Design of Direct-Driven

School of Elect r ical and Comput er Engineer ing
CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Gt ebor g, Sweden.
Technical Repor t No. 292
Desi gn of Di rect-dri ven
Permanent-magnet Generators
for Wind Turbines
by
Ander s Gr auer s
Submit t ed t o t he School of Elect r ical and Comput er Engineer ing,
Chalmer s Univer sit y of Technology, in par t ial fulfillment of t he
r equir ement s for t he degr ee of Doct or of Philosophy.
Depar t ment of Elect r ic Power Engineer ing
Gt ebor g, Oct ober 1996.
2
CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
Depar t ment of Elect r ic Power Engineer ing
S - 412 96 GTEBORG, SWEDEN
ISBN 91-7197-373-7
ISSN 0346-718X
Chalmer s Bibliot ek, Repr oser vice
Gt eborg, 1996
3
Abstract
This t hesis pr esent s an invest igat ion of how a dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine
gener a t or should be designed a nd how sma ll a nd efficient such a
gener a t or will be. Adva nt a ges a nd disa dva nt a ges of va r ious t ypes of
dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine gener at or s ar e discussed, and a r adial-flux
per manent -magnet gener at or connect ed t o a for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier
is chosen for a det a iled t heor et ica l invest iga t ion. Fur t her , a design
met hod is developed for t he elect r omagnet ic par t of t he chosen gener at or
t ype. The gener at or is opt imized wit h a simplified cost funct ion which,
besides including t he cost of t he act ive gener at or par t s and t he cost of t he
st r uct ur e, also includes t he cost of t he aver age losses. Ther efor e, a met hod
t o calculat e t he aver age losses is der ived. The design met hod is used t o
invest igat e t he opt imizat ion of a 500kW gener at or , and t he size, efficiency
a nd a ct ive weight of opt imized gener a t or s fr om 30kW t o 3MW a r e
pr esent ed. A r esult of t he invest igat ion is t hat t he out er diamet er s of t he
dir ect -dr iven gener a t or s a r e only slight ly la r ger t ha n t he widt h of
convent ional wind ener gy conver t er nacelles. A compar ison of aver age
efficiency shows t hat dir ect -dr iven gener at or s, including t he losses in t he
fr equency conver t er s, ar e mor e efficient t han convent ional wind ener gy
conver t er dr ive t r ains. Compar ed wit h ot her dir ect -dr iven gener at or s, t he
pr oposed gen er a t or t ype is sma ll, ma in ly beca u se of t h e for ced-
commut at ed r ect ifier and because t he gener at or is not r equir ed t o pr oduce
a pull-out t or que higher t han t he r at ed t or que.
Preface
The wor k pr esent ed in t his t hesis was car r ied out at t he Depar t ment of
Elect r ical Power Engineer ing at Chalmer s Univer sit y of Technology. The
wor k was financed by NUTEK, par t ly under t he Swedish wind ener gy
r esear ch pr ogr am, par t ly as an EU J oule II pr oject . The financial suppor t
is gr at efully acknowledged.
I would like t o t hank Dr Ola Car lson for int er est ing discussions about t he
applicat ion of t he low-speed gener at or in wind ener gy conver t er s. Debor ah
Fr onko and Mar got Bolinder bot h made an impor t ant cont r ibut ion by
r evizing my English. Finally, I wish t o expr ess my gr at it ude t o Pr ofessor
J or ma Luomi for va lua ble help wit h t he gener a t or design a nd for
discussions on how t o pr esent t he r esult s fr om my pr oject .
4
Table of Contents
Abst r act 3
Pr efa ce 3
Table of Cont ent s 4
List of Symbols 6
1 I nt r oduct ion 11
1.1 Why Use Dir ect -dr iven Wind-t ur bine Gener at or s 11
1.2 Differ ences Compar ed wit h Convent ional Gener at or s 12
1.3 Pr oposed Gener at or Types 12
1.3.1 Sect or Induct ion Gener at or 12
1.3.2 Elect r ically Excit ed Synchr onous Gener at or 13
1.3.3 Swit ched Reluct ance Gener at or 14
1.3.4 Per manent -magnet Radial-flux Synchr onous Gener at or 14
1.3.5 Axial-flux Gener at or s 16
1.3.6 Tr ansver sal-flux Var iable-speed Gener at or 17
1.4 Discussion of Ear lier Resear ch 19
1.5 Goal and Out line of t he Thesis 19
2 Gener at or Specificat ion and Cost Funct ion 21
2.1 Specificat ion 21
2.2 Gener at or Cost Funct ion 23
2.2.1 Cost of Act ive Par t s 24
2.2.2 Cost of St r uct ur e 24
2.2.3 Cost of Aver age Losses 24
2.2.4 Tot al Cost Funct ion 26
3 Calculat ion Met hod for t he Aver age Losses 27
3.1 Aver age Losses 27
3.2 Aver age Efficiency and Aver age Power 29
3.3 Det er mining Aver age Loss Fact or s 30
4 Gener at or Types 37
4.1 Elect r ical Excit at ion or Per manent Magnet s 37
4.2 Dir ect Gr id Connect ion or Fr equency Conver t er 39
4.3 Sur face Magnet s or Flux Concent r at ion 40
4.4 Slot Winding or Air Gap Winding 41
4.5 Radial-, Axial- and Tr ansver sal-flux Machines 42
4.6 For ced-commut at ed Rect ifier or Diode Rect ifier 44
4.6.1 Gener at or Model 45
4.6.2 Diode Rect ifier 45
4.6.3 For ced-commut at ed Rect ifier 46
4.6.4 Rect ifier Compar ison 48
4.7 Chosen Gener at or Type 51
4.7.1 Basic Gener at or Concept 51
4.7.2 Det ails of t he Chosen Gener at or 51
4.7.3 Ma t er ia ls 52
5
5 Design Met hod for a Per manent -magnet Gener at or 55
5.1 Design Var iables 55
5.2 Design Equat ions 58
5.2.1 Gener al Definit ions 58
5.2.2 Magnet ic Cir cuit 60
5.2.3 St at or Induct ance and Resist ance 61
5.2.4 Mat er ial Volume and Weight 63
5.2.5 Losses 64
5.2.6 Volt age, Power and Efficiency 67
5.2.7 Ther mal Model and Temper at ur e Rise 68
5.2.8 Ir r ever sible Demagnet izat ion 69
5.3 Calculat ion Pr ocedur e 71
5.4 Test of t he Design Met hod 72
5.4.1 Compar ison wit h Finit e Element Calculat ions 72
5.4.2 Test of Ther mal Model 73
6 Gener at or Opt imizat ion 77
6.1 Opt imum 500 kW Gener at or s 77
6.1.1 Opt imized Refer ence Gener at or 77
6.1.2 Opt imized Gener at or s for 50Hz and 200% Peak Power 80
6.1.3 Opt imizat ion Using t he Losses at Rat ed Load 82
6.2 Sensit ivit y t o Var iable Changes 84
6.3 Sensit ivit y t o Cost Funct ion Changes 86
6.3.1 Cost of Losses 86
6.3.2 Cost of Ir on and Copper 87
6.3.3 Cost of Per manent Magnet s 88
6.3.4 Cost of t he St r uct ur e 89
6.4 Opt imum Gener at or Diamet er 90
6.5 Typical 500 kW Per manent -magnet Gener at or 92
7 Design and Compar ison 95
7.1 Gener at or s fr om 30kW t o 3 MW 95
7.1.1 Gener at or Dat a 95
7.1.2 Opt imum Var iables and Par amet er Values 97
7.1.3 Power Limit s For t he Dir ect -dr iven Gener at or s 100
7.2 Compa r isons 102
7.2.1 Compar ison wit h Convent ional Gener at or s and Gear s 102
7.2.2 Compar ison wit h Ot her Dir ect -dr iven Gener at or s 104
8 Conclusions 107
8.1 Differ ent Gener at or Types 107
8.2 Gener at or Design and Opt imizat ion 108
8.3 Designed Gener at or s and Compar ison wit h Ot her Gener at or s 108
8.4 Fur t her Wor k 109
Refer ences 111
Appendix AMagnet izing Induct ance 115
Appendix BTher mal Model of t he Gener at or 119
Appendix CAver age Efficiencies 131
6
Li st of Symbols
Symbol Unit Descr ipt ion
a Exponent for t he st r uct ur e cost
A Par amet er for wind speed pr obabilit y densit y funct ion
b
Cu
m Conduct or widt h
b
d
m Toot h widt h
b
m
m Magnet widt h
b
s
m Slot widt h
b
s1
m Slot opening
B
^
d0
T Maximum flux densit y in t he t eet h at no-load
B
min
T Min. flux densit y allowed in t he per manent -magnet s
B
^
s
T Peak air gap flux densit y gener at ed by t he st at or at
r at ed cur r ent
B
^
yr
T Maximum flux densit y in t he r ot or yoke
B
^
ys
T Maximum flux densit y in t he st at or yoke
B
^
0
T Peak air gap flux densit y at no-load
B
(1)
T Fundament al air gap flux densit y (RMS value)
c Par amet er for wind speed pr obabilit y densit y funct ion
c
Cu
ECU/kg Specific cost of t he copper
c
d
ECU/kW Specific cost of aver age losses
c
e l
ECU/kWh Specific cost of elect r ic ener gy
c
F e
ECU/kg Specific cost of t he act ive ir on
c
m
ECU/kg Specific cost of t he per manent magnet s
c
st r
ECU Cost of a r efer ence st r uct ur e
C
a ct
ECU Cost of t he act ive par t s of t he gener at or
C
d
ECU Cost of t he losses of t he gener at or
C
st r
ECU Cost of t he gener at or st r uct ur e
C
t ot
ECU Tot al cost funct ion for gener at or opt imizat ion
d m Air gap diamet er
d
r ef
m Diamet er of t he r efer ence st r uct ur e
d
se
m Out er diamet er of t he st at or
E V Int er nal line-t o-line emf
E
p
V Int er nal phase emf
E
pN
V Int er nal phase emf at r at ed speed
7
f Hz Fr equency
f
N
Hz Rat ed fr equency
g
a d
Fact or for t he addit ional losses
g
Cu
Fact or for t he copper losses
g
F t
Fact or for t he eddy cur r ent losses
g
Hy
Fact or for t he hyst er esis losses
g
t
Fact or for t he t ur bine power
g
Fact or for t he windage and fr ict ion losses

h
Cu
m Conduct or height
h
i
m Insulat ion height (in t he slot s)
h
m
m Magnet height
h
s
m St at or slot height
h
s1
m Toot h t ip height 1
h
s2
m Toot h t ip height 2
h
s3
m Slot height , excluding t oot h t ips
h
yr
m Rot or yoke height
h
ys
m St at or yoke height
H
c
A/ m Coer civit y of t he magnet s
i Real int er est r at e
I
a
A Ar ma t ur e cur r ent
I
a N
A Rat ed ar mat ur e cur r ent
I
(1)
A Fundament al ar mat ur e cur r ent
J
s
A/m
2
Cur r ent densit y in t he ar mat ur e winding
k
Cu
Copper fill fact or of t he st r anded wir e
k
dad
Aver age loss fact or for addit ional losses
k
dCu
Aver age loss fact or for copper losses
k
dFt
Aver age loss fact or for eddy cur r ent losses
k
dHy
Aver age loss fact or for hyst er esis losses
k
d
Aver age loss fact or for windage and fr ict ion losses
k
Fes
Fill fact or for t he st at or ir on
k
Ft d
Empir ical eddy cur r ent loss fact or for t he t eet h
k
Ft ys
Empir ical eddy cur r ent loss fact or for t he st at or yoke
k
Hyd
Empir ical hyst er esis loss fact or for t he t eet h
k
Hyys
Empir ical hyst er esis loss fact or for t he st at or yoke
k
N
Fact or for t he pr esent value of fut ur e cost s
k
t
Aver age fact or for t he t ur bine power (capacit y fact or )
8
k
w(1)
Winding fact or for t he fundament al volt age
l m Act ive lengt h of t he gener at or
l
b
m End winding lengt h
l
e
m Equivalent cor e lengt h
l
r ef
m Lengt h of t he r efer ence st r uct ur e
l
t ot
m Tot al lengt h of t he st at or and end windings
l
u
m Useful lengt h of t he st at or cor e
L
a
H Tot al ar mat ur e induct ance per phase
L
b
H End winding leakage induct ance
L
m
H Magnet izing induct ance per phase
L
sl
H Slot leakage induct ance
L
t l
H Toot h t ip leakage induct ance
L
H Tot al leakage induct ance

m Number of phases
m
Cu
kg Copper weight
m
F e
kg Ir on weight of t he act ive par t s of t he gener at or
m
Fed
kg Teet h weight
m
Feyr
kg Rot or yoke weight
m
Feys
kg St at or yoke weight
m
m
kg Weight of t he magnet s
m
t ot
kg Tot al act ive weight of t he gener at or
n r p m Gener at or speed
n
N
r p m Rat ed speed of t he gener at or
N
WEC
Number of year s of t he assumed wind ener gy
conver t er life t ime
N
y
Number of hour s per year
p Number of pole pair s
p
Ft
W/kg Eddy cur r ent loss densit y at 50 Hz and 1.5 T
p
Ft m
W/m
2
Eddy cur r ent loss densit y of t he magnet sur face
p
Hy
W/kg Hyst er esis loss densit y at 50 Hz and 1.5 T
P
a
W Ar mat ur e out put power
P
ad
W Addit ional losses
P
adN
W Addit ional losses at r at ed load
P
aN
W Rat ed elect r ical power
P
Av
W Aver age t ur bine power
P
Cu
W Copper losses
9
P
Cu Av
W Copper losses at aver age ambient t empear t ur e
P
CuMa x
W Copper losses at maximum ambient t empear t ur e
P
CuN
W Copper losses at r at ed load (only in Chapt er 3)
P
d
W Tot al gener at or losses
P
dAv
W Aver age losses
P
Ft
W Tot al eddy cur r ent losses
P
Ft d
W Eddy cur r ent losses in t he t eet h
P
Ft m
W Eddy cur r ent losses in t he magnet s
P
Ft N
W Tot al eddy cur r ent losses at r at ed load
P
Ft ys
W Eddy cur r ent losses in t he st at or yoke
P
Hy
W Tot al hyst er esis losses
P
Hyd
W Hyst er esis losses in t he t eet h
P
HyN
W Tot al hyst er esis losses at r at ed load
P
Hyys
W Hyst er esis losses in t he st at or yoke
P
lossAv
W Tot al aver age losses
P
lossMax
W Tot al losses at maximum ambient t emper at ur e
P
N
W Rat ed mechanical input power of t he gener at or
P
t
W Act ive power fr om t he t ur bine
P
W Fr ict ion and windage losses

P
N
W Fr ict ion and windage losses at r at ed load
Q Number of slot s
q Number of slot s per pole and phase
R
a
Ar mat ur e r esist ance
T
Max
N m Pull-out t or que
T
N
N m Rat ed t or que of t he gener at or
U
a
V Ar mat ur e volt age
U
ap
V Ar mat ur e phase volt age
U
apN
V Rat ed ar mat ur e phase volt age
v m/ s Wind speed
v
in
m/ s Cut -in wind speed
v
N
m/ s Wind speed at which t he r at ed power is r eached
v
nN
m/ s Wind speed at which t he r at ed speed is r eached
v
ou t
m/ s Cut -out wind speed
v
^
d
A Mmf dr op of t he t eet h
v
^
m
A Mmf dr op of t he magnet s
v
^
yr
A Mmf dr op of t he r ot or yoke
10
v
^
ys
A Mmf dr op of t he st at or yoke
v
^
A Mmf dr op of t he air gap

V
C u
m
3
Copper volume
V
F ed
m
3
St at or t eet h volume
V
F eyr
m
3
Rot or yoke volume
V
Feys
m
3
St at or yoke volume
V
M
m
3
Magnet volume
w s / m Weibull dist r ibut ed pr obabillit y densit y of wind speeds
W m Winding pit ch
x
a
m Per unit ar mat ur e r eact ance
X
a
m Ar mat ur e r eact ance
Ra d Ter minal phase angle
N
Ra d Ter minal phase angle at r at ed load
m Mechanical air gap
ef
m Effect ive air gap
Cu
K Temper at ur e of t he winding
Cu Av
K Temp. of th e win din g a t a ver a ge a mbien t temp.
Cu N
K Maximum t emper at ur e of t he winding
m
K Temper at ur e of t he magnet s
m Slot pit ch
p
m Pole pit ch
0
Per meabillit y of air
m
Relat ive per meabillit y of t he magnet mat er ial
av
Aver age efficiency
N
Efficiency at r at ed load
Vs Flux linkage of t he st at or winding
N
Vs Flux linkage at r at ed load
I nt roduct ion 11
Gear
1:47
Gener at or
1500 r pm
Gener at or
32 r pm
Figure 1.1 500kW drive trains of one conventional wind energy converter
(left) and one with a direct-driven generator (right).
1 Introduction
1 . 1 Why Use Direct-driven Wind-turbine Generators
Toda y a lmost a ll wind ener gy conver t er s of a r a t ed power of a few
kilowat t s or mor e use st andar d gener at or s for speeds bet ween 750 and
1800 r pm.

The t ur bine speed is much lower t han t he gener at or speed;
t ypically bet ween 20 and 60 r pm. Ther efor e, in a convent ional wind ener gy
conver t er a gea r is used bet ween t he t ur bine a nd t he gener a t or . An
alt er nat ive is t o use a gener at or for ver y low speed. The gener at or can
t hen be dir ect ly connect ed t o t he t ur bine shaft . Dir ect -dr iven gener at or s
a r e a lr ea dy in use in a t lea st t wo la r ge commer cia l wind ener gy
conver t er s of 230 and 500kW. The dr ive t r ains of a convent ional 500kW
wind ener gy conver t er and a wind ener gy conver t er wit h a dir ect -dr iven
gener at or ar e shown in Figur e 1.1.
Ther e ar e t wo main r easons for using dir ect -dr iven gener at or s in wind
ener gy conver t er s. The cost of t he pr oduced elect r icit y and t he noise of t he
wind ener gy conver t er can bot h be r educed. Reducing t he noise can be
impor t ant when applying for per mission t o er ect wind ener gy conver t er s
close t o dwelling places. The r easons why dir ect -dr iven gener at or s can
decr ease t he cost of t he pr oduced elect r icit y ar e as follows:
t hey can decr ease t he cost of t he dr ive t r ain;
t hey can decr ease t he losses of t he ener gy conver sion;
t hey ca n impr ove t he a va ila bilit y of t he wind ener gy
conver t er .
Never t heless, t o a chieve a ll of t hese a dva nt a ges simult a neously, a n
efficien t gen er a t or t ype, wh ich is well opt imized a n d r a t ion a lly
manufact ur ed, is r equir ed.
12 I nt roduct ion
1.2 Differences Compared with Conventional Generators
Theor et ically, dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine gener at or s do not differ much
fr om ot her gener at or t ypes. They can be designed and built in t he same
wa y a s ot her gener a t or s. The most impor t a nt differ ence bet ween
convent ional and dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine gener at or s is t hat t he low
speed of t he dir ect -dr iven gener a t or ma kes a ver y high r a t ed t or que
necessar y. This is an impor t ant differ ence, since t he size and t he losses of
a low-speed gener at or depend on t he r at ed t or que r at her t han on t he r at ed
power . A dir ect -dr iven gener at or for a 500kW, 30r pm wind t ur bine has
t he same r at ed t or que as a 50MW, 3000r pm st eam-t ur bine gener at or .
Because of t he high r at ed t or que, dir ect -dr iven gener at or s ar e usually
heavier and less efficient t han convent ional gener at or s. To incr ease t he
efficiency a nd r educe t he weight of t he a ct ive pa r t s, dir ect -dr iven
gener at or s ar e usually designed wit h a lar ge diamet er . To decr ease t he
weight of t he r ot or and st at or yokes and t o keep t he end winding losses
small, dir ect -dr iven gener at or s ar e also usually designed wit h a small
pole pit ch.
1.3 Proposed Generator Types
Ma ny differ ent gener a t or s ha ve been pr oposed a s dir ect -dr iven wind-
t ur bine gener a t or s. This sect ion descr ibes some of t hem a nd pr esent s
some r esult s fr om t he r esea r ch on t hese gener a t or s. The gener a t or s
descr ibed below ar e eit her dir ect gr id-connect ed gener at or s or var iable-
speed gener at or s connect ed t o t he gr id via a fr equency conver t er .
The gener at or s can be divided int o elect r ically excit ed gener at or s and
per manent -magnet -excit ed gener at or s. The elect r ically excit ed gener at or s
pr esent ed ar e:
sect or induct ion gener at or ;
elect r ically excit ed synchr onous gener at or ;
swit ched r eluct ance gener at or .
The per manent -magnet gener at or s pr esent ed ar e:
r adial-flux synchr onous gener at or ;
a xia l-flux synchr onous gener a t or wit h t or oida l st a t or or
double-sided st at or ;
t r ansver sal-flux gener at or .
1.3.1 Sector Induction Generator
Gr ibnau and Kur st en (1991) and Deler oi (1992) have pr esent ed a dir ect -
dr iven sect or induct ion gener at or for dir ect gr id connect ion, shown in
Figur e 1.2. The gener at or is an axial-flux gener at or wit h a st at or only on a
I nt roduct ion 13
Double-sided st at or segment
Shor t -cir cuit ed r ot or winding
Wind t ur bine t ower
a) b)
r ot or st r uct ur e
t ur bine blades windings
laminat ed st eel
Figure 1.2 Axial-flux sect or induct ion generat or. a) Complet e generat or,
axial view, and b) Active part, tangential view.
segment of t he cir cumfer ence. It has a lar ge diamet er in or der t o achieve
a high air -gap speed, but since t he st at or segment is fixed t o t he t ower of
t he wind ener gy conver t er , t he st r uct ur e is simple. Since it is an induct ion
gener at or wit h a high slip, t he damping of t he gener at or is no pr oblem for
t he design, even t hough it is dir ect gr id-connect ed. The gener a t or is
developed by a Dut ch company and only ver y lit t le dat a is available on it . A
500 kW ver sion wit h a diamet er of about 9 m and a speed of about 40r pm is
pr esent ed (Gr ibnau and Kur st en, 1991). The efficiency is est imat ed t o be
about 80 t o 85 % wit h a r at ed slip of about 10 t o 15 %. A 150kW pr ot ot ype
has been built and t est ed. The efficiency of t he pr ot ot ype is much lower
t han t he goal for t he 500 kW ver sion, only 65% at a r at ed slip of about 20%.
1.3.2 Electrically Excited Synchronous Generator
The t wo commer cia l dir ect -dr iven wind ener gy conver t er s bot h use
elect r ica lly excit ed synchr onous gener a t or s wit h fr equency conver t er s.
Th e gen er a t or s a r e of t h e sa me pr in cipa l design a s h ydr opower
gener at or s. Ver y lit t le infor mat ion is available on t hese gener at or s. One of
t hem is a 500 kW gener at or and has a r at ed speed of 40r pm (Anon. 1994a).
The air gap diamet er is about 4m and t he gener at or fr equency is lower
t han 50Hz. This gener at or is in 1996 used in mor e t han 600 wind ener gy
conver t er s.
14 I nt roduct ion
1.3.3 Switched Reluctance Generator
de Ha a n et a l. (1994) pr esent a swit ched r eluct a nce gener a t or which
pr oduces 20 kW at 120r pm. The gener at or has been opt imized using an
analyt ical design met hod. Finit e element calculat ions ar e car r ied out for
t he chosen design, but t he finit e element calculat ions pr edict a much
higher t or que t han t he analyt ical model. The act ive par t of t he gener at or
is shown in Figur e 1.3.
a)
a)
a)
b)
St at or
Rot or
b)
b)
windings laminat ed st eel
Figure 1.3 A swit ched reluct ance generat or. a)Tangent ial view and b)
Axial view.
1.3.4 Permanent-magnet Radial-flux Synchronous Generator
Spooner and Williamson (1992a,1992b,1992c) have discussed t he feasibilit y
of dir ect gr id-connect ed, dir ect -dr iven wind-t ur bine gener a t or s. The
pr oposed gener at or s ar e per manent -magnet synchr onous gener at or s, and
when connect ed dir ect ly t o t he gr id, t hey oper at e at a const ant speed.
Rot or s wi t h s u r fa ce-mou n t ed h i gh -en er gy ma gn et s h a ve been
i n ves t i ga t ed, a s wel l a s r ot or s wi t h fer r i t e ma gn et s a n d fl u x
concent r at ion. The t wo ver sions of t he gener at or ar e shown in Figur es 1.4
and 1.5. The st at or is of a convent ional design, but wit h a ver y small pole
pit ch, appr oximat ely 40 mm, in or der t o gener at e 50 Hz fr equency wit hout
ha ving a la r ge gener a t or dia met er . The winding is a t hr ee-pha se,
fr act ional-slot winding wit h less t han 1 slot per pole and phase. Spooner
and Williamson show t hat dir ect -dr iven, dir ect gr id-connect ed gener at or s
can be designed wit h a small diamet er if per manent -magnet excit at ion is
used. Bot h t he r ot or t ypes ha ve been found t o be fea sible. The ma in
differ ence bet ween t hem is t hat t he gener at or wit h fer r it e-magnet , flux-
concent r at ing r ot or is heavier and mor e complicat ed but leads t o a shor t er
gener at or wit h higher efficiency at r at ed load. A r adial-flux, per manent -
magnet gener at or wit h a modular st at or design, was also pr esent ed by
Spooner et al. (1994).
I nt roduct ion 15
a) b)
St at or
Rot or
a)
a)
b)
b)
solid st eel windings
laminat ed st eel
magnet s (magn. dir ect ion)
Figure 1.4 The radial-flux generat or wit h surface-mount ed magnet s.
a) Tangential view and b) Axial view.
a) b)
b)
b)
a)
a)
St at or
Rot or
windings
laminat ed st eel
non-magnet ic mat er ial
Figure 1.5 The radial-flux generat or wit h flux concent rat ion and ferrit e
magnets.a) Tangential view and b) Axial view.
Two pr oblems of t he pr oposed design ar e ment ioned in t he paper s. Fir st ,
t he sub-ha r monic flux wa ves fr om t he fr a ct iona l-slot winding a r e
consider ed a pr oblem, because t hey may lead t o addit ional losses. Second,
par allel pat hs in t he winding should be avoided. The r eason for t his is t hat
t he poles may gener at e unequal volt ages leading t o cir culat ing cur r ent s
bet ween t he par allel coils.
Two small gener at or pr ot ot ypes have been made. They showed t hat a
fr a ct iona l-slot winding wit h only 0.75 slot s per pole a nd pha se ca n
gener at e an almost sinusoidal volt age fr om a ver y non-sinusoidal flux
16 I nt roduct ion
wave for m, and t hat t he flux-concent r at ion met hod can be used t o achieve
high flux densit ies fr om low-ener gy magnet s.
A mechanical damping syst em for t he dir ect gr id-connect ed gener at or is
discussed by West la ke et a l. (1996). I n convent iona l synchr onous
gener at or s, t he damping is pr ovided by damper windings in t he r ot or . The
dir ect -dr iven dir ect gr id-connect ed wind t ur bine gener at or must have a
ver y small pole pit ch if t he diamet er is not ver y lar ge. The small pole pit ch
makes t he damper windings insufficient . Inst ead, a mechanical damping
of t he st a t or , by mea ns of a spr ing a nd a da mper , ca n be used. The
mecha nica l da mping syst em is shown t o be sufficient , but it ma y be
difficult and expensive t o const r uct for lar ge gener at or s.
Lampola et al. (1995a) pr esent a 500 kW r adial-flux per manent -magnet
gener at or . The gener at or is of t he same design as t he one in Figur e 1.4 but
it is not designed for dir ect gr id-connect ion. The gener a t or ha s been
calculat ed in det ail using t he finit e element met hod and t ime st epping.
The t or que r ipple, cogging t or que and r ot or losses ar e kept minor by using
1.5 slot s per pole a nd pha se. The per ma nent -ma gnet gener a t or is
compar ed wit h a dir ect -dr iven induct ion gener at or by Lampola (1995b).
The induct ion gener at or is found t o be lar ger , heavier and less efficient
t han t he per manent -magnet gener at or . In anot her paper (Lampola et al.
1996b) t he influence of t he r ect ifier on t he gener at or r at ed power and
efficiency is invest igat ed. It is shown t hat t he r at ed power and efficiency
ar e lower if t he gener at or is connect ed t o a diode r ect ifier t han if it is
supplied wit h sinusoidal volt ages.
1.3.5 Axial-flux Generators
Honor at i et al. (1991), Di Napoli et al. (1991) and Car r ichi et al. (1992) have
pr oposed a per ma nent -ma gnet a xia l-flux synchr onous gener a t or . The
gener at or design is shown in Figur e1.6. It is a gener at or wit h a t or oidal
st at or , air gap winding and t wo r ot or discs.
Two pr ot ot ypes of appr oximat ely 1 kW have been built . A 1MW gener at or
design is pr esent ed, but it has a r at ed speed of 100r pm, t oo high for a
1MW wind ener gy conver t er . Because of t he high speed, t he gener at or
has high efficiency and low weight .
Ala t a lo a nd Svensson (1993) ha ve pr oposed a n a xia l-flux per ma nent -
magnet synchr onous gener at or wit h a double-sided st at or and air gap
windings. The gener at or design is shown in Figur e1.7. A 5 kW pr ot ot ype
is pr esent ed by Alat alo (1991). The gener at or t ype has low ir on weight
because t her e is no r ot or yoke but t he magnet weight is high since an air
gap winding is used.
I nt roduct ion 17
a) b)
b) b)
a)
a)
Rot or 1
St at or
Rot or 2
solid st eel windings
laminat ed st eel
Figure 1.6 An axial-flux generat or wit h a t oroidal st at or winding and
surface-mount ed magnet s on t wo rot or discs. a) Tangent ial
view b) Radial view.
a)
b) b)
a)
a)
b)
St at or 1
Rot or
St at or 2
windings
laminat ed st eel
Figure 1.7 An axial-flux generat or wit h double-sided st at or and air gap
windings. a)Tangential view b) Radial view.
1.3.6 Transversal-flux Variable-speed Generator
Weh et al. (1988) have pr oposed a dir ect -dr iven t r ansver sal-flux gener at or
for wind t ur bines. The gener a t or is a t wo-pha se gener a t or a nd is
ma gnet ized by per ma nent ma gnet s wit h flux concent r a t ion. Since t he
18 I nt roduct ion
a)
b)
Upper par t
of t he st at or
Rot or
Lower par t
of t he st at or
{
{
{
a)
a)
b)
b)
windings
laminat ed st eel
Figure 1.8 One phase of t he t wo-phase t ransversal-flux generat or wit h
double-sided st at or. The flux pat hs are shown. a) Tangent ial
view and b) Axial view.
gener a t or is a t wo-pha se ma chine, it ca nnot be dir ect gr id-connect ed.
Inst ead, it is connect ed t o t wo single-phase r ect ifier s feeding one t hr ee-
phase inver t er . This gener at or t ype is designed for a fr equency in t he
r ange of 100 t o 200Hz t o get a high for ce-t o-weight r at io. The t r ansver sal-
flux gener at or has a ver y high for ce per weight r at io but one disadvant age
is it s complex st r uct ur e. If t he gener at or is connect ed t o a diode r ect ifier ,
t he for ce densit y is lower t han what would be possible t o achieve wit h a
sinusoidal supply volt age because of high induct ance. If connect ed t o a
for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier , t he t r ansver sal-flux gener at or is capable of
pr oducing higher for ce densit ies t ha n convent iona l gener a t or designs.
One phase of t he t r ansver sal-flux gener at or is shown in Figur e 1.8. Each
phase has a double-sided st at or wit h t wo cylindr ical windings ar ound t he
gener a t or cir cumfer ence.
A number of t r ansver sal-flux machine-pr ot ot ypes have been built , one
example of which is a wind-t ur bine gener at or . It is a 5.8 kW gener at or for
195 r pm (Weh et al. 1988). A 55kW gener at or design for 78r pm is also
pr esent ed and compar ed wit h a convent ional dr ive t r ain consist ing of a
gear and a four -pole gener at or (Weh et al. 1988). It is shown t hat t he
weight of a 55kW dr ive t r ain is appr oximat ely halved by using t he dir ect -
dr iven t r a nsver sa l-flux gener a t or inst ea d of a gea r a nd a n induct ion
gener a t or .
I nt roduct ion 19
1.4 Discussion of Earlier Research
It is clear , fr om t he paper s ment ioned above, t hat many gener at or t ypes
ca n be used a s dir ect -dr iven wind-t ur bine gener a t or s. It is, however ,
difficult t o compar e t he gener at or t ypes based on dat a given in t he paper s
since t he gener a t or s a r e designed for differ ent specifica t ions, using
differ ent met hods and since all dat a is not pr esent ed.
An invest iga t ion of dir ect -dr iven gener a t or s in gener a l, including a
compa r ison wit h convent iona l gener a t or s a nd gea r s, wa s ma de by
Bindner et al. (1995). In t he r epor t , t he swit ched r eluct ance gener at or , t he
induct ion gener at or , t he elect r ically excit ed synchr onous gener at or and
t he per ma nent -ma gnet synchr onous gener a t or wer e discussed br iefly.
Swit ched r eluct a nce gener a t or s a nd induct ion gener a t or s ha ve a low
power fa ct or l ea di n g t o a l a r ge s t a t or , a n d el ect r i ca l l y-exci t ed
synchr onous gener a t or s a r e la r ger a nd less efficient t ha n per ma nent -
ma gnet synchr onous gener a t or s. Consequent ly, t he per ma nent -ma gnet
synchr onous gener at or was found t o be t he best suit ed for a dir ect -dr iven
wind-t ur bine gener at or .
Gener at or s of up t o 1500kW wer e designed and t he size, t he weight and
t he efficiency wer e discussed by Snder ga a r d a nd Bindner (1995). In
compa r ison wit h con ven t ion a l gen er a t or s a n d gea r s, dir ect -dr iven
gener at or s wer e found t o have a much lar ger diamet er , about t he same
efficiency, about t he same t ot al weight and, at pr esent , a slight ly higher
pr ice. The aut hor s expect t hat t her e will be an upper power limit of about
500 t o 1000 kW for dir ect -dr iven gener at or s. The r at ed power is limit ed
mainly because t he out er diamet er becomes t oo lar ge as t he r at ed power
incr ea ses.
Since t he size of t he gener at or is ver y impor t ant for t r anspor t at ion and
ma nufa ct ur ing, it is impor t a nt t o fur t her invest iga t e how sma ll t he
diamet er can be made. Also gener at or efficiency has t o be invest igat ed
mor e t hor oughly t o evaluat e t he cost of t he losses. Since t he losses change
wit h load, t he cost of t he losses cannot be calculat ed fr om t he losses at
r at ed load. Inst ead, t he aver age losses have t o be evaluat ed based on a
t ypica l wind speed dist r ibut ion. The a ver a ge losses of t he gener a t or
syst em have not been calculat ed in any of t he paper s ment ioned above.
1.5 Goal and Outline of the Thesis
The goal of t his t hesis is t o invest igat e how t o design a per manent -magnet
gener at or in or der t o be suit able for applicat ion as a dir ect -dr iven wind-
t ur bine gener at or , and what can be expect ed of size and per for mance of
such a gener at or . The opt imum gener at or diamet er and lengt h, and t he
aver age efficiency ar e invest igat ed in par t icular . The goal is also t o r educe
t he size of t he gener at or in compar ison wit h t he gener at or s pr esent ed in
20 I nt roduct ion
Sect ion 1.3. Th e in ves t iga t ion is t h eor et ica l a n d limit ed t o t h e
elect r omagnet ic par t of a per manent -magnet gener at or , but t he influence
of t he gener at or st r uct ur e on t he elect r omagnet ic opt imizat ion is also
included.
A specificat ion and a cost funct ion for t he design and opt imizat ion of
dir ect -dr iven gener at or s ar e defined. To calculat e t he cost of t he losses, a
met hod t o est imat e t he aver age losses of a wind t ur bine gener at or is
developed. Advant ages and disadvant ages of var ious gener at or t ypes ar e
discu ssed, a n d a r a dia l-flu x per ma n en t -ma gn et gen er a t or wit h a
fr equency conver t er is chosen for fur t her invest igat ion.
A det ailed design met hod is developed for t he act ive par t s of t he chosen
gener a t or t ype. The design met hod is ba sed on well-known a na lyt ica l
met hods and a lumped-par amet er t her mal model. This design met hod is
used t oget her wit h numer ical opt imizat ion t o find a design suit able for
use as a dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine gener at or .
The influence of differ ent pa r a met er s on t he gener a t or design is
invest igat ed in det ail for a 500 kW gener at or . Gener at or s fr om 30 kW t o
3MW a r e t hen designed a nd t heir da t a a r e discussed. Some of t hese
gener at or s ar e compar ed wit h convent ional gener at or s and gear s and t he
pr oposed gener at or t ype is also compar ed wit h dir ect -dr iven gener at or s
pr oposed by ot her aut hor s.
Generator S pecification and Cost Function 21
2 Generator Specification and Cost Function
This cha pt er pr esent s a specifica t ion for dir ect -dr iven wind-t ur bine
gener at or s of differ ent r at ed power s. A met hod t o est imat e t he t ot al cost of
gener at or s is also pr esent ed. The t ot al cost includes t he cost of t he act ive
pa r t s, t he cost of t he a ver a ge losses a nd t he cost of t he gener a t or
st r uct ur e.
2.1 Specification
Only t he quant it ies which significant ly affect t he gener at or per for mance
ar e included in t he specificat ion. A complet e specificat ion for t he final
design of a gener at or will include many mor e det ailed r equir ement s. The
r at ed power used her e is t he mechanical power fr om t he t ur bine, not t he
elect r ical power t o t he gr id. The r eason for using mechanical power is
t hat gener at or s designed for t he same t ur bine should be compar ed wit h
each ot her , not wit h gener at or s of t he same out put power at r at ed load.
The differ ence in gener at or efficiency is included as a cost of t he losses.
The size of a gener at or depends t o a ver y lar ge ext ent on t he r equir ed r at ed
t or que. Consequent ly, t he r at ed t or que is one of t he most impor t ant par t s
of t he specificat ion. The r at ed t or que differ s for differ ent wind t ur bines of
t he same r at ed power , because of differ ent t ur bine speeds. Dat a fr om 25
wind ener gy conver t er s fr om Bindner et al. (1995) and Anon. (1994b) wer e
used t o find t he t ypical values of t he r at ed t or que for differ ent sizes of wind
ener gy conver t er s. A cur ve fit t o t he dat a was made t o find an analyt ical
expr ession of t he r at ed t or que. The r at ed t or que can be appr oximat ed as
T
N
= 71.1 Nm

