Investigation and design of an axial flux permanent magnet machine for a commercial midsize aircraft electric taxiing system

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.