page_title: Axial flux motor
hierarchical_section_title: Axial flux motor
caption_attribution_description: English: HP StorageWorks DAT 72 USB - Tape Drive Capstans, driven by a brushless DC electric motor
context_page_description: An axial flux motor is a geometry of motor construction where the gap between the rotor and stator, and therefore the direction of magnetic flux between the two, is aligned parallel with the axis of rotation, rather than radially as with the concentric cylindrical geometry of the more common radial gap motor.
  Although this geometry has been used since the first electromagnetic motors were developed, its usage was rare until the widespread availability of strong permanent magnets and the development of brushless DC motors, which could better exploit some of the advantages of the axial geometry. The axial geometry can be applied to almost any operating principle that can be used in a radial motor, and can allow some topologies that would not be practical in a radial geometry, but even for the same operating principle there are considerations in the application and design that would cause one geometry to be more suitable than the other. Axial motors are typically shorter and wider than an equivalent radial motor.
context_section_description: An axial flux motor (also known as an axial gap motor, or pancake motor) is a geometry of motor construction where the gap between the rotor and stator, and therefore the direction of magnetic flux between the two, is aligned parallel with the axis of rotation, rather than radially as with the concentric cylindrical geometry of the more common radial gap motor.
  Although this geometry has been used since the first electromagnetic motors were developed, its usage was rare until the widespread availability of strong permanent magnets and the development of brushless DC motors, which could better exploit some of the advantages of the axial geometry.  The axial geometry can be applied to almost any operating principle (e.g. brushed DC, induction, stepper, reluctance) that can be used in a radial motor, and can allow some topologies that would not be practical in a radial geometry, but even for the same operating principle there are considerations in the application and design that would cause one geometry to be more suitable than the other.  Axial motors are typically shorter and wider than an equivalent radial motor.
  Axial motors have been used for some time for low-power low-cost brushless DC motors, since the motor can easily be built directly upon a PCB, or even using PCB traces as the stator windings, but recently there have been more efforts to design high-power brushless motors in an axial geometry.  A successful brushed DC axial motor is the Lynch motor, where the rotor is almost entirely composed of flat copper strips with small iron cores inserted allowing very power-dense operation.
caption: A miniature DC brushless axial motor showing the integration with PCB construction techniques. The rotor shown to the right is magnetized axially with alternating polarity.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "HP StorageWorks DAT 72 USB - Tape Drive Capstans, brushless DC electric motor", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5D Mark IV", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6.14 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2018:11:30 20:37:06", "Image Artist": "Raimond Spekking", "Image ExifOffset": "336", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1032", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10661", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/8", "EXIF FNumber": "16", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:11:22 19:10:32", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:11:22 19:10:32", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "3", "EXIF ApertureValue": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "100", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "99", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "99", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "908", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "61166933/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "61166933/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "183056000531", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[100, 100, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "0000000000"}