Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Generator with Concentrated Winding for Small Wind Power Applications

A. Parviainen and J. Pyrhnen

Lappeenranta University of Technology Department of Electrical Engineering Skinnarilankatu 34 Lappeenranta, Finland
Abstracti- An axial flux permanent magnet machine, designed to operate as a generator in a small-scale wind-power applications, is described in this paper. The machine is realized by using consecrated stator winding with open slots and surface mounted permanent magnets on rotor disk. Such a novel generator structure is simple to construct and its performance is good; it offers sinusoidal back-emf waveform, low torque ripple and high efficiency. A 1.6 kW prototype machine is constructed and is installed to a pilot power plant. Design results as well as test result for the prototype machine are reported in this paper

P. Kontkanen
Kylmtec Ky Jokipellonkatu 13 Outokumpu, Finland

I. INTRODUCTION Small-scale wind power plants are an attractive choice to generate electrical power on rural areas where the installation of the distribution network is not economically reasonable. In such locations, e.g. on small islands, wind power plants or solar sells or both together can be used to charge batteries or in direct heating purposes. Concerning stand-alone windmill applications the rated power of which is below 10 kW, the use of permanent magnet machines as a generator has been studied intensively recently. In [1] a 2 kW permanent magnet machine with radial flux structure was proposed and in [2][4] studies related to the TORUS type axial flux machines were presented. In these studies the common feature is the use of direct-drive low-speed generators. The low-speed generator does not require step-up gearbox in power transmission between the turbine and the generator, which is typically required in more conventional windmill concepts. As a result, the direct-drive concept improves the reliability of the system and reduces the maintenance costs. In this paper a single sided axial flux permanent magnet generator with double-layer concentrated stator windings is described. Test result obtained from the prototype machine as well as test-results obtained from the pilot power plant are reported. The prototype machine has been on operation in a pilot power plant since autumn 2003. Fig. 1 illustrates the used generator concept and presents the generator as it is installed to a windmill structure.
(a) (b) Fig. 1. (a) Structure of generator. (b) Generator as a part of turbine structure.

II. AXIAL FLUX PERMANENT MAGNET MACHINE WITH DOUBLE

LAYER CONCENTRATED WINDING

Concentrated stator windings are an effective solution to reduce Joules losses in electrical machines [5]. By combining the concentrated winding and axial flux permanent magnet machine, which is proven to offer a high torque to volume ratio [6], a high performance electrical machine is obtained. In a concentrated double layer winding, each of the coils is wound around one tooth. A layout of such a winding is illustrated in Fig. 2. By introducing open slots it is possible to manufacture the coils beforehand and just install the coils around the teeth. This procedure makes the winding to be realized with low price. However, some concern must be paid how to ensure the fixing of the coil around the tooth due to the lack of the tooth tip. The concentrated winding makes the coil ends to be short in the radial direction. In the case of axial flux machines this solves the problem how to arrange the end-windings in the limited space between the shaft and the inner radius of the stator core, which can be a severe problem for conventional 3-phase windings. Short end-windings decrease also the overall external diameter of the axial flux machine and thereby the overall space required by the machine.

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Fig. 2. A winding layout on 2D plane for axial flux machine with double layer concentrated winding. Winding configuration is for 12 slots and 14 poles.

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As a drawback of the single sided axial flux machine construction, illustrated in Fig. 1 (a), there appears quite a large uncompensated attractive force F between the rotor and the stator and is given by 2 p S agap Bagap , (1) F 2 0 where is the air gap surface area Sagap Bagap is the air gap flux density p is the relative rotor pole surface area covered by the permanent magnet 0 is the permeability of free space The attractive force causes that the bearing system must be capable of tolerating it. This demands using of a thrust bearing as a main bearing on the shaft. Rotor disk has to be also thick enough in order to avoid excessive deflection. The deflection of the rotor disk due to the magnetic forces may be calculated analytically by employing methods given by Yuang in [6], for example. For double sided axial flux machine structures these mechanical concerns are cancelled out during machine operation because the double air gap system causes that the total axial force affecting the rotor disk is small. If compared to the TORUS type axial flux machines realized with airgap winding [2], an advantage of the proposed structure is the slotted stator. The slotting increases remarkably the amplitude of the airgap flux density due to the shorter airgap and consequently this reduces the required amount of permanent magnets yielding savings in the generator price. As a drawback, the leakage and mutual inductances are increased compared to the air-gap winding. The slotting may also evoke undesired torque pulsations and cause additional losses. III. PROTOTYPE MACHINE A. Introduction The design of the prototype generator was made under geometrical constraints given by the turbine manufacturer. The maximum allowed external diameter for the generator was 300 mm including the end-windings and the inner diameter including the end-windings had to be over 120 mm because of the main thrust bearing is integrated to the space available inside the stator. The required output power (against resistive load) was 1.6 kW at the speed of 250 rpm. Apart from the previous constrains the following requirements were given: Machine structure must be simple and easy to manufacture Higher efficiency compared to commercially available 1.5 kW DC-generators Torque ripple below 5 % of the rated torque Due to the first constraint, a concentrated winding structure was considered. By realizing the machine 3-phase winding

