Specification and Design of Ring Winding Axial Flux Motor for Rim-Driven Thruster of Ship Electric Propulsion

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Abstract
This paper proposes application of a new electric motor topology named ring winding axial flux machine (AFM) for rim-driven thruster of ship propulsion system. Ring winding AFM has many advantages like reliability, simple construction, ease of increasing phase numbers and pole numbers which are important for marine application. In rim-driven thruster the electric motor is fitted in the duct surrounding propeller so that electric motor and propeller are integrated into one unit. Due to this integration, the electric motor design is more affected by the design of propeller and hull. This paper presents a new method to determine electric motor specifications considering propeller and hull. Design methodology and constraints are presented for the ring winding AFM as well. To prove the concept of the proposed topology, confirm manufacturability, and substantiate validity of 3D FEM simulations, a small scale prototype is fabricated and tested. Furthermore, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for determining electric motor specifications, a case study is done for Nordhavn 52 ship. Then, a ring winding AFM is designed and its performance is evaluated with 3D FEM simulations.

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