Direct-Drive Wind Generator Concept with Non-Rare-Earth PM Flux Intensifying Stator and Reluctance Outer Rotor

This paper proposes a novel concept for an electric generator in which both ac windings and permanent magnets (PMs) are placed in the stator. Concentrated windings with a special pattern and phase coils placed in separate slots are employed. The PMs are positioned in a spoke-type field concentrating arrangement, which provides high flux intensification and enables the use of lower remanence and energy non-rare earth magnets. The rotor is exterior to the stator and has a simple and robust reluctance-type configuration without any active electromagnetic excitation components. The principle of operation is introduced based on the concept of virtual work with closed-form analytical airgap flux density distributions. Initial and parametric design studies were performed using electromagnetic FEA for a 3MW direct-drive wind turbine generator employing PMs of different magnetic remanence and specific energy. Results include indices for the goodness of excitation and the goodness of the electric machine designs; loss; and efficiency estimations, indicating that performance comparable to PM synchronous designs employing expensive and critical supply rare-earth PMs may be achieved with non-rare earth PMs using the proposed configuration.