IET Electrical Systems in Transportation

Research Article

Investigation and design of an axial flux ISSN 2042-9738

Received on 28th March 2017
Revised 20th June 2017
permanent magnet machine for a commercial Accepted on 18th July 2017
E-First on 27th September 2017
midsize aircraft electric taxiing system doi: 10.1049/iet-est.2017.0039
www.ietdl.org

Fabian Kelch1, Yinye Yang2 , Berker Bilgin2, Ali Emadi2

1Hofer-pdc GmbH, Ulmer Strasse 231, 70327 Stuttgart, Germany
2McMaster Institute for Automotive Research and Technology (MacAUTO), McMaster University, 200 Longwood Road South, Unit 207,
Hamilton, ON, L8P 0A6, Canada
E-mail: yangy9@mcmaster.ca

Abstract: In this study, an electric taxiing drive system for a commercial midsize aircraft is proposed. Four electric motors are
integrated in the main landing gears to enable electric drive of the aircraft during the taxiing process. To achieve the same
performance, a system level analysis is conducted to investigate the drive cycle requirements. Based on the recorded aircraft
taxiing data, a variety of taxiing drive cycles are used as inputs to size the powertrain components. An axial flux permanent
magnet (AFPM) machine is then proposed in order to meet the compact space and high torque output requirement. Both
analytical calculations and three-dimensional finite element model are applied to design and improve the machine performance.
A wide range of simulations has been conducted and the results confirmed that the proposed AFPM machine fulfils the given
requirements for an electric taxiing drive system.

1 Introduction or fuel cells, or the aircraft's Auxiliary Power Unit. Compared to

Electrification is the major emerging trend in the present
transportation sector [1, 2]. It happens not only in the automotive
industry, but also spreads widely into other industries. Among
them, aviation industry is another targeted field that is under rapid
transition into electrification stage. Conventional airplane
transportation consumes about 2–3% of the worldwide total fossil
fuels, which corresponds to 13% of the total fossil fuel usage in
transportation [3]. Especially with the surging demand from
developing countries, the fuel consumption rate is expected to
increase faster than ever. In addition, dramatic climate change and
environmental concerns also push the governments to enforce more
stringent emission regulations [4]. Therefore, increasing airplane
efficiency, decreasing fuel consumptions, and reducing emissions
have become more critical and demanding in modern aerospace
industry.
Within the past years, tremendous progress has been made in
the aircraft industry in the efforts of powertrain electrification.
Aiming an improvement of the operational performance and fuel
consumption reduction, new technologies and alternative power
concepts have been investigated and developed, ranging from more
electric aircrafts [3, 5] to fully electric aircrafts [6]. Electric
machines, drives, and power electronics are brought into aircraft
powertrains to replace conventional power sources and components
[7, 8]. Goals such as reduced fuel consumption and noise pollution,
as well as decreasing the overall costs including production,
operation and maintenance costs are pursued while aiming high
reliability, high availability and high power density. For this
purpose, Tao et al. [9] reviewed various patents and articles of
power wheels for recent aircraft development. Raminosoa et al.
[10] presented the feasibility of direct drive wheel actuator for
green taxiing. The advantages of electric taxiing such as improved
manoeuvrability during taxiing have been described in detail in
[11].
Beside the powertrain electrification for in-flight operation,
electrification for on-ground movement, also called taxiing, is
being considered. One concept to improve the on-ground
movement is the electric taxiing, where the taxiing process is
performed by an electric propulsion system integrated into the
undercarriage of the aircraft [12, 13]. The electric motors can be
powered by an additional energy storage system, such as batteries
conventional taxiing, where the aircraft is propelled by the jet
engines, environmental pollution can be reduced. Besides, electric
taxiing yields reduced operation time and costs since the use of
additional tugs realising the pushback phase can be eliminated [11].
Electric on-board propulsion systems can be integrated in either
the main landing wheels or the front wheels. Various concepts have
been developed. WheelTug presented an electric taxiing system
that is integrated in the front gear [13]. Delos Aerospace invented a
fully electric in-wheel electric motor system for on-ground
movements, in which the conventional friction disc brake was
replaced by axial flux disc motors [14]. An electric green taxiing
system (EGTS) for aircrafts was collaboratively developed by
Honeywell Aerospace and Safran. By using the EGTS, the
pushback time can be reduced by 60%. The system also offered
carbon emission reductions of up to 75% and up to 50% reduction
in NOx emissions during ground operations [15].
In this paper, an electric taxiing system is developed, which
contains four electric machines integrated into the main landing
gears of a commercial midsize aircraft. Section 2 investigates the
system requirements in order to achieve a similar driving
performance compared to conventional taxiing. Self-recorded drive
cycle data including taxi-in and taxi-out is used for sizing and
analysing the proposed electric taxiing drive system. A simulation
model has also been developed to verify the system power rating
and output performance. Section 3 presents the detailed design
process of the drive motor. An axial flux permanent magnet
(AFPM) machine with segmented stator is selected to meet the
high torque and compact space requirements. Both analytical
design equations and three-dimensional (3D) finite element
simulations are applied to guide and improve the machine towards
the design target. Based on the finalised geometry, a wide range of
simulation results is presented in Section 4, verifying that the
designed AFPM machine satisfies the high torque, high power, and
high efficiency performance requirements while meeting the space
limit. Section 5 concludes the findings and contribution of this
paper. This paper provides a comprehensive design and analysis
solution of an AFPM machine that meets high power and high
torque requirement within a limited space. The design process
measures several actual airplane taxiing drive cycles, which can be
good reference for future work in this field. This data also provides
good correlation between the designed motor characteristic and the

