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An Alternate PM Alternator Design | 50 comments (50 topical)

Re: An Alternate PM Alternator Design (3.00 / 0) (#9)
by kitno455 on Sat Apr 22, 2006 at 03:20:33 PM MST

i dont get it. you have just increased the resistance of each coil significantly by making it longer, but you did not increase the portion of the coil that actually gets hit by flux. and, if you space everything out so that it acts like single phase, it will just vibrate like single phase?

dual rotor aint broke?

allan

Re: An Alternate PM Alternator Design (3.00 / 0) (#13)
by finnsawyer on Sun Apr 23, 2006 at 10:00:13 AM MST

First off, every coil goes from a state of no flux through it to a maximum flux less leakage just like in any design. If you scale a particular version up by a factor of two by keeping the same number of windings, you get four times the flux with twice the speed for eight times the voltage. You also have increased the coil volume by eight for the same number of turns or four if you keep the same length for the coils. Since you probably do not need an eight times factor increase in voltage you have the option of decreasing the number of turns by using heavier wire (the coil size must still be doubled for this example). So, you can lower the resistance. This is much like any design. Resistance does matter and is part of the design. It should be obvious that a larger machine can provide more power, which means lower resistance. It does help that by going to the center tap the effective resistance is cut in half.

What you see here is the first step in an engineering design, a concept. The next step is to prove it. It is possible that vibration issues may arise. But they are mechanical not electrical. Or actually electromechanical as they involve interactions between the electromagnetic forces and the mechanical vibrational states of the physical structure. If you go back and look at the first set of voltage curves, you will notice that the positive voltage spikes, formed from the addition of pairs of coil outputs are 120 degrees apart in time as are the negative spikes. In other words three phase behavior is embedded in the design. This is a hybrid between single phase and three phase and it will have its own characteristics.

Since this is my diary I'm going to do a bit of ranting here. When scanning the net once for wind power I came across a comment concerning the lack of "anything new in wind power". Back in the 70's when the energy crunch hit everyone was out trying different things. That spirit seems to be gone. Now it's become "cookie cutter" wind power design. I doubt that in twenty years everyone will be doing what you see here. There still are improvements to be made. The dual rotor may not be broke, but then neither was the 36 Ford in 1936. The car you drive today is far different. Things change. You can see why I put this in a diary. I'm not speaking to those who are satisfied with the status quo, but rather those who really want to advance the cause of wind power. Time will tell whether this design has a role to play in that. In any case, it's out there for anyone to try. Just call it the Mattson Alternator, if you will.

I don't want to appear to come down too hard on this site. There is an undercurrent of innovation here, and the discussions are definitely useful. The idea for this design came out of Jerry's "Jerry rigging" of the alternator output. To my mind this is the real power of the Internet.
GeoM
[ Parent ]

Re: An Alternate PM Alternator Design (3.00 / 0) (#14)
by kitno455 on Mon Apr 24, 2006 at 10:39:11 AM MST

sorry dude, i was not trying to get you angry or hi-jack your diary. i was just trying to point out that you made your coils have lots of extra dead wire that is never crossed by the mags, and therefore contributes only resistance to your output?

allan

[ Parent ]

Re: An Alternate PM Alternator Design (3.00 / 0) (#19)
by finnsawyer on Tue Apr 25, 2006 at 09:03:18 AM MST

No offense taken. I like the give and take. It tends to expand the mind. A while back we were speculating here about trading magnets for copper. Well, this may do that. Not necessarily a bad thing. But still, it has to produce enough power at a reasonable cost. The jury will be out on that for a while.

