple. The central rotating

steel pole assembly will be called a cage rotor, each of the
steel poles is held together using end plates. The outer
cylinder is being held fixed because this enables a simple
gearbox housing to be used and unlike surface PM MG
designs the cage rotor is simpler to rotate. The analysis of the
FFMG will be achieved by utilizing finite element analysis
(FEA), as shown in Figure 3.
The initial parameters used for the MG design are shown in
7DEOH7KHLQQHUURWRU 1 dimensions will not be changed
as these are based on the dimensions of an existing flux
focusing rotor. In order to minimize cost the magnets are
always assumed to be rectangular in cross section. The active
stack length is 6 inches (152.4mm).

Figure 3: Example showing the vector potential field of the

1:4.25 magnetic gear (created using FEA model)
Radial thickness of steel poles, L c
Width of steel poles, W c
Cage rotor
Steel poles, n 2
Air gap
Radial thickness of magnets, L l
Width of magnets, W l
Outer
Inner radius, R il
cylinder
Outer radius, R ol
Pole pairs, P 3
Outer radius of rotor, R oh
Inner radius of rotor, R ih
Inner rotor Magnet radial thickness, L h
Magnet width, W h
Pole pairs, P 1
Ferrite magnet, TDK FB3G, B r ,
Material
Ferrite magnet, r
properties
Steel resistivity, JFK 35JN300
Table 1 Initial magnetic gear parameters

12 mm
12 mm
17
1 mm
12 mm
7 mm
47 mm
59 mm
13
33 mm
13 mm
0.75 in
3/8 in
4
0.38 T
1.03
5.1x10-7P

60

Flux focusing arrangements are rich in harmonics, as the

outer cylinder has p 3 =13 pole-pairs only the 13th spatial
harmonic of the radial flux density will create useful torque.
Therefore, if the 13th harmonic can be made as large as
possible the torque density will be maximized. Using this
argument, a parameter analysis was undertaken in which the
outer magnet width, W l , and cage rotor steel pole width, W c
were both varied and the magnitude of the 13th spatial
harmonic was computed. An example of the frequency
analysis for the radial flux density on the outer cylinder is
shown in Figure 4. Due to the flux focusing the 13th harmonic
approaches 1T. Based on the analysis shown in Figure 5 it
was concluded that the 13th harmonic is maximized when
W l =7mm. This corresponds to the case when the magnet
width and steel width on the outer cylinder are equal;
however, since the magnets are rectangular this condition was
met only on the outer radius of the tooth. This maximum
condition was not observed to change with variations in cage
rotor pole width W c . Figure 6 confirms that the peak torque
occurs when W l =7mm and that the peak condition also does
not change with outer cylinder length, L l .

50

0.5

Outer cylinder length 16 mm

Outer cylinder length 12 mm
4

10

12

14

Width of outer cylinder magnets, W l [mm]

Torque [Nm]

Figure 6: Torque comparison for changes in the width of the

outer cylinder magnets, W l , and for two different outer
cylinder length, L l
80
75
70
65
60
55
50

37
36
35
34
33

0
-0.5
-1
-1.5
0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Angular Position [Degrees]

Absolute magnitude [T]

30

10
2

1
0.8

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

Outer cylinder magnet thickness, L l

0.6

Figure 7: Torque, torque density and torque ripple comparison

for varying outer cylinder magnet thickness, L l ,

0.4
0.2

1.2 Outer Cylinder Length, L l

0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Spatial Frequency [Hz]

Figure 4: Radial flux density, B r , in the outer rotor airgap

adjacent to outer cylinder and corresponding spatial
frequency analysis, for W l =7 mm and L l =12 mm

13th harmonic of
radial flux density [T]

Torque ripple [Nm]

Radial magnetic
flux density [T]

40

20

Torque density
[kNm/m3]

1.5

Torque [Nm]