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Table 1 Available drive cycles [16]
Airports for taxi-out drive cycles
Hamilton (YHM), Canada
Frankfurt Main (FRA), Germany
Berlin Tegel (TXL), Germany (two different drive cycles)
London Heathrow (LHR), UK (two different drive cycles)
Toronto Pearson (YYZ), Canada (two different drive cycles)
DFW, USA (two different cycles)
Fig. 1  Taxi-in and taxi-out drive cycles
(a) Hamilton (YHM) – taxi-out drive cycle, (b) Berlin Tegel (TXL) – taxi-out drive cycle, (c) Munich (MUC) – taxi-in drive cycle, (d) DFW – taxi-in drive cycle
typical drive cycle requirement. It should be noted that this paper
focuses on the system design of the electric taxiing system and the
electromagnetic design of the proposed AFPM machine. Other
aspects such as thermal management and mechanical integration
are not the focus.
2 Investigation of electric taxiing
requirements
2.1 Taxiing performance analysis
In order to set the comparison benchmark of taxiing performance,
real-time taxiing data is used to ensure a realistic system
evaluation. Various drive cycles representing both taxi-out (takeoff)
and taxi-in (landing) cycles have been recorded by using GPS
devices. A selection of these velocity-time profiles for 20 taxiing
procedures in total, 10 taxi-in and 10 taxi-out cycles in particular,
on different international airports are used as benchmark for the
investigation of system requirements. The evaluated drive cycles,
i.e. the respective airports, are listed in Table 1.
Fig. 1 displays two different taxi-out drive cycles recorded in
Hamilton and Berlin Tegel, respectively, 0 and two taxi-in drive
cycles in Munich and Dallas Fort Worth, respectively. In general,
taxi-out procedures are more demanding due to potential stops
when moving towards the runway, high and frequent accelerations
and longer operating times. Landing cycles are commonly shorter
because of an immediate movement back to the final parking
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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2017
Airports for landing drive cycles
Munich (MUC), Germany
Frankfurt Main (FRA), Germany (two different drive cycles)
Berlin-Tegel (TXL), Germany
London Heathrow (LHR), UK
Toronto Pearson (YYZ), Canada
DFW, USA (two different drive cycles)
Calgary (YYC), Canada
Vancouver (YVR), Canada
position at the gate, while the roll out process is often unaffected
by other interferences.
2.2 Electric taxiing system sizing
The recorded drive cycles are used to determine system parameters
that the sized system needs to meet during the taxiing process.
system Since electric taxiing systems are typically not beneficial for long
range flights due to the extra mass that adds up the total fuel
consumption over distance, a taxiing system for a short haul
midsize commercial aircraft, Airbus A321, is targeted. In order to
allow the highest power capabilities and provide the best possible
on-ground driving performance, an electric taxiing system
integrated into each one of the four main landing gears is selected.
Due to the high torque requirements, gear reduction is considered
as well. Based on the average drive cycle data and vehicle
dynamics, the electric taxi drive system specifications can be
obtained. The detailed calculation process to deriving these values
can be found in [16]. Table 2 summarises all the targeted design
parameters including the required motor specifications. It is
becoming clear that the requirements for the electric motors are
very challenging, particularly the high peak torque, considering the
limited space within the wheels of the landing gears. Thus, a power
dense, high torque electric motor based on the defined performance
specifications for the Airbus A321 electric taxiing system is
designed. In comparison, the characteristics of the final motor
design are shown in Table 3.
53
Table 2 Aircraft type, system specifications and requirements
aircraft type Airbus A321
total weight 90.2 t
(aircraft coefficient of drag) × (aircraft active frontal area) cD ⋅ Aref [11] 2.6 m2
tire rolling friction coefficient on dry asphalt [17] 0.009
tire radius 0.623 m
tire width 0.11m
peak power for average taxi drive cycles 496 kW
reduction gear ratio 12
drive unit number 4
maximum motor speed 2970 rpm
maximum motor torque 1250 Nm
rated speed 947 rpm