When you speak of dead wire I presume you are referring to the wire along the top and bottom of each coil. I guess I missed that in your comment, although I was aware of the issue. That wire is there to complete the loop. Every design has to put up with it. To minimize its effect you have the magnet be as large as the inside of the coil. Also make the magnets and coils round. The alternator should still work in that case, but don't expect nice rectangular pulses.
GeoM
[ Parent ]

Re: An Alternate PM Alternator Design (3.00 / 0) (#23)
by kitno455 on Tue Apr 25, 2006 at 05:26:51 PM MST

as i understand it, having the magnet as large as the inside of the coil will not minimize the effect. the parts being passed over by the magnet are the only parts that generate voltage. in your design, thats the short sides of the coil, while the long sides just contribute resistance.

just my guess, but it looks like you can get the more power from the same mags and less wire, by going with smaller coils.

allan

[ Parent ]

Re: An Alternate PM Alternator Design (3.00 / 0) (#25)
by finnsawyer on Wed Apr 26, 2006 at 10:09:55 AM MST

There are two things that make or break an alternator design. Firstly, you need to get the proper voltage at the cut-in speed. This depends on the number of turns (note turns, you can't make an alternator with only radial wires) and the strength of the magnetic flux. Larger flux, fewer turns. That applies to this design as well. Once you have established the number of turns the second requirement is current carrying ability or resistance. The solution to lower the resistance is to use heavier wire for the same number of turns. You now made the coil bigger. This requires a larger rotor. That will give a lower cut-in rpm. That is true for this design as well. So, for a proper combination of magnet size, wire size, number of turns, and rotor size it should be possible to satisfy the design criteria. The problem of course is that these things are all interrelated. It will take while to sort them out. The design currently used was obtained by trial and error. I suspect the same will hold true for this one.
GeoM
[ Parent ]

Re: An Alternate PM Alternator Design (3.00 / 0) (#15)
by elvin1949 on Tue Apr 25, 2006 at 03:56:16 AM MST

Finsawyer
This is something that i will do a lot of studying
about.Got me to thinking [rust flying everywhere]
outside the box? yes but that is good.
later
elvin

[ Parent ]

Re: An Alternate PM Alternator Design (3.00 / 0) (#21)
by finnsawyer on Tue Apr 25, 2006 at 09:51:22 AM MST

Good!
GeoM
[ Parent ]

Re: An Alternate PM Alternator Design (3.00 / 0) (#46)
by tmmjohnson on Sun Nov 25, 2007 at 10:52:32 AM MST

