if you want to read a book on alternator/generator design get the one i mentioned, they are available used from various sources
on ebay and amazon (and others) for not a lot of money.
if for no other reason than to go back in time and see just how many different designs were tried, which were successful and why, which were
unsuccessful and why , and...
when you think you have thought up some new design it is humbling to go to that book and realize that over 100 years ago there were others that already tried it and either succeeded or failed.
the back of the book as a couple dozen fold out plates that are just downright beautiful in my opinion, illustrating a time when it was not enough
to build a machine that was functional but it must also be beautiful in form. mine are in such poor condition that i am considering removing them
and reproducing them in larger format and frame a few examples to hang on my walls.
aside from that, there are very few books on the subject of alternator or generator design that are clearly laid out and useful in understanding
proper design, most illustrate in such an elementary way so as to be about useless.
my opinion only
from about 1880 to 1895 was the golden age of alternator generator and motor design, during those years there were hundreds of men
all of which were engineers of some sort, working for several dozen very competitive companies designing and testing machines. these men
worked long hours coming up with different designs 8-10 hrs per day, probably an equal amount of time off the clock and many would wake at
night to pencil out a design that might be keeping them up and interfering with their sleep. they not only did this during those years
but most did it their whole lives.
its really hard for me to imagine that a diy'er in 2010 is going to come up with any design that is different and anywhere near as successful
let alone more successful than anything that was done before by those me way back when. with the exception of improved materials there
really has been no new alternator or generator design in the last 100 years that i know of, and i would really like to know of a single example.
this does not mean a diy'er should quit thinking or dreaming, quite the contrary. what i am saying is one might be better served to go back
and study those golden years and get an appreciation of what was done back then. what would be more useful would be the reapplication of
a particular design to a task at hand, such as has taken place with the aircore alternator that has changed diy windpower over the last several years.
bob g