,
_
P
N
1kW
1.23
(2.1)
The r at ed t or que det er mines t he r at ed speed, which can be expr essed as
n
N
= 134 r pm

,
_
P
N
1kW
0.23
(2.2)
The empir ical funct ion (2.1) for t he r at ed t or que can be compar ed wit h t he
one used by Velt man et al. (1994) and Snder gaar d & Bindner (1995)
T
N
= k

,
_
P
N
1kW
1.5
(2.3)
wher e k is appr oximat ely 13Nm for a 500 kW t ur bine. Equat ion (2.3)
pr edict s a fast er incr ease in r at ed t or que as t he t ur bine power incr eases
t han Equat ion (2.1) does. The differ ence depends on t he assumpt ion t hat k
is a const ant . In or der for k t o be a const ant , t he t ip speed of t he t ur bine
and t he r at ed power per swept ar ea has t o be independent of t he r at ed
power . However , t he t ip speed incr eases slight ly and t he r at ed power per
22 Generator S pecification and Cost Function
1
10
100
1000
10000
10 100 1000 10000
Rat ed mechanical power (kW)
R
a
t
e
d

t
o
r
q
u
e

(
k
N
m
)
Rat ed t or ques of 25 wind ener gy conver t er s
Rat ed t or que accor ding t o Equat ion (2.1)
Rat ed t or que accor ding t o Equat ion (2.3)
Figure 2.1 The rated torque as a function of mechanical power.
swept ar ea also incr eases as t he t ur bine power incr eases. In Figur e 2.1
t he r at ed t or ques for t he 25 wind ener gy conver t er s ar e plot t ed in a log-log
diagr am t oget her wit h t he t or que accor ding t o Equat ions (2.1) and (2.3). It
is obvious t hat Equat ion (2.3) can only be used t o pr edict t he r at ed t or que
for gener at or s wit h a r at ed power similar t o t he r at ed power for which k
has been det er mined.
Since t he winding t emper at ur e is a limit ing fact or for t he r at ed cur r ent ,
t he ma ximum a llowed winding t emper a t ur e is a lso vit a l t o gener a t or
per for mance. The gener at or s designed in t his t hesis ar e made for class F
winding insula t ion. Accor ding t o Det Norsk e Veri t as wind ener gy
conver t er st andar d (Anon. 1992, Sect ion 8, p. 11) t he allowed t emper at ur e
r ise for class F insulat ion is 90C and t he t her mal calculat ions ar e t o be
made for an ambient t emper at ur e of 40C. Consequent ly, t he maximum
t emper at ur e for t he winding is 130C.
Ther e a r e oft en t echnica l dema nds t ha t va r y bet ween differ ent wind
ener gy conver t er s. In some wind ener gy conver t er s, t he gener at or has t o
be used a s a st a r t mot or for t he t ur bine, usua lly for st a ll-cont r olled
t ur bines. The r equir ed peak t or que differ s bet ween t ur bines wit h differ ent
cont r ol pr inciples. St all-cont r olled t ur bines need a high peak t or que t o
limit t he t ur bine speed dur ing wind gust s, while pit ch-cont r olled t ur bines
do not have t o use t he gener at or t o limit t he speed and, t her efor e, do not
need over -t or que ca pa cit y. I f t he gener a t or is used for elect r ica l
emer gency br aking, a high peak t or que is also needed. The gener at or s in
t his t hesis a r e a ssumed t o be used in a pit ch-cont r olled wind ener gy
conver t er and ar e not r equir ed t o pr oduce a t or que higher t han t he r at ed
one. The specificat ion used in t his t hesis is summar ized in Table 2.1.
Table 2.1 The speci f i cat i on used i n t hi s t hesi s f or a di rect -dri ven
generator of a rated power of P
N
.
Rat ed t or que
T
N
= 71.1 Nm

,
_
P
N
1kW
1.23
Rat ed speed
n
N
= 134 r pm

,
_
P
N
1kW
0.23
Winding t emper at ur e
CuN
130C
Peak t or que T
Max
T
N
2.2 Generator Cost Function
The gener a t or syst em for a wind ener gy conver t er ca n be chosen by
compa r ing t he t ot a l cost of t he differ ent a lt er na t ives. The t ot a l cost
includes mor e t ha n t he cost of pur cha sing or ma nufa ct ur ing t he
gener at or . It includes bot h dir ect cost s and indir ect cost s. Some of t he
cost s ar e:
mat er ial cost s (dir ect );
manufact ur ing cost s (dir ect );
cost of losses (indir ect );
cost of maint enance (indir ect );
cost of availabilit y (indir ect ).
The mat er ial and manufact ur ing cost of t he act ive par t of t he gener at or is
est ima t ed fr om t he weight s of t he a ct ive ma t er ia ls. The cost of t he
suppor t ing st r uct ur e is det er mined fr om t he diamet er and lengt h of t he
gener a t or st r uct ur e a nd t he cost of t he losses is ca lcula t ed fr om t he
aver age losses of t he syst em. Because t he maint enance r equir ed for a
gener at or and a gear is ver y limit ed, t he cost of maint enance is neglect ed.
Mor eover , t he cost of t he availabilit y is neglect ed since t he availabilit y is
assumed t o be ver y close t o 100 % for all gener at or syst ems.
Apa r t fr om t he t ot a l cost of t he gener a t or syst em, a compa r ison ca n
include ot her aspect s t hat cannot easily be economically evaluat ed. For
inst ance, t he noise of t he gener at or can be cr ucial t o t he accept ance of t he
wind ener gy conver t er . Such aspect s have not been included her e.
2.2.1 Cost of Active Parts
The cost of t he act ive par t s of t he gener at or is based on t he assumpt ion
t ha t t he cost , of bot h t he ma t er ia l a nd t he ma nufa ct ur ing, ca n be
expr essed as a specific cost per weight of t he differ ent mat er ials. The cost
of t he act ive par t s is, t hus, expr essed as
C
act
= c
Cu
m
Cu
+ c
Fe
m
Fe
+ c
m
m
m
(2.4)
wher e m
Cu
, m
Fe
and m
m
ar e t he weight of t he copper , t he act ive ir on and
t he per manent magnet s, r espect ively. The used values of t he specific cost s
of t he differ ent mat er ials c
Cu
, c
Fe
and c
m
ar e given in Sect ion 2.2.4.
2.2.2 Cost of Structure
The cost of t he st r uct ur e ha s not been a na lyzed t hor oughly. Only a n
appr oximat e model is used. Wit hout going int o mechanical det ails, it is
cl ea r t h a t t h e a mou n t of ma t er i a l u s ed a n d t h e di ffi cu l t y i n
ma nufa ct ur ing t he st r uct ur e incr ea se a s t he dia met er a nd lengt h
incr ea se. Thus, t he st r uct ur a l cost is a funct ion of t he st a t or out er
diamet er d
se
and st at or lengt h including end windings l
t ot
. In t his t hesis,
t he cost of t he st r uct ur e is appr oximat ed as
C
st r
= c
st r

1
2

]
1
1
d
se
d
r ef
a
+

l
t ot
l
r ef
a
(2.5)
wher e t he const a nt c
s t r
is t he cost of a r efer ence st r uct ur e wit h t he
diamet er d
r ef
and t he lengt h l
r ef
. The exponent a descr ibes how fast t he
cost incr ea ses wit h incr ea sing dia met er a nd lengt h. The cost of a
st r uct ur e of 2m diamet er and 1 m lengt h is assumed t o be 20000ECU
(i.e., d
r ef
= 2m, l
r ef
= 1m and c
st r
=20000). For small gener at or s, t he cost of
a st r uct ur e of 1m diamet er and 0.5 m lengt h is est imat ed t o be 2500ECU.
The exponent a is t hen 3.
Of cour se, t his model is only appr oximat e. The r eal cost funct ion will be
much mor e complica t ed a nd include t er ms which depend on bot h
dia met er a nd lengt h a s well a s t er ms which a r e funct ions of ot her
var iables t han t he out er dimensions. The r eal cost funct ion will also be
discont inuous, for inst ance at t he diamet er above which t he gener at or can
no longer be t r anspor t ed in one piece, but inst ead has t o be mount ed at t he
wind ener gy conver t er sit e. Never t heless, it will be shown in Sect ion 6.3
t hat t he exact shape of t he cost funct ion for t he st r uct ur e is not ver y
impor t ant for t he opt imizat ion of t he gener at or diamet er and lengt h.
2.2.3 Cost of Average Losses
The losses decr ease t he ener gy pr oduct ion of t he wind ener gy conver t er
and r educe t he income fr om t he sold elect r ic ener gy. Being pr opor t ional t o
Table 2.2 Examples of t he specific cost of average losses c
d
for a wind
energy convert er lifet ime of 20years.
Elect r icit y pr ice Real int er est r at e, i
c
e l
2 % 4 % 6 %
0.04 ECU/kWh 5700 ECU/kW 4800 ECU/kW 4000 ECU/kW
0.06 ECU/kWh 8600 ECU/kW 7100 ECU/kW 6000 ECU/kW
t he r educt ion of t he ener gy pr oduct ion, t he cost of losses is pr opor t ional t o
t he aver age losses, not pr opor t ional t o t he losses at r at ed load. The cost of
losses can be expr essed as aver age losses P
dAv
t imes t he specific cost per
kilowat t of aver age losses c
d
, i.e.
C
d
= P
dAv
c
d
(2.6)
The specific cost per kilowat t of aver age losses is t he pr esent value of all
t he annual cost s of one kilowat t losses dur ing t he economical lifet ime of a
wind ener gy conver t er . The value of t his specific cost of aver age losses
depends on sever al var iables which ar e difficult t o est imat e, such as t he
fut ur e pr ice of elect r icit y, t he r eal int er est r at e, and t he lifet ime of t he
wind ener gy conver t er . However , t hese pr oblems ar e t he same for any
t ype of long-t er m invest ment ca lcula t ion. The specific cost of a ver a ge
losses can be calculat ed as
c
d
= c
el
N
y
k
N
(2.7)
wher e c
el
is t he specific cost of elect r ic ener gy (ECU/kWh), N
y
t he number
of hour s per year and k
N
is t he fact or for t he pr esent value of N
WEC
year s
of losses. Wit h t he r eal int er est r at e i t he fact or for t he pr esent value is
k
N
=
(1+i)
N
WEC
1
i(1+i)
N
WEC
(2.8)
In Table 2.2, examples of t he specific cost of aver age losses ar e shown,
wit h va r ious r ea l-int er est r a t es a nd elect r icit y pr ices. The number of
year s N
WEC
is assumed t o be 20. Elect r icit y pr oduced in moder n wind
t ur bines on good sit es cost s about 0.04 t o 0.06 ECU/kWh. The r eal int er est
r at e is usually about 2-4 % for infr ast r uct ur e invest ment s, but pr ivat e
companies oft en use higher r at es. It can be seen t hat t he var iat ion in t he
cost of losses is lar ge, fr om 4000 t o 8600 ECU. For t he opt imizat ion, a
specific cost of aver age losses of 6000 ECU/kW is used.
2.2.4 Total Cost Function
The t ot al cost funct ion used in t his t hesis includes t he cost of t he act ive
par t s, t he cost of t he st r uct ur e and t he cost of aver age losses, i.e.
C
t ot
= C
act
+ C
st r
+ C
d
(2.9)
This cost funct ion is int ended for a ppr oxima t e opt imiza t ion of t he
gener at or and should not be used t o est imat e t he manufact ur ing cost of a
gener at or . The par amet er s for t he differ ent par t s of t he cost funct ion ar e
pr esent ed in Table 2.3.
Table 2.3 The cost funct ion paramet ers and t heir nominal values.
Cost par amet er Nominal value
Cost of copper c
Cu
6 ECU/kg
Cost of ir on c
Fe
4 ECU/kg
Cost of NdFeB magnet s c
m
100 ECU/kg
Cost of r efer ence st r uct ur e c
st r
20 000 ECU
Refer ence diamet er d
r ef
2 m
Refer ence lengt h l
r ef
1 m
St r uct ur e exponent a 3
Cost of aver age losses c
d
6000 ECU/kW Calculat ion Met hod for t he Average Losses 27
3 Calculation Method for the Average Losses
In t his Chapt er , a met hod t o calculat e t he aver age losses and aver age
efficiency is der ived. The aver age losses ar e calculat ed fr om t he differ ent
t ypes of losses by mult iplying each t ype of loss at r at ed load wit h an
aver age loss fact or for t hat t ype of loss. The aver age loss fact or s need be
calculat ed only once for a gener at or t ype. Consequent ly, t he aver age losses
a r e ea sy t o include in t he cost funct ion for t he opt imiza t ion of t he
gener at or . The calculat ions ar e made for a per manent -magnet gener at or ,
but t hey can be made in a similar way also for ot her t ypes of gener at or s.
3.1 Average Losses
To find t he aver age losses P
dAv
t he pr obabilit y densit y funct ion w(v) is used
as a weight ing funct ion for t he losses P
d
(v) at differ ent wind speeds. The
aver age losses can be calculat ed as
P
dAv
=
v
in
v
ou t
P
d
(v)w(v)dv (3.1)
wher e v is t he wind speed and v
in
and v
ou t
t he cut -in and cut -out wind
speed of t he t ur bine. The cut -in wind speed used in t he calculat ion of t he
aver age loss fact or s is 3m/s and t he cut -out wind speed is 24m/s.
The pr oba bilit y densit y of wind speeds is a ppr oxima t ed wit h high
accur acy by a Weibull dist r ibut ion
w =
c
v

,
_
v
A
c
e
( )
v
A
c
(3.2)
wher e c is a shape par amet er which var ies a lit t le, but is close t o 2 for
nor mal sit es. The par amet er A is det er mined by t he aver age wind speed
of t he sit e. By definit ion t he int egr al of t he wind speed pr obabilit y densit y
funct ion over wind speeds fr om zer o t o infinit y is exa ct ly one. Thr ee
t ypica l wind speed pr oba bilit y densit y dist r ibut ions a r e shown in
Figur e3.1.
The aver age losses of t he gener at or depend on which sit e t he wind ener gy
conver t er is placed on. Ther efor e, t he aver age losses must be calculat ed
for a sit e wit h wind condit ions similar t o t he ones at t he sit e on which t he
wind ener gy conver t er will be used. In Sect ion 3.3 t he aver age losses ar e
calculat ed for t hr ee differ ent sit es.
To use Equat ion (3.1) t o calculat e t he aver age losses, t he losses must be
expr essed as a funct ion of wind speed. The main t ypes of losses for a
per manent -magnet gener at or ar e: st at or copper losses P
Cu
which ar e a 28 Calculat ion Met hod for t he Average Losses
5 10 15 20 25
Wind speed (m/s)
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
P
r
o
b
a
b
i
l
i
t
y

d
e
n
s
i
t
y

(
s
/
m
)
Aver age wind speed 5.5 m/s
Cut -in Cut -out
Figure 3.1 Wei bu l l probabi l i t y d en si t y d i st ri bu t i on s f or si t es wi t h
different average wind speeds.
funct ion of ar mat ur e cur r ent ; st at or cor e hyst er esis and eddy cur r ent
losses, P
Hy
and P
Ft
, which ar e funct ions of flux linkage and fr equency;
and fr ict ion and windage losses P
which ar e a funct ion of t he r ot at ional

speed of t he gener at or . The addit ional losses P
a d
ar e mainly a funct ion of
t he ar mat ur e cur r ent . By defining t he ar mat ur e cur r ent , flux linkage,
fr equency and r ot at ional speed as funct ions of wind speed, t he differ ent
losses can be expr essed as funct ions of wind speed. The t ot al losses can
t hen be expr essed as
P
d
(v) = P
Cu
(v) + P
Hy
(v) + P
Ft
(v) + P
(v) + P
ad
(v) (3.3)
One way t o calculat e t he aver age losses is t o use P
d
(v) fr om Equat ion (3.3)
dir ect ly in (3.1). But when t he aver age losses ar e t o be included in t he
opt imizat ion of a gener at or design, t his met hod is inefficient . The aver age
losses must be calculat ed by an int egr al for each new set of gener at or
va r ia bles t ha t is used in t he opt imiza t ion pr ocedur e. To simplify t he
gener at or opt imizat ion, t he aver age losses can inst ead be calculat ed fr om
t he differ ent t ypes of losses at r at ed load using aver age loss fact or s:
P
dAv
= P
CuN
k
dCu
+ P
HyN
k
dHy
+ P
Ft N
k
dFt
+ P
N
k
d
+ P
adN
k
dad
(3.4)
wher e k
dCu
, k
dHy
, k
dFt
, k
d
and k
dad
ar e t he aver age loss fact or s for t he
differ ent t ypes of losses. P
Cu N
, P
HyN
, P
Ft N
, P
N
and P
adN
ar e t he losses at
r at ed load.
The aver age loss fact or s ar e independent of how high t he losses ar e at
r at ed load. If t he losses at differ ent wind speeds ar e expr essed as t he
losses at r at ed load mult iplied by funct ions r epr esent ing t he dependence Calculat ion Met hod for t he Average Losses 29
on t he wind speed, t he aver age loss fact or s can be der ived fr om Equat ion
(3.1). The differ ent losses ar e t hen expr essed as
P
Cu
(v) = P
CuN
g
Cu
(v) (3.5)
P
Hy
(v) = P
HyN

g
Hy
(v) (3.6)
P
Ft
(v) = P
Ft N
g
Ft
(v) (3.7)
P
(v) = P
N
g
(v) (3.8)
P
ad
(v) = P
adN
g
ad
(v) (3.9)
By subst it ut ing t he t ot al losses in (3.1) accor ding t o Equat ions (3.3) and
(3.5)(3.9), t he aver age power losses can be calculat ed as a few int egr als
r epr esent ing t he differ ent t ypes of aver age losses. Since t he losses at r at ed
load ar e const ant , ir r espect ive of t he wind speed, t he aver age losses can be
expr essed
P
dAv
= P
CuN

v
in
v
ou t
w(v)g
Cu
(v)dv +
+ P
HyN

v
in
v
ou t
w(v)g
Hy
(v)dv + P
Ft N

v
in
v
ou t
w(v)g
Ft
(v)dv +
+ P
N

v
in
v
ou t
w(v)g
(v)dv + P
adN

v
in
v
ou t
w(v)g
ad
(v)dv (3.10)
By making a compar ison wit h Equat ion (3.4) t he aver age loss fact or s can
be ident ified. For inst ance, t he aver age loss fact or of t he copper losses is
k
dCu
=
v
in
v
ou t
w(v)g
Cu
(v)dv (3.11)
It r emains t o define t he funct ions g
Cu
(v), g
Hy
(v), g
Ft
(v), g
(v) and g
a d
(v) in
or der t o calculat e values of t he aver age loss fact or s. These funct ions will
be differ ent for differ ent wind ener gy conver t er s since t hey depend on how
t he t ur bine and t he gener at or ar e cont r olled. In Sect ion 3.3 t he aver age
loss fact or s ar e der ived for one per manent -magnet gener at or t ype.
3.2 Average Efficiency and Average Power
The aver age efficiency of a gener at or expr esses t he per cent age of t he
mechanical input ener gy which is conver t ed int o elect r ical ener gy. The
aver age efficiency can be calculat ed fr om t he aver age input power P
Av
and
t he aver age losses
Av
= 1
P
dAv
P
Av
(3.12) 30 Calculat ion Met hod for t he Average Losses

The a ver a ge input power ca n be ca lcula t ed in t he sa me wa y a s t he
aver age losses
P
Av
= k
t
P
N
(3.13)
wher e P
N
is t he r at ed mechanical power of t he t ur bine and k
t
t he aver age
fact or for t he t ur bine power . The aver age fact or can be calculat ed by
expr essing t he t ur bine power as t he power at r at ed load t imes a funct ion
g
t
r epr esent ing t he wind speed dependence, i.e.,
P
t
(v) = P
N
g
t
(v) (3.14)
The aver age fact or for t he t ur bine power is t hen
k
t
=
v
in
v
ou t
w(v)g
t
(v)dv (3.15)
The value of t he aver age fact or for t he t ur bine power is almost t he same as
t he value of t he oft en used capacit y fact or for t he wind ener gy conver t er .
The capacit y fact or expr esses t he r elat ion bet ween aver age power t o t he
gr id divided by r at ed power t o t he gr id.
3.3 Determining Average Loss Factors
In t his sect ion, t he aver age loss fact or s will be calculat ed for t he differ ent
loss component s. To calculat e t hese fact or s, t he g-funct ions, r epr esent ing
t he dependence of t he differ ent loss component s on t he wind speed, ar e
der ived. Finally, t he aver age loss fact or s ar e calculat ed and discussed.
The g-funct ions can be der ived fr om a loss model for elect r ical machines.
An appr oximat e model, for how t he losses change wit h ar mat ur e cur r ent
I
a
, flux linkage , fr equency f and speed n , is used. The model has been
ver ified for a wide r ange of gener at or speeds, volt ages and cur r ent s by
mea sur ement s on a four -pole synchr onous gener a t or (Gr a uer s, 1994,
p.70-86). The g-funct ion of t he copper losses can be expr essed as
g
Cu
(v) =
I
a
(v)
2
I
aN
2
(3.16)
wher e I
a N
is t he ar mat ur e cur r ent at r at ed load. Addit ional losses can be
appr oximat ed as pr opor t ional t o t he ar mat ur e cur r ent squar ed, just like
t he copper losses (Adkins & Har ley, 1975). Ther efor e, t her e is no need for a
special g-funct ion for t he addit ional losses since t hey can be included in
t he copper losses.
The g-funct ion of t he eddy cur r ent losses in t he ir on cor e can be expr essed
appr oximat ely as
g
Ft
(v) =

_
f
f
N
N
2
(3.17) Calculat ion Met hod for t he Average Losses 31
wher e f
N
and
N
ar e t he fr equency at r at ed load and t he flux linkage at
r at ed load, r espect ively. The g-funct ion of t he hyst er esis loss funct ion is
appr oximat ed as
g
Hy
(v) =
f
f
N

N
2
(3.18)
The fr ict ion and windage losses ar e bear ing fr ict ion losses, appr oximat ely
pr opor t iona l t o t he r ot a t iona l speed, a nd fa n a nd winda ge losses,
a ppr oxima t ely pr opor t iona l t o t he cube of t he r ot a t iona l speed. The
g-funct ion, t her efor e, can be expr essed as
g
(v) = C
1

n
n
N
+ C
2

,
_
n
n
N
3
(3.19)
wher e C
1
+ C
2
= 1 and n
N
is t he speed at r at ed load. The par amet er C
1
r epr esent s fr ict ion t hat is pr opor t ional t o t he speed and C
2
r epr esent s
losses t hat ar e pr opor t ional t o t he cube of t he speed. Her e it is assumed
t ha t C
1
= C
2
= 0.5. For a 50kVA, four -pole, elect r ica lly excit ed
synchr onous gener at or C
1
is 0.28 and C
2
is 0.72 (Gr auer s, 1994, p. 74).
The lower t he gener at or speed is, t he lar ger C
1
is and t he lower C
2
is.
The g-funct ions a bove ha ve t o be defined wit h t he wind speed a s a
par amet er . Consequent ly, t he gener at or speed, fr equency, cur r ent and
flux linkage have t o be expr essed as funct ions of t he wind speed. In a
var iable speed wind ener gy conver t er , t he speed of t he t ur bine is usually
cont r olled t o maximize t ur bine efficiency. The t ur bine speed is incr eased
linear ly wit h t he wind speed unt il t he r at ed speed n
N
is r eached. The
r at ed speed is r eached at a wind speed v
nN
, which is lower t han t he r at ed
wind speed. (v
nN
= 10m/s in t his t hesis.) Thus, t he speed can be defined as
n(v) =

'
,
_
v
v
nN
n
N
ifvv
nN
n
N
ifv>v
nN
(3.20)
The fr equency var ies in t he same way as t he t ur bine speed, i.e.,
f(v) =

'
,
_
v
v
nN
f
N
ifvv
nN
f
N
ifv>v
nN
(3.21)
The cor e losses of t he gener at or ar e det er mined by t he flux linkage of t he
gener at or ar mat ur e. The r ect ifier is assumed t o cont r ol t he ar mat ur e
volt age t o keep t he flux linkage const ant
(v) =
N
(3.22) 32 Calculat ion Met hod for t he Average Losses
The cur r ent a s a funct ion of wind speed ca n be ca lcula t ed fr om t he
equat ion for t he gener at or out put power
P
a
(v) = 3 U
ap
(v) I
a
(v) cos() (3.23)
wher e U
ap
is t he ar mat ur e phase volt age and cos() t he t er minal power
fact or . The t er minal volt age is kept at t he same level by t he r ect ifier
cont r ol as t he int er nal emf E
p
and t he emf is pr opor t ional t o t he fr equency
U
ap
(v) = E
pN

,
_
f
f
N
(3.24)
wher e E
pN
is t he int er nal emf at r at ed speed. The r eact ance X
a
of t he
gener at or (= 2 f (v) L
a
) makes t he power fact or cur r ent -dependent
cos() =

1

,
_
0.5I
a
(v)2f(v)L
a
U
ap
(v)
2
(3.25)
I n ca lcula t ing t he cur r ent a s a funct ion of wind speed, gener a t or
efficiency is a ppr oxima t ed a s being const a nt . The elect r ic power is
consequent ly pr opor t ional t o t he t ur bine power
P
a
(v) ~ P
t
(v) (3.26)
The losses in t he gener at or ar e not neglect ed, it is only assumed t hat t he
ar mat ur e power can be scaled in pr opor t ion t o t he t ur bine power . The
ar mat ur e power , t hen, can be expr essed as
P
a
(v) =
P
t
(v)
P
t
(v
N
)
P
aN
(3.27)
wher e P
aN
is t he ar mat ur e power at r at ed load and v
N
is t he r at ed wind
speed, her e assumed t o be 13m/s. The power fr om t he t ur bine P
t
(v) is
P
t
(v) = C
P
(v, n)
1
2

a
A
t
v
3
(3.28)
wher e C
P
is t he power coefficient of t he t ur bine,
a
is t he densit y of t he air
and A
t
is t he ar ea swept by t he t ur bine. Equat ions (3.27) and (3.28) can be
used t o expr ess t he ar mat ur e power as
P
a
(v) =
C
P
(v,n(v))
C
P
(v
N
,n
N
)

,
_
v
v
N
3
P
aN
(3.29)
Fr om (3.23) and (3.25) t he cur r ent as a funct ion of elect r ical power and
volt age can be found
I
a
(v) =