Hi, I am a newbie and just read your posting here. I am interested in HVLV applications but am finding that it is difficult without just breaking down and buying a unit. I looked at your idea and thought that maybe I could pass something on that is similar. It was a college paper done on PMG with toroidial windings. The purpose was to create a working axial flux generator that could be built in production status with varying scales. It might be a help, might not be. I am hoping to get to the point of trying some of the ideas, but magnets are hard to get in Africa. I was trying to get the document copied with its pictures, but I can't seem to paste a picture. If you give me an address I will send you a PDF of this document. My address is tmmjohnson@gmail.com. Jon NREL/CP-500-24996 Ÿ UC Category: 1213 Axial Flux, Modular, Permanent- Magnet Generator with a Toroidal Winding for Wind Turbine Applications E. Muljadi C.P. Butterfield Yih-Huei Wan National Wind Technology Center National Renewable Energy Laboratory Presented at IEEE Industry Applications Conference St. Louis, MO November 5-8, 1998 National Renewable Energy Laboratory 1617 Cole Boulevard Golden, Colorado 80401-3393 A national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy Managed by Midwest Research Institute for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC36-83CH10093 Work performed under task number WE803020 July 1998 NOTICE This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States government. Neither the United States government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or any agency thereof. Available to DOE and DOE contractors from: Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) P.O. Box 62 Oak Ridge, TN 37831 Prices available by calling (423) 576-8401 Available to the public from: National Technical Information Service (NTIS) U.S. Department of Commerce 5285 Port Royal Road Springfield, VA 22161 (703) 487-4650 Printed on paper containing at least 50% wastepaper, including 20% postconsumer waste Axial Flux, Modular, Permanent-Magnet Generator with a Toroidal Winding for Wind Turbine Applications E. Muljadi, C. P. Butterfield, Yih-Huei Wan National Renewable Energy Laboratory 1617 Cole Boulevard Golden, CO 80401 Tel. (303)384-6900, Fax (303)384-6999 Eduard_muljadi@nrel.gov, http://www.nrel.gov/wind Abstract - Permanent-magnet generators have been used for wind turbines for many years. Many small wind turbine manufacturers use direct-drive permanent-magnet generators. For wind turbine generators, the design philosophy must cover the following characteristics: low cost, light weight, low speed, high torque, and variable speed generation. The generator is easy to manufacture and the design can be scaled up for a larger size without major retooling. A modular permanent-magnet generator with axial flux direction was chosen. The permanent magnet used is NdFeB or ferrite magnet with flux guide to focus flux density in the air gap. Each unit module of the generator may consist of one, two, or more phases. Each generator can be expanded to two or more unit modules. Each unit module is built from simple modular poles. The stator winding is formed like a torus. Thus, the assembly process is simplified and the winding insertion in the slot is less tedious. We built a prototype of one unit module and performed preliminary tests in our laboratory. Follow up tests will be conducted in our lab to improve the design. I. INTRODUCTION Using permanent-magnet (PM) generators for small wind turbines is very common. Usually an AC generator with many poles operates between 10-100 Hz. Because the generator is directly driven by the wind turbine [1,3,5], it is commonly known as a direct drive generator. Many configurations use surface mounted three phase PM synchronous generators with a rectifier connected to the generator terminal. Many types of generator concepts have been used and proposed to convert wind power into electricity. An axial flux generator with a different type of winding and a different magnet arrangement was developed [1,2]. A modular concept was proposed to reduce manufacturing costs [3]. The transverse flux generator has a higher power density than a traditional induction generator [4]. In this paper, a combination of a modular, axial flux, and torroidal stator winding are applied to a permanent-magnet generator. Although the design is intended for wind turbine applications, this PM machine can be used for many other applications. A wind turbine generator must be light to minimize the requirements for the tower structure. Since the wind turbine operates at low rotational speed, the generator is built with many poles. We designed, built, and tested a permanentmagnet generator for wind turbines. Several unique properties are included in this design. It uses a modular concept. Each pole is constructed individually, thus the number of poles is based on the requirements. The winding is concentric, like a torus, making it easy to assemble. The rotor core has a focusing capability with a variable magnet area, so the air gap flux density can be adjusted independent of the rotor radius. A single unit module of this generator can have single or multiple phases. Additional unit modules can be stacked