FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

AINSHAMS UNIVERSITY
CAIRO, 2018

Electric Generator
Design and
manufacturing
For a small wind turbine

Khalid Ibrahim Abdelhakeem

13p5079 – Final Year, Renewable Energy Program
Contents
Design procedure ............................................................................................................................................2
1) Electrical design ..................................................................................................................................2
2) Mechanical Design and manufacturing (next steps) ..........................................................................2
Defining the specs ...........................................................................................................................................3
Generator type ................................................................................................................................................3
Internal or External Rotor ................................................................................................................................4
Machine Sizing .................................................................................................................................................4
Poles and slots .................................................................................................................................................5
Cogging torque ............................................................................................................................................5
Airgap ..............................................................................................................................................................5
Material selection ............................................................................................................................................6
Design tools .....................................................................................................................................................8
Matching........................................................................................................................................................10
Considerations for number of slots and number of poles .............................................................................11
Winding factor ...........................................................................................................................................11
(LCM) Least common multiple between the number of poles and the number of slots ..........................12
Number of winding symmetries ................................................................................................................13
Final Decision .............................................................................................................................................14
Winding pattern ............................................................................................................................................15
Our final choices for winding .....................................................................................................................17
Finite Element Analysis ..................................................................................................................................18
Mechanical Design .........................................................................................................................................22
Mechanical Design steps ...........................................................................................................................22
Rotor Material ...........................................................................................................................................22
Endcap Material.........................................................................................................................................23
Getting the wire out ..................................................................................................................................23
Bearing selection .......................................................................................................................................23
Manufacturing ...........................................................................................................................................24
Magnets reference photo. Shipped from a supplier from Germany. ........................................................25
Working Drawings of manufactured parts ................................................................................................26
The software used in project .........................................................................................................................35

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Design procedure
1) Electrical design
1- Defining the specs, required performance.
2- Selecting machine type.
3- Sizing the machine based on: needed specs and cooling method.
4- Defining number of poles, and number of slots.
5- Estimation the design of core geometry.
6- Defining and selecting phase windings.
7- Selecting magnetic materials (of permanent magnets, and electrical steel).
8- Selection of turns per coil, and wire gauge.
9- Improvements and finalization of machine’s geometry.
10- Solving performance results using Finite Element Analysis (FEA).
11- Comparison and optimization.

F IGURE 1- DESIGN FLOWCHART

2) Mechanical Design and manufacturing (next steps)

1- Rotor, stator and hub designs.
2- Frame design (housing)
3- Bearing selection
4- Calculating mechanical losses
5- Cooling design
6- Testing

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Defining the specs
The specs of the generator rely mainly on the characteristics of the wind turbine as mentioned before.
After reviewing the performance curves, specs are assumed to be
Maximum Power 500 Watt
Voltage range for load 24-48 Volts
Load type Pure Resistive
Speed range of turbine 0-600 RPM

Generator type

Figure 2- block diagram of different wind energy conversion systems (a) using a DC generator, (b) using a
synchronous generator/alternator, (c) using induction generator. – diagram from WECS p.443 –

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 For the following reasons, the type of 3 phase permanent magnet synchronous generator was chosen
for design.
1- Simplicity of the design and manufacturing. Other than wound types.
2- self-starting, not needing to be connected to the grid for outside excitation.
3- the wind system is not connected to the grid, so no need for gearbox to synchronize the speed at
constant frequency.
4- Rugged and have high power to volume ratio due to the strength of the rare earth magnets made
of (NdFeB) material.
5- It’s commonly used in micro-turbines scale.

Internal or External Rotor

To make it easier for wind applications to attach it directly to the hub. And, it’s beneficial to utilize the
space for large numbers of poles.