2{ } U
ap
(v)
2

U
ap
(v)
4
1/9[P
a
(v)2f(v)L
a
]
2
[2f(v)L
a
]
2
(3.30)
The way in which ar mat ur e cur r ent changes wit h wind speed depends on
t he gener at or design, since t he ar mat ur e induct ance L
a
is not const ant .
Ther efor e, t he aver age loss fact or for t he copper losses will var y dur ing Calculat ion Met hod for t he Average Losses 33
5 10 15 20 25
Wind speed (m/s)
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
g
-
f
u
n
c
t
i
o
n
s
Rat ed speed
Rat ed power
Hyst er esis losses
Fr ict ion losses
Eddy cur r ent losses
Copper losses
Figure 3.2 The g-functions for different types of losses from the cut-in to
the cut-out wind speed.
t he opt imizat ion of a gener at or . If t he var iat ion of t he aver age loss fact or
is lar ge, t he loss fact or has t o be calculat ed for each new set of gener at or
var iables used in t he opt imizat ion. It will lat er be shown t hat t he var iat ion
in t he aver age loss fact or is small enough t o be neglect ed.
The g-funct ions for t he differ ent t ypes of losses can be calculat ed by means
of t he above funct ions for t he cur r ent , r ot at ional speed and flux linkage as
funct ions of wind speed. In Figur e 3.2 t he g-funct ions for differ ent t ypes of
losses ar e plot t ed. It can be seen t hat all t ypes of losses decr ease fr om t heir
r at ed values when t he wind speed decr eases. The copper losses decr ease
r a pidly a s t he wind speed decr ea ses beca use t he cur r ent is a lmost
pr opor t ional t o t he power . The hyst er esis losses ar e r educed because of t he
r educed speed but t he r educt ion is much smaller t han for t he copper
losses, since t he flux of t he gener at or r emains const ant . The eddy cur r ent
losses ar e r educed mor e t han t he hyst er esis losses because t hey decr ease
as t he squar e of t he fr equency. The r educt ion of t he fr ict ion and windage
losses is similar t o t hat of t he eddy cur r ent losses.
The aver age loss fact or s ar e calculat ed for t hr ee differ ent sit es wit h t he
wind speed pr obabilit y densit y appr oximat ed as a Weibull dist r ibut ion.
The fir st sit e is a high wind speed sit e, t he second sit e is a t ypical wind
ener gy conver t er sit e, and t he t hir d sit e is a low wind speed sit e. The
aver age fact or s for t he t ur bine power ar e 0.35, 0.25 and 0.15 on t he t hr ee
sit es. The aver age loss fact or s for t he differ ent sit es and t he differ ent t ypes 34 Calculat ion Met hod for t he Average Losses
Table 3.1 The average l oss f act ors f or di f f erent t ypes of l osses at
different sit es.
Aver age wind speed 5.5 m/s 6.8 m/s 8.0 m/s
Par amet er A (c=2) 6.23 7.66 9.06
Aver age fact or for t he
t ur bine power , k
t
0.15 0.25 0.35
k
dCu
0.07 0.14 0.24
k
dHy
0.50 0.61 0.69
k
dFt
0.35 0.47 0.57
k
d
0.38 0.50 0.60
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
Ar mat ur e r eact ance (p.u.)
0
0.05
0.1
0.15

A
v
e
r
a
g
e

f
a
c
t
o
r
f
o
r

c
o
p
p
e
r

l
o
s
s
e
s
Figure 3.3 The value of t he average fact or for t he copper losses k
dCu
as a
funct ion of generat or react ance at t he medium wind speed
si t e.
of losses ar e shown in Table 3.1. An ar mat ur e r eact ance x
a
of 1p.u. has
been used.
It is clear t hat copper losses cause r at her low aver age losses. When t he
gener a t or is opt imized for a wind ener gy conver t er , it will be mor e
impor t ant t o keep t he cor e losses low t han t o keep t he copper losses low.
The aver age loss fact or s must be calculat ed for each new t ype of gener at or
a nd dr ive t r a in beca use t hey ca n differ bet ween differ ent gener a t or
designs and also t he cont r ol of t he gener at or affect s t he loss const ant s.
The aver age loss fact or for t he copper losses depends on t he ar mat ur e
r eact ance. In Figur e 3.3 t he value of t he aver age loss fact or for t he copper Calculat ion Met hod for t he Average Losses 35
losses is shown as a funct ion of ar mat ur e r eact ance for t he sit e wit h an
aver age wind speed of 6.8 m/s. The aver age loss fact or decr eases wit h
in cr ea sin g r ea ct a n ce. For gen er a t or s wit h h igh for ce den sit y t h e
r ea ct a nce is usua lly bet ween 0.7 a nd 1.2 p.u. Consequent ly, it is
r easonable t o use a r eact ance of value 1p.u. when t he aver age loss fact or
for t he copper losses is calculat ed.
In elect r ically excit ed gener at or s, t he flux linkage can be r educed at low
power t o maximize t he efficiency at each load, as descr ibed by Gr auer s
(1994, p. 90-91). If t his cont r ol st r at egy is used, t he aver age loss fact or for
t he copper losses will be higher t ha n for t his per ma nent -ma gnet
gener at or . The aver age loss fact or for t he cor e losses will inst ead be lower . 36 Calculat ion Met hod for t he Average Losses
Generat or Types 37
4 Generator Types
In t his chapt er a gener at or t ype suit able for dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine
gener at or s is chosen. Fir st , some differ ent gener at or t ypes ar e discussed
br iefly, and t hen t he choice of r ect ifier is discussed mor e in det ail. Finally,
t he chosen gener at or t ype is pr esent ed.
It is ver y difficult t o compar e gener at or t ypes complet ely; t o find which is
t he best for a given applicat ion. The aim of t his chapt er is solely t o find a
gener at or t ype well suit ed t o be a dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine gener at or .
4.1 Electrical Excitation or Permanent Magnets
Synchr onous gener at or s can be eit her elect r ically excit ed or excit ed by
per manent magnet s. The quest ion of which t ype of excit at ion is best is
det er mined mainly by compar ing t he cost of t he per manent magnet s wit h
t he t ot al cost of t he r ot or pole, t he field winding and t he field winding
losses.
The cost and t he losses of an elect r ically excit ed gener at or depend on t he
pole pit ch. A simplified way of showing t his is t o look int o t he r equir ed
field cur r ent at no-load. The mmf r equir ed of t he field pole is det er mined
by t he r equir ed air gap flux densit y and t he magnet ic air gap. The mmf
r equir ed for t he ir on ha s been neglect ed. I n t he elect r ica lly excit ed
gener at or , t he magnet ic air gap is t he dist ance bet ween t he pole shoe and
t he st at or t eet h. As t he pole pit ch is r educed, t he no-load mmf r equir ed of
each pole is const ant . Consequent ly, t he t ot al field mmf has t o be const ant ,
a lt hough t her e is less r oom for t he field winding a s t he pole pit ch
decr eases. To allow const ant no-load field mmf, t he field pole will have t o
be higher as t he pole pit ch is decr eased. In Figur e 4.1, gener at or poles
wit h elect r ical excit at ion ar e shown for t hr ee differ ent pole pit ches. The
air gap flux densit y is 0.7 T and t he air gap is 2 mm, which r equir es a no-
loa d field mmf of 1100 a mper e-t ur ns. The t he no-loa d field winding
cur r ent densit y is assumed t o be 2 A/mm
2
and t he fill fact or of t he field
winding is 0.5. In t he figur e it can be seen t hat it becomes difficult t o
decr ease t he pole pit ch below 100mm because t her e is not much r oom left
for t he field winding. Since t he number of poles incr eases wit h decr easing
pole pit ch, t he field winding losses will incr ea se a s t he pole pit ch
decr ea ses.
Per manent magnet s ar e expensive but t hey eliminat e t he excit at ion losses
and allow smaller pole pit ches t o be used t han elect r ical excit at ion does.
The pole pit ch of a gener at or wit h per manent magnet s can be ver y small.
It is only limit ed by t he leakage flux bet ween t he magnet s. J ust as for t he
elect r ically excit ed gener at or , t he no-load mmf r equir ed of t he magnet
38 Generat or Types
120 mm 80 mm 50 mm
St at or yoke
1100 A 1100 A
Rot or yoke
Pole shoe
Pole body
1
1
0
0

A
1
1
0
0

A
1
1
0
0

A
1
1
0
0

A
Figure 4.1 Elect rical excit at ion for t hree pole pit ches. No-load peak flux
density in the air gap 0.7 T, air gap 2 mm.
120 mm 80 mm 50 mm
Rot or yoke
St at or yoke
Per manent magnet
Figure 4.2 Permanent magnet excit at ion for t hree pole pit ches, 120, 80
and 50 mm. No-load peak flux density in the air gap 0.7 T, air
gap 2mm.
does not depend on t he pole pit ch. The mmf pr oduced by a magnet is t he
magnet height t imes t he coer cit ivit y of t he per manent -magnet mat er ial.
Ther efor e, t he magnet height can be const ant as t he pole pit ch decr eases.
In Figur e 4.2 per manent magnet excit at ion is shown for t hr ee differ ent
pole pit ches. In compar ison wit h Figur e 4.1 it is clear t hat per manent
magnet s ar e a bet t er alt er nat ive t han elect r ical excit at ion if t he pole pit ch
has t o be small.
This compar ison is made in a simplified way, not including t he ar mat ur e
r ea ct ion of st a t or cur r ent s. St ill, it shows t he ma in a dva nt a ge of
per manent magnet s over elect r ical excit at ion when using a small pole
pit ch. For elect r ically excit ed gener at or s t he magnet ic air gap is small
Generat or Types 39
and, as a consequence, t he ar mat ur e r eact ion will be impor t ant if t he pole
pit ch is lar ge. For r ot or s wit h sur face-mount ed per manent magnet s, t he
magnet ic air gap is much lar ger since t he per meabilit y of t he per manent
ma gnet s is a lmost equa l t o t ha t of a ir . Consequent ly, t he a r ma t ur e
r eact ion is much smaller in a per manent magnet gener at or wit h sur face
magnet s t han in elect r ically excit ed gener at or s.
Even t hough t he per manent magnet s ar e ver y expensive, t he losses of t he
field winding make per manent -magnet excit at ion bet t er t han elect r ical
excit a t ion for sma ll pole pit ches. J ckel (1996) ha s shown t ha t even
expensive NdFeB magnet s (150 ECU/kg) lead t o a lower t ot al cost t han
elect r ica l ma gnet iza t ion does. Besides r educing losses, t he per ma nent
magnet s lead t o a light er design.
I nduct ion gener a t or s a r e elect r ica lly excit ed, but in cont r a st t o t he
elect r ically excit ed synchr onous gener at or t he magnet izing cur r ent flows
in t he st a t or winding. Alt hough t he design differ s fr om t he design of
elect r ica lly excit ed synchr onous gener a t or s, induct ion gener a t or s a lso
suffer fr om t he same negat ive effect s as t he pole pit ch is r educed. The
magnet izing mmf is const ant , but as t he pole pit ch is r educed a lar ger
par t of t he st at or cur r ent will be needed t o magnet ize t he air gap. This
effect causes t he power fact or t o decr ease as t he pole pit ch decr eases. The
pr act ical limit for t he minimum pole pit ch of induct ion machines wit h an
air gap of 2mm is in t he or der of 100 mm. An ot her r eason why induct ion
gener at or s cannot be made wit h a small pole pit ch even if t he air gap can
be made small is t hat t he st at or winding should be made wit h at least t wo
slot s per pole and phase t o keep t he space har monics of t he air gap flux
wave low. Two slot s per pole and phase r equir es at least a 100mm pole
pit ch in a t hr ee phase gener at or .
4.2 Direct Grid Connection or Frequency Converter
Gr id connect ed gener at or s ar e r equir ed t o have a fr equency of 50 or 60 Hz
and t o damp oscillat ions bet ween t he gr id and t he r ot or . Dir ect -dr iven
wind t ur bine gener a t or s ca n only gener a t e 50Hz wit h a ver y la r ge
number of poles, for example 188 poles for a 500 kW gener at or wit h a r at ed
speed of 32r pm.
Wit h a r equir ed pole pit ch of mor e t han 100 mm, diamet er for elect r ically
excit ed gener a t or s will be ver y la r ge, mor e t ha n 6m for t he 500 kW
gener a t or . Ther efor e, elect r ica lly excit ed, dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine
gen er a t or s s h ou ld n ot be des ign ed for a 50 Hz fr equ en cy a n d,
consequent ly, should not be dir ect gr id connect ed.
The pole pit ch can be made 50mm, or even less, by using per manent
ma gnet s. The gener a t or ca n t hen pr ovide a 50Hz fr equency wit h a
r easonable diamet er , 3m for a 500 kW gener at or wit h a r at ed speed of
40 Generat or Types
Per manent magnet s,
magnet izat ion dir ect ion
Figure 4.3 S urface mount ed NdFeB magnet s (left ) and ferrit e magnet s
wit h flux concent rat ion (right ).
32r pm. Never t heless, damper windings cannot be made efficient wit h
such a small pole pit ch and, t her efor e, t he per manent magnet gener at or
cannot be dir ect gr id connect ed. Ther e is one solut ion t o t his pr oblem;
mecha nica l da mping of a moving st a t or , discussed by West la ke et a l.
(1996). That solut ion r equir es a complicat ed mechanical st r uct ur e and is
not fur t her analysed in t his t hesis.
It is clear fr om t he discussion above t hat it would be ver y difficult t o design
a dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine gener at or t hat is t o be dir ect connect ed t o t he
gr id if t he dia met er must r ema in sma ll. Connect ing a fr equency
conver t er bet ween t he gener at or and t he gr id will solve t hese pr oblems. To
use a fr equency conver t er is, however , not only a way t o avoid pr oblems: A
fr equ en cy con ver t er a l s o i mpr oves t h e wi n d en er gy con ver t er
per for mance. It makes it possible t o oper at e t he wind t ur bine at var iable
speed, which incr eases t he ener gy pr oduct ion and r educes t he noise at
low wind speeds. The fr equency conver t er can also r educe mechanical
loads and it allows t he gener at or t o be opt imized wit h less r est r ict ions.
4.3 Surface Magnets or Flux Concentration
I n per ma nent ma gnet gener a t or s t he ma gnet iza t ion ca n eit her be
achieved by magnet s dir ect ly on t he r ot or sur face or by magnet s inside t he
r ot or . One r ot or design wit h sur fa ce-mount ed ma gnet s a nd one r ot or
design wit h flux concent r at ion ar e shown in Figur e 4.3.
Magnet s on t he r ot or sur face have t o have a r emanent flux densit y higher
t han t he r equir ed air gap flux densit y. Subsequent ly, it is necessar y t o use
expensive magnet s, like Samar ium-Cobalt (SmCo) or Neodymium-Ir on-
Bor on (NdFeB). SmCo has a r emanent flux densit y of about 1T and NdFeB
about 1.2T. The magnet mat er ial is ut ilized best when t he flux densit y in
t he air gap is half t he r emanent flux densit y. If t he air gap flux densit y
has t o be close t o t he r emanent flux densit y, t he amount of per manent
Generat or Types 41
Rot or yoke
St at or yoke
Rot or yoke
St at or yoke
Figure 4.4 A convent ional slot winding (left ) and an air gap winding
(right ).
magnet s r equir ed will be lar ge. Never t heless, sur face magnet s lead t o a
ver y simple r ot or design wit h a low weight .
Flux concent r at ion can be used t o ut ilize cheap low-ener gy magnet s and
st ill obt ain a high air gap flux densit y. The magnet s ar e t hen placed
inside t he r ot or and t he flux is guided in magnet ic cir cuit s which ar e
na r r ower a t t he a ir ga p t ha n a t t he ma gnet s. A common low-ener gy
magnet mat er ial is fer r it e which has a r emanent flux densit y of about
0.4T.
A mor e complica t ed r ot or is r equir ed for flux concent r a t ion t ha n for
sur face magnet s and it would also nor mally be heavier , while t he cost for
magnet s can be much lower t han for sur face magnet s. Today, NdFeB
ma gnet s cost a bout 30 t imes mor e t ha n fer r it e ma gnet s a nd t heir
maximum magnet ic ener gy pr oduct is about 10 t imes higher t han it is for
fer r it e.
4.4 Slot Winding or Air Gap Winding
Nor mally, t he ar mat ur e windings in elect r ical machines ar e placed in
slot s in t he ir on cor e, but in cer t ain machines air gap windings have been
used. A convent ional slot winding and an air gap winding ar e shown in
Figur e 4.4.
The air gap winding is int er est ing for sever al r easons: mor e copper can be
placed in t he space bet ween t he st at or yoke and t he r ot or ; cogging t or que
caused by t he t eet h is avoided; and t he r eact ance of t he st at or winding is
r educed. Never t heless, t he use of air gap windings also r esult s in some
disa dva nt a ges: t he ma gnet ic a ir ga p is la r ge, r equir ing a la r ge field
cur r ent or much per manent magnet mat er ial t o be used; t he for ces act on
t he st a t or winding inst ea d of on t he st a t or ir on; t he cooling sur fa ce
bet ween t he windings and t he st at or cor e is smaller if an air gap winding
is used; and t he conduct or s of t he air gap winding will be penet r at ed by
t he air gap flux, which will cause eddy cur r ent losses in t he windings.
The last disadvant age is not impor t ant if t he windings ar e made of t hin
42 Generat or Types
wir e. In windings made of copper bar s wit h a lar ge cr oss sect ion, t he eddy
cur r ent losses caused by t he main flux may singnificant ly incr ease t he
winding t emper at ur e.
Sever al aut hor s pr opose air gap windings inst ead of convent ional slot
windings. Air gap windings have been pr oposed for lar ge t ur bogener at or s
by Davies (1971), for sever al small machines and also for dir ect -dr iven,
wind t ur bine gener at or s by Honor at i et al. (1991) and by Alat alo (1991).
Except for t ur bogener at or s, which have a ver y lar ge pole pit ch, air gap
windings ar e used in combinat ion wit h per manent magnet excit at ion.
Tur bogener at or s have a lar ge air gap, in t he or der of 100 mm, even wit h a
convent ional slot winding. Consequent ly, t he air gap winding does not
necessar ily incr ease t he necessar y magnet izing mmf. The windings ar e
also usually dir ect ly wat er -cooled. St ill, t her e can be pr oblems wit h air
gap windings in t ur bogener at or s: The eddy cur r ent losses in t he winding,
for exa mpl e, h a ve n ot been di s cu s s ed by Da vi es (1971); s i n ce
t ur bogener at or s gener ally have t hick copper bar s, t hese losses can be ver y
h i gh .
In sma ll elect r ica l ma chines, t he a ir ga p winding ca n be ver y useful
because it simplifies t he manufact ur ing of t he machine. In t hese small
machines t he windings can be easily glued t o t he st at or , since t he for ces
ar e ver y small. The cooling of t he winding is also effect ive because of t hin
windings and t he windings ar e made of t hin wir e, leading t o low eddy
cur r ent losses.
In dir ect -dr iven wind-t ur bine gener at or s, t he air gap winding seems t o
have some disadvant ages. The winding is nor mally indir ect ly cooled in
gener a t or s of t his size a nd, t her efor e, t he decr ea sed cooling sur fa ce
bet ween t he air gap winding and t he st at or yoke is a disadvant age. The air
gap is nor mally only a few millimet r es in a slot t ed machine but in a
machine wit h air gap windings, t he air gap will become sever al t imes
la r ger , lea ding t o a la r ge a mount of per ma nent ma gnet s. The eddy
cur r ent losses in t he winding can also be a pr oblem, but one t hat can be
avoided if t he winding can be made of st r anded wir e.
4.5 Radial-, Axial- and Transversal-flux Machines
Ther e ar e sever al gener at or t ypes t hat ar e possible t o use as dir ect -dr iven
wind t ur bine gener at or s. In t his sect ion, t he r adial-flux, axial-flux and
t r ansver sal-flux gener at or s ar e discussed. Since t he r adial-flux machine
is t he most convent ional of t he alt er nat ives t o be compar ed, it is used as a
r efer ence in t he compar isons. The design of t he differ ent machine t ypes
can be seen in Figur es 1.41.8 in Sect ion 1.3.
Generat or Types 43
Axial-flux machines can, in many r espect s, be designed in a way similar
t o r a dia l-flu x ma ch in es . On e impor t a n t r es t r ict ion for a xia l-flu x
machines is t hat t he amount of windings in t he air gap is limit ed by t he
available space at t he inner r adius. The air gap at lar ger r adius cannot be
fully ut ilized beca use of t his a nd t he ut iliza t ion of t he ir on cor e a nd
magnet s is slight ly less efficient in axial-flux machines t han in r adial-
flux machines. In r adial-flux machines, t he lengt h of t he st at or and t he
air gap diamet er can be chosen independent ly. If necessar y, t he r adial-
flux machine can be made wit h a small diamet er by using a long st at or .
To r educe t he diamet er of t he axial-flux machine, while keeping t he r at ed
t or que const ant , t he differ ence bet ween inner and out er r adius has t o be
incr eased. The maximum t or que of an axial-flux machine is, however ,
a chieved when t he inner r a dius is a bout 0.6 t imes t he out er r a dius
(diNa poli 1991). A sma ller inner r a dius will only decr ea se t he r a t ed
t or que. Consequent ly, t he diamet er of t he axial-flux machine cannot be
r educed as much as t hat of t he r adial-flux machine. One way of avoiding
a lar ge diamet er is t o st ack a number of axial-flux machines wit h a small
dia met er on t he sa me sha ft . Thus, t he r a t ed power ca n be incr ea sed
wit hout incr easing t he diamet er . This will, however , lead t o an expensive
gener a t or .
To allow a small air gap, t he r ot or and st at or st r uct ur es have t o wit hst and
t he high magnet ic for ce in t he air gap. It is easier t o make a r ot or st iff in
t he r adial dir ect ion t han in t he axial dir ect ion, especially in gener at or s
wit h a la r ge dia met er . Ther efor e, it is ea sier t o ma ke r a dia l-flux
gener at or s wit h a small air gap. However , t he t her mal expansion of t he
r ot or and st at or will in a r adial-flux gener at or influence t he air gap, while
in a n a xia l-flux ma chine it does not a ffect t he a ir ga p. Axia l-flux
machines ar e also difficult t o manufact ur e wit h a slot t ed st at or , because
t he slot pit ch var ies on st at or laminat ions for differ ent r adii.
The a xia l-flux ma chine ca n be ma de wit h a double-sided st a t or mor e
ea sily t ha n a r a dia l-flux ma chine. A double-sided st a t or is shown in
Figur e 1.7. This st at or eliminat es t he need for a r ot or yoke as a r et ur n
pat h for t he flux. Subsequent ly, t he act ive weight of t he gener at or can be
r educed. Never t heless, it is only a r ot or yoke made of cheap solid ir on t hat
is eliminat ed. A mor e complex non-magnet ic r ot or st r uct ur e has t o be
used inst ead t o hold t he magnet s. The double-sided st at or also allows t he
winding t o be divided int o t wo, ha lf a s t hick pa r t s. In a r a dia l-flux
ma chine a n equiva lent elect r oma gnet ic design ca n be a chieved by
doubling t he st at or lengt h inst ead of using t wo st at or halves. Such a
solut ion will lead t o a lower amount of end windings t han t he double-sided
st at or . If t he machine lengt h is not r est r ict ed, t he axial-flux machine wit h
a double-sided st at or will not be bet t er t han a r adial-flux machine wit h a
long st at or , fr om an elect r omagnet ic point of wiev.
44 Generat or Types
A specia l t ype of a xia l-flux gener a t or is t he t or oida l st a t or ma chine
(Shown in Figur e 1.6). Besides t he a bove ment ioned a dva nt a ges a nd
disadvant ages of axial-flux machines, t he t or oidal st at or winding leads t o
simple end windings, but it becomes mor e difficult t o fix t he st at or t o t he
gener a t or st r uct ur e. One fur t her disa dva nt a ge is t ha t t he windings,
which have high losses in dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine gener at or s, ar e in
t he middle par t of t he machine wher e t hey ar e difficult t o cool wit hout
dir ect air - or wat er -cooling.
The t r ansver sal-flux machine is r at her differ ent fr om t he ot her machine
t ypes, and it is difficult t o make any simple compar isons bet ween it and
r adial-flux machines. The major differ ence bet ween r adial- or axial-flux
machines and t he t r ansver sal-flux machine is t hat t he t r ansver sal-flux
concept a llows a n incr ea se in t he spa ce for t he windings wit hout
decr easing t he available space for t he main flux; t his allows for ver y low
copper losses. The t r ansver sal-flux machine can also be made wit h a ver y
small pole pit ch compar ed wit h t he ot her t ypes. These differ ences make
t he t r ansver sal-flux machine capable of pr oducing a higher for ce densit y
in t he a ir ga p t ha n t he ot her ma chine t ypes. Unfor t una t ely, t he
elect r oma gnet ic st r uct ur e is mor e complica t ed t ha n for convent iona l
gener at or t ypes, which may make it mor e expensive t o manufact ur e. The
t r a n sver sa l-flu x gen er a t or is pr oba bly bet t er t h a n t h e r a dia l-flu x
ma chines fr om a n elect r oma gnet ic point of view, but a compa r ison of
t hese gener at or t ypes must include a det ailed mechanical invest igat ion
and has, t her efor e, not been included in t his t hesis.
4.6 Forced-commutated Rectifier or Diode Rectifier
To make a dir ect -dr iven gener at or small, it is impor t ant t hat t he for ce
densit y in t he air gap is high. A high for ce densit y r equir es a high cur r ent
loa ding, which lea ds t o a high a r ma t ur e r ea ct a nce. Beca use of t he
r eact ance, t he t ype of r ect ifier has a lar ge influence on t he phase angle of
t he ar mat ur e cur r ent and on t he achievable for ce densit y.
Ther e ar e t wo major t ypes of r ect ifier s t hat can be used for var iable-speed
gen er a t or s: ma ch in e-commu t a t ed r ect ifier s a n d for ced-commu t a t ed
r ect ifier s. I n t his sect ion, a ma chine-commut a t ed diode r ect ifier is
compa r ed wit h a for ced-commut a t ed sine-wa ve r ect ifier . The diode
r ect ifier is simpler , cheaper and mor e efficient t han a for ced-commut at ed
r ect ifier . The diode r ect ifier , however , cannot cont r ol t he cur r ent phase
angle and, if t he r eact ance of t he gener at or is high, t he gener at or will not
be well ut ilized. The for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier can supply t he gener at or
wit h r eact ive power and, t her efor e, t he phase angle bet ween t he cur r ent
and t he int er nal emf can be kept small, allowing a high for ce densit y,
even if t he r eact ance is high.
Generat or Types 45
A compar ison of r ect ifier s will be made r egar ding t he power at r at ed
cur r ent and peak power . In some wind ener gy conver t er s, t he gener at or
must be able t o pr oduce a peak power higher t han t he r at ed power , oft en
about 150% of t he r at ed power . The peak power is only r equir ed for shor t
t imes, in t he or der of some seconds. Dur ing t hat shor t t ime, t he heat ing of
t he winding is not assumed t o be a pr oblem and, t her efor e, t he cur r ent
can be allowed t o be much higher t han t he r at ed cur r ent .
4.6.1 Generator Model
The gener a t or is a ssumed t o be a t hr ee-pha se per ma nent -ma gnet
gener at or wit h sinusoidal no-load volt ages. It s equivalent cir cuit is shown
in Figur e 4.5. In a per manent -magnet gener at or of t he t ype discussed in
Chapt er s 57, t he synchr onous-, t r ansient - and sub-t r ansient r eact ances
ar e almost equal. In t his t hesis, t he value of t he synchr onous r eact ance X
a
is used in all calculat ions. The per unit base is t he no-load emf of t he
gener at or and t he r at ed cur r ent . The per unit r esist ance of t he ar mat ur e
winding will be a few per cent , a nd ha s not been included in t his
compar ison of r ect ifier s.
X
a
E
I
a
U
d
Gener at or model Rect ifier DC-link

I
d
U
a
Figure 4.5 The equivalent circuit of t he generat or used for a comparison
of rect ifiers.
4.6.2 Diode Rectifier
The commut at ion volt age dr op makes t he out put volt age U
d
of a diode
r ect ifier depend on t he dc cur r ent I
d
. The cur r ent s in t wo phases over lap
dur ing t he t ime it t akes t o commut at e t he cur r ent fr om one phase t o
anot her . The over lap can be measur ed as an elect r ical angle and, when
t he over lap angle is less t han 60degr ees, t he volt age can be calculat ed as
U
d
=
3
2 E
3
X
a
I
d
(4.1)
wher e E is t he int er nal line-t o-line emf of t he gener at or and X
a
is t he
ar mat ur e r eact ance (Thor bor g 1988, p. 117). If t he over lap angle exceeds
60 degr ees, t he diode br idge will be complet ely shor t -cir cuit ed dur ing a
46 Generat or Types
par t of t he per iod. The dc volt age st ar t s t o decr ease mor e r apidly wit h
incr easing cur r ent and t he dc volt age event ually becomes zer o. The out put
power as a funct ion of t he cur r ent can be calculat ed fr om t he out put
volt age. Since t he volt age always decr eases wit h incr easing cur r ent , t he
out put power will have a maximum value which cannot be exceeded, no
mat t er how high t he cur r ent is. The out put dc volt age and t he act ive
power of a diode r ect ifier fed by a gener at or , wit h a r eact ance of 0.5p.u.
a nd zer o r esist a nce, a r e shown in Figur e 4.6. The volt a ge a nd a ct ive
power a s funct ions of cur r ent will a lwa ys ha ve t he sa me sha pe,
r egar dless of t he value of t he ar mat ur e r eact ance. It is only t he scales of
t he cur r ent axis and t he power axis which will change if t he r eact ance is
ch a n ged.
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Dc cur r ent (p.u.)
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1

