Study of a Spoke-Type Ferrite Structure as an Alternative to Surface-Mounted NdFeB PMSGs: A Performance Comparison Based on Getting the Same Efficiency

Abstract

A spoke-type permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) with ferrite magnets that could be an alternative to a PMSG with 2 kW, 20-poles, surface-mounted NdFeB magnets with the same power, the number of poles and efficiency value was designed in this study. The designs obtained by the finite element analysis were compared in terms of size, magnet properties, flux distributions, cogging torque, induced voltages, total harmonic distortion, and active material costs. The amount of magnet used in the ferrite magnet generator was approximately 2.7 times that of N38 to obtain the same power. While the active volume (D2L) of the ferrite magnet generator was obtained as approximately twice that of a surface-mounted neodymium magnet, the total generator cost was 1.45 times less in the ferrite magnet structure. When evaluated in terms of their performance, the cogging torques were obtained at approximately the same value, and the voltage harmonics were obtained at lower values in the spoke-type generator.