Design Optimization of a Permanent-Magnet Flux-Switching Generator for Direct-Drive Wind Turbines

• Main Authors: Vladimir Dmitrievskii, Vladimir Prakht, Vadim Kazakbaev
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-09-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: annual energy production; direct-driven wind generator; electric machine design; gearless machines; flux-switching machine; machine modelling; permanent-magnet machines; special electric machines; wind generators
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/19/3636

Due to the increasing need for direct-drive wind turbines, a large number of papers are dedicated to the optimization of low-speed wind generators. A permanent-magnet flux-switching machine can be a valuable option to use in such applications. This paper describes the optimization procedure of a direct-drive flux-switching wind generator. The average losses, the required converter power, and the cost of permanents magnets were chosen as the optimization objectives. To reduce the calculation efforts during the optimization, a method to construct the substituting load profiles is proposed. Two-mode and three-mode substituting profiles were constructed on the basis of the nine-mode initial profile. The losses calculated under the two-mode, three-mode, and nine-mode profiles accurately coincided, which supported the use of the low-mode substituting profiles instead of the initial one. During the optimization, the average losses decreased by 30%, which corresponded to an increase in the average efficiency by almost 6%. The required converter power was decreased by 10%. The total active material mass, cogging torque, and torque ripple were also slightly decreased.