D
c

v
o
l
t
a
g
e

(
p
.
u
.
)
A
c
t
i
v
e

p
o
w
e
r

(
p
.
u
.
)
Dc volt age
Act ive power
Figure 4.6 The dc volt age and act ive power of a diode rect ifier fed by a
generat or wit h an int ernal emf of 1p.u. and a react ance of
0.5p.u.
4.6.3 Forced-commutated Rectifier
If a for ced-commut a t ed r ect ifier is used, t he t er mina l volt a ge of t he
gener a t or ca n be cont r olled by supplying t he gener a t or wit h r ea ct ive
power . The r at ed ar mat ur e cur r ent I
a N
and r at ed phase volt age U
a pN
ar e
usua lly t he limit for t he gener a t or power , a nd depending on how t he
phase angle of t he ar mat ur e cur r ent is cont r olled, differ ent values of t he
act ive power can be achieved at r at ed cur r ent . To maximize t he act ive
power at r at ed cur r ent , t he pr oduct of t he volt age, cur r ent and power
fact or has t o be maximized.
Thr ee differ ent ways t o cont r ol t he gener at or t er minal volt age, and t he
cor r esponding kVA r at ings r equir ed of t he gener at or ar mat ur e and t he
r ect ifier , ar e shown in Figur e 4.7. Maximizing t he t er minal power fact or
(cont r ol a) does not maximize t he power , because t he t er minal volt age
must be lower t han t he int er nal emf. Since t he gener at or ar mat ur e and
Generat or Types 47
I
a
E
p
= U
apN
I
a
= I
aN
U
ap
< U
apN
jX
a
I
a
I
a
jX
a
I
a
I
a jX
a
I
a
a) b) c)
E
p
U
ap
E
p
U
ap
E
p
U
ap
E
p
< U
apN
I
a
= I
aN
U
ap
= U
apN
E
p
= U
apN
I
a
= I
aN
U
ap
= U
apN
a) b) c)
Fr equency conver t er
Gener at or ar mat ur e
Rat ing (kVA) if x
a
= 0.8 p.u.
1.28 P
N
1.28 P
N
1.09 P
N
1.09 P
N
1.28 P
N
1.28 P
N
Figure 4.7 Ph asor d i agrams of a gen erat or l oad ed by a f orced -
commut at ed rect i f i er at rat ed current and t he neccesary
frequency convert er and generat or armat ure kVA rat ings. E
p
is t he induced no-load phase volt age, U
a p
t he armat ure phase
volt age and I
a
t he armat ure current .
a)cos()=1 at the terminals and E
p
equal to the rated voltage.
b)U
ap
and E
p
equal to the rated voltage.
c)U
ap
equal to and E
p
lower than the rated voltage.
t he r ect ifier bot h has t o be r at ed for t he no-load emf, which is higher t han
t he t er minal volt age at r at ed load, t he r equir ed kVA r at ings ar e high.
Inst ead, t he t er minal volt age can be kept at t he same level as t he no-load
emf (cont r ol b), by supplying r eact ive power fr om t he r ect ifier . This cont r ol
met hod maximizes t he act ive power fr om a gener at or and r ect ifier wit h
equal kVA r at ing and will be used in t he following discussion.
If t he gener at or is designed wit h an emf lower t han t he r at ed volt age, t he
power can be incr eased by keeping t he phase angle bet ween t he int er nal
emf and t he ar mat ur e cur r ent zer o (cont r ol c). The advant age of t his
gener at or design is t hat less per manent magnet mat er ial is used t han if
cont r ol b is used and cor e losses at no-load ar e lower . The st at or flux is
kept high only at high load by supplying r eact ive power t o t he ar mat ur e
winding. One dr awback is t hat t he r at ed act ive power of t he gener at or is
not ma ximized. The sa me gener a t or would be ca pa ble of pr oducing
slight ly higher power , if t he int er nal emf wer e incr eased t o t he r at ed
volt age and r ect ifier cont r ol b wer e used. Cont r olb does not only allow a
lower gener at or ar mat ur e kVA r at ing t han cont r olc, it also r equir es a
lower kVA r at ing of t he fr equency conver t er .
48 Generat or Types
The act ive power as a funct ion of cur r ent , for a gener at or wit h a r eact ance
of 0.5p.u. connect ed t o a for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier using cont r ol b, is
plot t ed in Figur e4.8. The out put power incr eases linear ly wit h incr easing
cur r ent as t he cur r ent st ar t s t o incr ease fr om zer o. The r eason for t his is
t ha t t he for ced-commut a t ed r ect ifier ca n keep t he t er mina l volt a ge
const ant and t hat t he power fact or is almost 1. As t he cur r ent incr eases
fur t her , t he power fact or decr eases because t he r ect ifier has t o supply
r eact ive power . Ther efor e, t he incr ease in act ive power is no longer linear .
Event ually, t he act ive power r eaches a maximum value, at a gener at or
load angle of 90degr ees. If t he cur r ent incr eases fur t her , it will only lead
t o a decr ease in act ive power .
0 1 2 3 4
Ar mat ur e cur r ent (p.u.)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
A
c
t
i
v
e

p
o
w
e
r

(
p
.
u
.
)
Figure 4.8 The act ive power of a generat or wit h a react ance of 0.5 p.u.
connect ed t o a forced-commut at ed rect ifier. The rect ifier keeps
t he generat or t erminal volt age const ant .
4.6.4 Rectifier Comparison
The diode r ect ifier and t he for ced-commut at ed sine-wave r ect ifier wer e
compar ed r egar ding t he out put power at r at ed ar mat ur e cur r ent . The
act ive power s of a gener at or connect ed t o t he t wo t ypes of r ect ifier s ar e
shown in Figur e4.9, as funct ions of ar mat ur e cur r ent . The value of t he
gener at or r eact ance does not change t he shape of t he cur ves, only t he
scaling of t he cur r ent and power axes. As can be seen in t he figur e, t he
differ ence in r a t ed power bet ween a diode r ect ifier a nd a for ced-
commut a t ed r ect ifier depends on how high t he r a t ed cur r ent of t he
gener at or is.
If t he r at ed cur r ent is I
1
, which cor r esponds t o a r eact ance of 0.15p.u.,
t he r at ed power of t he for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier is 12% higher t han if a
diode r ect ifier is used. A sub-t r ansient r eact ance of 0.15p.u. is usual for a
convent ional, four -pole, synchr onous gener at or , but it is a low value for a
dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine gener at or .
Generat or Types 49
I1 I2
I3
I4 I5
Ar mat ur e cur r ent
A
c
t
i
v
e

p
o
w
e
r
For ced-comm. r ect ifier
Diode r ect ifier
I
1
I
2
I
5
I
4
I
3
Figure 4.9 The active powers of a generator, connected to a diode rectifier
or a forced-commut at ed rect ifier, as funct ions of armat ure
cu rren t .
In some wind ener gy conver t er s, t he gener at or has t o be able t o pr oduce a
peak power of 150% of t he r at ed power . In t his case, t he r at ed cur r ent
cannot be higher t han I
2
if a diode r ect ifier is used. The r at ed cur r ent I
2
cor r esponds t o a r eact ance of 0.31p.u. At t he same r at ed cur r ent , t he
gener at or can pr oduce 22% higher power if it is inst ead connect ed t o a
for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier . The copper losses ar e almost t he same as if a
diode r ect ifier is used a nd, t her efor e, t he for ced-commut a t ed r ect ifier
incr eases gener at or efficiency.
If t he r at ed cur r ent is I
3
, cor r esponding t o a r eact ance of 0.66p.u., t he
gener at or r eaches it s peak power if it is connect ed t o a diode r ect ifier . If
connect ed t o a for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier inst ead of t he diode r ect ifier ,
t he same gener at or can be capable of pr oducing 65% higher power wit h
almost t he same copper losses.
Connect ed t o a for ced-commut a t ed r ect ifier , t he gener a t or ca n ha ve a
r at ed cur r ent of I
4
and st ill be capable of pr oducing a peak power of 150%.
The r at ed cur r ent I
4
cor r esponds t o a per unit r eact ance of 0.71p.u. If a
diode r ect ifer is used, t he maximum r eact ance for a gener at or wit h 150%
peak power is only 0.31p.u. Consequent ly, a for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier
allows mor e t han t wice as high r eact ance as a diode r ect ifier does for a
gener at or syst em r equir ed t o pr oduce a peak power of 150 % of t he r at ed
power .
If cooling and efficiency consider at ions do not limit t he cur r ent and t he
pea k power is not r equir ed t o be higher t ha n t he r a t ed power , t he
gener a t or is ut ilized best if t he r a t ed cur r ent is I
5
a nd a for ced-
commut at ed r ect ifier is used. In t his case, t he r eact ance is 1.41p.u. and
t he gener a t or ca n pr oduce a power which is 165 % higher t ha n
50 Generat or Types
0.5 1 1.5 2
React ance (p.u.)
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
A
c
t
i
v
e

p
o
w
e
r

(
p
.
u
.
)
Diode r ect ifier :
Peak power
Power at r at ed cur r ent
For ced-comm. r ect ifier :
Peak power
Power at r at ed cur r ent
Figure 4.10 Peak power and power at rat ed current as a funct ion of
armat ure react ance of t he generat or.
(2.65t imes) it s peak power connect ed t o a diode r ect ifier . The copper losses
of t he gener at or , however , ar e 360% higher (4.6t imes) at t he cur r ent I
5
t han t hey ar e at t he cur r ent I
3
, which means much lower efficiency even
t hough t he r at ed power is 165% higher . This power is t he absolut e peak
power t he gener at or can pr oduce if t he ar mat ur e volt age is limit ed t o t he
no-load volt age.
Peak power and power at r at ed cur r ent of t he gener at or ar e pr esent ed as
funct ions of t he per unit r eact ance in Figur e 4.10. It can be seen t hat t he
peak power of t he gener at or connect ed t o a for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier is
always 2.65 t imes t he value obt ained for a gener at or connect ed t o a diode
r ect ifier . The differ ence in power at r at ed cur r ent , if a for ced-commut at ed
r ect ifier is used inst ead of a diode r ect ifier , is less t han 20% for r eact ances
below 0.3 p.u., but it incr eases quickly as t he r eact ance incr eases. The
diode r ect ifier should pr obably not be used for a gener at or wit h a r eact ance
higher t han 0.5 p.u., while gener at or r eact ance of up t o 1.4p.u. can be
allowed if a for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier is used.
The choice of r ect ifier depends on t he t ot al cost for t he gener at or plus
r ect ifier and t he t ot al aver age efficiency. The diode r ect ifier is cheap and
ver y efficient , but it may r equir e a much lar ger gener at or and it also
decr ea ses t he efficiency of t he gener a t or . If it is impor t a nt t ha t t he
gener at or is small, a high r eact ance of t he gener at or is difficult t o avoid.
Of t he t wo compar ed r ect ifier t ypes, t he for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier is
pr obably t he best for a dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine gener at or .
Generat or Types 51
4.7 Chosen Generator Type
In t his sect ion, t he gener at or t ype chosen and t he r eason for using it ar e
pr esent ed. The compar isons made ear lier in t his chapt er indicat e t hat t he
r adial-flux per manent -magnet gener at or has sever al advant ages and t hat
it is well suit ed t o be used as a dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine gener at or .
4.7.1 Basic Generator Concept
Per ma nent -ma gnet excit a t ion is chosen beca use it gives a n efficient
gener at or in which t he pole pit ch can be made small, leading t o a light
cor e and low end-winding losses. The magnet s ar e of NdFeB mat er ial and
ar e placed on t he r ot or sur face. This placement gives a simple and light
r ot or design, however t hese ma gnet s a r e mor e expensive t o use t ha n
fer r it e magnet s.
Radial-flux design is used because it allows a simple gener at or st r uct ur e,
good ut ilizat ion of t he act ive mat er ials and it can easily be made wit h a
slot t ed st at or . Radial-flux design also allows a small diamet er since t he
st at or can be long. The air gap can mor e easily be made small in a r adial-
flux machine t han in an axial-flux machine, which leads t o a low amount
of per manent -magnet mat er ial.
A st at or wit h a slot winding is used because t he cost of t he per manent
magnet s would ot her wise be ver y high and a slot winding makes it easier
t o cool t he winding indir ect ly, t hr ough t he st at or cor e.
A fr equency conver t er is used since t he gener at or diamet er ot her wise has
t o be ver y lar ge and also because it allows var iable t ur bine speed and lower
gr id int er fer ence. The r ect ifier is a for ced-commut at ed sine-wave r ect ifier
t o allow for high induct ance and a small gener at or .
4.7.2 Details of the Chosen Generator
The winding has t hr ee phases and only one slot per pole and phase t o
allow for a small pole pit ch, wit hout having slot s which ar e ver y nar r ow.
Nar r ow slot s lead t o a low copper fill fact or . A t wo-layer winding is used t o
make t he end windings simple, and since it is an int eger slot winding, all
slot s will cont ain t wo coils belonging t o t he same phase. The slot s ar e
const r uct ed semiclosed t o limit losses in t he r ot or due t o slot har monics
and t o limit t he cogging t or que.
The windings and magnet s must be cooled efficient ly. Almost all losses
ar e dissipat ed in t he st at or , since t he only r ot or losses ar e t he losses in t he
magnet s. The gener at or is t o be t ot ally enclosed (class IP54 descr ibed in
IEC Publicat ion 529). Ambient air is not allowed t o ent er t he gener at or , in
or der t o r educe t he r isk of wat er condensat ion on t he windings and salt
and dust in t he gener at or .
52 Generat or Types
For ced cooling dir ect ly on t he out er sur face of t he st at or cor e will be used.
The st at or yoke is fixed t o a cir cular beam which guides t he cooling air .
Air is for ced r ound t he cir cumfer ence of t he st at or by means of ext er nal
fans. A pr incipal dr awing of t he cooling syst em is shown in Figur e 4.11.
To achieve a low t emper at ur e r ise bet ween t he st at or yoke and t he cooling
air , t he air velocit y is 15m/s and ext r a cooling fins ar e made at t he out er
sur face of t he st at or cor e. The cir cular st at or beam is divided int o t wo or
mor e sepa r a t e cooling cir cuit s, in or der t o ma ke t he cooling mor e
efficient . Int er nally, t he r ot or and t he end windings ar e cooled by t he
cir culat ion of t he inner air . The r ot or is equipped wit h a r adial fan which
for ces t he air t o pass t he end windings and t hen out t o be cooled at t he end
shields.
Cooling duct Radial fan
St at or cor e
Figure 4.11 Left : Axial view of t he cooling of t he st at or iron core. An
ext ernal fan forces air t hrough t he cooling duct at t he st at or
core back.
Right : Tangent ial view of t he cooling of t he rot or and end
windings. The rot or is equipped wit h a radial fan circulat ing
t he int ernal air.
4.7.3 Materials
The winding is made of st r anded wir e t hat has a copper fill fact or of 0.8,
excluding t he coil insulat ion. Each coil has an insulat ion t hat is 0.5 mm
t hick. The slot is made 1mm wider t han t he insulat ed coil. That ext r a
spa ce is filled wit h r esin dur ing t he impr egna t ion, lea ding t o a t ot a l
insulat ion t hickness of 1mm. The value of t he t ot al fill fact or of t he slot ,
excluding t he slot wedge, is 0.58 for a 40mm high and 10mm wide slot
wit h a t wo-layer winding.
Generat or Types 53
The magnet mat er ial is NdFeB wit h a r emanent magnet flux densit y of
1.22 T a t r oom t emper a t ur e. The r ema nent flux densit y a t oper a t ing
t emper at ur e, i.e. below 120C, will be 1.1 T or higher . NdFeB is chosen
inst ea d of SmCo beca use of it s lower pr ice a nd higher r ema nent flux
densit y.
The st at or cor e is made of 0.5mm t hick, low-loss, elect r ical st eel for lar ge
gener at or s. The losses at 50Hz and 1.0T ar e 1.20W/kg and t he fill fact or
of t he st at or cor e is 0.97.
54 Generat or Types
Design Met hod for a Permanent -magnet Generat or 55
5 De s i gn Me t hod for a Pe rmane nt -magne t
Generator
In t his chapt er , an analyt ical design met hod is der ived for t he pr oposed
t hr ee-phase r adial-flux gener at or wit h a for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier . The
design var iables ar e discussed in Sect ion 5.1 and t he design equat ions and
t he t her mal model in Sect ion 5.2. In Sect ion 5.3, t he calculat ion met hod is
descr ibed. Finally, t he analyt ical design met hod is compar ed wit h finit e
element calculat ions and t he sensit ivit y of t he t her mal model is discussed
in Sect ion5.4.
Many of t he calculat ions ar e based on simplified models. The models have
been est imat ed t o be sufficient for a pr eliminar y gener at or design. If t he
design met hod should be used for ot her pur poses, needing higher
accur acy, t he models can be changed t o mor e det ailed ones.
Some st eps in t he complet e design of a gener at or have not been included.
Par t s which can be consider ed as final adjust ment s and checks, ar e left
for t he det ailed design t hat has t o be car r ied out befor e a gener at or is
manufact ur ed. The st eps r emaining for t he final design ar e: adjust ing
t he r at ed volt age t o t he desir ed level; r ounding off t he number of pole pair s
t o t he near est int eger value; and checking t hat t he per manent magnet s do
not r isk ir r ever sible demagnet izat ion. The demagnet izat ion calculat ions
can be included in t he design met hod, but it has been found dur ing t his
invest igat ion t hat t he demagnet izat ion is not a pr oblem in t his t ype of
gener at or , as long as t he pole pit ch is kept small.
5.1 Design Variables
It is impor t ant t hat t he var iables chosen for t he design calculat ions ar e
independent . By st ar t ing wit h t he geomet r ical var iables and t he cur r ent
densit y in t he windings as basic var iables, it is easy t o assur e t hat t hey ar e
independent . The pr oposed gener at or is descr ibed by 16 basic var iables,
t he 15 in Figur e 5.1 and t he st at or lengt h. The gener at or is complet ely
defined by t hese 16 basic var iables and t he mat er ial dat a. All t he basic
var iables have t o have values befor e t he gener at or dat a can be calculat ed.
Nine of t he basic var iables ar e assumed t o be const ant or ar e defined as
funct ions of ot her va r ia bles. The st a t or a nd r ot or yoke height s a r e
det er mined by t he allowed flux densit ies in t he yokes. The t oot h t ip height ,
t he slot wedge height , t he slot opening and t he coil insulat ion t hickness
a r e const a nt . The a ir ga p is kept a t it s minimum va lue, limit ed by
mechanical consider at ions t o 0.1% of t he air gap diamet er . The slot pit ch
is det er mined by t he r equir ed number of slot s per pole and phase and t he
magnet widt h is kept as a const ant fr act ion of t he pole pit ch.
56 Design Met hod for a Permanent -magnet Generat or
h
ys
h
yr
h
m
h
s
b
d
b
m
h
i
b
s1
h
s2
h
s1
d
J
s
Figure 5.1 Basic variables of the proposed generator.
Five of t he basic var iables ar e used dir ect ly as design var iables: t he air
gap diamet er , t he st at or lengt h, t he slot height , t he pole pit ch and t he
cur r ent densit y. The t wo r emaining var iables, t he magnet height and t he
t oot h widt h, ar e defined as funct ions of t he peak, no-load, air gap flux
densit y and t he peak, no-load, t eet h flux densit y, r espect ively. The r eason
for using flux densit ies a s design va r ia bles r a t her t ha n geomet r ica l
var iables is t hat t he opt imum flux densit ies can be assumed t o var y r at her
lit t le as t he gener at or size changes.
The var iables ar e summar ized in Table 5.1. Seven var iables ar e used as
design va r ia bles. These va r ia bles ca n be used t o ca lcula t e gener a t or
designs of differ ent r at ed power and wit h differ ent t emper at ur es of t he
windings. I f a gener a t or wit h a specified r a t ed power a nd specified
winding t emper a t ur e is designed, t wo of t he design va r ia bles ca n no
longer be chosen fr eely. The st at or lengt h is adjust ed t o get t he r ight r at ed
power of t he gener at or and t he cur r ent densit y is adjust ed t o get t he r ight
winding t emper at ur e. The ot her five design var iables can st ill be var ied
fr eely.
The r at ed volt age and cur r ent ar e not included in t he pr eliminar y design.
It is assumed t hat t he t op and bot t om conduct or in t he slot s ar e connect ed
par allelly. Thus, t he phase cur r ent is equal t o t he t ot al cur r ent in a slot .
Table 5.1 The variables used in the design method.
Design variables Corresponding basic
variables
d Air gap diamet er d Air gap diamet er
l St at or lengt h l St at or lengt h
h
s
Slot height h
s
Slot height
p
Pole pit ch
p
Pole pit ch
J
s
Cur r ent densit y J
s
Cur r ent densit y
B
^
0
Peak air gap flux densit y h
m
Magnet height
B
^
d0
Peak t eet h flux densit y b
d
Toot h widt h
Constants and fixed relations Corresponding basic
variables
B
^
ys
= 1.2 T Peak st at or yoke flux densit y h
ys
St at or yoke height
B
^
yr
= 1.2 T Peak r ot or yoke flux densit y h
yr
Rot or yoke height
h
s1
= 1 mm Toot h t ip height h
s1
Toot h t ip height
h
s2
= 4 mm Slot wedge height h
s2
Slot wedge height
b
s1
= 3 mm Slot opening b
s1
Slot opening
h
i
= 1 mm Insulat ion t hickness h
i
Insulat ion t hickness
= 0.001 d Mechanical air gap Mechanical air gap
q = 1 No. of slot s per pole & phase Slot pit ch
b
m
= 0.7
p
Magnet widt h b
m
Magnet widt h
By adjust ing t he number of slot s and t he number of br anches connect ed
par allelly and in ser ies, t he volt age level can be adjust ed.
The pole pit ch is used as a var iable inst ead of t he number of pole pair s.
Since t her e ar e no r est r ict ions on t he pole pit ch, t he number of pole pair s
is usua lly not a n int eger in t he design ca lcula t ions. For a gener a t or
having a lar ge number of pole pair s, t his will simplify t he numer ical
opt imizat ion of t he gener at or wit hout int r oducing any significant er r or s.
b
s
b
Cu
h
Cu
h
Cu
h
i
h
i
2 h
i
h
s
h
s2
St at or cor e
Winding
Insulat ion
Slot wedge
h
i
h
i
b
s1
h
s1
h
s3
Figure 5.2 The slot and the two-layer winding.
5.2 Design Equations
5.2.1 General Definitions
The diamet er and pole pit ch det er mine t he number of pole pair s
p =
d
2
p
(5.1)
The number of slot s per pole and phase q is set t o one t o allow for a small
pole pit ch wit hout get t ing a low slot fill fact or because of nar r ow slot s. The
number of phases m is t hr ee. The t ot al number of slot s of t he st at or is
Q = 2 p m q (5.2)
The slot pit ch is
=
mq
(5.3)
The slot and t he t wo-layer winding ar e shown in Figur e 5.2. The slot is
descr ibed by it s dept h h
s
and it s widt h b
s
. The slot widt h can be calculat ed
fr om t he slot pit ch and t oot h widt h b
d
as
b
s
= b
d
(5.4)
The slot opening b
s1
is assumed t o be 3mm, t he t oot h t ip height h
s1
1mm,
and t he slot wedge height h
s2
4mm. The winding height is
h
s3
= h
s
h
s1
h
s2
(5.5)
The conduct or height h
Cu
and widt h b
Cu
ar e det er mined by t he winding
height , slot widt h and t he coil insulat ion t hickness h
i
, i.e.,
h
Cu
=
h
s3
4h
i
2
(5.6)
b
Cu
= b
s
2 h
i
(5.7)
r espect ively.
For a t hr ee-phase machine for which t he magnet cost per t or que should
be kept low, t he r at io of magnet widt h t o pole pit ch should be bet ween 0.6
and 0.9 (Lampola et al. 1996a). In t he pr oposed gener at or t he magnet
widt h is kept at 0.7 t imes t he pole pit ch, i.e.,
b
m
= 0.7
p
(5.8)
The winding is a full-pit ch winding and, t her efor e, t he winding pit ch is
W =
p
(5.9)
The end winding lengt h is assumed t o be
l
b
= 2 W (5.10)
The equivalent cor e lengt h is appr oximat ed by
l
e
= l + 2 (5.11)
The useful ir on lengt h is
l
u
= k
Fes
l (5.12)
wher e k
Fes
is t he st at or ir on fill fact or . The fr equency at r at ed speed is
f = p n
N
(5.13)
wher e p is t he number of pole pair s. The air gap should be small t o
minimize t he a mount of per ma nent ma gnet s needed. The mecha nica l
st iffness and t he t her mal expansion of t he gener at or limit s t he minimum
air gap which can be used. In t his t hesis t he r elat ion
= 0.001 d (5.14)
is used. Because t he slot opening is nar r ow compar ed wit h t he air gap,
t he Car t er fact or will be 1. The out er diamet er of t he st at or and t he
appr oximat e t ot al lengt h of t he st at or , including t he end windings, ar e
d
se
= d + 2 h
s
+ 2 h
ys
(5.15)
l
t ot
= l + 3 W (5.16)
r espect ively. (Er r or found a ft er t he defence of t he t hesis: The t ot a l winding lengt h is
over est imat ed, in equat ion 5.16 t he t ot al lengt h is mor e likely t o be appr ox. l
t ot
= l + 2 W .
This er r or will lead t o a small over est imat ion of t he copper weight and copper losses)
5.2.2 Magnetic Circuit
The st at or yoke t hickness, t he r ot or yoke t hickness, and t he st at or t oot h
widt h ar e
h
ys
=
B
^
0
b
m
l
e
2B
^
ys
l
u
(5.17)
h
yr
=
B
^
0
b
m
l
e
2B
^
yr
l
(5.18)
b
d
=
B
^
0
l
e
B
^
d0
l
u
(5.19)
r espect ively, wher e B
^
0
is t he no-load peak air gap flux densit y and B
^
d0
t he
no-load peak t eet h flux densit y.
The mmf:s of t he ir on cor e ca n be ca lcula t ed fr om t he ma gnet iza t ion
cur ves for t he st at or and r ot or cor e mat er ials, i.e., H
s
(B) and H
r
(B). In t he
st at or yoke t he mmf needed for t he magnet ic flux bet ween t wo poles can be
appr oximat ed as
v
^
ys
= c

,
_
p
+
(h
s
+0.5h
ys
)
p
H
s
(B
^
ys
) (5.20)
wher e c t akes int o account t he var iat ion of t he field st r engt h in t he yoke.
For t he st at or , c is assumed t o be 0.5.
The mmf needed for t he t eet h can be expr essed appr oximat ely as
v
^
d
= H
s
(B
^
d0
) (h
s3
+ 0.5 h
s2
) + H
s
(B
^
) (0.5 h
s2
+ h
s1
) (5.21)
The mmf of t he r ot or yoke is
v
^
yr
= c

(+h
m
+0.5h
yr
)
p
H
r
(B
^
yr
) (5.22)
wher e c is assumed t o be 0.5 for t he r ot or . Because h
m
is included in t his
expr ession, t he r equir ed magnet height has t o be calculat ed by it er at ion.
The r equir ed magnet height can be calculat ed analyt ically by r eplacing h
m
wit h 2 in equat ion (5.22). This causes an er r or in t he or der of 1% in v
^
yr
.
The mmf dr ops of t he magnet and t he air gap ar e
v
^
m
= h
m

B
^
0
0
(5.23)
v
^
=
ef

B
^
0
0
(5.24)
r espect ively.
m
is t he r elat ive per meabilit y of t he per manent magnet
ma t er ia l.
The sum of t he mmf:s ar ound t he magnet ic cir cuit of t wo poles is zer o
2 H
c
h
m
v
^
ys
v
^
yr
2 v
^
d
2 v
^
2 v
^
m
= 0 (5.25)
wher e H
c
is t he coer cit ivit y of t he per ma nent -ma gnet ma t er ia l. The
needed magnet height can now be calculat ed fr om Equat ions (5.23) and
(5.25)
h
m
=
0.5v
^
ys
+0.5v
^
yr
+v
^
d
+v
^
H
c
B
^
0
(5.26)
The flux densit y wave of a per manent magnet gener at or wit h unifor m air
gap and sur face magnet s is ideally squar e-shaped. Due t o fr inging effect s,
t he r eal shape is smoot her . Since t he winding is a full-pit ch winding, t he
har monics of t he flux wave r esult in r at her lar ge volt age har monics. The
volt age har monics can cont r ibut e t o t he act ive power pr oduced by t he
gener a t or if t he a r ma t ur e cur r ent is non sinusoida l. Usua lly t he
con t r i bu t i on fr om t h e h a r mon i cs i s ver y s ma l l , t h u s , on l y t h e
fundament al component s of t he flux densit y wave and t he volt age ar e
consider ed in t he following calculat ions.
The shape of t he flux densit y wave in t he air gap depends mainly on t he
magnet widt h, t he pole pit ch, t he air gap and t he magnet height . The
shape of t he flux wave wit h a smoot h st at or sur face was calculat ed by t he
finit e element met hod for sever al combinat ions of air gap, magnet height
a nd pole pit ch, including combina t ions mor e ext r eme t ha n wha t will
occur in t he dir ect -dr iven gener at or s in t his t hesis. In t he calculat ions,
t he magnet widt h was kept at 0.7 t imes t he pole pit ch. The fundament al
component wa s ca lcula t ed fr om t he a ir ga p flux wa ve. The a na lysis
showed t hat t he appr oximat e r elat ion
B
(1)
= B
^
0

_
0.81
0.30(h
m
+)
p
(5.27)
for
p
4 ( h
m
+ ) (5.28)
can model t he RMS value of t he fundament al flux densit y B
(1)
wit hin
about 2% of t he values calculat ed wit h t he finit e element met hod.
5.2.3 Stator Inductance and Resistance
In or der t o calculat e t he out put power of t he gener at or , t he induct ance
a n d r esist a n ce of t h e a r ma t u r e win din g mu st be kn own . I n t h e
ca lcu la t ion of t h e t oot h t ip lea ka ge in du ct a n ce a n d ma gn et izin g
induct a nce, t he per ma nent ma gnet s a r e a ssumed t o ha ve t he sa me
per meabilit y as air .
The slot lea ka ge induct a nce, t oot h t ip lea ka ge induct a nce a nd end
winding lea ka ge induct a nce, for a winding wit hout pa r a llel br a nches,
can be expr essed as
L
sl
= 2 p q
0
l
e

sl
(5.29)
L
t l
= 2 p q
0
l
e

t l
(5.30)
L
b
= 2 p q
0
l
b

b
(5.31)
wher e
sl
,
t l
and
b
ar e t he specific per meance of t he slot leakage, t oot h-
t ip lea ka ge a nd end winding lea ka ge, r espect ively. For t he pr oposed
gener at or , wit h equal cur r ent in t he upper and lower conduct or in t he
slot s, t he aver age specific per meance of t he slot leakage for t he t wo coil
sides in t he slot can be expr essed as (Richt er 1951, p. 269-271)
sl
=
2h
Cu
3b
s
+
3h
i
2b
s
+
h
s1
b
s1
+
h
s2
b
s
b
s1
ln

,
_
b
s
b
s1
(5.32)
The specific per meance of t he t oot h t ip leakage can be calculat ed by an
appr oximat e expr ession (Richt er 1953, p. 90)
t l
=
+h
m
b
s1
+0.8(+h
m
)
(5.33)
The specific per meance of t he end winding leakage has been det er mined
exper iment ally for differ ent winding t ypes in (Richt er 1953, p. 9192). For
t his t wo-layer winding t he specific per meance is appr oximat ely
b
= 0.25 (5.34)
The magnet izing induct ance is used t o calculat e t he r equir ed r eact ive
power . Ther efor e, t he t ot al induct ance is impor t ant , including t he flux
har monics caused by t he st at or winding. The single-phase magnet izing
induct ance, for t he winding wit h one slot per pole and phase, can be
expr essed as
L
m
= p
0
l
e

m
(5.35)
wher e t he specific per meance of t he single-phase magnet izing induct ance
i s
m
=
2(
ef
+h
m
)
(5.36)
The expr essions (5.35) a nd (5.36) for t he single-pha se ma gnet izing
induct ance ar e der ived in Appendix A.
The magnet izing induct ance used in an equivalent Y-phase cir cuit is not
t he single-phase induct ance. Because of t he mut ual induct ance bet ween
t he t hr ee phase windings, t he appar ent induct ance of t he equivalent Y-
phase is higher . The equivalent Y-phase magnet izing induct ance is 4/3
t imes t he value of equat ion (5.35). The fact or 4/3 includes t he t ot al flux
gener at ed by t he st at or winding and it is der ived in Appendix A. For
sinusoidally dist r ibut ed windings t his fact or is, inst ead, 3/2.
Ther e is no mut ual induct ance bet ween t he slot leakage and t oot h t ip
leakage induct ances of t he differ ent phases, and t he magnet ic coupling
bet ween t he end winding induct a nces is included in t he empir ica l
per mea nce coefficient
b
. The equiva lent Y-pha se induct a nce of t he
ar mat ur e, t her efor e, is
L
a
=
4
3
L
m
+ L
sl
+ L
t l
+ L
b
(5.37)
and t he t ot al leakage induct ance is
L
= L
sl
+ L
t l
+ L
b
(5.38)
Since t he r esist ance is t emper at ur e-dependent , it s value depends on t he
gener a t or loa d a nd t he a mbient t emper a t ur e. The skin effect ca n be
neglect ed since t he winding is made of st r anded wir e. A t ypical value of
t he st a t or per pha se r esist a nce a t r a t ed loa d a nd a ver a ge a mbient
t emper at ur e is
R
a
=
Cu
(
CuAv
)
2pq(l+l
b
)
k
Cu
2h
Cu
b
Cu
(5.39)
wher e
Cu
() is t he r esist ivit y of copper at t he t emper at ur e and
CuAv
is
t he winding t emper at ur e at r at ed load and aver age ambient t emper at ur e.
The annual aver age t emper at ur e in t he sout her n par t of Sweden is about
8C. Since t he maximum ambient t emper at ur e is 40C and t he maximum
wi n di n g t emper a t u r e a ccor di n g t o t h e s peci fi ca t i on 130C, t h e
t emper a t u r e of t h e win din g a t r a t ed loa d a n d a ver a ge a mbien t
t emper at ur e is
CuAv
= 98C (5.40)
5.2.4 Material Volume and Weight
In t his sect ion t he ma t er ia l consumpt ion for t he a ct ive pa r t s of t he
gener at or is calculat ed. The symbol her e is t he densit y of t he mat er ials,
not t he r esist ivit y.
The volumes of t he differ ent mat er ials ar e calculat ed and mult iplied by
t he specific weight of t he mat er ial t o find t he mat er ial weight for t he
windings m
Cu
, st at or yoke m
Feys
, st at or t eet h m
Fed
, r ot or yoke m
Feyr
and
magnet s m
m
:
V
Cu
= 2 (l + l
b
) Q h
Cu
b
Cu
k
Cu
(5.41)
m
Cu
=
Cu
V
Cu
(5.42)
V
Feys
= l
u
(d + 2 h
s
+ h
ys
) h
ys
(5.43)
m
Feys
=
Fe
V
Feys
(5.44)
V
Fed
= l
u
Q