1.1 Outer Cylinder Magnet Width, W l

Based on the above analysis the outer cylinder magnet width

was held constant at W l =7mm. The torque, torque density and
torque ripple were calculated for a range of outer cylinder
radial length values, L l. . The results are shown in Figure 7.
From this analysis a radial thickness L l =15mm was chosen.
1.3 Steel Rotor Cage Length, L c

1.5

0.5

0
15
10

Width of outer
rotor magnets,
Wl [mm]

10

15

20

Width of steel
poles, Wc [mm]

Figure 5: The 13th harmonic component of the radial flux

density in the air gap adjacent to the outer rotor for varying
width of the outer rotor magnet, W l and steel poles W c

With W l =7mm and L l. =15mm held constant the cage rotor

steel pole length, L c was varied. The torque, torque density
and torque ripple as a function of L c is shown in Figure 8.
The change in this length consequently also changed the outer
cylinder radial dimensions, this resulted in the torque density
decreasing for higher values of L c . Based on this analysis the
steel pole radial length was chosen to be L c =6mm.
1.4 Cage Rotor Steel Pole Width, W c
With W l =7mm, L l. =15mm and L c =6mm fixed. The cage rotor
width was now varied. Figure 9 shows the resultant torque,
torque density and torque ripple. A cage rotor width

Torque [Nm]

41
39
37
35
33
31
29
27

Torque ripple [Nm]

68
66
64
62
60
58
56
54
52

Torque density
[Nm/m3]

W c =14mm was chosen. A 14mm width creates a very low

torque ripple.

1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24 25

Radial thickness of cage rotor steel poles, L c [mm]

Torque ripple [Nm]

Torque density
[Nm/m3]

Torque [Nm]

Figure 8: Torque, torque density and torque ripple comparison

when the cage rotor steel thickness L c is varied.
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10

characterisation of this rotor field is shown in Figure 14. In

order to accurately curve fit the results a 1 inch shaft and a
B r =0.31T was used. The 1inch shaft of this rotor causes the
external field to be significantly reduced due to the field
leakage through the shaft. When these inner rotor changes are
incorporated the predicted torque significantly decreases, as
shown in Figure 16.
Radial thickness of steel poles, L c
Width of steel poles, W c
Cage rotor
Steel poles, n 2
Air gap between each side of rotor
Radial thickness of magnets, L l
Width of magnets, W l
Outer
Inner radius , R il
cylinder
Outer radius, R ol
Pole pairs, P 3
Outer radius of rotor, R oh
Inner radius of rotor, R ih
Inner rotor Magnet radial thickness, L h
Magnet width, W h
Pole pairs, P 1
Material
Ferrite magnet, TDK FB3G, B r
Properties Steel resistivity, JFK 35JN300

6 mm
14 mm
17
1 mm
15 mm
7mm
40 mm
55 mm
13
33 mm
13 mm
0.75in
3/8in
4
0.38 T
5.1x10-7P

Table 2: Final design magnetic gear parameters

(b)

(a)

50
40
30
20
10

0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
6

(c)

(d)

8
9
10 11 18 13 14 15 16
Width of cage rotor steel poles, W c (mm)

17

18

Figure 9: Torque, torque density and torque ripple comparison

when the cage rotor steel thickness L c is varied.

2 Final Design
A summary of the final design parameters is shown in Table 2
and Figure 11 shows the geometry of the MG. Figure 10
shows the distribution of the magnetic field values throughout
the MG. It can be noted that the outer cylinder teeth are
highly saturated. The predicted cage rotor and inner rotor
torque as a function of angle is shown in Figure 12. The inner
rotor geometry was not changed because the initial testing of
the magnetic gear will utilize an existing Pacific Scientific
F46 flux focusing rotor (shown in Figure 13). The

B r values

|B| values

Figure 10: Mosaic plot, a) magnetic vector potential field

lines, b) radial flux density B r , c) flux density magnitude |B|,
d) finite element analysis mesh plot

An experimental setup, as shown in Figure 15, is being built

to validate the torque density predictions.
Outer cylinder
magnet, B r
0.38
0.43
0.43
0.43
0.43
0.43
0.43

24

Cage rotor (low speed)

