Abstract
Due to the increasing need for direct-drive wind turbines, a large number of papers are dedicated to the optimization of low-speed wind generators. A permanent-magnet flux-switching machine can be a valuable option to use in such applications. This paper describes the optimization procedure of a direct-drive flux-switching wind generator. The average losses, the required converter power, and the cost of permanents magnets were chosen as the optimization objectives. To reduce the calculation efforts during the optimization, a method to construct the substituting load profiles is proposed. Two-mode and three-mode substituting profiles were constructed on the basis of the nine-mode initial profile. The losses calculated under the two-mode, three-mode, and nine-mode profiles accurately coincided, which supported the use of the low-mode substituting profiles instead of the initial one. During the optimization, the average losses decreased by 30%, which corresponded to an increase in the average efficiency by almost 6%. The required converter power was decreased by 10%. The total active material mass, cogging torque, and torque ripple were also slightly decreased.
Highlights
Due to the increasing need for direct-drive wind turbines, a large number of papers is dedicated to the optimization of low-speed wind generators
Instead of a traditional synchronous machine with permanent magnets on the rotor, the flux-switching machine can be considered as a valuable alternative to use in direct-drive applications due to its increased torque capability [7,8,9,10]
The optimization criterion for a gearless permanent-magnet flux-switching generator (FSG) aimed to increase annual energy production (AEP) and to decrease the required converter power and the mass of the magnets is considered in this paper
Summary
Due to the increasing need for direct-drive wind turbines, a large number of papers is dedicated to the optimization of low-speed wind generators. A method for the construction of the substituting loading profiles containing a small number of operational modes (2 or 3) for a wind generator is proposed. Instead of a traditional synchronous machine with permanent magnets on the rotor, the flux-switching machine can be considered as a valuable alternative to use in direct-drive applications due to its increased torque capability [7,8,9,10]. The optimization criterion for a gearless permanent-magnet flux-switching generator (FSG) aimed to increase AEP (to decrease the losses in the generator) and to decrease the required converter power and the mass of the magnets is considered in this paper. A gearless FSG was optimized on the basis of the proposed method of constructing the substituting loading profiles for a wind turbine.
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