Table 3 AFPM motor characteristics In general, fractional-slot stator windings suffer from high rotor
Parameter Value losses due to space harmonic components of the magnetomotive
peak torque 1262.59 Nm force (MMF) [18]. In order to minimise this effect, the number of
slots should be selected to be close to the number of poles [19, 20]
peak power 126.93 kW
maximum speed 3000 rpm Ns = 2p ± 1 or Ns = 2p ± 2 (1)
rated speed 960 rpm
peak efficiency 97% where p denotes the number of pole pairs and Ns the number of
torque ripple (at rated speed) 5.32% stator segments. In this case, a topology with 12 stator segments
maximum phase peak voltage 311 V and 10 poles is chosen with a high winding factor kw1 = 0.933. The
maximum phase current 450 A (318 A rms) 2p = Ns ± 2 combination is preferred over 2p = Ns ± 1 structure
since it has smaller unbalanced MMF and hence less noise and
vibrations [21].
A Matlab Simulink model is created to verify the component The electromagnetic torque of an AFPM can be derived based
sizing and powertrain performance, shown in Fig. 2a. The drive on the integral of finite element forces acting on the stator force
cycles are imported as a simulation input defining the desired [16]
taxiing speed profile. The ‘pilot’ subsystem which is based on a
Dout /2
∫
PID controller compares the current velocity of the simulation
model and the given taxiing speed profile and generates Td = 2Bavgkw1m1NIr dr (2)
Din /2
acceleration or braking commands, respectively. The ‘Regenerative
braking control’ subsystem recuperates energy whenever the 3
braking power demand is within the limits of the electric motor T d = Bavg A2πRout kd − kd3 (3)
maximum power. The additional energy is absorbed by friction
braking. For simplicity, constant powertrain and drivetrain where Bavg is the average axial flux density, m1 is the number of
efficiencies are assumed in the analysis. phases, N is the number of turns, I is the phase current, r is the
Fig. 2b presents the simulation results between the actual distance from the centre of the machine, A is the current density,
aircraft taxiing speed and the commanded Dallas/Fort Worth Rout is the outer PM radius, and kd is the ratio between the inner
(DFW) drive cycle. Good agreement was achieved proving high PM radius and the outer PM radius.
model accuracy. Fig. 2c presents the motor torque speed operation As Rout is limited by the tire radius, the maximum torque can be
points based on the same drive cycle. It can be observed that the obtained by deriving (3) with respect to kd. Thus, the maximum
designed electrical drive system satisfies the taxiing torque speed torque can be achieved at the following condition:
requirement.
kd = 1/3 = 0.58 (4)
3 AFPM machine design and analysis
3.1 Analytical design of the AFPM machine By treating the iron as ideal material with infinite permeability, the
axial length of the permanent magnets (PMs) can be theoretically
Based on the dimension specification, a disc-type electric motor is calculated based on Ampere's law
targeted to be designed. For this application, an AFPM machine is
superior to its radial flux counterparts to achieve a compact size μr, pmlg
and a high torque-to-weight ratio. When the available axial length lpm = (5)
(Br, pm /Bavg) − 1
is shorter and the diameter is large, the disc shape AFPM machine
suits the space limit and enables higher electromagnetic torque and where lpm is the axial length of the magnets, lg is the axial length of
power density. Hence, an AFPM machine is selected for this the air gap, Br, pm denotes the remanence of the magnets, and μr, pm
electrical taxi drive unit application. In particular, a yokeless
is the relative permeability of the magnets.
single-stator double-rotor topology with segmented stator windings
Neglecting the leakage flux and induced flux, the magnetic flux
is selected. The double-rotor structure reduces unbalanced axial
in the rotor core can be calculated by
force as well as noise and vibration. The segmented stator allows a
high copper slot fill factor, simplifies the winding process, and
Dout − Din
shortens end turns, achieving high efficiency, torque and power ∅rc = Brc Ar = Brclrc (6)
density. Furthermore, no stator yoke is required for this topology, 2
which leads to a lighter machine weight and compact design.
Fractional-slot concentrated windings (fractional number of slots where Brc is the magnetic flux density in the rotor core, Ar is the
per pole per phase) are applied to achieve low cogging torque and cross-sectional area of the rotor core and lrc is the axial length of
torque ripple. the rotor core. As illustrated in Fig. 3, the air gap magnetic flux