_
b
d
h
s3
+
(b
s1
)+b
d
2
h
s2
+(b
s1
)h
s1
(5.45)
m
Fed
=
Fe
V
Fed
(5.46)
V
Feyr
= l

(d 2 2 h
m
h
yr
) h
yr
(5.47)
m
Feyr
=
Fe
V
Feyr
(5.48)
V
m
= 2 p l b
m
h
m
(5.49)
m
m
=
m
V
m
(5.50)
wher e
Cu
,
F e
and
m
ar e t he densit y of copper , ir on and per manent -
magnet s, r espect ively. The t ot al weight of t he act ive par t s of t he gener at or
i s
m
t ot
= m
Cu
+ m
Feys
+ m
Fed
+ m
Feyr
+ m
m
(5.51)
5.2.5 Losses
The copper losses at a winding t emper at ur e of
Cu
can be calculat ed fr om
t he r esist ivit y of t he copper
Cu
(
Cu
), t he r ms cur r ent densit y J
s
and t he
copper volume V
Cu
:
P
Cu
(
Cu
) =
Cu
(
Cu
) J
s
2
V
Cu
(5.52)
The copper losses will be higher if t he ambient t emper at ur e is high and
lower if it is low. The t her mal design of t he gener at or must be car r ied out
at t he maximum ambient t emper at ur e wit h t he maximum value of t he
copper losses, while t he losses for t he aver age efficiency should inst ead be
t he t ypical values of t he copper losses. Consequent ly, t wo values of t he
copper losses ar e calculat ed: t he maximum copper losses P
Cu Ma x
at an
ambient t emper at ur e of 40C; and t he t ypical copper losses P
Cu Av
at an
ambient t emper at ur e of 8C,
P
CuMax
= P
Cu
(
CuN
) (5.53)
P
CuAv
= P
Cu
(
CuAv
) (5.54)
The cor e losses have t o be calculat ed for each par t of t he ir on cor e. They
ar e divided int o hyst er esis losses and eddy cur r ent losses. The cor e losses
can be calculat ed fr om t he ir on manufact ur er s loss dat a only if t he losses
a r e mult iplied by empir ica l loss fa ct or s for t he hyst er esis a nd eddy
cur r ent losses, k
Hy
and k
Ft
(>1). These empir ical fact or s depend on t he
differ ence bet ween t he t est condit ions a nd t he condit ions in a r ea l
machine and t hey have differ ent values for t he yoke and t he t eet h. The
ir on used for t he st at or yoke, 0.5mm t hick S urahammar CK-30, has t he
appr oximat e specific hyst er esis and eddy cur r ent losses
p
Hy
= 2.04 W/kg (5.55)
p
Ft
= 0.76 W/kg (5.56)
r espect ively, at 50Hz and 1.5T. The cor e losses in t he st at or yoke ar e
P
Hyys
= k
Hyys
m
Feys
p
Hy

,
_
f
50Hz

_ B
^
ys
1.5T
2
(5.57)
P
Ft ys
= k
Ft ys
m
Feys
p
Ft

,
_
f
50Hz
2

_ B
^
ys
1.5T
2
(5.58)
The empir ical loss fact or s ar e appr oximat ely
k
Hyys
= 2k
Ft ys
= 1.8 (5.59)
for t he yoke (Richt er 1951, p. 213). The t eet h losses ar e
P
Hyd
= k
Hyd
m
Fed
p
Hy

,
_
f
50Hz

_ B
^
d0
1.5T
2
(5.60)
P
Ft d
= k
Ft d
m
Fed
p
Ft

,
_
f
50Hz
2

_ B
^
d0
1.5T
2
(5.61)
The empir ica l loss fa ct or for t he hyst er esis losses in t he t eet h is
appr oximat ely (Richt er 1951, p. 213)
k
Hyd
= 1.2 (5.62)
Because t he flux wave is squar e-shaped, t he eddy cur r ent losses in t he
t eet h a r e higher t ha n for sinusoida l flux wa ves. Ther efor e, t he eddy
cur r ent loss fact or of 1.5, given by Richt er (1951, p. 213), is incr eased t o
k
Ftd
= 2.5 (5.63)
It is assumed t hat t he flux densit y in t he ir on, and, t her eby, t he cor e
losses, at r at ed load ar e t he same as at no-load. For a dir ect -dr iven wind
t ur bine gener at or , connect ed t o a for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier t hat keeps
t he ar mat ur e volt age const ant , t he cor e losses wer e found t o be r at her
independent of load by Lampola et al. (1996b).
The cor e losses in t he r ot or yoke a r e sma ll beca use t he ma in flux is
const ant in t he r ot or . The major r ot or losses ar e t he eddy cur r ent losses in
t he magnet s due t o flux har monics. The flux har monics or iginat e bot h
fr om t he no-load flux har monics caused by t he st at or slot s and t he flux
ha r monics ca used by t he a r ma t ur e cur r ent s. The ma gnet losses a r e
r educed by using small magnet s t o build a complet e magnet pole. The
magnet losses can be est imat ed by t ime st epping FEM calculat ions and
t he losses ar e assumed t o have a const ant loss densit y at t he magnet
sur face. The magnet losses, t her efor e, can be expr essed as
P
Ftm
= p
Ftm
2 p b
m
l (5.64)
This est imat ion of t he magnet losses is ver y r ough. However , since t he
ma gnet losses a r e impor t a nt ma inly for t he ma gnet t emper a t ur e, t he
er r or will not be ver y impor t ant . In Sect ion 5.4.2, it is shown t hat t he
magnet t emper at ur e is only t o a minor ext ent det er mined by t he magnet
losses. In a paper by Lampola et al. (1996b) t he specific r ot or losses of t he
gener at or ar e about 100W/m
2
at r at ed load. For t he pr oposed gener at or ,
which is similar t o t he one invest igat ed by Lampola et al. (1996b), t he
specific losses ar e assumed t o be
p
Ft m
= 300 W/m
2
(5.65)
because of higher cur r ent loading.
Addit ional losses (st r ay load losses) in synchr onous gener at or s consist ,
accor ding t o Chalmer s (1965), of losses due t o slot leakage flux, losses due
t o end leakage flux, shor t -cir cuit ir on losses due t o t he ar mat ur e mmf and
r ot or pole face losses. In t he pr oposed gener at or t he winding is made of
st r anded wir e, which eliminat es eddy cur r ent losses due t o slot leakage.
The r ot or sur face losses P
Ft m
ar e dealt wit h separ at ely and, t hus, ar e not
included in t he addit ional losses in t hese calculat ions. The r est of t he
addit ional losses ar e mainly cor e losses. They ar e at r at ed load assumed
t o be about 20 % of t he cor e losses at no load, i.e.,
P
ad
= 0.2 (P
Hyys
+ P
Ft ys
+ P
Hyd
+ P
Ft d
) (5.66)
The addit ional losses ar e assumed t o be pr opor t ional t o t he squar e of t he
ar mat ur e cur r ent . In t he t her mal calculat ions, t he addit ional losses ar e
assumed t o be locat ed in t he st at or t oot h t ips.
Fr ict ion and windage losses ar e caused by t he losses in t he gener at or
bear ings, t he windage losses of t he r ot or and t he r adial fan on t he r ot or
used t o cir cula t e t he int er na l a ir . The bea r ing br a king t or que is not
det er mined so much by t he gener at or design as by t he loading fr om t he
t ur bine. It is assumed t o be 0.5% of t he r at ed t or que and t o be independent
of t he speed. The losses of t he r adial fans can be calculat ed appr oximat ely
a nd t hey a r e found t o be ver y sma ll, less t ha n 100 W for a 500 kW
gener a t or . Beca use of t he low a ir ga p speed, t he winda ge losses a r e
neglect ed. The t ot a l fr ict ion a nd winda ge losses a t r a t ed speed a r e
assumed t o be
P
= 0.005 P
N
(5.67)
The power of t he ext er nal cooling fans, blowing air t hr ough t he cooling
duct s at t he out er sur face of t he st at or yoke, ar e not included in t his
calculat ion. The t ot al losses at r at ed load can now be calculat ed as
P
lossMax
= P
CuMax
+ P
Ft ys
+ P
Hyys
+ P
Ft d
+ P
Hyd
+ P
Ft m
+ P
ad
+ P
(5.68)
The aver age losses can be calculat ed by using t he aver age loss fact or s
der ived in Chapt er 3:
P
lossAv
= k
dCu
(P
CuAv
+ P
ad
) + k
dFt
(P
Ft ys
+ P
Ft d
+ P
Ft m
) +
+ k
dHy
(P
Hyys
+ P
Hyd
) + k
d
P
(5.69)
5.2.6 Voltage, Power and Efficiency
The induced fundament al no-load ar mat ur e phase volt age is
E
p
= 2 p q k
w(1)
B
(1)
l
e
v

(5.70)
wher e v
is t he velocit y of t he flux wave in t he air gap, given by

v

= d n
N
(5.71)
and k
w(1)
is t he winding fact or for t he fundament al flux densit y wave.
Because t he winding is a full-pit ch winding, t he winding fact or k
w(1)
is 1.
The gener at or phase volt age is at r at ed speed cont r olled by t he for ced-
commut at ed r ect ifier t o be equal t o t he no-load phase emf
U
apN
= E
p
(5.72)
The r at ed r ms phase cur r ent is
I
aN
= J
s
2 h
Cu
b
Cu
k
Cu
(5.73)
wher e k
Cu
is t he fill fact or of copper inside t he st r anded coils, excluding
t he coil insulat ion, equal t o 0.8. The phase cur r ent fr om t he r ect ifier will
include har monics and, t her efor e, t he fundament al component is lower
t han t he t ot al r ms cur r ent . The r ms value of t he fundament al component
is assumed t o be 98% of t he t ot al r ms value of t he ar mat ur e cur r ent , i.e.,
I
(1)
= 0.98 I
aN
(5.74)
Fr om t he r at ed volt age, r at ed cur r ent and t he cur r ent phase angle, t he
r at ed elect r ical out put power can be calculat ed as
P
aN
= 3 U
apN
I
(1)
cos(
N
) (5.75)
wher e, accor ding t o (3.25)
cos(
N
) =

1

,
_
I
(1)
2f
N
L
a
2U
apN
2
(5.76)
The r a t ed mecha nica l sha ft power ca n now be ca lcula t ed fr om t he
elect r ical out put power and t he losses, i.e.,
P
N
= P
aN
+ P
lossMax
(5.77)
The efficiency at r at ed load is
N
=
P
aN
P
N
(5.78)
By using t he aver age fact or for t he t ur bine power , der ived in Chapt er 3,
t he aver age input power can be calculat ed as
P
Av
= P
N
k
t
(5.79)
The aver age efficiency is
Av
= 1
P
lossAv
P
Av
(5.80)
The ar mat ur e r eact ance is in t his t hesis expr essed in per unit . The per
unit base values used ar e
U
base
= U
apN
(5.81)
I
base
= I
aN
(5.82)
5.2.7 Thermal Model and Temperature Rise
The aim of t he t her mal calculat ions is t o find t he maximum t emper at ur e
of t he st at or winding and t he magnet s. The gener at or is r epr esent ed by a
lumped-par amet er t her mal net wor k model.
The t her ma l model r epr esent s t he gener a t or by t he cir cuit shown in
Figur e 5.3. The t emper at ur e differ ences in t he cir cumfer ent ial dir ect ion
of t he gener at or ar e neglect ed. The gener at or cooling is symmet r ical in
t he a xia l dir ect ion a nd, t her efor e, t he t wo end windings of a coil a r e
modelled as one. The t her mal net wor k model is der ived in Appendix B.
The losses in t he t her mal model ar e copper losses in t he st at or winding,
cor e losses in t he st at or t eet h and yoke, eddy cur r ent losses in t he magnet s
and addit ional losses. Fr ict ion and windage losses ar e assumed not t o
incr ease t he t emper at ur e r ise of t he winding and magnet s. Thus, t hey ar e
neglect ed in t his t her mal model. The copper losses ar e divided int o losses
in t he end windings, losses in t he bot t om-layer coil sides in t he slot s, and
Ambient air
Endwinding
Per manent -
magnet
Rot or yoke
St at or yoke
St at or cooling air
I
n
t
e
r
n
a
l

a
i
r
E
n
d

s
h
i
e
l
d
Upper coil side
Lower coil side
T
o
o
t
h
Figure 5.3 The thermal model based on one slot pitch, one rotor pole, one
coil, internal air and end shield.
losses in t he t op-layer coil sides. The magnet losses ar e assumed t o be
dist r ibut ed homogenously in t he ma gnet s, while a ddit iona l losses a r e
assumed t o be locat ed in t he t oot h t ip. The t emper at ur e r ise of t he cooling
a ir a long t he cooling duct s a t t he out er sur fa ce of t he st a t or yoke is
included in t he t her mal model as an equivalent t her mal r esist ance.
Because t he major par t of t he losses is cooled at t he out er sur face of t he
st a t or yoke, t he ma ximum winding t emper a t ur e is t he end winding
t emper a t ur e.
5.2.8 Irreversible Demagnetization
Ir r ever sible dema gnet iza t ion ca n be a pr oblem in per ma nent -ma gnet
gener at or s. The magnet s will be demagnet ized if t he flux densit y in t hem
is lower t han a minimum flux densit y of B
mi n
. The high-t emper a t ur e
NdFeB mat er ial used in t hese calculat ions can wit hst and at least 0T at
t he assumed maximum oper at ing t emper at ur e of 120C. The minimum
flux densit y may in many cases also be a negat ive value, usually at low
t emper a t ur es.
Of cour se, t he magnet s must not be demagnet ized by t he r at ed cur r ent
and it is also impor t ant t hat t hey can wit hst and t he most pr obable fault s,
for inst a nce, shor t cir cuit s. Dur ing nor ma l oper a t ion t he a r ma t ur e
winding gener at es a peak flux densit y in t he air gap and magnet t hat
depends on t he peak value of t he st at or mmf v
^
s
and t he magnet ic air gap.
It is given by
B
^
s
=
0

v
^
s
+h
m
/
m
(5.83)
For t he pr oposed gener at or t ype wit h t hr ee phases and one slot per pole
and phase, t he peak mmf gener at ed by t he ar mat ur e is t he peak value of
t he cur r ent in one slot
v
^
s
= I
^
aN
(5.84)
To avoid demagnet izat ion of t he magnet s, t he st at or must not gener at e a
higher peak flux densit y B
^
s
t han
B
^
s
< B
^
0
B
min
(5.85)
Equat ion (5.85), however , does not t ake t he r isk of local demagnet izat ion
int o account . The flux densit y may locally be lower t han B
min
because of,
for inst ance, flux leakage at t he magnet ends. The minimum flux densit y
should be checked in t he final design by a finit e element calculat ion.
The r isk of demagnet izat ion at a shor t cir cuit at t he gener at or t er minals
is discussed by Slemon (1992). For a gener a t or wit h sinusoida lly
dist r ibut ed windings t her e is no r isk of dema gnet iza t ion if t he r a t io
bet ween leakage induct ance and magnet izing induct ance is
L
L
m
>
8sin(0.5
M
)
_
1
B
min
(+h
m
/
m
)
B
r
h
m
/
m
1 (5.86)
wher e
M
is t he magnet angle. For a gener at or wit h lar ge r esist ance, t he
fact or 8 can be changed t o 4. The pr oposed t ype of gener at or does not have
a sinusoidally dist r ibut ed winding. Equat ion (5.86) is st ill used as an
indicat ion of t he r isk of demagnet izat ion dur ing shor t cir cuit . Since t he
minimum flux densit y her e is zer o and t he magnet angle is 126, t he
expr ession becomes
L
L
m
> 1.27 (5.87)
Because of t he small pole pit ch and t he lar ge air gap, demagnet izat ion is
gener a lly not a pr oblem in t he pr oposed t ype of gener a t or . This wa s
ver ified by checking t hat t he peak flux densit y gener at ed by t he st at or
winding is below t he va lue in Equa t ion (5.85) a nd t ha t t he lea ka ge
induct ance t o magnet izing induct ance r at io is lar ger t han descr ibed by
Equat ion (5.87).
I f t her e is a r isk of ir r ever sible dema gnet iza t ion, t he r isk ca n be
eliminat ed by incr easing t he air gap and at t he same t ime incr easing t he
magnet height in such a way t hat t he air gap flux densit y is unchanged.
Then, t he st at or will gener at e lower flux densit y at r at ed cur r ent and t he
ma gnet izing induct a nce will be r educed. The r educed ma gnet izing
induct ance will also incr ease t he possible peak power . Of cour se, t he pr ice
for t his change is incr eased cost for t he magnet s.
5.3 Calculation Procedure
The design met hod is implement ed in t he comput er pr ogr am Mat emat ica
(Ver sion 2.1 for Ma chint osh), which fa cilit a t es ea sy use of symbolic
mat hemat ics. The gener at or design st ar t s by execut ing all t he definit ions
in Sect ion 5.2 a nd AppendixB. Once t ha t is done, t he pr ogr a m ca n
calculat e any of t he defined quant it ies if only t he design var iables ar e
given values. In t his t hesis seven var iables ar e used. If, for example, t he
aver age efficiency of a gener at or is t o be calculat ed, t he seven design
va r ia bles a r e given t heir va lues a nd t he definit ion for t he a ver a ge
efficiency is execut ed giving t he value of t he aver age efficiency of t hat
par t icular gener at or . The act ive weight of t he same gener at or can now be
ca lcula t ed simply by execut ing t ha t definit ion, wit hout cha nging t he
var iable values. A new gener at or can be calculat ed by changing one or
mor e of t he var iables and execut ing t he definit ions again.
The r a t ed power a nd winding t emper a t ur e of a gener a t or does not
aut omat ically fulfil t he specificat ion, wit h ar bit r ar y values of t he seven
design var iables. The pr oper winding t emper at ur e and r at ed power is
achieved by adjust ing t wo var iables it er at ively. In t his t hesis, t he st at or
lengt h and winding cur r ent densit y ar e used t o r each a feasible gener at or
design. Befor e t he it er at ion, t hese var iables have t o have st ar t ing values.
The var iables ar e adjust ed unt il t he er r or of t he winding t emper at ur e is
smaller t han 0.1K and t he er r or of t he r at ed power is smaller t han 0.1W.
Dur ing t he opt imiza t ion of t he gener a t or , t he st a r t ing va lues for t he
lengt h and cur r ent densit y ar e t he final values of t he gener at or designed
in t he pr evious st ep in t he opt imizat ion.
I n t he wa y t ha t t he design ca lcula t ions a r e ca r r ied out , only t he
definit ions of t he quant it ies which ar e sought ar e execut ed. Ther e is no
pr ogr am which has t o be r un t hr ough complet ely for each new gener at or .
Dur ing t he opt imizat ion pr ocedur e only t he cost funct ion is execut ed. The
ot her definit ions will only be used once t he per for mance and dat a of t he
opt imized gener at or ar e calculat ed.
Table 5.2 The variable values of the test generator
Va r ia ble Va l u e
Air gap diamet er d 2.5 m
St at or lengt h l 0.5 m
Pole pit ch
p
60.4 mm
Slot height h
s
55 mm
s
4.27 A/mm
2
Peak air gap flux densit y B
^
0
0.72 T
Peak t oot h flux densit y B
^
d0
1.63 T
Gener at or opt imizat ion is made using a numer ical Mat emat ica funct ion
which finds a minimum of a mult i-var iable funct ion. The gener at or is
opt imized r egar ding air gap diamet er , pole pit ch, air gap flux densit y,
t eet h flux densit y, slot height , and t he t emper at ur e of t he windings. The
sear ch is unconst r ained and if any opt imum var iables ar e out side t he
allowed limit s, t he opt imizat ion is r epeat ed wit h a fixed value of t hat
var iable. In pr act ice, it is only t he winding t emper at ur e t hat somet imes
has an opt imum value not allowed by t he specificat ion.
5.4 Test of the Design Method
5.4.1 Comparison with Finite Element Calculations
To ver ify a nd t est t he design met hod, a gener a t or wit h a n a ir ga p
diamet er of 2.5m, a st at or lengt h of 0.5m and a r at ed speed of 30r pm was
designed. The gener at or is a r at her t ypical 550 kW gener at or , but it was
not opt imized. The va r ia bles used in t he ca lcula t ions a r e shown in
Table5.2.
To ver ify some of t he analyt ical calculat ion met hods, t he per for mance of
t he t est gener at or was also calculat ed by t he finit e element met hod. The
finit e element calculat ions wer e bot h st eady st at e calculat ions and t ime-
st epping ca lcula t ions wit h a r ot a t ion of t he r ot or . A pr ogr a m ca lled
"FCSMEKB" which has or iginally been developed at Helsinki Univer sit y
of Technology was used. The pr ogr am has been modified for per manent
ma gnet ma chines by Ant er o Ar kkio a nd J or ma Luomi a t Cha lmer s
Univer sit y of Technology. A compar ison of t he analyt ical design met hod
and t he finit e element calculat ions is shown in Table 5.3.
The volt age and t he r at ed t or que calculat ed wit h t he analyt ical model
cor r espond well t o t he r esult s of t he finit e element ca lcula t ions. The
Table 5.3 Comparison of t he analyt ical design calculat ions and FEM
calculat ions for t he t est generat or.
Analyt ical met hod FEM
Open cir cuit
fundament al volt age
246 V 240 V
Tor que at r at ed cur r ent 175 kNm 177 kNm
Rea ct a nces
(in d- and q-axis)
x
a
= 0.97 p.u.
(x
q
= x
d
= x
a
assumed)
x
d
= 0.88 p.u.
x
q
= 0.82 p.u.
St at or cor e losses 2982 W 2314 W
Magnet losses 824 W 311 W
Rot or yoke losses included in magnet losses 93 W
No-load t or que r ipple not calculat ed t 0.8 kNm
analyt ically calculat ed induct ance is 10% higher t han pr edict ed by t he
finit e element calculat ions, but t he r esult s cannot be expect ed t o be much
bet t er since t her e a r e simplifica t ions in t he induct a nce ca lcula t ion
met h ods. Th e a n a lyt ica l met h od is expect ed t o over est ima t e t h e
induct a nce since t he mmf of t he st a t or cor e wa s not included in t he
induct ance calculat ions. The cor e losses ar e lower for t he finit e element
ca lcula t ions t ha n for t he a na lyt ica l met hod. However , t he a na lyt ica l
model includes empir ical cor r ect ions for non-ideal manufact ur ing which
t he finit e element calculat ions do not . The magnet losses of t he analyt ical
model ar e based on a r ough est imat ion, and t he finit e element calculat ion
shows t hat t hey ar e at least not under est imat ed for t his gener at or . Tor que
r ipple has not been included in t he design calculat ions because t he semi-
closed slot s will keep t he t or que r ipple low. The finit e element calculat ions
ver ify t his assumpt ion.
5.4.2 Test of Thermal Model
Since t he gener at or has not been built yet , t he t her mal model cannot be
ver ified by measur ement s. One way of showing how t he er r or s of t he
model can influence t he design of t he gener at or is t o var y t he uncer t ain
par amet er s of t he t her mal model t o see what effect t hey have on t he
winding t emper at ur e and magnet t emper at ur e. Fir st t he t emper at ur es of
t he t est gener a t or wer e ca lcula t ed using t he nor ma l va lues of t he
par amet er s in t he t her mal model. The calculat ions wer e made for t he t est
gener a t or descr ibed in Sect ion 5.4.1. a nd t he r esult s a r e shown in
Table5.4.
Table 5.4 T h e cal cu l at ed t emperat u res at rat ed l oad i n t h e t est
gen erat or.
Ambient t emper at ur e 40 C
St at or cooling air 50 C
St at or yoke 98.6C and 99.3 C
Lower t eet h 107 C
Upper t eet h 113 C
Lower coil side 115 C
Upper coil side 121 C
End winding 122 C
Ma gnet s 96 C
Int er nal air 77 C
The influence of t he uncer t a in t her ma l pa r a met er s on t he over a ll
gener at or design was t est ed by changing t he par amet er values t o t wice
a nd t o ha lf t he nomina l va lues. For ea ch new pa r a met er va lue, t he
t emper a t ur e of t he windings a nd t he ma gnet s wer e ca lcula t ed. The
ca lcula t ions wit h a pa r a met er va lue ca using a t emper a t ur e incr ea se
wer e select ed (eit her t wice or half of t he nominal par amet er value). The
r esult ing t emper at ur e incr eases in t he windings and t he magnet s can be
found in Figur e 5.4. The par amet er s t hat wer e changed ar e: heat t r ansfer
coefficient s at t he out er sur face of t he st at or yoke, in t he air gap, at t he end
shields, at t he end windings and at t he inner sur face of t he r ot or yoke; t he
t her mal conduct ivit y of t he slot insulat ion; and t he losses in t he magnet s.
I t is not t he t her ma l conduct ivit y of t he slot insula t ion t ha t is t he
uncer t ain par amet er , but r at her t he t hickness of t he insulat ion. However ,
t he t hickness cannot be changed in t he calculat ions because t hat will
incr ease t he conduct or cr oss-sect ion and, t her efor e, incr ease t he r at ed
power a nd t he copper losses of t he gener a t or . Cha nging t he t her ma l
conduct ivit y inst ead will have t he same effect on t he heat t r ansfer as
changing t he insulat ion t hickness, alt hough t he gener at or per for mance
will not be changed.
Figur e 5.4 shows t hat t he winding t emper at ur e is ver y sensit ive t o t he
heat t r ansfer coefficient at t he out er sur face of t he st at or yoke. The only
ot her par amet er wit h an impor t ant influence on t he winding t emper at ur e
is t he t her mal conduct ivit y of t he slot insulat ion. The r eason for t his is
t hat almost all t he losses in t he windings ar e cooled t hr ough t he slot
insulat ion and t he st at or yoke.
The magnet t emper at ur e is also ver y sensit ive t o t he t her mal r esist ance
bet ween t he st at or yoke and t he cooling air . The r eason is t hat good
t her ma l cont a ct bet ween t he st a t or a nd t he r ot or ma kes t he ma gnet
t emper at ur e almost as high as t he st at or t eet h t emper at ur e. An incr ease
in st at or t eet h t emper at ur e will cause an almost as lar ge incr ease in
magnet t emper at ur e. Also t he t her mal r esist ance at t he end shields and
t he inner sur face of t he r ot or yoke, as well as t he losses in t he magnet s,
influence t he magnet t emper at ur e. It is impor t ant t o not e t hat t he magnet
losses do not influence t he ma gnet t emper a t ur e ver y much. The
t emper at ur e of t he magnet s will be a lit t le lower t han t he t emper at ur e of
t he st at or t eet h even if t he magnet losses differ gr eat ly fr om what has been
est imat ed. Since t he winding is not allowed t o be war mer t han 130C and
t he t eet h ar e about 10C colder , it must always be possible t o keep t he
magnet t emper at ur e below 120C, which is t he limit in t he specificat ion.
The winding and magnet t emper at ur es can become ver y high if t he st at or
cooling is not a s efficient a s a ssumed. However , t he a ssumed hea t
t r ansfer coefficient at t he out er sur face of t he st at or yoke is not higher
t han what is achieved in a nor mal induct ion machine (Kylander 1993,
p.66).
0
10
20
30
40
A B C D E F G
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
e

i
n

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

(
C
)
Winding t emper at ur e Magnet t emper at ur e
Figure 5.4 T h e i n crease i n t h e t emperat u res of t h e wi n d i n gs an d
magnet s as different t hermal paramet ers are doubled and
halved. The changed paramet ers are:
A) Heat transfer coefficient at the stator yoke;
B) Heat transfer coefficient in the air gap;
C) Heat transfer coefficient at the end shields;
D) Heat transfer coefficient at the end windings;
E) Heat transfer coefficient at the rotor yoke;
F) Thermal conductivity of the slot insulation and ;
G) Losses in t he magnet s.
Generat or Opt imizat ion 77
6 Generator Optimization
In t his chapt er , t he gener at or design met hod is used t oget her wit h a
numer ica l opt imiza t ion met hod t o invest iga t e t he opt imiza t ion of a
gener at or of t he pr oposed t ype. A 500kW gener at or has been choosen
sin ce t h a t is a n or ma l size for t oda y' s commer cia l win d en er gy
conver t er s.
In Sect ion 6.1, five 500 kW gener at or s ar e opt imized. The fir st gener at or is
opt imized using t he nominal cost funct ion, and t hat gener at or will be
used a s a r efer ence design t hr oughout t his cha pt er . Thr ee ot her
gener at or s ar e also opt imized wit h t he nominal cost funct ion, but t hey
wer e r equir ed t o pr oduce eit her 50Hz or 200% peak power , or bot h 50Hz
a nd 200% pea k power . The fift h gener a t or is opt imized using a cost
funct ion wit h t he losses at r at ed load inst ead of aver age losses.
The influence of differ ent var iables on t he gener at or design is invest igat ed
in Sect ion 6.2 and t he influence of t he cost funct ion in Sect ion 6.3. The
opt imum dia met er of t he gener a t or is especia lly int er est ing since t he
pr oblems of manufact ur ing and t r anspor t at ion can be expect ed t o depend
on t he gener at or diamet er t o a gr eat ext ent . In Sect ion 6.4, t he opt imum
diamet er is discussed in det ail. In Sect ion 6.5 t he t ypical size, aver age
efficiency and act ive weight of a 500 kW gener at or of t he pr oposed t ype ar e
s u mma r i zed.
6.1 Optimum 500 kW Generators
6.1.1 Optimized Reference Generator
In t his sect ion, a 500 kW gener at or is opt imized using t he nominal values
of t he cost funct ion pa r a met er s. The cost of t he a ver a ge losses is
6000ECU/kW and t he cost of ir on, copper and per manent magnet s ar e 4, 6
and 100 ECU/kg, r espect ively. The r efer ence diamet er of t he st r uct ur e is
2m, t he r efer ence lengt h 1m, t he cost of t he r efer ence st r uct ur e is
20000ECU and t he exponent for t he st r uct ur e cost is 3. A medium wind
speed sit e is assumed, i.e., t he aver age loss fact or s for a sit e wit h an
aver age wind speed of 6.8m/s ar e used. The r at ed speed of t he 500kW
gener a t or is 32r pm a nd t he r a t ed t or que is 148kNm. Da t a for t he
opt imized r efer ence gener at or ar e pr esent ed in Table6.1.
The opt imum diamet er of t he gener at or is 2.15m and t he st at or lengt h is
0.55m. Bot h t he flux densit y in t he air gap and t he t eet h have nor mal
opt imum values and t he opt imum winding t emper at ur e is lower t han
what is allowed in t he specificat ion. A higher winding t emper at ur e would
lead t o an uneconomically low efficiency. The fr equency of t he opt imized
78 Generat or Opt imizat ion
Table 6.1 Data of the optimized 500kW reference generator.
Ratings: Geometry:
Rat ed t or que T
N
148 kNm St at or lengt h l 0.55 m
Rat ed speed n
N
32 r pm Toot h widt h b
d
11.1 mm
Optimized variables: Slot widt h b
s
11.7 mm
Air gap diamet er d 2.15 m Air gap 2.15 mm
Slot height h
s
64.0 mm Magnet height h
m
6.3 mm
Pole pit ch
p
68.3 mm St at or yoke height h
ys
15.9 mm
Air gap flux den. B
^
0
0.77 T Rot or yoke height h
yr
15.4 mm
Teet h flux dens. B
^
d0
1.64 T End wind. lengt h l
b
137 mm
Winding t emp.
CuN
107 C Conduct or widt h b
Cu
9.7 mm
Electrical data: Conduct or height h
Cu
27.5 mm
Fr equency f 26.5 Hz Weights:
Rea ct a nce x
a
0.95 p.u. Magnet weight m
M
124 kg
s
3.60 A/mm
2
Copper weight m
Cu
779 kg
Cur r ent in a slot I
a N
1540 A St at or yoke w. m
Fes
467 kg
Losses, efficiency: Teet h weight m
Fed
888 kg
Copper losses P
CuN
22700 W Rot or yoke weight m
F er
431 kg
St at or yoke losses P
Feys
760 W Tot al act ive w. m
t ot
2690 kg
St at or t eet h losses P
Fed
1950 W Miscellaneous:
Magnet losses P
Ft m
780 W Magnet t emp.
m
90 C
Addit ional losses P
ad
540 W Induct . r at io
1)
1.7
Fr ict . & windage P
2500 W St at or flux dens. B

