Dynamic reluctance air gap modeling and experimental evaluation of electromagnetic characteristics of five-phase permanent magnet synchronous generator for wind power application

Abstract This paper presents the design and analysis of electromagnetic characteristics of a five phase permanent magnet synchronous generator for direct drive wind energy conversion system (WECS). In this study, simple and accurate Dynamic Reluctance Network Modeling is used for design and optimization of generator. The anisotropic structure of stator and rotor for the accurate prediction of flux distribution in the air gap and electromagnetic performance is accounted by the dynamic variation of air gap reluctance in an electrical period. This model considers the leakage flux paths for machine design optimization to achieve better performance. In this context, three permanent magnet (PM) materials namely NdFeB, SmCo and ferrite are considered to evaluate the generated voltage. The dimensions of these permanent magnets are varied and performance under normal and saturated core condition is evaluated. A prototype is developed in the machine laboratory of the IIT(BHU) Varanasi (India) and results obtained in accordance with Finite Element Method.