Homopolar Generators: an Overview

Claudio Bianchini1 , Fabio Immovilli 1 , Alberto Bellini 1 , Emilio Lorenzani 1 , Carlo Concari 2 , Marco Scolari 3
1 DISMI - University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy
2 DII - University of Parma, Italy
3 BUCHER HYDRAULICS S.p.A., Italy

Abstract— Homopolar generators are a particular class of II. D ISC H OMOPOLAR M ACHINES
electrical machines capable of generating DC current without
the use of mechanical commutators or electronic rectifiers. Homopolar machines can be classified into two main cate-
This paper presents an overview of the typical configurations gories based on their constructive topology: Disc Homopolar
of homopolar DC machines. The paper focuses on generating
operation, trying to assess the optimal configuration for a high
Machines (a), Cylinder (Drum) Homopolar Machines (b).
efficiency generator. Among the possible solutions, a specific Disc Homopolar Machines are the most straightforward and
configuration which uses permanent magnets for the excitation are composed of a conductive disk rotating in a magnetic field
field was chosen and built to perform a set of experiments. oriented along its axis, Fig. 1. Two sliding contacts at the shaft
and at the rim of the disk constitute the electrical terminals
of the machine. The homopolar machine is reversible and
I. I NTRODUCTION
can operate as a motor if current is supplied to its terminals,
although the use as a generator is more common. The machine
The basic idea behind homopolar generators derives from used as a generator is characterized by a low voltage, high
the first experiments on the rotation of a copper disk in a current output. Homopolar machines exhibit very low internal
magnetic field, carried out in the 1820s by Michael Faraday.
In these experiments Faraday discovered that a voltage was
induced between the center and the periphery of a conductive
disk rotating in a magnetic field produced by a permanent
magnet [1]. Some typical applications of homopolar generators
are: railguns [2], spot welding and pulse-powered materials
consolidation system [3], naval propulsion [4]. The paper is
organized as follows: in section II the different topologies and
the working principles of homopolar generators are presented.
In section III the different solutions for the excitation field are
described and compared. Section IV is focused on designs to
increase the output voltage. Section V presents other design
challenges. Section VI presents simulation and test made on
a prototype machine, followed by conclusions.

Fig. 1. Operating Principle. Fig. 2. From disc to cylindrical configuration.