Machine Sizing
To start the design of new electric machine from scratch, it’s required to know the performance
specifications. Also, other constraints such as maximum volume or diameter, maximum temperature rise,
and the supply voltage. Working through, this is a basic equation for sizing. This equation based on

1- Electric loading; (A) the linear current density around the airgap circumference, that is,
the number of ampere-conductors per metre around the stator surface that faces the airgap. And it’s
limited by 𝐼 2 𝑅 heating losses.
2- Magnetic loading; (B) as the average flux-density over the rotor surface. The flux-density has
sinusoidal distribution.
𝜋
𝑇𝑅𝑉 = ∗ 𝐴 ∗ 𝐵 ∗ 𝑘𝑤1
√2
Where (TRV) is the torque per rotor volume [Nm/m3]. And (kw1) is the winding factor, approximated to 1.
Typical values for TRV for NdFeB machines falls in the range between 14-40. For safety, take it as low as
14.
Based on required torque (T), this equation is derived to obtain the minimum size for the machine.
𝜋
Τ= 𝐷2 ∗ 𝐿𝑠𝑡𝑘 ∗ 𝑇𝑅𝑉
4

Where Lstk is the axial length of the stack of the core

D is the airgap diameter.
This equation gives the volume, then a ratio (L/D) has to be defined to get the diameter and the length.
This is limited by the suppliers’ availability to certain dimensions of permanent magnets. A maximum
length of 38mm is given, which gets the diameter of airgap to be 128mm.
The dimensions above are the minimum values. However, for the ease of manufacturing and assembly a,
larger diameters up to 200mm are considered.

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Poles and slots
The number of poles depend upon many factors such as:
1- magnet material and grade
2- interior vs. exterior rotor
3- mechanical assembly of the magnets
4- speed of rotation
5- inertia requirements
knowing that frequency of the generated EMF is proportional to speed and number of poles.
as number of poles increases:
- required rotor yoke thickness decrease
- stator conductors decrease, which decreases synchronous reactance
- increase in cost
the poles/slots can be of different combinations, each ratio contributes to the winding factor.
A characteristic equation relates the no. of poles to the synchronous
𝑁𝑠 ∗ 𝑃
𝑓𝑠 =
60
Where,
𝑁𝑠 is the synchronous speed
𝑃 is the number of pole pairs
𝑓𝑠 is the electrical frequency
Therefore, it’s advised to increase the pole pairs as much to account for the low rotational speeds of the
wind turbine.
The ratio of slots per pole can be integer or fraction. It’s chosen to be a fractional ratio since it will
decrease the effects of cogging torque, as explained below.

Cogging torque

In some cases, where in the number of rotor slots are not proper in relation to a number of stator slots
the machine refuses to run and remains stationary. Under such conditions, there will be a locking
tendency between the rotor and stator. Such a phenomenon is called cogging. Hence, in order to avoid
such adverse effects, a proper number of rotor slots are to be selected in relation to a number of stator
slots. In addition, rotor slots will be skewed by one slot pitch to minimize the tendency of cogging torque
defects like synchronous hooks and cusps and noisy operation while running. Effect of skewing will slightly
increase the rotor resistance and increases the starting torque. However, this will increase the leakage
reactance and hence reduces the starting current and power factor.

Airgap
gaps in the magnetic circuit are normally unavoidable. They contain air. Because that offers high
resistance to magnetic flux, such gaps require undesirable increases in magnetizing current and the
associated electrical loss.

This is particularly true in motors and generators. The air gap needed to separate the revolving rotor from

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the stator should be as small as possible to reduce the magnetizing power requirement, yet large enough
to prevent contact between the two despite manufacturing tolerances on their dimensions, or movement
resulting from mechanical deflection and looseness in supporting bearings.
The advantage and disadvantages of selection of length of the air gap are:
Advantages:
- Increased overload capacity
- Increased cooling
- Reduced unbalanced magnetic pull
- Reduced in tooth pulsation
- Reduced noise
Disadvantages
- Increased Magnetizing current
- Reduced power factor
Common small motors use airgaps around 0.2mm-2mm, this design utilized an airgap of 1.5mm.

Material selection

New magnetic materials. The permanent-magnet industry has continued to improve the
characteristics of the main families of magnet used in electric machines: neodymium-iron boron (NdFeB),
samarium cobalt (SmCo); and ferrite. At room temperature NdFeB has the highest energy product of all
common magnet materials. In its early days the performance was rather sensitive to temperature, but it is
now widely used even in automotive and industrial servo applications where high operating temperatures
exceeding 100°C are common, even in the presence of strong demagnetizing fields.