^
s
0.33 T
Aver age losses P
dAv
6430 W Cost of losses C
d
38500 ECU
Aver age eff.
Av
94.9 % Cost of act ive par t C
a ct
24200 ECU
Full-load eff.
N
94.2 % Cost of st r uct ur e C
st r
16000 ECU
1) Leakage induct ance divided by magnet izing induct ance.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Rat ed load
Aver a ge
Losses (kW)
Fr ict ion and windage losses Hyst er esis losses
Eddy cur r ent losses Copper losses
Figure 6.1 The losses of the optimized 500kW generator at rated load and
average losses.
gener at or is only 26.5Hz and t he r eact ance is 0.95p.u., which is a high
r eact ance value compar ed wit h gr id-connect ed gener at or s. Such a high
r eact ance is possible only because t he gener at or is not r equir ed t o pr oduce
a high peak t or que.
The weight s of t he st at or and r ot or yokes ar e low. Fr om a mechanical
point of view, t he st at or yoke may have t o be made t hicker t han 16mm t o
be st iff enough. The ma gnet weight is 124kg, which mea ns t ha t t he
magnet s will cost about 12400ECU. This cost is about t he same as t he cost
for 2 kW of aver age losses.
The magnet t emper at ur e and t he r isk of demagnet izat ion have not been
included in t he opt imizat ion and, t hus, have t o be checked. As pr edict ed,
t he magnet t emper at ur e is lower t han t he limit , and t he peak flux densit y
B
^
s
in t he air gap caused by t he st at or winding at r at ed cur r ent is only 0.4
t imes t he flux densit y gener at ed by t he per manent magnet s. Ther efor e,
t he magnet s will not be demagnet ized dur ing nor mal oper at ion. The r at io
of t he leakage induct ance t o t he magnet izing induct ance is 1.7, which is
enough t o avoid demagnet izat ion dur ing a sudden shor t cir cuit accor ding
t o equat ion (5.87).
Bot h t he losses at r at ed load and t he aver age losses of t he gener at or ar e
illust r at ed in Figur e 6.1. The copper losses t ot ally dominat e at r at ed load,
but since t he aver age copper losses for t he chosen wind ener gy conver t er
sit e ar e only 14% of t he ones at r at ed load, t he copper losses ar e st ill only
half of t he aver age losses. The ot her loss component s ar e, on t he aver age,
appr oximat ely half of t heir r at ed load values. Since t he t ot al aver age
losses ar e 22% of t he t ot al losses at r at ed load and t he aver age power
pr oduced by t he t ur bine is 25% of t he r at ed power , t he aver age efficiency
is higher t ha n t he efficiency a t r a t ed loa d. The a ver a ge efficiency is
94.9%, while t he efficiency at r at ed load is 94.2%. For convent ional, gr id-
connect ed, four - or six-pole wind ener gy conver t er gener at or s, t he aver age
efficiency is lower t han t he efficiency at r at ed load.
Table 6.2 Generat ors designed wit h or wit hout requirement of 200% of
the rated power and requirement of 50 Hz.
Fr equency
(Hz)
Peak power t o
r at ed power
(%)
Air gap
diamet er
(m)
St at or
lengt h
(m)
Aver age
efficiency
(%)
Act ive
weight
(kg)
Rot or
volume
(m
3
)
26.5 120 2.15 0.55 94.9 2690 2.00
29.7 200 2.33 0.60 94.5 2401 2.56
50 124 2.39 0.56 93.6
(1
1928 2.51
50 200 2.51 0.60 93.4
(1
1795 2.97
(1 The a ver a ge efficiency is ca lcula t ed for va r ia ble speed oper a t ion. At const a nt
speed t he aver age efficiency will be lower .
6.1.2 Optimized Generators for 50Hz and 200%Peak Power
The r efer ence gener at or is designed for a var iable-speed, pit ch-cont r olled
wind t ur bine and r equir es neit her any specified fr equency, nor a peak
power higher t han t he r at ed power . In t his sect ion, a gener at or for dir ect
gr id-connect ion is designed (for a pit ch- or st all-cont r olled wind t ur bine),
as well as a gener at or for st all-cont r olled, var iable-speed wind t ur bines. A
gener at or which is dir ect connect ed t o t he gr id has t o pr oduce a fr equency
of 50 Hz and, for st abilit y r easons, it must have a peak power of about
200% of t he r at ed power . A st all-cont r olled wind ener gy conver t er wit h
var iable speed also r equir es about 200% peak power , t o cont r ol t he t ur bine
speed, but does not r equir e a fr equency of 50Hz.
A gener at or design wit h a fr equency of 50Hz is achieved by keeping t he
number of pole pair s const ant , which means t hat t he pole pit ch is no
longer a fr ee var iable. A peak power of 200% is assur ed by limit ing t he
allowed ar mat ur e r eact ance t o be no mor e t han 0.52p.u. This maximum
value of t he ar mat ur e r eact ance act s as a second limit for t he cur r ent
densit y, beside t he maximum winding t emper at ur e.
In Ta ble 6.2, t he differ ent gener a t or designs a r e compa r ed wit h t he
r efer ence gener at or . To make t he compar ison mor e complet e, a 50Hz
gener a t or wit hout a ny r equir ed pea k power is a lso included in t he
compar ison. The gener at or s ar e compar ed r egar ding aver age efficiency,
a ct ive weight a nd size. The gener a t or size is, her e, expr essed a s t he
volume of t he r ot or .
The compar ison shows t hat a demand for 200% peak power leads t o about
a 25% lar ger r ot or volume t han for t he r efer ence gener at or , while t he
Table 6.3 Dat a of an opt i mi zed 500k W generat or f or di rect gri d-
connect ion. The frequency is 50Hz and t he peak power 200 %
of the rated power.
Optimized variables: Electrical data:
Air gap diamet er d 2.51 m Rea ct a nce x
a
0.52 p.u.
Slot height h
s
34.0 mm Geometry:
Pole pit ch
p
42.2 mm St at or lengt h l 0.60 m
Air gap flux den. B
^
0
0.74 T Toot h widt h b
d
6.5 mm
Teet h flux dens. B
^
d0
1.68 T Slot widt h b
s
7.6 mm
Winding t emp.
CuN
108 C Miscellaneous:
Efficiency: Cost of losses C
d
49300 ECU
Aver age eff.
(1
Av
93.4 % Cost of act ive par t C
a ct
22700 ECU
Full-load eff.
N
92.6 % Cost of st r uct ur e C
st r
25700 ECU
(1 The aver age efficiency is calculat ed for var iable speed oper at ion. At const ant
speed t he aver age efficiency will be lower .
aver age efficiency is 0.4% lower and t he act ive weight 10% lower . The
lower act ive weight depends mainly on t he incr eased air gap diamet er .
Requir ing 50Hz fr equency of a gener at or also leads t o about a 25% lar ger
r ot or volume t han of t he r efer ence gener at or . To keep t he diamet er low,
t he pole pit ch has become only appr oximat ely 40mm and, t her efor e, t he
slot s ar e nar r ow. Nar r ow slot s lead t o a low copper fill fact or and higher
r esist ance. As a consequence, t he aver age efficiency is 1.3per cent -unit s
lower for t he 50Hz gener at or t han for t he r efer ence gener at or . The act ive
weight is almost 30% lower t han for t he r efer ence gener at or . About t wo
t hir ds of t he weight r educt ion is because of t he r educed pole pit ch, t he
ot her t hir d because of incr eased air gap diamet er .
A gener at or for dir ect gr id-connect ion, bot h 50Hz and 200% peak power ,
will have about 50% lar ger r ot or volume t han t he r efer ence gener at or .
The act ive weight is about 30% lower t han for t he r efer ence gener at or
pa r t ly beca use of t he incr ea sed a ir ga p dia met er , pa r t ly beca use of
r educed yoke t hickness owing t o a sma ller pole pit ch. The a ver a ge
efficiency is 1.5per cent -unit s lower t ha n for t he r efer ence gener a t or .
Mor e dat a of t he dir ect gr id-connect ed gener at or is pr esent ed in Table6.3.
No damper windings wer e included in t his design, so t he dir ect gr id-
connect ed gener at or has t o be pr ovided wit h mechanical damping of t he
t ype pr esent ed by West lake et al. (1996). Damping by means of damper
windings is possible only wit h a much lar ger gener at or diamet er .
Table 6.4 Data of a 500kW generator optimized with the losses at rated
load in the cost function.
Optimized variables: Geometry:
Slot height h
s
68.4 mm Air gap diamet er d 2.15 m
Pole pit ch
p
57.9 mm St at or lengt h l 0.61 m
Air gap flux den.
B
^
0.75 T Toot h widt h b

d
9.2 mm
Teet h flux dens.
B
^
d
1.64 T Slot widt h b
s
10.1 mm
Winding t emp.
CuN
92 C Losses, efficiency:
Electrical data: Copper losses P
CuN
18700 W
Rea ct a nce x
a
0.94 p.u. St at or yoke losses P
Feys
842 W
s
3.17 A/mm
2
St at or t eet h losses P
Fed
2760 W
Miscellaneous: Magnet losses P
Ft m
861 W
Cost of av. losses C
d
38500 ECU Addit ional losses P
ad
720 W
Cost of act ive par t C
a ct
25300 ECU Fr ict . & windage
P
2500 W
Cost of st r uct ur e C
st r
20200 ECU Aver age eff.
Av
94.9 %
Full-load eff.
N
94.7 %
6.1.3 Optimization Using the Losses at Rated Load
Because t he aver age fact or for t he copper losses is only 0.14 while t he
a ver a ge fa ct or s for t he cor e losses a r e a bout 0.500.60, a gener a t or
opt imized wit h t he aver age losses in t he cost funct ion can be expect ed t o
have high copper losses at r at ed load compar ed wit h t he cor e losses. If t he
losses at r at ed load ar e used in t he cost funct ion, inst ead of t he aver age
losses, t he opt imum gener at or will have lower copper losses and higher
cor e losses. The effect of using aver age losses in t he cost funct ion, inst ead
of t he losses at r at ed load, was t est ed by changing t he cost funct ion for t he
opt imizat ion. To make sur e t hat t he gener at or is compar able wit h t he
r efer ence gener at or , t he diamet er was fixed at 2.15m and t he cost of t he
losses at r at ed load was adjust ed unt il t he aver age efficiency was 94.9%,
as it is for t he r efer ence gener at or . Dat a of a 500 kW gener at or , opt imized
using t he losses at r at ed load in t he cost funct ion, ar e shown in Table 6.4.
The differ ences bet ween t his gener at or and t he r efer ence gener at or ar e
r at her small. The cur r ent densit y is 12 % lower , t he slot 7 % higher and
t he st at or 11 % longer t han for t he r efer ence gener at or . The efficiency at
r at ed load is 0.5 per cent unit s higher . The cost of t he act ive par t s of t he
gener at or has incr eased slight ly along wit h t he cost of t he st r uct ur e.
The losses at r at ed load and t he aver age losses for t his gener at or and t he
r efer ence gener at or ar e illust r at ed in Figur e 6.2. The differ ence bet ween
t he gener a t or loss dist r ibut ions is not ver y la r ge. This low differ ence
indicat es t hat t he ver y high copper losses of t he r efer ence gener at or ar e
not only a consequence of t he cost funct ion, but a lso a na t ur a l loss
dist r ibut ion in t his t ype of low-speed gener at or . Mor eover , t he efficiency
cur ves for t he t wo gener at or s wer e calculat ed, using t he g-funct ions fr om
Chapt er 3. The efficiency cur ves, plot t ed in Figur e 6.3, ar e found t o be
r at her similar , but wit h t he peak efficiency at differ ent power s.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
A: Rat ed load
A: Aver age
B: Rat ed load
B: Aver age
Losses (kW)
Figure 6.2 The losses of two generators with equal average efficiency:
Generat or A: Reference generat or;
Generat or B: Opt imized using t he cost of t he losses at rat ed
load.
100 200 300 400 500
Input power (kW)
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

(
%
)
Opt imized using t he losses at r at ed load
Opt imized using t he aver age losses
Figure 6.3 Efficiency curves of t wo generat ors. One is opt imized wit h t he
losses at rat ed load in t he cost funct ion and one wit h t he
average losses. Bot h generat ors have equal average efficiency.
The gener at or opt imized r egar ding aver age losses will be smaller and
have a slight ly lower t ot al cost t han if t he losses at r at ed load ar e used.
However , one r eason t o design a gener at or wit h high efficiency at r at ed
load, even if t he aver age efficiency is not impr oved, would be because t he
cooling syst em might be made simpler and cheaper .
6.2 Sensitivity to Variable Changes
In t his sect ion, t he influence of six design var iables on t he st at or lengt h,
t he act ive weight , t he losses and t he cost funct ion is invest igat ed. The
influence of a var iable is t est ed by changing it s value t o 0.9 or 1.1 t imes t he
opt imum value, while t he r est of t he var iables ar e kept at t heir opt imum
values. A new gener at or is calculat ed for each var iable t hat is changed.
The gener at or is not opt imized; only t he st at or lengt h and cur r ent densit y
ar e adjust ed t o get t he r ight r at ed power and r ight winding t emper at ur e.
The r esult s ar e pr esent ed in Table 6.5.
The ma in r esult fr om t his invest iga t ion is t ha t t he t ot a l cost of t he
gener at or is r at her insensit ive t o changes in any of t he design var iables.
This insensit ivit y indicat es a flat minimum in t he cost funct ion. The flux
densit ies in t he air gap and t he t eet h have t he highest influence on t he
t ot al cost , but t he t ot al cost incr eases only by appr oximat ely 3 % as t he flux
densit ies ar e changed 10%.
The pole pit ch has almost no influence on t he t ot al cost of t he gener at or .
The act ive weight and t he cost of t he act ive par t s incr ease as t he pole pit ch
incr eases. However , t he cor e losses decr ease at t he same t ime.
A 10% change in t he air gap diamet er incr eases t he t ot al cost of t he
gener at or by appr oximat ely 1.5 %. As t he diamet er decr eases, t he st at or
lengt h along wit h t he cost of t he act ive par t incr ease. The copper losses
incr ease wit h decr easing diamet er while t he cor e losses r emain almost
const a nt .
The slot height has ver y lit t le effect on t he t ot al cost of t he gener at or . A
decr ease in t he slot height r equir es an incr ease in st at or lengt h because
t he cur r ent in a slot has t o be decr eased in or der t o maint ain t he or iginal
winding t emper a t ur e. The copper losses incr ea se a s t he slot height
decr eases. At t he same t ime, however , t he cor e losses decr ease since t he
major par t of t he cor e losses ar e losses in t he t eet h. The t ot al influence on
t he aver age losses is minor .
The air gap flux densit y has t he lar gest influence on t he t ot al cost of t he
gener a t or . If t he flux densit y is r educed, t he st a t or lengt h ha s t o be
incr ea sed a nd bot h copper a nd cor e losses incr ea se. The a mount of
per manent magnet s is decr eased as t he flux densit y is decr eased, leading
t o a lower cost for t he act ive par t of t he gener at or . The influence of t he
Table 6.5 The influence of t he design variables on t he generat or. The
design variables are changed one by one while t he rest have
t heir opt imum values. The changes are expressed in percent .
Cha nged
var iables
St at or
lengt h
Act ive
weight
Copper
losses
Cor e
losses
Aver a ge
losses
Cost of
act ive
par t
Tot al
cost
p
= 0.9
pOpt
+0 5 +1 +9 +3 2 +0
p
= 1.1
pOpt
+0 +5 1 6 2 +3 +0
d = 0.9 d
Opt
+23 +9 +8 +0 +4 +5 +2
d = 1.1 d
Opt
17 7 6 +0 3 4 +1
h
s
= 0.9 h
sOpt
+4 3 +3 2 +1 1 +0
h
s
= 1.1 h
sOpt
3 +4 2 +2 0 +2 +0
B
^
= 0.9 B
^
Opt
+12 +6 +11 +4 +6 4 +3
B
^
= 1.1 B
^
Opt
5 0 6 +2 2 +15 +3
B
^
d
= 0.9 B
^
dOpt
+6 +5 +6 1 +3 1 +2
B
^
d
= 1.1 B
^
dOpt
4 2 5 +2 2 +14 +3
CuN
=
0.9
CuNOpt
+7 +6 14 +7 5 +7 +1
CuN
=
1.1
CuNOpt
5 5 +13 5 +5 5 +0
Refer ence
gener a t or
0.55 m 2690
kg
22700
W
3490
W
6420 W 24200
ECU
78700
ECU
t eet h flux densit y on t he gener at or is similar t o t he influence of t he air gap
flux densit y, alt hough t he t ot al cost is changed slight ly less.
The winding t emper at ur e has a ver y low influence on t he t ot al cost . The
influence on t he copper losses is la r ge, but while t he copper losses
incr ea se much wit h incr ea sing winding t emper a t ur e t he cor e losses
decr ease much, r educing t he influence on t he aver age losses. Decr eased
winding t emper at ur e r equir es a longer st at or and, t her efor e, t he cost of
t he act ive par t of t he gener at or incr eases.
Table 6.6 Generat ors opt imized using different loss cost s.
Cost of
losses
Aver a ge
effi ci en cy
( %)
Air gap
dia met er
( m )
Act ive
weight
( k g)
Slot
height
( mm)
Cur r ent
densit y
(A/ mm
2
)
Air gap flux
densit y
( T )
Wi n d i n g
t emper at ur e
(C)
0 % 92.0 2.05 1814 46 5.6 0.67 130
10 % 92.6 2.04 1907 48 5.3 0.70 130
50 % 93.7 2.07 2187 55 4.7 0.75 130
100 % 94.9 2.15 2689 64 3.6 0.77 107
200 % 95.6 2.32 3274 71 2.7 0.76 89
1000 % 96.5 2.73 5369 93 1.5 0.75 71
6.3 Sensitivity to Cost Function Changes
The cost funct ion used in t his t hesis is only a r ough est imat e of t he r eal
cost s. Ther efor e, it is impor t a nt t o invest iga t e how t he cost funct ion
influences t he gener at or design. In t his sect ion, t he cost of losses, cost of
ir on and copper , cost of per manent magnet s and t he cost of t he st r uct ur e
ar e changed t o see how t hey influence t he opt imum gener at or .
6.3.1 Cost of Losses
The effect t hat t he specific cost of losses has on t he opt imized 500 kW
gener at or is invest igat ed by changing t he cost of aver age losses bet ween 0,
10, 50, 100, 200 and 1000% of t he nominal value. The ext r eme values 0, 10
and 1000% ar e, of cour se, not r ealist ic. Never t heless, t hey have been used
t o show mor e clear ly which par amet er s ar e impor t ant for t he aver age
efficiency. Dat a of t he gener at or opt imized wit h differ ent specific cost of
losses ar e shown in Table6.6. Wit h incr easing specific cost of losses t he
diamet er incr eases slight ly, t he act ive weight incr eases consider ably and,
of cour se, t he aver age efficiency incr eases. The aver age losses wit h no
cost of t he losses ar e 8 per cent -unit s and 3.5 per cent -unit s at t he highest
cost of t he losses. The incr ea sed efficiency is ma inly r ea ched by
incr easing t he slot height and decr easing t he cur r ent densit y. Thus, a
higher efficiency causes a higher act ive weight . The efficiency incr ease is,
t o some ext ent , also r eached by incr easing t he diamet er . The air gap flux
densit y, however , is not incr eased as t he cost of losses is incr eased.
The aver age losses of t hr ee of t he opt imized gener at or s ar e shown in
Figur e 6.4. It can be seen t hat t he decr ease in aver age losses is mainly
ca used by a decr ea se in copper losses. The eddy cur r ent losses a r e
0 2 4 6 8 10
10 %
100 %
1000 %
C
o
s
t

o
f

l
o
s
s
e
s
Aver age losses (kW)
Figure 6.4 T h e average l osses of t h ree gen erat ors opt i mi zed u si n g
different specific costs of the losses (10, 100 and 1000% of the
nominal cost of the average losses).
appr oximat ely halved but t he hyst er esis losses r emain almost const ant .
The winda ge a nd fr ict ion losses a r e a ssumed const a nt a nd ca nnot be
changed by opt imizat ion.
One wa y of decr ea sing t he cor e losses, which is not included in t he
opt imizat ion in t his t hesis, is t o use ir on wit h lower losses and per haps
also t hinner laminat ions.
6.3.2 Cost of Iron and Copper
The influence of t he cost of t he act ive ir on and copper on t he opt imum
gener at or is t est ed by changing t he cost of t hese t wo mat er ials t o 0%,
10%, 50%, 200% and 1000% of t heir nominal cost s. The r esult s ar e
shown in Table 6.7.
Decr ea sed specific cost of ir on a nd copper lea ds t o a mor e efficient
gener a t or wit h a sma ller dia met er but a higher a ct ive weight . The
aver age losses change bet ween 4.5 and 7.0 per cent -unit s, t he diamet er
changes fr om 2.07 t o 2.59 m and t he weight fr om 3887 t o 1443 kg as t he
cost s of ir on and copper change fr om 0 t o 1000% of t heir nominal values.
The cost s of ir on a nd copper ma inly influence t he a ct ive weight . The
weight incr eases as copper and ir on cost s decr ease because of t he higher
slot s and also because of a slight ly incr eased pole pit ch. The pole pit ch
incr eases because t he slot widt h incr eases. The copper losses ar e r educed
as t he cost s of ir on and copper decr ease since t he slot s ar e made higher
and t he cur r ent densit y decr eases.
Table 6.8 Generat ors opt imized wit h different specific magnet cost s.
Cost of
magnet s
Aver age
efficiency
(%)
Air gap
diamet er
(m)
Act ive
weight
(kg)
Air gap
flux
densit y
(T)
Magnet
height
(mm)
Teet h
flux
densit y
(T)
Magnet
weight
(kg)
0 % 95.3 2.00 3142 0.89 16.2 1.83 285
10 % 95.2 2.03 2988 0.87 12.3 1.78 219
50 % 95.0 2.10 2802 0.81 7.9 1.70 148
100 % 94.9 2.15 2689 0.77 6.3 1.64 124
200 % 94.6 2.23 2549 0.72 5.1 1.59 104
1000 % 93.1 2.49 1977 0.60 3.3 1.49 76
Table 6.7 Generat ors opt imized wit h different specific copper and iron
cost s.
Cost of
ir on and
copper
Aver age
efficiency
(%)
Air gap
diamet er
(m)
Act ive
weight
(kg)
Magnet
weight
(kg)
Slot
height
(mm)
St at or
lengt h
(m)
Winding
t emper at ur e
(C)
0 % 95.5 2.07 3887 134 88 0.60 90
10 % 95.4 2.08 3677 132 84 0.59 92
50 % 95.1 2.11 3106 127 72 0.57 100
100 % 94.9 2.15 2689 124 64 0.55 107
200 % 94.4 2.21 2223 120 55 0.52 118
1000 % 93.0 2.59 1443 118 36 0.47 130
6.3.3 Cost of Permanent Magnets
The specific cost of t he per ma nent ma gnet s is a r a t her uncer t a in
par amet er . The per manent magnet s ar e expensive, but t he pr ice has been
falling for a number of year s. It is, t her efor e, int er est ing t o see what effect
ma gnet pr ice ha s on t he opt imum gener a t or . The specific cost of t he
ma gnet s ha s been cha nged fr om 0 t o 1000% of t he nomina l va lue,
100ECU/kg. Some dat a of t he differ ent opt imized gener at or s ar e shown in
Table 6.8.
It can be seen t hat t he amount of magnet s incr eases consider ably as t he
specific cost of t he magnet s is r educed. The differ ences in t he air gap and
t eet h flux densit ies ar e, however , not ver y lar ge. Even wit h a ver y low
specific cost of t he magnet s, t he opt imum air gap flux densit y is only
about 0.1 T higher t han for t he gener at or opt imized wit h t he nominal
value of t he specific cost of t he magnet s. The diamet er decr eases wit h
decr easing magnet cost and t he act ive weight incr eases, but t he aver age
efficiency changes only slight ly. The conclusion of t hese r esult s is t hat t he
a ver a ge efficiency, t he dia met er a nd t he a ct ive weight a r e not ver y
dependent on t he specific cost of t he magnet s. The specific cost of t he
magnet s will mainly influence t he mat er ial cost of t he gener at or .
Since t he gener at or is only slight ly impr oved by incr easing flux densit y,
flux concent r at ion will not lead t o any significant ly differ ent gener at or
per for ma n ce t h a n su r fa ce ma gn et s do. Fer r it e ma gn et s a n d flu x
concent r at ion, however , may lead t o a cheaper gener at or .
6.3.4 Cost of the Structure
The appr oximat e cost of t he st r uct ur e has sever al par amet er s. In t his
sect ion, t he r efer ence st r uct ur e cost c
st r
, t he st r uct ur e exponent a and t he
r efer ence lengt h l
r ef
ar e changed in or der t o see which effect t hey have on
t he opt imum gener at or . The r esult s of t he changed cost of t he st r uct ur e
ar e pr esent ed in Table 6.9. The par amet er s have been changed one at a
t ime, while t he ot her t wo have t heir nominal values. The nominal values
of t he par amet er s ar e c
st r
= 20 kECU,a = 3 and l
r ef
= 1m.
Even major changes in t he cost of t he st r uct ur e have lit t le influence on t he
gener at or efficiency and act ive weight . The size of t he gener at or is not
changed dr ast ically, unless c
st r
is r educed t o 0 or 2kECU or a is decr eased
t o 1. For a ll ot her t est ed va lues of t he cost funct ion pa r a met er s, t he
diamet er var ies bet ween 1.97 t o 2.50 m and t he aver age efficiency bet ween
94.4 and 95.2%. The weight of t he act ive par t s var ies bet ween 2048 and
3129kg.
If t he st r uct ur e is not included (c
st r
=0), t he opt imizat ion is only car r ied out
for t he elect r omagnet ic par t of t he gener at or . The opt imum diamet er t hen
becomes much lar ger t han if t he cost of t he st r uct ur e is included. Not e,
however , t hat t he aver age efficiency of t he ver y lar ge gener at or is not
much differ ent fr om t hat of t he r efer ence gener at or . The cost of t he act ive
par t does not decr ease much compar ed wit h t he r efer ence gener at or . A
lar ge diamet er , t her efor e, is not mot ivat ed.
The conclusion fr om t his invest igat ion is t hat t he cost of t he st r uct ur e
must be included in t he opt imizat ion, because it is t he main limit ing
fact or for t he diamet er . Exact ly how t he cost of t he st r uct ur e var ies wit h
diamet er does not have t o be known in or der t o find an appr oximat e
opt imum diamet er .
Table 6.9 Generat ors opt imized wit h different st ruct ure cost s.
Changed cost
par amet er
Aver age
efficiency
(%)
Air gap
diamet er
(m)
Act ive
weight
(kg)
St at or
lengt h
(m)
Cur r ent
densit y
(A/mm
2
)
Reac-
t ance
(p.u.)
Winding
t emp.
(C)
c
st r
=0 kECU 95.7 6.33 1902 0.12 2.8 0.80 87
c
st r
=2 kECU 95.6 3.26 2366 0.32 3.1 0.89 93
c
st r
=10 kECU 95.2 2.39 2664 0.50 3.4 0.93 99
c
st r
=20 kECU 94.9 2.15 2689 0.55 3.6 0.95 107
c
st r
=40 kECU 94.4 1.97 2611 0.58 4.0 0.98 121
c
st r
=200 kECU 93.9 1.78 2690 0.62 4.1 1.00 130
a=1 95.5 3.39 2181 0.28 3.2 0.90 97
a=2 95.1 2.46 2534 0.45 3.4 0.94 102
a=3 94.9 2.15 2689 0.55 3.6 0.95 107
a=4 94.7 2.01 2749 0.60 3.7 0.96 111
l
r ef
= 0.5 m 94.4 2.50 2048 0.36 4.1 1.00 130
l
r ef
= 1 m 94.9 2.15 2689 0.55 3.6 0.95 107
l
r ef
= 2 m 94.9 1.98 3129 0.73 3.4 0.92 96
6.4 Optimum Generator Diameter
The diamet er of a dir ect -dr iven gener at or is of gr eat impor t ance t o a wind
ener gy conver t er manufact ur er . The opt imum diamet er is a compr omize
bet ween t he elect r omagnet ic par t and t he st r uct ur e of t he gener at or . Since
t he cost of t he st r uct ur e is highly uncer t ain, it is int er est ing t o invest igat e
t he influence of t he diamet er on t he opt imizat ion.
The main var iables t hat link t he opt imizat ion of t he elect r omagnet ic par t
t o t he st r uct ur e ar e t he diamet er and t he lengt h. In Figur e 6.5 t he lengt h
of t he st at or is plot t ed as a funct ion of air gap diamet er for opt imized
gener a t or s. Beca use t he cost of t he st r uct ur e incr ea ses bot h wit h
incr easing lengt h and wit h incr easing diamet er , t he cost of t he st r uct ur e
will have a minimum value. Bot h lar ge and small diamet er s will lead t o a
high st r uct ur e cost .
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Air gap diamet er (m)
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
S
t
a
t
o
r

l
e
n
g
t
h

(
m
)
Figure 6.5 The optimum stator length as a function of diameter.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Air gap diamet er (m)
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
C
o
s
t