978-1-4577-0541-0/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE 1523

resistance and can have very high efficiency in high current
applications. The voltage (emf) generated by a disk homopolar
generator is given by the relationship:
 r2
emf = B(r)ωrd r (1)
r1
where r1 is the shaft radius, r2 the disc radius, B the
magnetic flux density and ω the angular velocity. The e.m.f.
generated by the machine is limited by the rotating speed ω
and by the flux density B (typical values are about 1 T for
standard PM machines and 3-4 T for machines employing
superconducting materials). The rotating disk can be used as
a flywheel to store mechanical energy (generators up to several
hundreds of MJ have been built [5], [6]) which can then be
released in short bursts when needed. The rotating speed is
limited by the maximum yield stress in the rotor material due
to the centrifugal force proportional to ω 2 and r2 .
III. C YLINDER (D RUM ) H OMOPOLAR M ACHINES
A possible solution to overcome these limitations is to
change the configuration of the rotor from a disc to a cylinder
Fig.2 as proposed by many authors (eg. [7]). Figure 2(a) shows
the original disc machine: if the disc thickness is increased, a
voltage is achieved also along the external cylindrical surface
as it is shown in Fig.2(b). Since the voltage is collected at
the external surface, the cylinder can be hollow as shown in
Fig.2(c).
In order to reduce the peripheral velocity, the external
diameter can be reduced and the length increased, Fig. 2(d).
In this way it is possible to achieve higher rotating speeds and
an improved mechanical design of the brushes. In a cylindrical
homopolar machine current flows along the length of the
cylinder (L), as opposed to the radial flow in disk homopolar
machines, while the active component of the magnetic flux is
radial (Br). The output voltage is therefore:
 L
emf = v · Br (l)d l (2)
0 be employed to compensate for armature reaction, especially
where L is the distance between the sliding contacts and v
is the peripheral speed of the conductive cylinder. It is worth
noticing that in this case the flux density is still limited by the
magnetic material used in the design of the machine, but it is
possible to increase the voltage to a certain degree increasing
the length of the machine without affecting the peripheral
rotating speed.
IV. E XCITATION FIELD
It is worth noticing that it is possible to build a homopolar
machine with two different positions of the source for the pri-
mary magnetic field. In the first solution the magnetic source
is housed in the stator (this solution is very common especially
when superconductors are employed and a cryogenic system is
required). In the second solution the magnetic source is housed
on the rotor. The latter case (one-piece homopolar generator) is
useful when permanent magnets are employed, in this case the
stator is used just for holding the sliding contacts. In both cases
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Fig. 3. Tesla solution for self-excitation.
the emf is given by the same relationships presented in section
II and III, but its correct derivation in the case of permanent
magnets rotating rigidly with the rotor follows from Lorentz’s
law of electromagnetic force instead of Faraday’s law.
The stator can be used as well to form a closed magnetic
loop with the rotor. As said before, this topology is the simplest
one in the case of using permanent magnets to produce the
magnetic field. In case of cylindrical configuration, the magnet
can be housed inside the rotor core using axial magnetization.
An appropriate choice of the permanent magnet length is
required to ensure the maximum flux density on the active
surface of the machine, an additional internal iron core can
be also adopted to achieve a better flux line distribution and
decrease the magnetic reluctance of the flux line path.
When a coil is used to produce the magnetic field, the
homopolar machine can be self-excited, and the huge amount
of current that is normally provided by the generator itself
allows to achieve good flux density values [8].
Some prototypes were built with superconducting materials
in order to achieve even higher flux density (up to 5 T) [9],
[10] in order to increase the power output of the machine.
The high currents involved, up to several MA, can cause
armature reaction which, in turn, can affect the output voltage,
because the magnetic field produced by these currents can
be of the same magnitude of the inducing field [11]. To
assure minimum field distortion, a shielding conductor can
in drum rotor machines.
Armature reaction can also be exploited advantageously.
The particular topology of the homopolar machine allows to
use the reaction field to increase the flux using a suitable disk
partition as proposed by Tesla in Fig. 3, and allows also to
build a self-excited machine [1].
Other solutions have been proposed for self-exciting ho-
mopolar generators. An example of an iron core homopolar
self-excited machine can be found in [8] where a 2 MJ
machine was built and tested.
For self-excited machines, the excitation winding must
provide a uniform field inside the machine, to avoid voltage
distribution inhomogeneities and thus eddy currents along the
disk/drum regions at different electric potential.
V. S OLUTIONS FOR I NCREASING THE O UTPUT VOLTAGE
Since the low output voltage is the biggest limit of ho-
mopolar generators, many design solutions were developed
 Fig. 4. Noeggerat solution for increased voltage.
Fig. 5. Headifen series rotor configuration.
throughout the years in order to increase voltage. A possible
solution on a cylindrical topology is to realize the rotor with
a multi-layer configuration as proposed by [5] and [12] (Figs.
4, 5). The drawback of this solution is the necessity to reduce
the active part of the conductor to leave some room for the
sliding contacts.
Liquid metal contacts can be used but they increase the
complexity of the design, so in this case it is probably
preferable to use brushes. A similar solution is presented for
the disk configuration in [9] as shown in Fig. 6.
An interesting solution for the integrated generation and
storage of energy was recently patented by Richard Clark
[13]. This original machine Fig. 7 combines a cylindrical
homopolar generator with capacitors or supercapacitors. When
the dielectric plates rotate due to an external prime mover, the
capacitors accumulate electrical charge. No equation is given
by the author to determine the output voltage, therefore it is not
Fig. 6. Price series discs configuration.
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Fig. 7. Clark dielectric rotating machine.
possible to make a precise comparison between this possible
topology and the others. Nevertheless some considerations
can be made: first of all, the machine seems to work on an
electrostatic principle. Because of the value of the dielectric
constant  the power density of this machine based on the
electrostatic principle seems to be lower compared to the more
common magnetic field based solutions.
VI. D ESIGN C ONSIDERATIONS AND C HALLENGES
Because of their extreme operating conditions (high speed,
high current), homopolar machines require careful design.
These machines present many critical details, specifically
field distortion by fringe effects caused by the large currents
involved and the need for sliding contacts capable of operation
at high speed (hundreds of m/s) and high current density
(hundreds of A/cm2 ) [14], [15].
In this section the different design challenges are separately
considered and solutions present in literature are reported.
A. High current sliding contacts
Requirements on sliding contacts are extremely demanding:
most of the machines in literature are pulsed power sources,
so limited contact life is acceptable. A classic application of
the homopolar generator is to feed railguns or electromagnetic
launchers, some examples of this are reported in [16] and
[6]. In this kind of application it is mandatory to control the
discharge current [5], [17].
The high current and the very high peripheral speed of
this kind of machine make the design of the sliding contacts
very challenging [14], [15], [18]. Brushes made of common
materials such as sintered graphite fail due to arcing/localized
melting at the interface. Best results were obtained using pure
copper finger brushes on chrome plated races. Some authors
propose the use of brushes made of copper fibres, but the best
solution seems to be the use of liquid metals [19], [20] which
nevertheless pose other problems such as the possibility of
progressive contamination of the liquid metal, which demands
complicated and costly vital support systems and careful alloys
selection [21].