with double layer concentrated winding, only certain stator slot - rotor pole combinations are possible to use [7]. Obviously combinations, which have high fundamental winding factor and low amplitude for cogging torque, are favorable. In the reported application, the geometrical constraints restrict the selection of slots and basically only slot numbers below 24 were feasible to employ. The employed machine structure was selected among the configurations presented in Table I. The selection was partly based on the results of 3D finite element analysis (FEA), which was performed for the reported machine configurations. By taking into account the geometrical limitations and the construction simplicity, efficiency and torque ripple requirements a machine with 12 slots in stator and 14 poles in the rotor was selected. The main parameters of the machine are reported in Table II. The results of 3D FEA for the selected machine configuration are reported in following chapters. The stator and the rotor of the machine are shown in Figs. 3-4. Such a structure utilizes the PMs effectively in the case of open slots; the surface area of one PM is slightly higher compared to area of one tooth. Higher number of slots will decrease the relative length of the end-winding with respect to the active part of copper but on the other hand the number of the coils required increases increasing the manufacturing costs. TABLE I STUDIED MACHINE CONFIGURATIONS
Number of stator slots Q 12 12 18 24 Number of rotor poles 10 14 22 22

Fig. 3. The stator and the rotor of the prototype machine.

Fig. 4. The prototype machine while assembling the parts together.

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TABLE II PARAMETERS OF PROTOTYPE GENERATOR

Parameter P Uph hm g Q p Dout Definition Nominal output power at speed 250 rpm Output voltage (RMS) at speed 250 rpm Thickness of PM Physical length of airgap Number of stator slots Number of rotor poles Stator outer diameter Value 1.6 kW 75 V 5.0 mm 1.0 mm 12 14 258 mm

B. Modeling of the machine The inherent 3D geometry of the axial flux machine causes that the accurate modeling of the machine requires the use of 3D finite element (FE) software. Because of the concentrated winding, one cannot model only one pole in the FE-model as is usually done with conventional machines. This yields to situation in which several poles have to include to the FEmodel or even whole machine has to model in order to obtain the symmetry. As a result the obtained 3D FE-model is very time consuming to solve even by using present day efficient personal computers. Fig. 5 illustrates the 3D FE-model of the studied axial flux machine. Pre-dimensioning of the machine is done via analytical approach and by using 2D finite element analysis (FEA). C. Stator connection

Fig. 6. Circulating current in delta connection under no-load situation.

the circulating current is low, about 3 % from the rated current of the machine. Even though the circulating current is small compared to the nominal current, it is undesired and the star connection is used. D. Torque analysis In direct-drive windmill applications smooth torque is required from the generator, meaning low amplitude for the cogging torque. This improves the starting capability of the turbine at low wind speeds and reduces vibrations. The cogging torque was computed by using 3D FEA. The obtained peak value of the cogging torque was 1 Nm for the prototype generator. The torque behavior under load condition was analyzed by solving a time transient 3D FEmodel with circuit coupling. Fig. 7 shows the obtained torque from the 3D FEA.

In order to avoid circulating currents the stator of machine is connected to star. For 3-phase machines the third harmonic and its odd multipliers are in 360 degree phase shift with respect to each other thus forming circulating currents if the back-emf includes those harmonics and the machine is connected to delta [8]. Among the studied machine configuration the selected 12-14 structure produces the most sinusoidal back-EMF waveform. In order to analyze weather the circulating current is harmful or not in the case of this particular machine, the machine was modeled in 3D in delta connection and the circulating current was determined from no-load computations. Fig. 6 shows the observed circulating current in delta connection according to 3D-FEA. In this case the waveform of induced back-emf is very sinusoidal, thereby the amplitude of

Fig. 7. Calculated torque waveform.