Samarium Cobalt
Samarium cobalt is a type of rare earth magnet material that is highly resistant to oxidation, has a higher
magnetic strength and temperature resistance than Alnico or Ceramic material. Introduced to the market
in the 1970's, samarium cobalt magnets continue to be used today. Samarium cobalt magnets are divided
into two main groups: Sm1Co5 and Sm2Co17 (commonly referred to as 1-5 and 2-17). The energy product
range for the 1-5 series is 15 to 22 MGOe, with the 2-17 series falling between 22 and 32 MGOe. These
magnets offer the best temperature characteristics of all rare earth magnets and can withstand
temperatures up to 300° C. Sintered samarium cobalt magnets are brittle and prone to chipping and
cracking and may fracture when exposed to thermal shock. Due to the high cost of the material samarium,
samarium cobalt magnets are used for applications where high temperature and corrosion resistance is
critical.

Positive Negative

High Corrosion Resistance High Cost

High Energy Product Low Mechanical Strength - Brittle

High Temperature Stability

High Coercive Force

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Neodymium Iron Boron
Neodymium Iron Boron (NdFeB) is another type of rare earth magnetic material. This material has similar
properties as the Samarium Cobalt except that it is more easily oxidized and generally doesn't have the
same temperature resistance. NdFeB magnets also have the highest energy products approaching
50MGOe. These materials are costly and are generally used in very selective applications due to the cost.
Cost is also driven by existing intellectual property rights of the developers of this type of magnet. Their
high energy products lend themselves to compact designs that result in innovative applications and lower
manufacturing costs. NdFeB magnets are highly corrosive. Surface treatments have been developed that
allow them to be used in most applications. These treatments include gold, nickel, zinc and tin plating and
epoxy resin coating.

Positive Negative

Very High Energy Product Higher Cost (Except from us!)

High Coercive Force Low Mechanical Strength - Brittle

Moderate Temperature Stability

Low Corrosion Resistance (When uncoated)

The selection results were;

1- Magnet type NdFeB grade N40

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 2- Low-loss Electrical Steel

The curves here in the figure shows the difference in losses (W/kg) for different materials of
electrical steel. These differences because of different treatment of the materials (cold/hot
rolling – grain orientation – lamination thickness – etc). each differs in cost and performance
hence the selection will be made accordingly.

Design tools
The development of special design software for electric machines has produced a number of products
which are relatively fast and are specifically intended for motor and generator design. Such programs are
widely used in the industry for initial design, for “what-if” analysis, and (with suitable calibration against
test data) for recording the characteristics of entire lines of motor products. The tool used here is SPEED
software -developed originally at the University of Glasgow-, which also has an embedded finite-element
solver for key problems and electromagnetic finite-element analysis.
It can also couple the motor/generator design with a rectifier/drive circuit for improved prediction and
analysis.

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Figure 3- 3-phase generator with diode rectifier, loaded with a pure inductance
3 3
𝑉𝑑𝑐 = 𝑒𝐿𝐿𝑝𝑘 cos(𝛼) − 𝜔𝐿𝑑 𝐼𝑑𝑐
𝜋 𝜋
Where
𝑒𝐿𝐿𝑝𝑘 is the peak line to line emf of the generator
𝛼 is the phase control angle
𝜔 is the fundamental AC radian frequency 2𝜋𝑓
𝐿𝑑 is the synchronous inductance of the generator, 𝑋𝑑 = 𝜔𝐿𝑑
𝑉𝑑𝑐 is the mean DC voltage at the rectifier terminals without filtering
𝐼𝑑𝑐 is the mean DC current
And
𝑒𝐿𝐿𝑝𝑘 = 𝑘𝐸 𝜔𝑚

Where
𝑘𝐸 is the EMF constant
𝜔𝑚 is the mechanical angular velocity
While the DC circuits might not have very high inductances, filter capacitor may be added with additional
elements. These cases are complex to evaluate by hand and it’s useful to use computer simulations as the
figure below.

F IGURE 4- 3PHASE DIODE RECTIFIER WITH FILTER CIRCUIT

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Matching
For selecting the design range or points to start with, we have to consider the wind’s weibull distribution
curve; which basically means frequency of wind at certain velocities. Thus, design point of Vin=6m/s was
chosen. Which happens at 400RPM. While the Vout=12m/s is also an important value which happens at
700RPM.