Fig. 8. Cross section of the one piece prototype machine.
Fig. 9. Disc homopolar machine test bed.
Due to the enormous heat generated at the contact interface,
the only viable cooling method is transpiration cooling. Use
of liquid metal current collector is viable and attractive, but
environmental hazard (in case of mercury) and the costs of
exotic alloys such as Galinstan (due to indium supply shortage)
must be taken into account. Sodium potassium eutectic NAK-
78 is a low cost alternative, as documented in [19], but then
the collector must be insulated from air and moisture.
B. Mechanical and other considerations
Many mechanical considerations must be taken into account
when designing homopolar generators, depending on the re-
quired specifications. For high pulsed power generators, the
rotor can be built as a flywheel with a composite structure to
maximize the stored energy density [5].
Room must be arranged for auxiliaries such as sliding
contact supports, protection devices, cooling or refrigerating
(in case of superconducting materials) apparatus, etc.
1526
Fig. 10. Flux density distribution along the copper disk.
Fig. 11. FEM Flux distribution in disc homopolar machine.
Rotor assembly can be designed for permanent mounting or
with the possibility of removing and disassembling [22].
VII. M ACHINE PROTOTYPE SIMULATION AND TESTS
A one-piece disk homopolar generator was built in order
to assess the feasibility of a high current DC generator for
spot welding applications, Figs 8, 9. Two toroidal ceramic
permanent magnet were employed as source of the primary
magnetic field, while the disk topology was chosen to ensure
a more homogeneous field distribution as it is shown in Fig
11. The magnetic circuit of the generator was simulated and
optimized using Jmag  R
software. Figure 10 shows absolute
value of the magnetic flux distribution of a 2D section of the
copper disk and the rotor shaft. Figure 13 shows the no load
voltage curve of the generator, from 0 to 6000 rpm.
The experimental results confirm the feasibility and the
working principle of a single piece generator. The poor quality
of the sliding contacts at high speed due to mechanical vibra-
tion and the high voltage drop (compared to the open circuit
voltage) suggests that liquid metal contacts are mandatory
to build an high efficiency machine. The load tests were
performed using two shunts (1.2mΩ and 4.2mΩ) to complete
the electric circuit. the measured current at different rpm is
reported in Fig.12.

Fig. 12. Current vs rpm for different loads.
Fig. 13. Flux density distribution along the copper disk and the rotor shaft.
The behavior of the load current line profile is probably due
the variation of the voltage drop across the sliding contact as
a function of current and speed [18].
VIII. C ONCLUSION
An overview of the homopolar machine design was given
starting from the first patents and experiments. Some consider-
ations and open issues are presented to explore the possibility
of using the homopolar machine as a high efficiency generator
due to its low internal resistance. A prototype machine was
built and tested in order to verify the feasibility of a one piece
low voltage homopolar machine for spot welding applications.
The no load voltage and the load current were reported.
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