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Fig. 2  Drive simulation model and results
(a) Electric taxiing Simulink model [11], (b) DFW – taxi-In, (c) Motor torque speed operation points
Fig. 3  Flux paths in the AFPM machine
splits into two halves through the rotor core, and hence (6) can be
further written as
∅f
lrc =
Brc(Dout − Din)
where ∅f is the air gap flux per pole. Substituting the pole area and
air gap flux density, the rotor core length can be derived:
Bavg π
lrc = D 1 + kd
Brc 8p out
The stator of the AFPM machine is represented by twelve stator
segments. Each stator segment contains one central bar and two
stator shoes. The windings are wound around the central bar,
whereas the stator shoes increase the available winding areas and
keep the winding in position.
Soft magnetic composite (SMC) is used for the stator segments
which allows ease of manufacturing and reduction of iron material
in the stator [22, 23]. SMC is advantageous particularly at medium
or high speed applications due to low losses due to lower eddy
currents at higher frequencies [24]. Another advantage over
laminated steel is that SMC allows an arbitrary flux distribution
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within the magnetic core (isotropic characteristic) [25]. This is very
important for the proposed design since the flux in the stator
segments is distributed in 3D directions.
The magnetic flux in the central bar of one stator segment can
be expressed by
∅s = Bs Asc (9)
where Bs denotes the magnetic flux density in the stator and Asc is
the cross-sectional area of the stator central bar. Since the magnetic
flux in the stator central bar should equal the magnetic flux in the
air gap, the following can be found
∅s ∅f Bmg π 2 2
Asc = = = (D − Din ) (10)
Bs Bs Bs 8p out
The stator axial length is the same as the winding axial length,
which are limited by the available machine space. The winding
height is also limited by the available slot area between two
neighbouring poles during manufacturing.
In addition, a high-voltage DC link of 540 V is used for this
application, which offers high efficiency for drive system and the
(7)
subsequent weight savings. In order to achieve a high torque
density a current density of 16 A/mm2 was adopted. The same DC-
link voltage and current density values have been found in similar
AFPM motor designs [26, 27].
Based on the analytical calculations, an AFPM machine has
been designed and presented in Fig. 4. Peak efficiency of 95% is
(8)
targeted at the medium speed range, where the motor is utilised the
most. The model has been improved after a number of tunings to
achieve high torque output and low losses, which is verified in the
finite element analysis section. Due to the space limits, the
optimisation process is not presented in this paper. A detailed
report can be found in [16]. Table 4 summarises the machine key
design parameters.
3.2 Finite element analysis (FEA)
3.2.1 Model and materials: To take the complex 3D effects of
the magnetic flux paths into account, the AFPM machine is
modelled in a 3D-FEA model using JMAG FEA software. Due to
geometric and electromagnetic symmetries, the simulation model
55
 reduced they are not negligible. Section 4 will further discuss the
losses and efficiency.

