Ok good point..
A zero , for a particular phase , occurs when a pole is directly over the center of the coil for that phase.
Delta and wye connections need a diagram.
I got this diagram off the net and it is from a transformer page , thus the primary and secondary labels , just disregard them and consider the Star/Wye and Delta as two different diagrams. And the orange wires are coils .
A Wye or star connection is when the three ends of the three phases are connected to the three inputs of a three phase rectifier.In this case you would connect the L1 , l2 , and L3, to the inputs of the three phase rectifier.
A Delta connection is when the end of one phase is connected the start of the next phase , and the outputs from A three phase Axial flux machine , connected in Delta , are taken from the connections between phases , labled as load in the diagram..
Since the orange wires in the diagram are phases they can contain as few as one single coil or as many as two , three , four or five coils , in series , per phase.
In electronics there are Mathematical relationships between star and delta , and if you are interested in these relationships please try out the PDF below.
http://www.radioelectronicschool.net/files/downloads/3phase.pdf