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Considerations for number of slots and number of poles
From the calculations shown above, we’ve already approximated the range of poles and slots. Based on
- Low mechanical speed. Which corresponds to electrical frequency. That means higher number of
pole pairs to get as much voltage as we can for lower speeds.
- outer diameter, which is limited by the size and number of the magnets. and the size of turbine
nacelle. (which limits number of magnets poles up to 36)
accordingly, the range of the poles would be 26-36 poles. And slots would be 21-39 slots. The final choice
will depend on finding the right combination for getting the best performance.
After we approximate the range of number of poles and number of slots that we are interested in. then
we take a few things into our consideration
- the maximum possible fundamental winding factor
- the number of winding symmetries
- the least common multiple between the number of poles and the number of slots in the table.
We will choose according to each criterion, and strike out the remaining, to filter and narrow down our
choices.

Winding factor
The winding factor for a specific winding expresses the ratio of flux linked by that winding compared to
flux that would have been linked by a single-layer full-pitch non-skewed integer-slot winding with the
same number of turns and one single slot per pole per phase. The torque of an electric motor or
generator is proportional to the fundamental winding factor.
The pitch factor kp reflects the fact that windings are often not fully pitched, i.e. the individual turns are
reduced to decrease the length of the end-turns and do not cover a full pole-pitch (also called chorded).
Example:
2-pole 6-slot winding with coil span of 3 slot pitches (i.e. full pitch): kp=1.0
2-pole 6-slot winding with coil span of 2 slot pitches: kp=0.866
2-pole 6-slot winding with coil span of 1 slot pitch: kp=0.5
For our design, a table is showing below some possible combinations of poles/slots (with poles on the
horizontal axis and slots on the vertical axis) regarding the maximum fundamental winding factor. Which
shows that there are a lot of good choices. But also showing excluded cells (in black) that means
unbalanced winding. We also crossed out the any fundamental less than 0.9 to get better efficiency. So,
we go into the next criteria.

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F IGURE 5 - MAXIMUM FUNDAMENTAL WINDING FACTOR

(LCM) Least common multiple between the number of poles and the
number of slots
The least common multiple between the pole and slot numbers is a criteria for selecting the combination
of poles and slot number. Choosing a number of poles and slots with a large least common multiple
generally results in a low cogging torque. The cogging torque is the generally undesired torque at no-load
conditions, i.e., at open circuit.
A safe way to get a large value of least common multiple (LCM) is to choose the number of slots close to
the number of poles (only applicable to concentrated windings):
Examples:
14-pole 6-slot concentrated winding: LCM = 42
14-pole 9-slot concentrated winding: LCM = 126
14-pole 12-slot concentrated winding: LCM = 84
14-pole 15-slot concentrated winding: LCM = 210
14-pole 18-slot concentrated winding: LCM = 126
14-pole 21-slot concentrated winding: LCM = 42
14-pole 24-slot concentrated winding: LCM = 168

Remark: The cogging torque depends also on other parameters such as the slot opening width, eventual
magnet width, skewing, etc. Adjusting these parameters may reduce the cogging torque even if the
combination of pole and slot numbers is not favourable. In addition, a low cogging torque does not always
guarantee a low torque ripple at load conditions.

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For our design; the table below shows combinations of slots/poles and their corresponding (LCM). But
first we crossed out what we excluded before (for fundamental winding above 0.9)
So generally, we should go for the higher number to decrease cogging torque. (without need for skewing
the laminations). It appears that for a combination (30 poles/36 slots) which had the highest winding
factor of 0.966 also had low LCM (180) which means higher cogging. Hence, we now have filtered our pool
of selection.

F IGURE 6 - LEAST COMMON MULTIPLE (SLOTS ,POLES )

Number of winding symmetries

F IGURE 7- UNBALANCED MAGNETIC PULL DEMONSTRATION

The number of winding symmetries is calculated as the greatest common divisor (GCD) between the
number of slots and the number of pole pairs:
GCD(Qs,p/2)
Examples:
A 6-pole 9-slot winding has 3 symmetries.