22
20

71
69
67
65

18
16

Inner rotor (high speed)

63
61
59
57

14
12
20

25

30

35

40

10
45 48

Angular position [degree]

Figure 12: Predicted torque on inner and cage rotor. The

cage rotor torque ripple is 0.45Nm (< 1% of rated torque).
Inner rotor torque ripple is 0.42Nm (2.4% rated torque)

80 mm
79 mm

15

Low Speed
Outer flux focusing
Mounting Block
iron segment x 26
Cage
Cage rotor
Spacer ring for
rotor
iron segment x 17
low speed
end plate
flange bearing

66 mm

10

High Speed
Mounting Block

110 mm

Table 3: Torque, torque density values for different magnetic

properties and shaft diameters

5/8"

55
0

Torque
Shaft
Torque Density
Diameter [Nm] [kNm/m3]
1in
58.5 40.5
1in
49
33.5
24mm 54.6 38
22mm 57.5 39.8
20mm 59
40.5
1in
75.6 52
No shaft 92.5 64

Flux
Focusing
Rotor

5/
16"

Bearing
(5972k314)

79
77
75
73

Torque on inner rotor [Nm]

Cage rotor torque [Nm]

Figure 11: Final flux-focusing magnetic gear design

Inner rotor
magnet, B r [T]
0.38
0.31
0.31
0.31
0.31
0.43
0.43

Low
speed
shaft

Figure 15: Cross section of experimental assembly, outer

cylinder and cage cylinder are attached using end plates with
mortise and tenon joints.

0.15

------ Experimental value

0.1

18

51
49

Cage rotor (low speed)

47
45

16
14

43
12

41

Inner rotor (high speed)

39

10

37
35

0.05

20

53

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Torque on inner rotor [Nm]

Radial magnetic flux density[T]

Figure 13: Pacific Scientific 4 pole-pair flux focusing rotor

___ FEA model

Torque d on cage rotor [Nm]

55

8
45 48

Angular position [degrees]

0

Figure 16: Predicted torque density on inner rotor and cage

rotor when using Pacific Scientific rotor

-0.05

3 Conclusions

-0.1
0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Angular position [degrees]

Figure 14: Experimental and FEA radial magnetic flux

density comparison 0.5mm from the surface of the rotor
when the rotor is in air (shaft=1inch, B r =0.31T).
Table 3 provides an analysis of the changes in predicted
torque and torque density for different shaft diameters and
magnetic properties when using the geometric parameters
given in Table 2. In particular, it can be noted that when using
ferrite magnet with B r =0.43 the predicted torque density is
relatively high.

A low torque ripple flux-focusing magnetic gear using ferrite

magnets was analyzed using finite element analysis.
Although the analysis is not optimal, it is shown that the flux
focusing enables a high flux density torque producing field
component to be created. This results in a relatively high
torque density. The experimental validation of these results is
presently being undertaken.

Acknowledgements
The authors would gratefully like to thank the JMAG
Corporation for the use of their FEA software. In addition,

the authors would like to thank Allan Chertok of Resolute

Marine Energy for his many valuable suggestions. This
material is based upon work supported by a grant provided by
the University of North Carolina Coastal Studies Institute.

References

[12]

D. Jones, "A new buried magnet brushless PM motor

for a traction application," in Elect. Ins. Conf.Elect.
Man. and Coil Wind. Tech., Indianapolis, USA
(2003), pp. 421-429.

[13]

N. Laing, "Magnetic transmission," U.S. Patent

3,645,650, Feb., 1972.

[1]

B. Ackermann and L. Honds, "Magnetic drive

aprrangement comprising a plurality of magnetically
cooperating parts which are movable relative to one
another," U.S. Patent 5,633,555, Feb., 1995.

[14]

D. Lin, P. Zhou, and Z. J. Cendes, "Analytical

prdiction of cogging torque in spoke type permanent
magnet motors," in Int. Conf. Elec. Mach., Algarve,
Portugal (2008).