(
E
C
U
)
Cost of st r uct ur e
Cost of losses
Cost of act ive par t s
Figure 6.6 The t hree part s of t he cost funct ion as funct ions of air gap
diameter. The generator is optimized for each value of the air
gap diamet er.
The cost of t he act ive par t , t he cost of t he losses and t he cost of t he
st r uct ur e wer e calculat ed as funct ions of air gap diamet er . The gener at or
was opt imized for each fixed value of t he diamet er . The r esult s ar e shown
in Figur e6.6.
The losses, and consequent ly t he cost of t he losses, decr eases r apidly as
t he diamet er incr eases fr om 1 t o 2m. As was shown in Sect ion 6.2, t he
cor e losses a r e r a t her dia met er -independent . The r ea son t he losses
decr ease wit h incr easing air gap diamet er is t hat t he act ive par t s of t he
windings a r e r educed. At sma ll dia met er s, when t he st a t or is r a t her
long, t his phenomenon r educes t he losses as t he diamet er incr eases. At
lar ge diamet er s, t he st at or is shor t and t he end windings become mor e
impor t ant . While t he act ive par t of t he winding decr ease wit h incr easing
diamet er t he amount of end windings incr eases. If t he air gap diamet er is
bet ween 3 a nd 5 m, t he t ot a l losses a r e a lmost independent of t he
diamet er . For diamet er s lar ger t han 5m t he losses incr ease slight ly wit h
incr easing diamet er .
The cost of t he act ive par t of t he gener at or is mor e diamet er -dependent
t han t he cost of t he losses. If t he gener at or diamet er is decr eased, t he
amount of act ive mat er ial is incr eased. Since t he gener at or cost funct ion
will keep t he opt imum st at or shor t , t he incr eased cost depends most ly on
incr ea sing slot height a nd incr ea sing flux densit y. I ncr ea sing flux
densit y leads t o high magnet weight . Under a diamet er of 2m, t he cost of
t he act ive mat er ial incr eases r apidly and, t her efor e, t he diamet er cannot
be much less t han 1.5 m for t his 500kW gener at or .
At la r ge dia met er s, over 2m, t he st a t or is shor t a nd t he cost of t he
st r uct ur e is det er mined mainly by t he diamet er . Consequent ly, t he cost of
t he st r uct ur e incr ea se a long wit h t he dia met er . For sma ll dia met er s,
under 1.5m, t he st at or is long and, t hus, t he cost of t he st r uct ur e is
det er mined ma inly by t he st a t or lengt h. Ther efor e, t he cost of t he
st r uct ur e incr ea se a s t he dia met er is decr ea sed below 1.5m. A la r ge
diamet er has t o be avoided because of t r anspor t at ion and manufact ur ing
pr oblems and a small diamet er has t o be avoided because a long gener at or
st r uct ur e is difficult t o manufact ur e.
If only t he cost of t he act ive par t s and t he cost of t he losses ar e consider ed,
t he opt imum diamet er would be mor e t han 6 m. If t he cost of t he st r uct ur e
is included in t he opt imiza t ion, t he opt imum dia met er is decr ea sed
dr ast ically, t o about 2 m. The r eason is easily seen in Figur e 6.6; t he cost
of t he losses a nd t he cost of a ct ive ma t er ia ls a r e r a t her dia met er -
independent for diamet er s above 2.5m.
The opt imum gener at or diamet er is not ver y sensit ive t o changes in t he
shape of t he cost funct ion for t he st r uct ur e. The r eason is a significant
incr ease in t he cost of t he act ive mat er ial and t he cost of t he losses as t he
dia met er decr ea ses below 1.75m, in combina t ion wit h a ver y slow
decr ease in t hose cost s as t he diamet er incr eases beyond 2.5m. As a
consequence, t he opt imum diamet er is likely t o be wit hin 1.752.5m.
6.5 Typical 500 kW Permanent-magnet Generator
Ranges for t he efficiency, act ive weight and air gap diamet er can be found
fr om t he dat a in Sect ion 6.3. The maximum and minimum values of t he
aver age efficiency, act ive weight and air gap diamet er ar e pr esent ed in
Table 6.10. Only t he values for gener at or s opt imized wit h specific cost s c
d
,
c
Fe
, c
Cu
, l
r ef
, c
st r
equal t o 50 or 200% of t he nominal cost and a equal t o 2
and 3 wer e used. The gener at or s opt imized wit h mor e ext r eme values of
t he cost funct ion par amet er s wer e excluded.
The 500kW per manent -magnet gener at or will have an aver age efficiency
of about 94.6%, an act ive weight of about 2600kg and a diamet er of about
2.2 m. The efficiency can incr ease slight ly if t he specific cost of t he losses
is high or if t he specific cost s of t he ir on a nd copper a r e low. The
incr ea sed efficiency will lea d t o a n incr ea se of t he a ct ive weight . An
incr ease in t he diamet er only leads t o a small incr ease in t he efficiency
and a small decr ease in t he act ive weight ; a decr ease in t he diamet er will
incr ease t he act ive weight and decr ease t he efficiency.
Table 6.10 Dat a of a t ypical 500 k W direct -driven, permanent -magnet
generator of the proposed type.
Aver age efficiency Act ive weight Air gap diamet er
94.6 t 1 % 2600 t 700 kg 2.2 t 0.3 m
94 Generat or Opt imizat ion Design and Comparison 95
7 Desi gn and Compari son
In t his chapt er t he per for mance and dat a of t he pr oposed gener at or t ype is
pr esent ed a nd discussed. Dir ect -dr iven gener a t or s a r e designed a nd
opt imized for r at ed power s fr om 30kW t o 3MW. A compar ison is made of
t he a ver a ge efficiency a nd t he size of dir ect -dr iven gener a t or s of t he
pr oposed t ype and convent ional dr ive t r ains, consist ing of a gear and a
gr id-connect ed induct ion gener at or . Some ot her dir ect -dr iven gener at or s
ar e also compar ed wit h t he pr oposed gener at or t ype.
7.1 Generators from 30kW to 3 MW
Dir ect -dr iven gener a t or s a r e int er est ing for a ll sizes of wind ener gy
conver t er s. Wind ener gy conver t er s fr om about 30 kW and up t o 3 MW ar e
of t he same basic design and can be assumed t o follow Equat ions (2.1) and
(2.2) as per t ains t o r at ed speed and r at ed t or que as funct ions of r at ed
power . Ther efor e, gener at or s wit hin t hat power r ange wer e invest igat ed.
The calculat ed gener at or sizes ar e 30, 50, 100, 170, 300, 500, 1000, 1700 and
3000kW. All t he gener at or s wer e opt imized using t he nominal values of
t he cost funct ion par amet er s pr esent ed in Table 2.3. The efficiency, size
and act ive weight of t he dir ect -dr iven gener at or s ar e pr esent ed in Sect ion
7.1.1. Opt imum values of t he design var iables and ot her r esult s fr om t he
elect r omagnet ic design ar e discussed in Sect ion 7.1.2. In Sect ion 7.1.3 t he
differ ences bet ween gener at or s of differ ent r at ed power ar e discussed.
7.1.1 Generator Data
Bot h t he aver age efficiency and t he efficiency at r at ed load of t he opt imized
gener at or s ar e shown in Figur e 7.1. The efficiency of t he dir ect -dr iven
gener at or s incr eases wit h t he r at ed power , as it also does for convent ional
gener at or s. An impor t ant r eason for t he incr ease in efficiency is t hat t he
r ot or sur face velocit y incr eases; a higher r ot or sur face velocit y means t hat
a higher a ct ive power ca n be pr oduced per squa r e met er of a ir ga p
sur face, wit h a given for ce densit y. The aver age efficiency incr eases fr om
92.5% for a 30 kW gener at or t o 95.8% for a 3MW gener at or , and t he r ot or
sur face velocit y incr eases fr om 2.58 t o 4.56m/s. The efficiency at r at ed
load is about 1per cent -unit lower t han t he aver age efficiency.
The size of t he dir ect -dr iven gener at or is impor t ant . Gener at or s will be
mor e difficult t o ma nufa ct ur e t he la r ger t hey a r e, but a n even mor e
impor t ant pr oblem might be t he t r anspor t at ion t o t he sit e. The opt imum
a ir ga p dia met er a nd st a t or lengt h of t he gener a t or a r e shown in
Figur e7.2. An opt imized 30 kW gener at or has an air gap diamet er of
0.8m and a 3MW gener at or 4.1m. The cor r esponding st at or lengt hs ar e 96 Design and Comparison
30 100 300 1000 3000
Rat ed power (kW)
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

(
%
)
Aver age efficiency
Efficiency at r at ed load
Figure 7.1 The efficiencies of t he direct -driven generat ors
30 100 300 1000 3000
Rat ed power (kW)
0
1
2
3
4
D
i
a
m
e
t
e
r

a
n
d

l
e
n
g
t
h

(
m
)
Air gap diamet er
St at or lengt h
Figure 7.2 The air gap diamet er and st at or lengt h of t he direct -driven
gen erat ors.
0.2m for t he 30 kW gener at or and 1.1m for t he 3MW gener at or . The
lengt h-t o-diamet er r at io incr eases as t he r at ed power incr eases, but even
t he 3 MW gener at or has a lengt h-t o-diamet er r at io of less t han one t hir d.
The weight of t he gener at or is usually not a pr oblem for t he wind ener gy
conver t er dur ing oper at ion. For ces on t he wind ener gy conver t er t ower ,
for inst ance, ar e det er mined almost exclusively by t he for ces fr om t he
t ur bine, not by t he gener at or weight . Never t heless, t he weight can be
impor t ant for t he er ect ion of t he wind ener gy conver t er . A heavy gener at or
demands a lar ger cr ane or t hat t he machiner y be lift ed in sever al par t s. Design and Comparison 97
Since t he mechanical par t of t he gener at or has not been designed, only t he
a ct ive weight is ca lcula t ed. The weight of t he gener a t or st r uct ur e is
expect ed t o be much higher t han t he act ive weight . The act ive weight
incr eases slight ly less t han linear ly wit h t he r at ed power , see Figur e 7.3.
The figur es a r e 210kg for a 30kW gener a t or , 1700kg for a 300kW
gener at or and 14000kg for a 3MW gener at or .
Si n ce i t wa s n ot i n cl u ded i n t h e des i gn met h od, t h e r i s k of
demagnet izat ion of t he magnet s was also checked. The lar ger gener at or s
ha ve a lower minimum flux densit y in t he ma gnet s t ha n t he sma ller
ones, but none of t he gener at or s r isks ir r ever sible demagnet izat ion of t he
per manent magnet s.
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
Rat ed power (kW)
0
5000
10000
15000
A
c
t
i
v
e

w
e
i
g
h
t

(
k
g
)
Figure 7.3 The act ive weight of t he generat or as a funct ion of rat ed
power.
7.1.2 Optimum Variables and Parameter Values
All t he gener a t or s, fr om 30 kW t o 3MW, a r e of t he sa me t ype a nd
opt imized wit h t he same cost funct ion. It is int er est ing, t her efor e, t o see in
what r espect t he gener at or s of differ ent r at ed power s ar e similar and in
what r espect t hey ar e differ ent .
The opt imum air gap flux densit y is about 0.76T and t he opt imum t eet h
flux densit y about 1.65T for all gener at or sizes. The var iat ions ar e only
about t1%.
The for ce densit y in t he a ir ga p of t he gener a t or s is pr esent ed in
Figur e7.4. The lar ger gener at or s have a higher for ce densit y t han t he
smaller ones. Since t he flux densit y is const ant , t he higher for ce densit y is
achieved by a higher cur r ent loading. 98 Design and Comparison
30 100 300 1000 3000
Rat ed power (kW)
0
10
20
30
40
50
F
o
r
c
e

d
e
n
s
i
t
y

(
k
N
/
m
^
2
)
Figure 7.4 The force density in the air gap of the optimized generators
30 100 300 1000 3000
Rat ed power (kW)
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

(
d
e
g
r
e
e

C
)
End windings
Magnet s
Figure 7.5 T h e m axi m u m wi n d i n g t em per at u r e an d m agn et
t emperat ure of t he opt imized generat ors.
The opt imum winding t emper at ur e also incr eases as t he r at ed power of
t he gener a t or incr ea ses. I n Figur e 7.5, t he dia gr a m shows t ha t t he
t emper at ur e limit is r eached as t he r at ed power is 3MW or lar ger . This
mea ns t ha t t he sma ller ma chines ca n be ma de wit h simpler cooling
syst ems t han t he lar ger ones. The magnet t emper at ur e is also plot t ed in
t he diagr am. The magnet t emper at ur e is well below 120C for all of t he
gener a t or s.
The per -unit r ea ct a nce of t he opt imized gener a t or s incr ea ses wit h
incr easing r at ed power . Figur e 7.6 shows t hat t he value of t he r eact ance
incr eases fr om appr oximat ely 0.75p.u. for a 30kW gener at or t o 1.05p.u.
for a 3 MW gener at or . Design and Comparison 99
30 100 300 1000 3000
Rat ed power (kW)
0.8
0.9
1
1.1
R
e
a
c
t
a
n
c
e

(
p
.
u
.
)
Figure 7.6 The react ance of t he opt imized generat ors.
30 100 300 1000 3000
Rat ed power (kW)
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
P
o
l
e

p
i
t
c
h

a
n
d

s
l
o
t

h
e
i
g
h
t

(
m
)
Pole pit ch
Slot height
Figure 7.7 The slot height and pole pitch of the optimized generators.
The slot height and pole pit ch of t he opt imized gener at or s bot h incr ease
wit h incr easing r at ed power , as is shown Figur e 7.7. It is t he incr easing
cur r ent loading which causes t he slot height t o incr ease. The slot pit ch
and pole pit ch ar e not opt imized independent ly. Because t he number of
slot s per pole is const ant , t he slot pit ch is pr opor t ional t o t he pole pit ch.
Ther efor e, t he opt imum pole pit ch and t he slot pit ch could have ot her
values if t hey wer e opt imized separ at ely.
The r esult s pr esent ed in t his sect ion ar e r at her t ypical of t he design of
elect r ica l ma chines in gener a l. I t is a well known phenomenon t ha t
la r ger gener a t or s ha ve a higher for ce densit y t ha n sma ller ones. The
higher for ce densit y is t he r eason for t he incr ease in slot height , cur r ent 100 Design and Comparison
0 1000 2000 3000
Rat ed power (kW)
0
50
100
150
200
C
o
s
t

(
k
E
C
U
)
St r uct ur e
Losses
Act ive par t s
Figure 7.8 The cost of act ive part s, cost of losses and cost of st ruct ure
for the generators as a function of rated power.
loa din g, r ea ct a n ce a n d win din g t emper a t u r e a s t h e r a t ed power
incr ea ses. The incr ea sed for ce densit y, however , is not a necessa r y
consequence of incr eased gener at or size; it is caused by t he opt imizat ion.
7.1.3 Power Limits For the Direct-driven Generators
This sect ion examines whet her or not t her e exist s a pr act ical upper or
lower limit for t he r at ed power of dir ect -dr iven gener at or s. The r easons
for such a limit ma y be t he t ot a l cost , t he weight or t he size of t he
gener a t or .
The t hr ee par t s of t he cost funct ion only give a r ough est imat e of t he cost of
t he gener at or . In Figur e7.8, t he t hr ee par t s of t he cost funct ion ar e shown
t o illust r at e how t he cost changes wit h r at ed power . All t hr ee par t s of t he
cost funct ion incr ease almost linear ly wit h t he r at ed power . This indicat es
t hat t he specific cost , ECU per kW, of a dir ect -dr iven gener at or is about t he
same for all gener at or sizes.
The weight s of t he act ive mat er ials ar e plot t ed as funct ions of t he r at ed
power in Figur es 7.9 and 7.10. The ir on weight and t he copper weight
incr ea se slight ly less t ha n linea r ly a nd t he ma gnet weight incr ea ses
slight ly mor e t han linear ly. Since t he magnet s ar e only a small par t of t he
act ive weight , t he t ot al act ive weight st ill incr eases less t han linear ly wit h
incr easing r at ed power . Thus t he specific act ive weight , kg per kW, will be
slight ly lower for a lar ge gener at or t han for a small one.
The est imat ed out er diamet er of t he gener at or s is plot t ed as a funct ion of
t he r at ed power in Figur e 7.11. The diamet er incr eases wit h incr easing
power , but t he incr ease is r at her small, because of t he incr ease in for ce Design and Comparison 101
0 1000 2000 3000
Rat ed power (kW)
0
5000
10000
C
o
p
p
e
r

a
n
d

i
r
o
n

w
e
i
g
h
t

(
k
g
)
Ir on weight
Copper weight
Figure 7.9 The weight of t he iron core and winding as a funct ion of
rat ed power.
0 1000 2000 3000
Rat ed power (kW)
0
500
1000
M
a
g
n
e
t

w
e
i
g
h
t

(
k
g
)
Figure 7.10 The weight of the permanent-magnets as a function of rated
power.
densit y and lengt h-t o-diamet er r at io wit h incr easing r at ed power . If t her e
is a definit e maximum diamet er , t hen t his t ype of gener at or can be made
wit h a smaller out er diamet er t han what is shown her e. However , in t hat
ca se t he a ct ive weight will incr ea se, t he a ver a ge efficiency decr ea se
slight ly and t he lengt h will incr ease.
The specific cost and specific act ive weight will not incr ease as t he r at ed
power incr eases. Fr om t hese t wo aspect s t he upper power limit for dir ect -
dr iven gener a t or s for wind ener gy conver t er s seems t o be mor e t ha n
3MW. Consequent ly, it is mainly t he size of t he gener at or t hat can act as a 102 Design and Comparison
30 100 300 1000 3000
Rat ed power (kW)
0
1
2
3
4
5
A
p
p
r
.

o
u
t
e
r

d
i
a
m
e
t
e
r

(
m
)
Figure 7.11 T h e approxi mat e ou t er d i amet er of t h e d i rect -d ri ven
gen erat ors.
pr act ical limit for lar ge dir ect -dr iven gener at or s. Compar ed wit h ot her
par t s of t he wind ener gy conver t er , however , like t he t ower , t he nacelle
and t he t ur bine blades, t he diamet er of t he pr oposed gener at or t ype does
not necessar ily have t o be a lar ge pr oblem.
7.2 Comparisons
Dir ect -dr iven gener at or s have t o be mor e cost effect ive t han convent ional
syst ems wit h a gea r a nd a four - or six-pole gener a t or in or der t o be
int er est ing. The main quest ion is whet her or not a dir ect -dr iven gener at or
can br ing down t he cost of t he pr oduced ener gy. This compar ison is not
made r egar ding t he t ot al cost , however , since t he cost funct ion is t oo
a ppr oxima t e for t ha t pur pose. I nst ea d, t he gener a t or syst ems a r e
compar ed r egar ding weight , efficiency and size.
7.2.1 Comparison with Conventional Generators and Gears
The pr oposed dir ect -dr iven gener at or t ype was compar ed wit h dr ive t r ains
in convent ional wind ener gy conver t er s of t hr ee differ ent r at ed power s.
Four -pole gener at or s wer e assumed r at her t han six-pole, since four -pole
gener a t or s a r e sma ller , ha ve lower weight a nd higher efficiency. The
compar ison of t he gener at or syst ems is shown in Table 7.1.
The weight s of t he gear s and induct ion gener at or s ar e based on dat a for
commer cia l gea r s a n d st a n da r d gen er a t or s. For t h e dir ect -dr iven
gener at or s t he weight s ar e only t he act ive weight . The t ot al weight of t he
gear s and induct ion gener at or s ar e 2.1 t o 3.8 t imes t he act ive weight of t he Design and Comparison 103
Table 7.1 A comparison of t he proposed direct -driven generat or t ype
wit h convent ional drive t rains. Efficiency values refer t o t he
efficiency from the turbine shaft to the grid.
Rat ed power 30 kW 500 kW 3000 kW
Weight of induct ion gener at or and
gea r
440 kg 7700 kg 53000 kg
Act ive weight of dir ect -dr iven
gener a t or
210 kg 2700 kg 14000 kg
Full-load efficiency of induct ion
gener at or and gear
89.7 % 93.7 % 94.3 %
Full-load efficiency of dir ect -dr iven
gener at or and fr equency conver t er
87.4 % 90.3 % 91.4 %
Aver age efficiency of induct ion
gener at or and gear
81.7 % 88.4 % 90.0 %
Aver age efficiency of dir ect -dr iven
gener at or and fr equency conver t er
88.3 % 90.7 % 91.6 %
Diamet er and lengt h of gener at or
and gear combinat ion
0.6 m
1.3 m
1.5 m
3 m
2.5 m
6 m
Out er diamet er and lengt h of t he
dir ect -dr iven gener at or
1.2 m
0.5 m
2.7 m
1.2 m
5 m
2 m
dir ect -dr iven gener at or s. It seems r ealist ic t o expect t hat t he t ot al weight
of t he t wo alt er nat ive syst ems will be of t he same or der .
Bot h t he efficiency at r at ed load and t he aver age efficiency wer e compar ed.
The efficiency of t he dir ect -dr iven gener a t or s includes t he fr equency
conver t er , which wa s a ssumed t o be const r uct ed wit h insula t ed-ga t e
bipolar t r ansist or s. It s efficiency at r at ed load is assumed t o be 95.9% and
t he aver age efficiency is 95.6%. (The aver age efficiency of t he convent ional
syst ems and t he fr equency conver t er for t he dir ect -dr iven gener at or s ar e
calculat ed in AppendixC).
At r at ed load t he convent ional syst ems ar e mor e efficient t han t he dir ect -
dr iven gener a t or s, but t hey a r e less efficient on t he a ver a ge. The
differ ence in aver age efficiency is 1.6 and 2.3 per cent -unit s for t he 3MW
and 500kW syst ems, r espect ively. For t he 30kW syst em t he differ ence is
lar ger , 6.6per cent -unit s. 104 Design and Comparison
The size of t he gear and gener at or is defined by t heir maximum diamet er ,
at t he gear box, and t he t ot al lengt h, including a coupling on t he high-
speed sha ft . The out er dimensions of t he dir ect -dr iven gener a t or s a r e
est imat ed; t hey will of cour se depend on how t he st r uct ur e is const r uct ed.
Not e t h a t t h e compa r ed s ys t ems a r e n ot complet ely equ a l. Th e
convent ional dr ive t r ains have a fixed t ur bine speed, while t he dir ect -
dr iven gener at or wit h a fr equency conver t er allows var iable t ur bine speed.
Var iable-speed t ur bines can pr oduce about 5 t o 10% mor e ener gy, which
will make t he var iable-speed, dir ect -dr iven gener at or mor e wor t hwhile
t ha n t he gr id-connect ed induct ion gener a t or . The incr ea sed ener gy
pr oduct ion by means of t he var iable t ur bine speed is not included in t he
efficiency compar ison above. The efficiency discussed is only t he efficiency
fr om t he t ur bine shaft t o t he gr id.
High-slip gener at or s have mor e r ecent ly oft en been used in lar ge wind
ener gy conver t er s, in or der t o limit t ur bine power peaks and damp power
oscillat ions. The r ot or copper losses of t he high-slip gener at or s ar e 12%
higher a t r a t ed loa d t ha n for t he st a nda r d induct ion gener a t or s in
Table7.1. If t wo-speed gener at or s ar e used t he efficiencies of t he induct ion
gener a t or s will a lso be lower t ha n wha t is shown her e, a bout 0.51
per cent -unit lower a t r a t ed loa d. I n compa r ison wit h t hese t ypes of
gener at or s, t he use of dir ect -dr iven gener at or s will lead t o an even lar ger
incr ease in aver age efficiency.
7.2.2 Comparison with Other Direct-driven Generators
In t he pr evious sect ion t he pr oposed dir ect -dr iven gener at or t ype was
compar ed wit h convent ional dr ive t r ains; in t his sect ion it is compar ed
wit h ot her dir ect -dr iven gener at or s. The compar ison is made wit h t hr ee
t heor et ical design st udies and one commer cial gener at or . Unfor t unat ely,
t he weight and efficiency of t he commer cial gener at or is not available. The
va lues of t he dia met er , lengt h, efficiency a nd a ct ive weight of t he
gener at or s ar e shown in Table 7.2. The gener at or s of t he pr oposed t ype
ha ve a ll been opt imized wit h t he nomina l cost funct ion defined in
Chapt er 2.
Oft en, only elect r oma gnet ic losses a r e included in t he t heor et ica lly
calculat ed efficiency of gener at or s, because t he fr ict ion losses ar e difficult
t o det er mine wit hout knowlegde of t he mecha nica l design. I n t he
efficiency of t he pr oposed gener at or 0.5% fr ict ion losses ar e included. As
per t ains t o t he ot her dir ect -dr iven gener at or s it is not known which losses
ar e or ar e not included in t he efficiency figur es.
The pr oposed gener at or is of about t he same size and slight ly less efficient
at r at ed load when compar ed wit h a t r ansver sal-flux gener at or by Weh
et al. (1988). The t r ansver sal-flux gener at or has a lower act ive weight but Design and Comparison 105
Table 7.2 Compari son of t he proposed di rect -dri ven generat or wi t h
ot her direct -driven generat ors.
Gener a t or ,
r at ed shaft power
Air ga p
dia met er
(Out er
diamet er )
St at or
lengt h
(Out er
lengt h)
Efficiency at
r at ed load
(Aver a ge
efficiency)
Act ive
weight
(Ma gnet
weight )
Tr a nsver sa l-flux
gener a t or
60 kW at 78rpm
1.00 m
(1.2 m)
(0.35 m)
94 %
176 kg
(14 kg)
Pr oposed gener at or
60 kW at 78 rpm
0.91 m
(1.15 m)
1)
0.20 m
(0.40 m)
1)
93.4 %
(93.9 %)
318 kg
(9.4 kg)
Dir ect gr id-connect ed
Radial-flux gener at or
532kW at 28.3rpm
2.4 m
0.91 m
94.2 %
4100 kg
532 kW at 28.3 rpm
2.28 m
0.58 m
94.0 %
(94.8 %)
3088 kg
(145 kg)
Axial-flux gener at or
1040 kW at 100 rpm
3.46 m
2)
2.94 m
2)
0.17 m
3)
0.52 m
4)
97 %
3000 kg
(>>100 kg)
1)
1040 kW at 100 rpm
1.90 m
0.46 m
96.9 %
(95.6 %)
2456 kg
(103 kg)
Elect r ically excit ed
Radial-flux gener at or
540 kW
1)
at 40rpm
4 m
1)
0.2 m
1)
(0 kg)
540 kW at 40 rpm
2.06 m
0.52 m
94.8 %
(95.3 %)
2487 kg
(111 kg)
1) Values est imat ed by t he aut hor
2) Out er and inner diamet er of t he st at or
3) Axial lengt h of t he act ive par t of t he gener at or .
4) Act ive st at or lengt h = t wo t imes t he differ ence bet ween inner and out er st at or r adii.
it needs mor e per ma nent ma gnet s t ha n t he pr oposed gener a t or does.
However , t he pr esent ed t r ansver sal-flux gener at or is designed for diode
r ect ifier connect ion which r educes it s r at ed power . If t he t r ansver sal-flux
gener at or is designed for a for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier , it will be smaller
t han t he pr oposed gener at or .
The air gap diamet er of t he pr oposed gener at or is 8% smaller and t he
st at or is 38% shor t er t han t hose of t he similar gener at or , wit h sur face 106 Design and Comparison
mount ed NdFeB ma gnet s, designed for 50Hz dir ect gr id-connect ion
(Spooner and Williamson, 1992c). The efficiency at r at ed load is almost
equal, and t he pr oposed gener at or has 31% lower act ive weight t han t he
dir ect gr id-connect ed gener a t or . One impor t a nt r ea son for t his la r ge
differ ence in gener at or size is t hat t he pr oposed gener at or has a r eact ance
of 0.96p.u. while t he dir ect gr id-connect ed gener at or has a r eact ance of
only 0.31p.u. The low r eact ance of t he dir ect gr id-connect ed gener at or is
necessar y t o pr oduce a high peak power .
Honor at i et al. (1991) pr esent s a 1MW axial-flux gener at or designed for
wind ener gy conver t er s. The out er st a t or dia met er of t he a xia l flux
gener a t or is 82% la r ger t ha n t he a ir ga p dia met er of t he pr oposed
gener at or , and t he act ive st at or lengt h (t wo t imes t he out er minus inner
st at or r adius) is 13% longer t han t he st at or of t he pr oposed gener at or .
Since t he st a t or is or ient ed in t he r a dia l dir ect ion in t he a xia l-flux
gener at or , however , t he axial lengt h of t he act ive gener at or par t is 63%
shor t er t han t he st at or lengt h of t he pr oposed gener at or . Bot h t he axial-
flux gener at or and t he pr oposed gener at or have high efficiency. Such high
efficiency is not r ealist ic for a nor mal wind ener gy conver t er gener at or ;
t he high efficiency depends on t he ver y high r at ed speed of t he gener at or s.
The act ive weight of t he axial-flux gener at or is 22% higher t han t hat of
t he pr oposed gener at or . Since t he axial-flux gener at or has an air gap
winding, t he amount of per manent magnet s needed can be expect ed t o be
ver y high in compar ison wit h t he 103kg needed for t he pr oposed gener at or
t ype.
A commer cially used elect r ically excit ed gener at or was included in t he
compar ison, even if t he dat a of t hat gener at or ar e only appr oximat e. The
gener a t or is used in t he Ener con E-40 wind ener gy conver t er (Anon.,
1994a). The compar ison shows t hat t he elect r ically excit ed gener at or has a
94% la r ger dia met er a nd a 62% shor t er st a t or t ha n t he pr oposed
gener at or . The r ot or volume of t he elect r ically excit ed gener at or is about
50% lar ger t han t hat of t he pr oposed gener at or t ype.
The compa r isons in t his sect ion show t ha t t he pr oposed r a dia l-flux
per ma nent -ma gnet gener a t or wit h a for ced-commut a t ed r ect ifier ca n
have a small size compar ed wit h t he ot her dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine
gener at or s. It is much smaller t han t he elect r ically excit ed gener at or , t he
axial-flux gener at or and t he dir ect gr id-connect ed r adial flux gener at or .
It is of about t he same size as t he t r ansver sal flux gener at or wit h a diode
r ect ifier . The r eason for t he small size of t he pr oposed gener at or is mainly
t hat a high peak power is not r equir ed. The efficiency at r at ed load is
simila r for t he pr oposed gener a t or t ype a nd t he a lt er na t ives, but t he
aver age efficiency cannot be compar ed since it has not been given for t he
ot her gener at or s.
Concl usi ons 107
8 Conclusions
A r adial-flux per manent -magnet gener at or is a good opt ion for dir ect -
dr iven wind t ur bine gener at or s. Connect ed t o t he gr id via a fr equency
conver t er , it can be made small and efficient . The gener at or t ype can be
used in wind ener gy conver t er s, fr om at least 30kW up t o 3MW, and it is
mor e efficient t ha n convent iona l four -pole induct ion gener a t or s wit h
gear s. By allowing t he r at ed t or que t o be close t o t he pull-out t or que, t he
pr oposed gener at or t ype can be made smaller t han many ot her dir ect -
dr iven gener at or s in t he lit er at ur e.
8.1 Different Generator Types
Sever al gener at or t opologies can be used for dir ect -dr iven wind t ur bine
gener a t or s, for inst a nce, r a dia l-flux, a xia l-flux a nd t r a nsver sa l-flux
t opologies. Radial-flux gener at or s ar e slight ly mor e efficient and need
slight ly less a ct ive ma t er ia l t ha n a xia l-flux gener a t or s do. Mor eover ,
r a dia l-flux t opology a llows a sma ller out er dia met er t ha n a xia l-flux
t opology does. The t r ansver sal-flux gener at or is ver y small, efficient and
light . Ther e is one dr awback, however ; it s st r uct ur e is mor e complicat ed
t ha n t he st r uct ur e of a r a dia l-flux gener a t or . The fina l choice of t he
gener at or t ype cannot be made based exclusively on t he analysis of t he
act ive par t of t he gener at or s. The choice depends, t o a lar ge ext ent , on
manufact ur ing aspect s.
Elect r ically excit ed gener at or s ar e difficult t o use as dir ect -dr iven wind
t ur bine gener at or s, because a lar ge air gap is r equir ed and t hat leads t o
lar ge losses due t o t he magnet izing cur r ent . By making t he pole pit ch
lar ge t he losses due t o t he magnet izing cur r ent can be r educed, but t hat
r esult s in a ver y hea vy gener a t or . Per ma nent -ma gnet gener a t or s a r e
mor e efficient t han elect r ically excit ed gener at or s and, if t he pole pit ch is
made small, t hey ar e also light er .
Gener a t or s wit h low-ener gy ma gnet s a nd flux-concent r a t ion or high-
ener gy magnet s mount ed on t he r ot or sur face will have similar efficiency
and size. Low-ener gy magnet s for flux-concent r at ion ar e cheaper t han
sur face-mount ed, high-ener gy magnet s, but a r ot or for flux-concent r at ion
is mor e complicat ed and heavier .
Dir ect gr id-connect ed gener a t or s a r e mor e difficult t o design t ha n
gener at or s connect ed t o t he gr id via a fr equency conver t er . A dir ect gr id-
connect ed 500kW gener at or , of t he pr oposed t ype, is about 50% lar ger and
1.5% less efficient t ha n wha t a gener a t or connect ed t o a fr equency
conver t er can be. A 500kW var iable-speed gener at or r equir ed t o pr oduce a
peak power of 200% of t he r at ed power will be about 25% lar ger and 0.4%
less efficient t han if no peak power capacit y is r equir ed.
108 Concl usi ons
8.2 Generator Design and Optimization
A dir ect -dr iven r adial-flux per manent -magnet gener at or wit h magnet s
mount ed on t he r ot or sur face was chosen for a t heor et ical invest igat ion.
This gener at or t ype has sever al favour able pr oper t ies when compar ed
wit h ot her t ypes. The gener a t or is connect ed t o a for ced-commut a t ed
r ect ifier in or der t o a llow for a sma ll dia met er . An a na lyt ica l design
met hod was developed for t his gener at or t ype. The cost funct ion used for
t he gener a t or opt imiza t ion includes t he cost of t he a ct ive pa r t of t he
gener at or , t he cost of t he aver age losses and t he cost of t he gener at or
st r uct ur e. A met hod t o calculat e t he aver age losses of a wind t ur bine
gener a t or wa s a lso developed. The a ver a ge losses wer e ca lcula t ed by
mult iplying t he losses a t r a t ed loa d wit h a ver a ge loss fa ct or s for t he
differ ent t ypes of losses. This way of calculat ing t he aver age losses is ver y
easy t o use in t he opt imizat ion of a gener at or .
The cost funct ion used for t he opt imizat ion is appr oximat e, but it is shown
t hat t he efficiency, act ive weight and size of an opt imized gener at or do not
change much even if t he cost funct ion is changed a gr eat deal. If t he
efficiency is incr eased, t he act ive weight of t he gener at or incr eases. The
diamet er of t he gener at or has a pr act ical lower limit because t he st at or
lengt h, t he losses and t he act ive weight incr ease r apidly as t he diamet er
is decr eased below a cer t ain diamet er . An incr ease in diamet er , above t he
pr a ct ica l lower limit , incr ea ses t he efficiency a nd r educes t he a ct ive
weight only slight ly. Ther efor e, t he opt imum diamet er can be expect ed t o
be close t o t he pr act ical lower limit .
8.3 De s i gne d Ge ne rat ors and Compari s on wi t h Ot he r
Generators
Gener at or s fr om 30kW t o 3MW wer e designed. They ar e all feasible as
wind t ur bine gener at or s. The act ive weight per kW and t ot al cost per kW
ar e about t he same for all t he gener at or sizes. The maximum power of
dir ect -dr iven gener a t or s ma y be limit ed by t he dia met er . The out er
diamet er of t he pr oposed gener at or t ype, however , is not much lar ger
t han t he widt h of t he nacelle in a convent ional wind ener gy conver t er .
The aver age efficiency of t he pr oposed dir ect -dr iven gener at or , including
t he fr equency conver t er losses, is higher t han t hat of a gear and a dir ect
gr i d-con n ect ed i n du ct i on gen er a t or . Fu r t h er mor e, t h e fr equ en cy
conver t er allows var iable t ur bine speed. The var iable speed will incr ease
ener gy pr oduct ion in compar ison wit h t he dir ect gr id-connect ed gener at or
syst em. Compar ed wit h some ot her dir ect -dr iven gener at or s, t he pr oposed
gener at or t ype is small.
Concl usi ons 109
8.4 Further Work
The gener at or t ype pr oposed in t his t hesis is pr omising for use in fut ur e
wind ener gy conver t er s. Ther e ar e aspect s t hat should be invest igat ed
fur t her , however . The mecha nica l st r uct ur e should be invest iga t ed in
det a il, bot h for a fina l opt imiza t ion of t he gener a t or a nd in or der t o
det er mine t he gener at or pr ice. A pr ot ot ype should be built t o demonst r at e
t hat a gener at or wit h a high induct ance can pr oduce a high for ce densit y
in t he air gap when connect ed t o a for ced-commut at ed r ect ifier . Some
par t s of t he design met hod can also be impr oved t o incr ease accur acy.
Induct ance calculat ions can be impr oved by including t he sat ur at ion, and
t he loss model can be impr oved. In addit ion, t he opt imum slot pit ch and
pole pit ch should be invest igat ed. In t his t hesis t he number of slot s per
pole and phase was const ant .
110 Concl usi ons
Ref eren ces 111
References
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machines, London, Gr eat Br it ain: Chapman and Hall, 279 p.
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Technology, Depar t ment of Elect r ical Machines and Power Elect r onics,
Technical Repor t No. 108L. 107 p.
Alat alo M, Svensson T, 1993. "Var iable speed dir ect -dr iven PM-gener at or
wit h a PWM cont r olled cur r ent sour ce inver t er ." European Communi t y
Wind Energy Conference (ECWEC' 93), Lbeck-Tr a vemnde, Ger ma ny,
812 Mar ch 1993, Pr oceedings, p. 639642.
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(S PEEDAM), Posit ano, It aly, 19-21 May 1992, Pr oceedings, p. 105-112.
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114 Ref eren ces
Appendi x AMagneti zi ng Inductance
In t his appendix t he magnet izing induct ance of t he ar mat ur e winding is
der ived. The t ot al air gap flux gener at ed by t he ar mat ur e cur r ent s is
included in t he induct ance calculat ions, while only t he fundament al flux
densit y wave fr om t he magnet s is included in t he t or que calculat ions. The
r eason is t hat no t or que can be pr oduced by flux-densit y har monics since
t he ar mat ur e cur r ent s ar e assumed t o be sinusoidal, but t he flux-densit y
ha r monics do incr ea se t he r equir ed r ea ct ive power consumed by t he
gener a t or .
The assumpt ions for t he induct ance calculat ions ar e t hat :
t he number of slot s per pole and phase is one;
ea ch slot cont a ins t wo conduct or s which a r e pa r a llel
connect ed (Consequent ly, t he t ot al cur r ent in one slot is
equal t o t he phase cur r ent );
t he winding pit ch is equal t o t he pole pit ch;
t he flux in t he air gap is assumed t o cr oss t he air gap
per pendicular t o t he r ot or and st at or sur faces;
t he per meabilit ies of t he st at or and r ot or ir on ar e assumed
t o be infinit e and t he r elat ive per meabilit y of t he magnet s is
assumed t o be 1.
In Figur e A.1 t he flux caused by a cur r ent in t he R-phase is illust r at ed,
t he t wo ot her phase cur r ent s ar e assumed t o be zer o. The self-induct ance
of phase R can be expr essed as
L
RR
=
RR
I
R
(A.1)
wher e
RR
is t he t ot al flux linkage of phase R caused by t he cur r ent I
R
.
The t ot al flux linkage is t he pole flux
RR
t imes t he number of pole pair s,
i.e.,
RR
= p
RR
(A.2)
The air gap r eluct ance of a pole pit ch is
=
ef
+h
m
0
l
e
p
(A.3)
and since t he magnet izing mmf of one pole is I
R
and t he flux passes t he
air gap t wice, t he pole flux (excluding t he leakage flux) becomes
RR
=
I
R
0
l
e
p
2(
ef
+h
m
)
(A.4)
116 Appendix AMagnet izing Induct ance
R-phase pole flux
caused by I
R
(
RR
)
S-phase pole flux
caused by I
R
(1/3
RR
)
+S S +T T +R R