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A 8-pole 12-slot winding has 4 symmetries.
A 8-pole 18-slot winding has 2 symmetries.
If the number of winding symmetries is equal to 1, then there are no symmetries in the winding. We
should be aware of unbalanced magnetic forces, vibration and noise in this case that might be an issue.
Like the figure (a) above.

For our design; after filtering out our options we have this table that shows the different combinations
regarding their number of symmetries.
It’s generally preferred to have more than one symmetry. So, we stroke out the rest.

F IGURE 8 - NUMBER OF SYMMETRIES

Final Decision

Now we are left with only two choices;

30 slot / 28 pole 30 slot / 32 pole

Winding factor 0.951 0.951
Number of symmetries 2 2
Least common multiple (LCM) 420 480

Both of these choices will work well, the first choice has four poles less. So, the machine will have smaller
size. And the second choice has higher LCM, so it has less cogging.
And for our final choice we went for less cogging torque, so we choose 30 slot / 32 pole.

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Winding pattern

A simple scheme is shown below for the winding pattern. This scheme is called Fractional-Slot
(Concentrated) winding;
The coils of fractional-slot concentrated windings are concentrated around the teeth, i.e. non-
overlapping. Traditionally, however, "concentrated windings" refers to windings having one slot per pole
per phase.
the number of layers in every slot can be either one or two. However, single-layer windings which have
coils wound only on alternate teeth, are only feasible when the number of slots is a multiple of 6. For
double-layer windings, each tooth carries one coil and the slot is usually divided vertically. Below, you can
see the example of layouts of a 10-pole 12-slot single-layer, respectively double-layer concentrated
winding

F IGURE 9- SINGLE - LAYER 10-POLE 12-SLOT CONCENTRATED WINDING WITH A WINDING FACTOR OF 0.966.

F IGURE 10- DOUBLE - LAYER 10-POLE 12-SLOT CONCENTRATED WINDING WITH A WINDING FACTOR OF 0.933.

The slots to be filled with more copper as possible is generally better for more efficiency, to decrease
copper heat losses. So, it’s easier to do the copper winding in every tooth than to pack it densely in less
number of teeth.
For our design; went for the double layer winding.

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F IGURE 11 - SINGLE LAYER WINDING PATTERN

16
F IGURE 12 – D OUBLE LAYER WINDING PATTERN

Our final choices for winding

-wire gauge=0.5mm, 6 strands, number of turns per coil= 10 turns, total number of coils= 30 coils
weight of copper = around 0.75kg
**the wire cross section and no. of turns is flexible regarding the available wire gauge in the winding
facility.
stator outer diameter = 168mm, inner diameter = 118mm, slot opening=3mm. stack length=40mm.

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Finite Element Analysis

The generator was modeled in COMSOL Multiphysics in these steps

1- define the parameters
2- draw the geometry of the 2D cross section of the generator
3- specify the materials for each part
4- choose the physics modules
5- set boundary conditions
6- define variables for evaluation
7- set up the mesh
8- set up the solver and compute
9- evaluation of results

F IGURE 13- C OMSOL FEA M ODEL *

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F IGURE 14 - FEA SOLUTION

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F IGURE 15 - GENERATED MESH

F IGURE 16 – SIMULATION RESULTS WITH COMSOL - 3 PHASE BALANCED CURRENT

*note: the irregularities at the beginning of the time in simulation is a solver issue not a performance
issue. Because it takes some time steps to converge to a solution.

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Analytical Results; Simulating at 400RPM,4.64N.m , Rdc=30 ohm

30slots/32poles
Efficiency 92.4%
Vdc 75 V
Idc 2.5 A
Input power 195W
Output power 187W

It’s much more powerful with efficiency peaked at 92.4% at our final choice of (32poles,30slots), in
comparison to less than 82% at our first iterations with (26poles,24slots).

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Mechanical Design

F IGURE 17- GENERATOR MECHANICAL ASSEMBLY

Mechanical Design steps

- Rotor, stator and hub designs.
- Frame design (housing)
- Bearing selection
- Calculating mechanical losses
- Cooling design
- Testing

Rotor Material
The magnets would like to be contained in a material which offers low resistance (reluctance) to the
magnetic field, and also does not magnetize itself permanently in the presence of the magnets. Many
high-performance alloys of nickel, cobalt, iron, and trace metals have been invented to optimize the
magnetic properties of a generator. They're expensive, require specialized heat treatment, and even
specific machining processes to conform to the geometry of a magnetic machine. We're not going to
bother with that. The most common rotor material for hobbyists is just plain steel tubing. It does a good
enough job, and it's cheap and readily available. as a general rule, the tubing to purchase should be; Mild
or low carbon steel tubing.