in the axial direction to get more power. With this modular concept, any failure in one unit can be replaced immediately or can be bypassed, thus minimizing turbine downtime. The dimension of the generator and the size of each component should be based on the actual wind turbine for which it is to be used. Because the purpose of the prototype unit is to prove the concept, we designed and built it with readily available components. A steady state analysis was done to determine the initial electric loading and magnetic loading. The initial loss calculation was derived. The next step of the calculation was done using finite element analysis. The flux density in the critical components, and the map of the core losses were found. No-load, rated, and short-circuit conditions can be predicted from this analysis. Any changes made were reiterated by using steady state analysis. Thus the process was repeated until the final design is ready. A test was conducted in the lab to find the parameters of the generator and any unpredicted anomalies. Data were collected for no-load and full-load conditions. The first section of this paper is devoted to introducing the background of the PM generator in wind turbine applications. The second section introduces the generator components. In the third section we present our analysis of the PM generator. In the fourth section we describe testing, and lastly, in the fifth section the conclusions are summarized. II. COMPONENT OF THE GENERATOR In this paper we discuss only one unit module of the generator. The generator consists of an eighteen-pole permanent magnet. The stator and the rotor cores are made of pre-cut transformer lamination silicon steel (gauge 26, M19). The stator and rotor cores can be made on a per pole basis, reducing the cost of complete dies required to stamp a conventional lamination configuration. The geometry of the stator and the rotor core could have been optimized, however, this project focuses on the proof of concept. A. Rotor The cross section of the stator and rotor pole is illustrated in Figure 1. Each pole is constructed from two identical corestacks and the permanent magnet is sandwiched in between. The rotor is constructed to allow an expansion in the axial direction, for example, to increase the magnet surface. The flux directions at the top (outer radius) and the bottom (inner radius) of the rotor pole are the opposite. Around the perimeter of the rotor, the flux direction of one pole is opposite of the flux direction in next pole, as shown by the white arrows in Figure 2. The ratio of the magnetic surface area to the pole surface area determines the focusing factor. The chosen geometry enables the designer to increase the length of the rotor core without affecting the stator geometry and vice versa. The rotor poles are attached to a non-magnetic disk that holds the rotor cores. The shaft is attached to the disk to rotate the rotor core. A non-magnetic stainless steel belt is strapped around the rotor core to keep the rotor poles in place. Since the rotor speed is low, centrifugal force created when the rotor rotates is not very high. There are nine pole pairs on the rotor. Between two rotor poles, there is a small gap to minimize interpolar magnetic leakage. B. Stator The stator consists of two stator sides. There are nine poles attached to each stator side. The poles on each side are attached to a plate (not shown in Figure 2) which holds the stator poles in place. In the prototype, one side of the stator core can be rotated (within a limited angle range) with respect to the other stator side. Thus the position of the stator cores in one side can be shifted with respect to the other sides. The shift can be adjusted to control the phase shift between the first stator side and the second stator side. C. Stator winding The stator winding is wound like a torus or a washer. With a toroidal form, the stator winding can be easily assembled and automated for production. The stator winding between the stator poles is exposed to open air, which improves cooling. One advantage of wind power systems is the location of the generator. It is mounted on a tower above the ground. The cooling mechanism is better up on the nacelle than inside a ground level building because the generator is always exposed to air flow that is proportional to the generator load. During low wind speeds, the heat transfer from the winding is lower, however, the heat generated in the winding is lower, too. The opposite is true at high wind; more heat is generated in the winding, but more air flow is available to transfer the heat away. In this paper, one module unit is built for a single phase generator. The stator windings at the two sides are connected in parallel to generate a single phase output. The rotor shaft is attached to the stator sides through the bearings, which are attached to the stator plate. The rotor core has a width of 6.35 cm (2.5 in.) and a diameter of 29.2 cm (11.5 in.). The overall width of the generator is 16.5 cm (6.5 in.), excluding the two stator plates. D. Expansion for multimodule generation system The power from the stator can be actively controlled using power switches (IGBTs) or passively controlled using a diode Figure 1. One pole