Optimization of Automotive Bosch-140 Alternator to use as a Generator for Small Wind Turbine

Abstract

The generator is one of the costly elements of a small wind turbine. This paper developed a suitable low-cost small wind turbine generator, which can be modified to be easily manufactured. The experiment was conducted in two parts, the first part involves monitoring the current, voltage, power, and temperature for the Bosch 140 alternator before re-winding (initial case), and the second part includes monitoring of parameters (current, voltage, power) with modifying the alternator (Bosch 140) by re-winding depending on the results of the JAMG program simulation (last case). The Bosch 140 alternator was modified consistently by reducing the wire diameter to half to double the windings to evaluate the maximum torque. A genetic algorithm was used to optimize the stator’s design optimization to achieve a maximum torque of the magnet. The final result shows a good indication of the modified alternator’s efficiency, where it is increased by about 30% from the initial case, and the generation of voltage started at a low rotation speed. It was observed that the new optimization of claw-pole alternator provides fairly the double torque with at least 16% reduction in rotation speed.