IV. MEASUREMENT RESULTS Several test runs were performed for the generator under load and no-load conditions. The obtained efficiency for the machine was 82 % in the test run at nominal load. Fig. 8 shows the measured no-load phase voltages for the prototype machine while the temperature of the magnets is 20 C. Highly sinusoidal voltage waveforms are observed. In Fig. 9, phase currents are reported. Fig. 10 shows the obtained temperatures in the stator winding during a test run. One has to notice that the machine is designed to operate outdoors, so

Fig. 5. 3D FE-model of axial flux machine.

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the operating temperature of the PMs and the stator winding is in practice lower that the ones obtained in the laboratory environment. When the generator produces maximum power, the wind speed is also high and thereby the cooling of the machine is better than in the laboratory environment without external cooling fan.
3D-FEA Measured

IV.

PILOT POWER PLANT

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The prototype generator is installed to the pilot power plant, Fig. 11. The power plant has been in operation since November 2003 successfully. The pilot power plant is used to study the performance of the proposed generator under actual conditions. In Fig. 12 the test results are reported under actual wind conditions. As can be noticed, the wind-speed required to achieve the rated power lies 12 m/s. A comprehensive report related to the results obtained from the pilot plant will be reported separately.

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Fig. 8. Measured and calculated no-load phase voltages. The difference in amplitudes is due to the physical air gap length. Due to the manufacturing tolerances it was slightly larger in a prototype than in FE model.
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Fig. 11. Small-scale wind power plant.

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Fig. 10. Measured phase windings temperatures in a test run at nominal load.

Fig. 12. Measurement results obtained from the pilot power plant.

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V.

CONCLUSIONS

[2] [3]

A 1.6 kW axial flux permanent magnet generator for directdrive wind-power applications was described. The proposed concentrated winding concept with open slots makes the generator manufacturing easy and it offers good performance. The obtained phase voltage and current is practically pure sine wave and the torque ripple is low. The efficiency of the machine is also good. As an authors opinion, the mechanical structure of the machine proposed is simpler and cheaper to construct than the other axial flux machine configurations with laminated stator cores. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The work presented was a part of DENSY-program (Distributed Energy Systems Technology Programme), financed partly by TEKES, national technology agency of Finland. Authors would like express their gratitude for the program personnel due to resources provided by the program. REFERENCES

[4] [5]

[6] [7] [8]

[9] [1] A. Schmidhofer and H. Weiss, "Optimisation of Power Electronics for Small Stand Alone Wind Power Stations," in Proceedings of 10th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (EPE2003), Toulouse, France, on CD-ROM, September 2-4, 2003.

B.J. Chalmers, W. Wu, and E. Spooner "An Axial-Flux PermanentMagnet Generator for A Gearless Wind Energy System," in IEEE Transaction on Energy Conversion, vol. 14, 1999, pp. 251-257. J. Azzouzi, G. Barakat, and B. Dakyo, "Analytical Model for a Magnetic Design Approach of an Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Syncronous Machine for Wind Energy Application," in Proceedings of 10th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (EPE2003), Toulouse, France, on CD-ROM, September 2-4, 2003. L. Sderlund, J-T. Erikson, J. Salonen, H. Vihril, and R. Perl, "A Permanent Magnet Generator for Wind Power Applications," in IEEE Transaction on Magnetics, vol. 32, 1996, pp. 2389-2392. F. Magnussen and C. Sadarangani, "Winding Factors and Joules Losses of Permanent Magnet Machines with Concentrated Windings," in Proceedings of IEEE International Electric Machines and Drives Conference, IEMDC03, Madison, United States, pp. 333-339, 1-4 June, 2003. Z. Zhang, F. Profumo, and A. Tenconi, "Axial flux versus radial flux PM motors," in Proceedings of SPEEDAM, Capri, Italy, pp. A4-19 A4-25, 5-7 June, 1996. P. Salminen, Fractional Slot Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors for Low Speed Applications. Dissertation, Lappeenranta University of Technology, 2004, p. 150. E. Nipp, "Examinations of Torque Interruptions and Circulating Currents in PM Synchronous Motors with Switched Stator Windings," Proceedings of the International Conference on Electrical Machines, ICEM'98, Istanbul, Turkey, pp. 273-278, September 2-4, 1998. W. C. Yuang, Roarks formulas for stress and strain, Singapore: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1989, p. 763.

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