The linear Planetary Motor

This paper presents a novel linear motor based on a modified Planetary Motor approach. The Planetary Motor is a multi-rotor permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM), first introduced in 2017. Due to its electromagnetic design and the windings' smart interconnection, the Planetary Motor acts like a common three-phase PMSM and can thus be operated easily by using a standard voltage source inverter. In order to enable a linear motion, the stator windings have to be modified. Due to the specific design of the Planetary Motor, it is possible to develop an inexpensive bearing of the carriage so that no additional external bearings are necessary. Measurements carried out on the prototype verify the performance of the novel linear Planetary Motor.