of the stator and rotor core Figure 2. PM Generator with Toroidal Winding stator core rotor core PM Non magnet disk rotor core South Copper North rectifier. Figure 3 shows a possible configuration of the power converter to process the power generated by the generator. The generator may consist of one or more modules. In this configuration, only three unit modules are shown. Each unit module of the generator is paired with one leg module of power switches on the power converter side. Thus the power converter and the generator can be expanded in a similar fashion. The power generated is converted back to the utility via a three-phase inverter, which can be controlled to produce good power quality. III. DESIGN ANALYSIS The analysis of the generator is based on the wind turbine requirements. The steady state analysis was performed as the first step to get the first cut of design criteria. The finite element analysis was performed to refine the magnetic analysis. Finally, a dynamic analysis was performed in the lab to validate generator performance under dynamic conditions. A. Steady state analysis The prime mover for this generator is a wind turbine. One characteristic of wind turbines is that the rotational speed is lower than most prime movers. To avoid using a gearbox, the generator is direct driven. Multiple poles must be used to allow slow speed operation. From steady state analysis, the following criteria are chosen: Number of poles = 18 Max operating frequency = 100 Hz (at 667 rpm) Number of phases per unit module = 1 (two windings in parallel) The electric loading: Stator current = 11.0 Amp RMS (at per phase voltage 58 Volt RMS) The wire chosen is AWG 12 The current density in the slot J = 3.4x106 Amp/m2 Predicted copper losses at rated current = 42 watts B. Finite element analysis To analyze the magnetic circuit, the finite element method was used to compute the flux density in the generator components. The main purpose of this analysis is to get the overall picture of the saturation levels in different parts of the generator, the iron losses in the components of the generators, and the worst case of demagnetization on the permanent magnet. In the finite element analysis presented here, the generator uses a ferrite permanent magnet. No-load condition. In the no-load condition, the magnetic path is analyzed to see the magnetic flux density in different parts of the magnetic paths. With the stator core in each side shifted by 180o the maximum flux in the core happens when the stator core and the rotor core are aligned. Figure 4 shows the flux lines at the no-load condition. Only one side of the stator core is shown. Some flux leakage is shown such as at both ends of the rotor poles. The rotor core has low flux density with the highest flux density at the parts closest to the air gap. As shown in Figure 4, the maximum flux density Figure 3. Expansion for multimodule generation. Figure 4. Flux density at no-load condition Phase3 Phase2 To 60 Hz utility Phase1 occurs at the corner of the U-shaped stator core. Figure 5 shows the magnitude of the flux density along the horizontal line in the middle of the air gap. The maximum flux density at no load is 1.55 Tesla. The flux density at the air gap is 0.9 Tesla and the flux density at the permanent magnet is 0.24 Tesla. The stator core and the rotor core have a flux density below the saturation point. Inductive load at rated current. In this condition, the magnetic path is analyzed to see flux reduction at the air gap at the least favorable power factor. The generator is loaded to have rated current. Short-circuit condition. In this condition, the magnetic path is analyzed to see the demagnetization effects on the permanent magnet. In order to analyze the worst case scenario, the stator core and the rotor core are perfectly aligned and the short circuit current is applied to the stator core. In this case the short circuit current is about ten times the rated current. The result is tabulated in Table 1. Table 1. Flux Density Comparison at Different Magnetic Paths for Different Conditions B airgap B max B at PM No-load 0.91 T 1.55 T 0.244 T Inductive Load (rated) 0.89 T 1.50 T 0.239 T Short Circuit 0.70 T 1.05 T 0.193 T IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS A. Experimental set up The experiment was conducted to observe the performance of the generator. The generator is driven by a motor via a belt. The motor is a four pole motor, with rated speed of 1800 rpm. The motor is fed by a PWM variable frequency drive. The generator speed is driven to 667 RPM. The output frequency at this rpm is 100 Hz. The experiment is conducted only on a single unit generator. In the finite element analysis, the permanent magnet used is ferrite, however, in this experiment the permanent magnet chosen is rare earth permanent magnet (NdFeB). Figure 6. Open circuit woltage B. Voltage and current waveforms The open circuit voltage is measured at the terminal output of winding 2 (open circuit). The stator cores are shifted toward each other by 180 electrical degrees. The voltage waveform is captured from the scope, digitized, and plotted in Figure 6 and Figure 7. In Figure 7, the generator is loaded with resistive load up to rated load at 100 Hz. The