4.2 Back EMF

The no-load back EMF waveforms for the three-phase motor are
computed at rated speed, i.e. 960 rpm, and plotted in Fig. 6a. The
line-to-line voltages are drawn in solid lines while phase voltages
are drawn in dashed lines. Uph, Vph, and Wph represent the three-
phase voltages, and UV, VW, and WU represent the line-to-line
voltages, respectively. Fig. 6b plots the harmonic contents of the
UV phase voltage as an example. It can be observed that good
sinusoidal curves with low magnetic harmonics have been
achieved in the line-to-line back EMF voltages, hence indicating
Fig. 4  AFPM design configuration low machine losses and high efficiency.

Table 4 Geometric parameters of the AFPM machine 4.3 Magnetic flux distribution
Parameter Value Fig. 7a shows the magnetic flux distribution in the AFPM machine
outer active diameter 510 mm at the rated speed when the maximum current is applied. It is
inner active diameter 315 mm noticed that the maximum magnetic flux density is available in the
machine active length 100 mm stator segments, and in particular in the stator shoes. This is due to
number of pole pairs 5 the 3D flux travelling through the very small surface of the stator
shoes creating a high flux density. The flux density contours in the
number of stator segments 12
stator shoes are shown in Fig. 7b. The axial flux path in the stator
DC-link voltage 540 V and rotor is illustrated in Fig. 7c.
air gap length 1.5 mm
permanent magnet length 6 mm 4.4 Cogging torque and torque ripple
rotor core length 14.4 mm
stator shoe length 6.5 mm
Cogging torque can be computed when no excitation current is
applied in the stator windings. It is dependent on the interaction
stator central bar length 43.2 mm
between the rotor and the stator geometry. Cogging torque is
maximum current density 16 A/mm2 caused by the magnets’ tendency to align themselves to the
width of stator winding 13 mm minimum reluctance position. Fig. 8a shows a plot of the cogging
number of turns in stator windings 17 torque as a function of the mechanical angle. The peak cogging
number of stator conductors in parallel 6 torque is 25.93 Nm, corresponding to 2% of the peak average
torque. Fig. 8b shows the torque ripple for two electrical
copper fill factor 60%
revolutions at the rated speed when applying the maximum current.
With an average torque of 1262.59 Nm, torque ripple of 5.32% has
been obtained.
can be halved to save computation time. SMC material Höganäs
AB Somaloy 550 is selected for the stator while the rotor uses JFE
4.5 Losses and efficiency
cylindrical lamination steel 50JN400 to reduce eddy currents.
Hitachi Metals NEOMAX-42-AH is used as the axial flux The motor losses are calculated using the 3D-FEA model. Fig. 9
Neodymium–Iron–Boron (NdFeB) PMs. An operation temperature depicts the copper losses, iron losses and PM losses, respectively,
of 100°C is assumed for the PMs. as a function of motor speed and torque as well as the efficiency
map of the AFPM machine. Due to the proportionality between
3.2.2 Simulation process: Transient simulations have been current and torque, the copper loss increases with rising torque in
performed to investigate the motor performance for various the constant torque region. However, this behaviour does not apply
operating points. In the field weakening region, the phase voltage in the field weakening region beyond the rated speed. This is
is controlled by varying the excitation angle (phase shift) of the because the excited current angle is enlarged to weaken the
current which allows operating the motor at high speeds beyond magnetic flux and, thus, torque declines with increasing motor
the rated speed without exceeding the given phase voltage. The speed but current still remains high. The iron losses are generated
joule losses in the magnets and copper can directly be evaluated in the stator and the rotor core, increasing with speed as the flux
from the 3D transient magnetic field analysis. The iron losses in alternating frequency increases. Higher torque also leads to higher
the stator and rotor (joule loss and hysteresis loss) are assessed in a iron losses as stator and rotor cores are more saturated. The PM
further loss study based on the respective operation frequency. To losses also increase with higher speeds. The mechanical losses,
reduce the eddy current losses in the PMs, segregated magnets are including rotational friction losses, windage losses and so on,
implemented which are electrically isolated by insulation epoxy depend on the motor speed, and are analytically calculated based
coating between neighbouring magnets. on empirical equations [16]. However, they represent only a small
percentage of the overall motor loss as the speed of the AFPM is
4 Simulation results not high.
All losses combined and their percentages in regard to the total
4.1 Eddy currents in PMs losses at two different operating points are shown in Fig. 10. It can
be seen that the losses overall increase significantly with rising
Various designs with different numbers of magnet segregation have
rotational speed. Furthermore, it is noticeable that the iron losses,
been evaluated. The distribution of the eddy currents at 450 A rms
particularly in the stator, have the greatest influence on the losses at
current at 3000 rpm for two different designs, one without PM
high speeds. This is due to the high magnetic flux applied in the
segregation, the other with 5 magnet segments, are presented in
SMC stator segments. The motor efficiency is calculated based on
Fig. 5. It is noticeable that the eddy current density can be
the output power and the sum of all generated losses. The motor
decreased significantly. Fig. 5c compares the magnet losses over
can achieve high efficiency at the medium speed range between
different numbers of magnet segregation. It can be observed that
about 400 and 2000 rpm with a peak efficiency of 97%, which
the design with five magnet segregation reduces the magnet losses
meets the design target of a 95% maximum motor efficiency. Due
by 76%. However, despite that fact that the losses were able to be
to the increasing iron and PM losses in particular at higher speeds,