[2]

K. Atallah and D. Howe, "A novel high performance

magnetic gear," IEEE Trans. on Mag., 37, pp. 28442846, (2001).

[15]

T. A. Lipo, Introduction to AC Machine Design:

Wisconsin Power Electronics Research Center,
University of Wisconsin, (2004).

[3]

K. Atallah and D. Howe, "A novel high-performance

magnetic gear," IEEE Trans. Magn., 37, pp. 28442846, (2001).

[16]

[4]

I. C. Chabu, V. C. Silva, S. I. Nabeta, M. A. M.

Afonso, and J. R. Cardoso, "Axial flux concentration
technique applied to the design of permanent magnet
motors: theoretical aspects and their numerical and
experimental validation," in Int. Conf. Elet. Mach.
Drives, San Antonio, TX, May 15, (2005), pp. 19881994.

X. Liu, K. T. Chau, J. Z. Jiang, and C. Yu, "Design

and analysis of interior-magnet outer-rotor
concentric magnetic gears," Jour. Appl. Physics,
105, pp. 07F101-07F103, (2009).

[17]

T. B. Martin, "Magnetic transmission," U.S. Patent

3,378,710, April 1968.

[18]

D. May and J. A. Isaacs, "Economic comparison of

NdFeB and hard ferrites in automotive applications,"
Mat. Manuf. Proc. , 19, pp. 777-787, (2004).

[19]

W. Musial, S. Butterfield, and B. McNiff,

"Improving Wind Turbine Gearbox Reliability,"
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NREL/CP500-41548May 2007.

[20]

L. Shah, A. Cruden, and B. W. Williams, "A

variable speed magnetic gear box using contrarotating input shafts," IEEE Trans. Mag., 47, pp.
431-438, (2011).

[21]

P. Viarouge, "Design and construction of a brushless

permanent magnet servomotor for direct-drive
applications," IEEE Trans on Ind. Appl., 23, pp. 526531, May/June (1987).

[22]

L. Xianglin, K. T. Chau, M. Cheng, W. Hua, and Y.

Du, "An improved coaxial magnetic gear using flux
focusing," presented at the Int. Conf. Elect. Mach.
Systems (ICEMS), Beijing, China, Aug., 2011.

[23]

Z. Q. Zhu and D. Howe, "Influence of design

parameters on cogging torque in permanent magnet
machines," IEEE Trans. Energy Conv., 15, pp. 407412, Dec. (2000).

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

N. W. Frank and H. A. Toliyat, "Analysis of the

concentric
planetary
magnetic
gear
with
strengthened stator and interior permanenet magneti
inner rotor," IEEE Trans on Ind. Appl., 47, pp. 16521660, (2011).
E. Gouda, S. Mezani, L. Baghli, and A. Rezzoug,
"Comparative study between mechanical and
magnetic planetary gears," IEEE Trans. Magn., 47,
pp. 439-450, (2011).
K. Y. Hwang, J. H. Jo, and B. I. Kwon, "A study on
optimal pole design of spoke-type IPMSM with
concentrated winding for reducing the torque ripple
by experiment design method," IEEE Trans. Magn.,
45, pp. 4712-4715, Oct. (2009).
D. M. Ionel, R. J. Heideman, and R. P. Bartos,
"Spoke permanent magnet rotors for electrical
machines and methods of manufacturing same," U.S.
Patent 7,148,598, 2006.

[9]

L. Jian, K. T. Chau, Y. Gong, J. Z. Jiang, C. Yu, et

al., "Comparison of coaxial magnetic gears with
different topologies," IEEE Trans. Magn., 45, pp.
4526-4529, (2009).

[10]

L. Jian, K. T. Chau, and J. Z. Jiang, "A magneticgeared outer-rotor permanent-magnet brushless

machine for wind power generation," IEEE Trans.
on Ind. Appl., 45, pp. 954-962, (2009).

[11]

L. Jian and K. T. Chau, "A coaxial magnetic gear

with halbach permanent-magnet arrays," IEEE
Trans. on Energy Conv., 25, pp. 319-328, (2010).