+
h
m
Figure A.1 The flux of t he different phases caused by a current in t he
R-phase.
Now t he self-induct ance, for p pole pair s, can be expr essed as
L
RR
= p
0
l
e

p
2(
ef
+h
m
)
(A.5)
which ma kes it possible t o ident ify t he per mea nce coefficient
m
of
Equat ion (5.35). The mut ual induct ances bet ween t he phases will all be
equal, and can be calculat ed in a way similar t o t he self-induct ance, i.e.,
M =
SR
I
R
(A.6)
wher e
SR
is t he flux linkage of t he S-phase caused by t he cur r ent in t he
R-phase. Figur e A.1 shows t he pole flux linking t o phase S t o be minus
one t hir d of t he pole flux linking t o phase R. Consequent ly, t he mut ual
induct ance of t he phases will be
M = 1/3 L
RR
(A.7)
The equivalent Y-phase induct ance must include bot h t he self-induct ance
of one phase and t he mut ual induct ance t o t he t wo ot her phases. The t ot al
flux linkage in phase R caused by all t he windings is
R
= L
RR
I
R
+ M I
S
+ M I
T
(A.8)
Since t he neut r al point of t he Y-connect ed windings is not connect ed, t he
sum of t he t hr ee phase cur r ent s is always zer o. Ther efor e,
I
S
+ I
T
= I
R
(A.9)
The flux linkage of phase R can wit h Equat ions (A.8) and (A.9) be wr it t en
R
= (L
RR
M ) I
R
(A.10)
Usin g Equ a t ion (A.7), t h e equ iva len t Y-ph a se in du ct a n ce ca n be
expr essed as
Leq = 4/3 L
RR
(A.11)
118 Appendix AMagnet izing Induct ance
Appendix BThermal Model of the Generator 119
i
y
l
y
l
z
l
x
T
Av
P
d

i
z
i
x
Figure B.1 A rect angular body wit h homogeneously dist ribut ed int ernal
l osses P
d
, t h e h eat con d u ct i vi t y an d t h e average
t emperat ure T
Av
.
Appendi x BThermal Model of the Generator
A t her mal model of t he gener at or is used t o calculat e t he t emper at ur e of
t he hot t est par t of t he st at or winding, which is t he end windings, and t he
magnet t emper at ur e. Only st eady-st at e t emper at ur es ar e calculat ed.
To make it easy t o calculat e t he values of t he t her mal r esist ances in t he
complet e model, t he t her ma l r esist a nces a r e fir st der ived for t her ma l
models of one slot pit ch of t he st at or , one coil, one pole pit ch of t he r ot or
a nd t he end shields. The va lues of t hese t her ma l r esist a nces ca n be
calculat ed by using definit ions for one-, t wo- or t hr ee-dimensional heat
flow in r ect a ngula r element s. The t her ma l model of t he gener a t or is
der ived by combining t he det ailed models for Q slot s, Q coils, 2 p r ot or
poles, and t wo end shields. Finally, t he complet e t her mal model of t he
gener at or is slight ly simplified. All nodes which ar e not needed for t he
calculat ion of t he winding and magnet t emper at ur es ar e eliminat ed and
ser ies and par allel connect ed t her mal r esist ances ar e r eplaced wit h t he
t ot al t her mal r esist ance. The r esult is a t her mal net wor k model wit h
t welve nodes and eight een t her mal r esist ances.
Basic Theory
Thr ee-dimensional heat flow can be appr oximat ely modelled by a lumped-
par amet er t her mal cir cuit (Per ez and Kassakian, 1979). The gener at or is
divided int o r ect angular element s, like t he one in Figur e B.1, and t hey ar e
r epr esent ed by t he simplified net wor k models in Figur e B.2. The t ot al
t her mal r esist ances t hr ough t he body in t he x, y and z-dir ect ions ar e
R
x
=
l
x
l
y
l
z
R
y
=
l
y
l
x
l
z
R
z
=
l
z
l
x
l
y
(B.1)
wher e l
x
, l
y
and l
z
ar e t he lengt hs of t he body in x, y and z dir ect ions and
120 Appendix BThermal Model of the Generator
T
y2
T
y1
1/2 R
x
-
1
/
6

R
x
1/2 R
x
T
Av P
d
T
x1 T
x2
-1/6 R
y
1
/
2

R
y
1
/
2

R
y
T
z1
-
1
/
6

R
z
1
/
2

R z
T
z2
1
/
2

R z
Figure B.2 Lumped-paramet er t hermal model s f or t hree-di mensi onal
heat flow through the rectangular body.
is t he t her mal conduct ivit y of t he mat er ial. The aver age t emper at ur e of
t he body is T
Av
and t he power losses P
d
ar e assumed t o be homogeneously
dist r ibut ed wit hin t he body. If t her e is no heat flow in one dir ect ion, t he
cor r esponding t her ma l r esist a nces a r e excluded (i.e., infinit e t her ma l
r esist a nce).
The gener a t or out er sur fa ce of t he st a t or cor e is cooled by a ir for ced
t hr ough cir cumfer ent ial cooling channels. The t emper at ur e incr ease of
t he cooling a ir is included in t he model, a s a n equiva lent t her ma l
r esist ance. The t emper at ur e incr ease of t he cooling air depends on t he
heat flow P
c
, t he volumet r ic flow q
vc
, t he densit y
c
and t he specific heat
capacit ivit y k
t hc
of t he cooling air . The t emper at ur e r ise of t he cooling air
i s
c
=
P
c
q
vc
c
k
t hc
(B.2)
This ext r a t emper at ur e r ise will occur in t he par t s of t he st at or close t o an
out let of t he st at or cooling channels. In t he model, t he cooling air at t he
st at or yoke is assumed t o have t his t emper at ur e r ise. The model t hen
r epr esent s t he war mest par t of t he st at or . The magnet t emper at ur e is,
t her efor e, over est ima t ed by a bout 0.5
c
. The er r or of t he ma gnet
t emper at ur e is in t he or der of 5C.
The t emper at ur e r ise of t he cooling air is included in t he t her mal model
by int r oducing t he equivalent t her mal r esist ance of t he cooling duct
R
eq
=
1
q
vc
c
k
t hc
(B.3)
which r epr esent s t he hea t ing of t he cooling a ir . The t ot a l volumet r ic
cooling air flow depends on t he number of cooling cir cuit s and t he flow in
each cir cuit . It is assumed t hat t he cooling channel lengt h
Air
should be
2m. The number of cooling cir cuit s has not been r est r ict ed t o an int eger
number . Inst ead, it is defined as
N
Air
=
d
se
Air
(B.4)
The volumet r ic flow in each cooling channel is det er mined by t he st at or
lengt h l, t he height of t he cooling channel h
Air
and t he cooling air velocit y
v
Air
as
q
vAir
= v
Air
l h
Air
(B.5)
The t ot al volumet r ic cooling air flow is
q
vc
= N
Air
q
vAir
(B.6)
The par amet er s for t he st at or cooling have t he following values
c
= 1.1 kg/m
3
(const ant )
k
t hc
= 1010 J /(kg K) (const ant )
h
Air
= 100 mm (design var iable)
v
Air
= 15 m/s (design var iable)
Air
= 2 m (design var iable)
The Detailed Model
The det ailed models of a slot pit ch, a r ot or pole, a coil and t he t wo end
shields a r e pr esent ed in Figur es B.3 a nd B.4. Not e t ha t t he t her ma l
models of t he t wo figur es ar e connect ed. All par t s of t he gener at or ar e
modelled by a one-, t wo- or t hr ee-dimensiona l ver sion of t he t her ma l
model in Figur eB.2. The definit ions of t he t her mal r esist ances in t hese
figur es ar e found in Table B.1 and t he values of t he t her mal const ant s
used ar e found in Table B.2. Some clar ificat ions of t he model and t he
t her mal r esist ances follow below.
The unconnect ed t her ma l conduct or s ma r ked wit h I up t o VI I a r e
connect ed t o t he ot her unconnect ed t her ma l conduct or wit h t he sa me
number . P
a
t o P
f
ar e losses in differ ent par t s of t he gener at or .
P
a
P
b
P
c
P
d
P
d
P
c
P
e
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
R1 R2
R3 R4
R5
R3
R5 R6
R4
R7
R8
R9 R10
R6
R11
R12
R13
R13
R14 R15 R15 R14 R16 R16
R17 R18
R19
R20
R12
O
n
e

s
t
a
t
o
r

s
l
o
t

p
i
t
c
h
O
n
e

r
o
t
o
r

p
o
l
e
R11
R11
R13
R13
R20
R16
R18
R16 R15 R15
R11
R14
R17
R14
R21
R22
R23
R24
R25
R26
R27
R28
R12
R12
R19
R24
R0
III
II
I
Figure B.3 The detailed model of the rotor and stator and the model of the
radial and circumferential heat flow in the coil in the slots
P
f
P
f
V
VI
IV
VII
T
w
o

e
n
d

s
h
i
e
l
d
s
O
n
e

c
o
i
l
R29
R29 R29
R29
R30
R31 R31
R32
R32
R33
R34
R35 R35 R36
R37
R38 R39
R36
R37
R38 R39
R33
R34
R39 R38
R36 R35 R36 R35
R38 R39
R31
R32 R30
R31
R32
Figure B.4 The detailed model of the axial heat flow in the coil in the slots
and t he complet e model of t he end windings and t he end
shi el ds.
The heat flow in t he ir on cor e is assumed t o be t wo-dimensional. No heat
flow in t he axial dir ect ion is assumed because t he t her mal conduct ivit y is
about 30 t imes lower in t hat dir ect ion t han along t he laminat ions.
The heat flow in t he coils is t hr ee-dimensional. The model of t he slot pit ch
is connect ed t o t he model of a coil t hr ough t he aver age t emper at ur es
(point s V and VI) of t he upper and lower coil sides.
The heat t r ansfer coefficient
1
at t he out er sur face of t he st at or yoke is
est imat ed fr om dat a by Luke (1923). Wit h a cooling air velocit y of about
15m/s, t he va lue is a ssumed t o be 60W/(K m
2
). The st a t or yoke is
assumed t o have cooling fins t hat incr ease t he cooling sur face t o t hr ee
t imes it s own out er sur face.
Table B.1 Definitions of thermal resistances in the detailed model.
R0 =
1
q
vc
c
k
t h c
R1 =
1
3lb
d
1
R2 =
1
3lb
s
1
R3 =
0.5h
ys
l
u
b
d
Fe
R4 =
0.5h
ys
l
u
b
s
Fe
R5 =
0.5b
d
l
u
h
ys
Fe
R6 =
0.5b
s
l
u
h
ys
Fe
R7 =
1
3
R5
R8 =
1
3
R6
R9 =
1
3
R3
R10 =
1
3
R4
R11 =
h
i
lb
Cu
i
R12 =
0.5(h
Cu
+2h
i
)
l
u
b
d
Fe
R13 =
0.5h
Cu
lb
Cu
coil
R14 =
0.5b
d
l
u
(h
Cu
+2h
i
)
Fe
R15 =
h
i
lh
Cu
i
R16 =
0.5b
Cu
lh
Cu
coil
R17 =
1
3
R14
R18 =
1
3
R16
R19 =
1
3
R12
R20 =
1
3
R13
R21 =
h
s1
+h
s2
l
u
(0.5+0.5b
d
)
Fe
R22 =
1
l(b
s1
)
2
R23 =
1
lb
m
2
+
h
m1
lb
m
GRP
R24 =
0.5h
m
lb
m
m
R25 =
1
3
R24
R26 =
h
m0
lb
m
glue
R27 =
h
yr
l
p
F e
R28 =
1
l
p
5
R29 =
1
(0.5d+h
s
+h
ys
)
2
3
R30 =
1
3
R31
R31 =
0.5l
h
Cu
b
Cu
k
Cu
Cu
R32 =
0.5l
b
h
Cu
b
Cu
k
Cu
Cu
R33 =
1
3
R32
R34 =
1
3
R36
R35 = 2
1
l
b
b
Cu
4
R36 =
0.5h
Cu
l
b
b
Cu
Coil
R37 =
1
3
R39
R38 = 2
1
l
b
h
Cu
4
R39 =
0.5b
Cu
l
b
h
Cu
Coil
Table B.2 The t hermal const ant s used.
Heat t r ansfer coefficient at t he st at or yoke back
1
= 60 W/(K m
2
)
Heat t r ansfer coefficient in t he air gap
2
= 40 W/(K m
2
)
Heat t r ansfer coefficient at t he end shields
3
= 25 W/(K m
2
)
Heat t r ansfer coefficient at t he end windings
4
= 25 W/(K m
2
)
Heat t r ansfer coefficient at t he r ot or yoke back
5
= 25 W/(K m
2
)
Ther mal conduct ivit y of ir on
Fe
= 38 W/(K m)
Ther mal conduct ivit y t hr ough t he coil
Coil
= 1.8 W/(K m)
Ther mal conduct ivit y of copper , along t he coil
Cu
= 400 W/(K m)
Ther mal conduct ivit y of insulat ion
i
= 0.2 W/(K m)
Ther mal conduct ivit y of NdFeB magnet s
m
= 9 W/(K m)
Ther mal conduct ivit y of t he magnet glue
glue
= 0.7 W/(K m)
Th er ma l con du ct ivit y of t h e GRP ma gn et
pr ot ect ion
GRP
= 0.2 W/(K m)
Thickness of magnet glue h
m0
= 0.1 mm
Thickness of magnet r einfor cement h
m1
= 0.5 mm
Coil insulat ion t hickness h
i
= 1 mm
The heat t r ansfer coefficient at t he t oot h t ip
2
is assumed t o be lower t han
at t he st at or yoke back, because t he r ot or sur face velocit y is less t han
15m/s. The air flow in t he air gap is assumed t o be t ur bulent because of
t he r ough r ot or sur face and, t her efor e, only t he t her mal r esist ances of t he
convect ive hea t t r a nsfer a t t he t oot h t ip a nd a t ma gnet sur fa ces a r e
included in t he model. The heat t r ansfer coefficient s at t he end shields
3
,
t he end windings
4
and t he inner sur face of t he r ot or yoke
5
ar e all
assumed t o be equal.
The r ot or pole model is simple and is mainly included t o show t hat t he
t emper at ur e r ise of t he magnet s should not be a pr oblem. It includes
losses in t he magnet s and cooling t hr ough t he magnet and r ot or yoke t o
t he int er nal air of t he gener at or . In addit ion, t he t her mal r esist ances of
t he magnet glue and t he glass fibr e r einfor cement over t he magnet s ar e
included. The t hickness of t he magnet glue is h
m0
and of t he glass fibr e
r einfor cement h
m1
.
The int er na l a ir in t he gener a t or is a ssumed t o ha ve a homogeneous
t emper at ur e except in t he air gap. The cooling is also assumed t o be
equally efficient at bot h end shields.
The value of t he t her mal r esist ance R21 is der ived assuming t hat t he t oot h
t ip is r ect a ngula r inst ea d of t r a pezoida l. It is a ssumed t ha t t he end
windings over la p so t ha t only ha lf of t heir out er sur fa ce is used for
cooling. Ther efor e, R35 and R38 include t he fact or 2.
The Simplified Model
Fr om t he det a iled models for t he differ ent pa r t s descr ibed a bove, a
simplified t her mal model of t he complet e gener at or can be der ived. The
simplified model is der ived by connect ing Q par allel models for a st at or
slot pit ch, Q par allel models of a coil, 2 p par allel models of a r ot or pole
and t he model for t he int er nal air and t he t wo end shields.
The t her mal model is simplified by using symmet r y t o r educe t he number
of t her mal r esist ances in t he yoke, t eet h, coil sides, end windings and end
shields. The net wor k is simplified as much as possible while keeping only
t he nodes t ha t a r e necessa r y t o model t he t emper a t ur e of t he end
windings and magnet s accur at ely. Figur es B.5 and B.6 illust r at e how t he
simplified model is der ived fr om t he det a iled models. The t her ma l
r esist ances of t he simplified model ar e defined in t er ms of t he t her mal
r esist a nces of t he ba sic models a nd t heir definit ions a r e shown in
TableB.3.
The symmet r y bet ween t he t wo end windings and end shields is used t o
r educe t he model. Since t he cor e losses ar e smaller t han t he copper losses
and t he t emper at ur e r ise inside t he st at or ir on is not so lar ge, t he cor e
losses ar e moved in t he t her mal net wor k t o allow simplificat ions. The
losses P1, P2, P3 and P9 ar e all moved t o t he ot her side of R9, R10, R19 and
R19, r espect ively. By doing so, t he number of nodes a nd t her ma l
r esist ances can be decr eased but t he t emper at ur e r ise of t he ir on cor e will
be slight ly over est imat ed. The same simplificat ion is used for t he magnet
losses, t hus, R25 is neglect ed. Since t he aim of t he model is only t o show
t hat t he t emper at ur e in t he magnet s can be low enough, it is just ified t o
over est imat e t he t emper at ur e r ise of t he magnet s slight ly. The t her mal
r esist ances ending at t he slot wedge ar e excluded.
P
1
P
3
P
10
P
4
P
9
P
11
X
XI
XII
XIII
R51
R55
R56
R57
R58
P
2
R53
R54
R59
R56
R60
R61
Q

s
t
a
t
o
r

s
l
o
t
s
2

p

r
o
t
o
r

p
o
l
e
s
R52
R50
Figure B.5 S implified thermal network for the stator and rotor.
P
7
XI
XII
X
XIII
T
w
o

e
n
d

s
h
i
e
l
d
s
Q

c
o
i
l
s
R62
R63
R64 R65
R63
Figure B.6 S implified t hermal net work for t he end windings and end
shi el ds.
Table B.3 Thermal resist ances of t he simplified model.
R50 = R0
R51 =
R1+R3
Q
R52 =
R2+R4
Q
R53 =
R7+R8+R9+R10+0.5(R5+R6)
Q
R54 =
R3+R12
Q
R55 =
R4+R11+R13
Q
R56 =
R19+R17+R18
Q
+
+ 0.5
R14+R15+R16
Q
R57 =
R20
Q
R58 =
2R12
Q
R59 =
2R13+2R11+R20
Q
R60 =
R12+R21+R22
Q
+
+
R23+R24
2p
R61 =
R24+R26+R27+R28
2p
R62 = R29
R63 =
R30+0.5(R31+R32)
Q
R64 = R64a//R64b (in par allel)
R64a= 0.5
R34+0.5(R36+R35)
Q
R64b= 0.5
R37+0.5(R39+R38)
Q
R65 =
0.5R33
Q

Summary of the Thermal Model
The final t her mal model is shown in Figur e B.7 and t he losses used in it
ar e given in Table B.4. The t her mal model has t welve nodes, plus t he
a mbi en t t emper a t u r e, a n d ei gh t een t h er ma l r es i s t a n ces . Th e
t emper at ur e r ise pr oblem is for mulat ed as a mat r ix equat ion. The vect or
of t emper at ur e r ises is evaluat ed by mult iplying t he loss vect or by t he
inver se of t he t her mal conduct ance mat r ix.
References:
Luke G. E. 1923. "The Cooling of Elect r ic Machines". Tr ansact ions of t he
AIEE 42, p. 636652.
Per ez I .J ., Ka ssa kia n J .G., 1979. "A St a t iona r y Ther ma l Model for
Smoot h Air -ga p Rot a t ing Elect r ic Ma chines". Elect r ic Ma chines a nd
Elect r omechanics 3, 1979, p. 258-303.
Table B.4 The nodes and the losses of the simplified thermal model.
0: St at or cooling air (aver age t emper at ur e) P
0
= 0
1: Temper at ur e in t he yoke above a t oot h
P
1
=
b
d
(P
Hyys
+ P
Ft ys
)
2: Temper at ur e in t he yoke above a slot
P
2
=
b
s
(P
Hyys
+ P
Ft ys
)
3: Temper at ur e in a t oot h at t he bot t om coil side P
3
= 0.5 (P
Hyd
+ P
Ft d
)
4 : Temper at ur e in a bot t om coil in a slot
P
4
= 0.5
l
l+l
b
P
Cu
5: Fict it ious model t emper at ur e P
5
= 0
6: Fict it ious model t emper at ur e P
6
= 0
7: Temper at ur e in an end winding
P
7
=
l
b
l+l
b
P
Cu
8: Temper at ur e of t he int er nal air P
8
= 0
9: Temper at ur e in a t oot h at t he t op coil side P
9
= P
3
+ P
ad
10: Temper at ur e in a t op coil side in a slot P
10
= P
4
11: Temper at ur e in t he magnet s P
11
= P
Ftm
0
1 2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
R51 R52
R53
R54
R55
R56 R57
R59
R56
R58
R60
R61
R63
R65 R64
R62
R63
R50
Ambient air
Figure B.7 The simplified t hermal model.
Appendix CAverage Efficiencies 131
Appendi x CAverage Effi ci enci es
I n t his a ppendix, t he a ver a ge efficiencies of a dir ect gr id-connect ed
induct ion gener at or and it s gear ar e der ived. In addit ion, t he aver age
efficiency of t he fr equency conver t er s for t he pr oposed dir ect -dr iven
gener at or s ar e der ived.
The calculat ions ar e made in t he same way as t he aver age efficiency is
ca lcula t ed for t he dir ect -dr iven gener a t or s, wit h a ver a ge loss fa ct or s
calculat ed wit h t he wind speed pr obabilit y densit y funct ion. A medium
wind speed sit e is assumed, wit h an aver age wind speed of 6.8m/s and a
capacit y fact or for t he t ur bine power of 0.25.
Induction Generator Efficiency
The losses of a const ant -speed induct ion gener at or can be divided int o
t hr ee t ypes wit h differ ent aver age loss fact or s:
No-loa d los s es wh ich a r e in depen den t of t h e loa d.
(Includes st at or cor e losses, fr ict ion and windage losses);
St at or copper losses which ar e pr opor t ional t o t he squar e of
t he st at or cur r ent ;
Rot or copper losses which ar e pr opor t ional t o t he squar e of
t he r ot or cur r ent .
The addit ional losses ar e not neglect ed; t hey ar e included in t he copper
losses.
To calculat e t he aver age loss fact or s, t he r ot or and st at or cur r ent s have t o
be expr essed a s funct ions of t he wind speed. For t his pur pose, t he
following appr oximat ions ar e made. The r ot or cur r ent is assumed t o be
pr opor t ional t o t he pr oduced t or que, and, t hus, pr opor t ional t o t he act ive
power . The st at or cur r ent has been divided int o one r eact ive par t , which is
a ssumed t o be const a nt , a nd one a ct ive pa r t which is a ssumed t o be
pr opor t iona l t o t he a ct ive power . The r ea ct ive cur r ent , ma gnet izing
cur r ent , is about 30% of t he r at ed cur r ent . Wit h t he funct ion for t he act ive
power given as a funct ion of wind speed, Equat ion (3.29), t he aver age loss
fact or s can be calculat ed. Not e t hat t he gener at or speed is const ant for t his
gener at or syst em.
For t he medium wind speed sit e, t he aver age loss fact or for t he no-load
losses is 0.77, for t he st at or copper losses 0.24, for t he r ot or copper losses
0.15 and t he aver age fact or for t he act ive power is 0.25. The r eason t hat t he
aver age loss fact or for t he no-load losses is less t han 1 is t hat t he wind
ener gy conver t er is only oper at ing 77% of t he year .
132 Appendix CAverage Efficiencies
Table C.2 The different gear losses and t he gear efficiencies.
Rat ed
power
(kW)
No-load
losses
(p.u.)
Gear mesh
losses
(p.u.)
Efficiency at
r at ed load
(%)
Aver a ge
losses
(p.u.)
Aver a ge
efficiency
(%)
30 0.010 0.020 97.0 0.0127 94.9
500 0.008 0.020 97.2 0.0112 95.5
3000 0.005 0.018 97.7 0.0084 96.7
Wit h t hese aver age loss fact or s and loss dat a for differ ent machine sizes
(ABB, 1991), t he aver age efficiencies can be calculat ed. The losses and t he
aver age efficiencies ar e shown in Table C.1. Not e t hat all t he gener at or s
ar e st andar d induct ion gener at or s. Recent ly, high-slip gener at or s have
been used in lar ge wind ener gy conver t er s, t o limit t ur bine power peaks
and damp power oscillat ions. The high slip gener at or s have r ot or copper
losses of 23% at r at ed load. Two-speed gener at or s will also have lower
efficiency t han assumed her e, in t he or der of 0.51% lower at r at ed load.
Table C.1 The different losses of t he induct ion generat ors and t heir
ef f i ci enci es.
Rat ed
power
(kW)
No-load
losses
(p.u.)
St at or
copper
losses
(p.u.)
Rot or
copper
losses
(p.u.)
Efficiency
at r at ed
load
(%)
Aver a ge
losses
(p.u.)
Aver a ge
efficiency
(%)
30 0.035 0.020 0.020 92.5 0.0348 86.1
500 0.020 0.009 0.007 96.4 0.0186 92.6
3000 0.018 0.010 0.007 96.5 0.0173 93.1
Gear Efficiency
The gear losses can be divided int o (Shipley, 1991):
No-loa d losses which a r e independent of loa d (I nclude
fr ict ion and windage losses);
Gear mesh losses, which ar e a const ant per cent age of t he
act ive power .
Since t he gear mesh losses ar e a const ant per cent age of t he power , t heir
aver age fact or will be equal t o t he aver age fact or for t he act ive power . The
aver age fact or for t he gear mesh losses is 0.25 and for t he no-load losses it
is 0.77. In Table C.2, t he losses and t he aver age efficiencies of t he differ ent
gear sizes ar e shown.
Appendix CAverage Efficiencies 133
Frequency Converter Efficiency
The losses in t he fr equency conver t er a r e ca lcula t ed in a slight ly
simplified way, which over est imat es t hem. The simplificat ions made ar e
t he following: t he ant i-par allel diodes of t he conver t er valves ar e assumed
t o have t he same volt age dr op as t he t r ansist or s; and t he r esist ive losses,
being r at her small, ar e included in t he volt age-dr op losses. The fr equency
conver t er s for t he differ ent r at ed power s ar e all assumed t o have t he same
efficiency.
The fr equency conver t er losses ar e, her e, divided int o:
No-load losses which ar e const ant (Include power t o t he
cooling fans and t he cont r ol cir cuit s);
Volt age dr op losses which ar e pr opor t ional t o t he cur r ent
(Include t he semiconduct or volt age dr op and t he swit ching
losses).
For t he r ect ifier , t he cur r ent will be equal t o t he gener at or cur r ent and t he
aver age loss fact or for t he volt age dr op losses is 0.26. For t he inver t er
losses t he a ver a ge fa ct or is differ ent . The inver t er is a ssumed t o be
cont r olled t o keep t he power fact or at 1 and t he gr id volt age is const ant , 1
p.u. This means t hat t he cur r ent will be pr opor t ional t o t he act ive power
and, consequent ly, t he aver age loss fact or for t he volt age dr op losses will
be equal t o t he aver age fact or for t he power , 0.25.
The aver age fact or for t he no-load losses, of bot h t he inver t er and t he
r ect ifier , is 0.86. This aver age fact or for t he no-load losses differ s fr om
t hat of t he dir ect gr id-connect ed syst em because a var iable speed t ur bine
can oper at e in lower wind speeds and, t her efor e, it oper at es a lar ger par t
of t he year .
The volt age dr op losses of t he inver t er and r ect ifier wer e assumed t o be
0.02 p.u. for each unit and t he t ot al no-load losses 0.001 p.u. The efficiency
at r at ed load is, t hus, 95.9% and t he aver age efficiency is 95.6%.
References
ABB, 1991. Pr oduct Cat alogue fr om ABB Mot or s, Sweden, 77 p.
Shipley E.E., 1991. "Loa ded Gea r s in Act ion", I n Dudley D.W. ed.,
Dudley' s Gea r Ha ndbook, 2nd edit ion, New Yor k, Townsend, 1991,
p.12.112.39.

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CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Fact or for t he windage and fr ict ion losses

H Tot al leakage induct ance

W Fr ict ion and windage losses

A Mmf dr op of t he air gap

which ar e a funct ion of t he r ot at ional

(3.12) 30 Calculat ion Met hod for t he Average Losses

Gener at or model Rect ifier DC-link

is t he velocit y of t he flux wave in t he air gap, given by

2500 W St at or flux dens. B

0.75 T Toot h widt h b

"Elect r ical machines and dr ives", p.211-216.

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