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Fig. 5  Magnets eddy current density distribution
(a) Magnets’ eddy current density distribution – no segregation, (b) Magnets’ eddy current density distribution – five segments, (c) Magnet losses over different number of magnet
segregations

Fig. 6  Three-phase back EMF and harmonic contents at rated speed (960 rpm)
(a) Three-phase back EMF at rated speed (960 rpm), (b) Harmonic contents for UV phase

the efficiency drops in the field weakening area. The distribution of taxiing system operates more frequently at speeds below 2000 rpm
the efficiency levels is very suitable for the targeted application rather than at higher speeds. The required motor would be
since the drive cycle analysis results showed that the electric operating at high rotational speeds of up to 3000 rpm only during

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Fig. 7  Flux density distribution in the AFPM machine
(a) Flux density distribution in the AFPM motor, (b) Flux density distribution in the stator teeth, (c) Axial flux path in the stator and rotor

Fig. 8  Cogging torque and torque ripple waveforms of the AFPM

(a) Cogging torque of the AFPM machine, (b) Torque ripple of the AFPM machine at the rated speed and maximum current

very demanding taxiing manoeuvers with high on-ground
velocities. It is expected that the AFPM motor for the electric
propulsion system would mostly operate in the more efficient area
that is above 95%.
It should be noted that despite the total losses have been
significantly decreased by implementing PM segmentation and
58
steel laminations in the rotors while high efficiency has been
achieved, the overall losses in the electric taxiing system is
substantial, especially at the maximum power region. Thus, it is
necessary to investigate the thermal behaviour of the machine. A
detailed thermal analysis is required to evaluate the heat
generation, followed by a specialised cooling system design to
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Fig. 9  Losses and efficiency map of the AFPM
(a) Copper loss of the AFPM machine, (b) Iron loss of the AFPM machine, (c) Magnet loss of the AFPM machine, (d) Efficiency of the AFPM machine
Fig. 10  Loss distribution at maximum current of the AFPM machine
realise the needed heat dissipation and thus ensure proper operation
of all electric components. However, as this is not the focus of this
paper, thermal analysis and cooling system design will be
discussed in a separate study.
Table 3 also summarises the designed AFPM machine
performance characteristics. The designed AFPM machine fulfils
the defined performance requirements while providing high peak
efficiency.
5 Conclusions
In this paper, the design of an electric taxiing system for a
commercial midsize airplane has been investigated. Real-life
taxiing drive cycles, including takeoff and landing cycles, have
been recorded to analyse the drive system requirements. Based on
the determined system requirements, an AFPM machine with
segmented stator has been designed. The electromagnetic design
has been carried out by using analytical models and confirmed by
3D-FEA. The results have shown that the designed AFPM machine
meets the requirements well and achieved high efficiency of 97%,
while the torque ripple is 5.32% at the rated speed under maximum
current excitation.
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6 Acknowledgment
This research was undertaken, in part, thanks to funding from the
Canada Excellence Research Chairs Program. The authors would
also like to thank Powersys Solutions for their support with the
JMAG software.
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IET Electr. Syst. Transp., 2018, Vol. 8 Iss. 1, pp. 52-60
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2017