voltage across the terminal output of the generator is a unity power factor load. Thus the current waveform is reflected by this terminal voltage waveform. C. Parameter Determination Test A simple modified test is used to get the parameters of the permanent magnet [6]. The experiment is shown in Figure 8. Figure 5. Flux density at no-load condition Figure 7. Terminal voltage across resistive load One side of the generator (winding 1) is connected to a rated load at unity power factor. The generator is driven to generate a rated frequency. The other side of the winding (winding 2) is an open circuit. The voltage output of winding 1 is called terminal voltage V and the open circuit voltage of winding 2 is called open circuit voltage E. The angle difference between V and E is called d, which is the torque angle of the generator at this load. The power, current, and voltage output of winding 1 is recorded. The parameters can be computed from the test data, and the results are listed in Table 2 below. Table 2. Results from Test Data Parameters Lds Lqs Rs 8.41 mH 4.38 mH 0.22 ohm Vopen circuit 75 volts Vrated load 58 volts Irated/winding 11 Amp Prated/winding 650 watt Rotor Speed 667 rpm 100 Hz V. CONCLUSION The proposed generator is investigated for application in wind power generation. In the first stage of implementation, a proof of concept of the generator is investigated. The magnetic and electric loading are shown to be within the limits of common practice of machine design. The generator has the following advantages for wind turbine generation: - The modular concept is suitable for the commercial production of machines of limited quantities and with different sizes and output requirements. The components are manufactured on a per pole basis. The tooling required is minimized. The design can be readily changed, such as the number of poles in one unit or the number of unit modules in a generator system. - The axial flux design makes it easier to increase the flux density in the air gap. - The toroidal form of the stator winding makes it easy to fabricate. The geometry of the stator winding and stator core make the heat dissipation more effective. - To scale up the output power of the generator, more units can be stacked in the axial directions. The power converter required to process the power is readily compatible with the generator. Each unit module of the generator is matched with each leg of the power switches. VI. ACKNOWLEDMENTS The authors wish to thank Jerry Bianchi for his assistance during the test set up and Jim Adams for his help during the fabrication of this generator. We wish to acknowledge our management at NREL and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for encouraging us and approving the time and tools we needed for this project. DOE supported this work under contract number DE-AC36- 83CH10093. VII. REFERENCES [1] B.J. Chalmers, E.Spooner, "An Axial-flux Permanentmagnet Generator for a Gearless Wind Energy System," PEDES 96, January 1996, New Delhi, India. [2] F. Carrichi, F. Crescimbini, F. Mezzetti, "Multistage Axial-flux PM Machine for Wheel Direct Drive," IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol 32. No. 4, July/August 1996, pp. 882-887. [3] E. Spooner, A. Williamson, "Modular, Permanent-magnet Wind-turbine Generators," Conference Record of the 1996 IEEE Industry Applications Society, Oct. 6-10, 1996, San Diego, California, Volume 1, pp. 497-502 [4] S. Huang, J. Luo, T.A. Lipo, "Analysis and Evaluation of the Transverse Flux Circumferential Current Machine," Conference Record of the 1997 IEEE Industry Applications Society, Oct. 5-9, 1997, New Orleans, Louisiana, Volume 1, pp. 378-384 [5] E.F. Fuchs, A.A. Fardoun, P.Carlin, R.W. Erikson, "Permanent Magnet Machines with Large Speed Variations," Windpower 92, October 1992, Seattle, Washington. [6] Gieras, J.F., Wing, M., "Permanent Magnet Motor Technology, Design and Applications," Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York, 1997. Figure 8. Experimental set-up Watt-mtr / V,E = d motor Winding 1 Winding 2 (open) V E V Rload A V scope v
Climb singing, die climbing tmmjohnson
[ Parent ]

Re: An Alternate PM Alternator Design (3.00 / 0) (#47)
by finnsawyer on Mon Dec 03, 2007 at 08:27:45 AM MST

When I hit stator winding like a torus to make insertion in the slots easier I quit reading, as neither concept would apply to my proposed design. You really should get a picture. To post pictures on this site they need to be 640 by 480 pixels and in .jpg format. One trick you can use to make that conversion is to get a digital camera and take a picture off of the video monitor screen. If you decide to pursue this any further do an independent posting. As it is, I do not appreciate all the extraneous verbiage added to the diary, as it simply obscures the real issues. Another possibility would have been to simply have put a link to the information if such exists. I would imagine it does. Rather than simply reacting to things you need to spend more time reading on this site. Most everything you need to know to navigate on this site is explained somewhere.
GeoM
[ Parent ]

An Alternate PM Alternator Design | 50 comments (50 topical)

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