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Endcap Material
Since the only thing which must support a magnetic field in the generator is the rotor, the endcap and
other structural elements only have to be mechanically sound. That means we have way more choices
here. Generally, it's some kind of nonferrous (not steel) metal.
- Aluminum is the number one choice. It's light, strong, easy to machine, and common. Not
very cheap, however.
- Plastics, Engineering polymers such as nylon, polycarbonate,acetal, and polyethylene in high
density and high molecular weight varieties all exhibit high strength and lightness.

We went for aluminium because of the heat dissipation capability.

Getting the wire out

Through the shaft center. The shaft is hollow, and the motor mounts using external features. This requires
drilling out the center of a shaft while remaining concentric and on-axis. A cross hole or slot is drilled
internal to the motor, usually near the stator mounting surface, to bridge the interior of the motor with
the outside. Then, wires are run through this center hole.

Bearing selection

Double bearing, or two-endcap rotors are what essentially all production hub motors are. Even if they are
single-supported (car style), there is still a front endcap and a rear endcap, both of which hold bearings.
These provide the idea symmetric loading that prevents rotor deformation and magnet-stator collisions.
We will be using metric single row deep groove ball bearings in the design, because they are the most
common types around. Such bearings are rated using the 6000 system.
Bearings are rated by their Dynamic Radial Load Capacity, and radial load is any direction orthogonal to
the shaft axis. Ball bearings are generally not rated for Thrust loads, which are coaxial to the shaft.
The 6800 and 6900 series describe "thin section" bearings which have a minimal difference between the
bore and the OD. They are convenient because they offer large shaft diameters, good for wire clearance,
but without being excessively large in outer diameter or width. we don't want the bearings eating up all
the precious space between the mounting surfaces. However, the 6800 and 6900 series are "thin section"
for a reason. They are designed for very light loads. The minimal difference in the outer and inner
dimensions means that steel thickness is sacrificed for space saving. These bearings usually have DRLs no
more than a few hundred pounds. So in the end we choose 6906 Shielded bearings; they’re thin and
doesn’t need to withstand large loads.
Total weight of generator = 10.9 kg

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F IGURE 18 3D HALF SECTION VIEW OF THE GENERATOR

Manufacturing

To manufacture the stator, we have used the help of Eng. Tarek Hamdy from ELMACO (a company for
manufacturing transformers) to get us a roll of silicon steel. The lamination thickness was 0.27mm. the
small thickness was good to ensure the minimum eddy current losses. We needed a roll of 6m 2
Then, the laser cutting of stator laminations have been done in the laser and additive manufacturing lab in
Central metallurgical research and development institute (CMRDI). With help from Dr. Khaled
Abdelghany. The cutting was done at very high precision and smoothness.
the next step was to order the magnets at the dimensions of our selection. And get the other raw
materials of iron rotor, and the aluminium for endcaps.
Then rest of the parts were machined using lathe and drill.

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Magnets reference photo. Shipped from a supplier from Germany.

F IGURE 19 - MAGNET BLOCK SIZE

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Working Drawings of manufactured parts

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27
28
F IGURE 20 SILICON STEEL ROLLS AT ELMACO

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F IGURE 21 LASER CUT LAMINATIONS

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31
32
33
F IGURE 22 R OTOR CAN (BEFORE INSETING ALL MAGNET

F IGURE 23 REST OF THE PARTS AFTER MANUFACTURING – BEFORE INSERTING PERMANENT MAGNETS AND WINDING

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F IGURE 24 T HE MACHINE , DURING ASSEMBLY

The software used in project

- Siemens’ SPEED: for analytical modelling and simulation of brushless DC machines
- COMSOL Multiphysics: for Finite Element Analysis of electromagnetic fields and rotating
machinery
- Autodesk Inventor: for mechanical 3D CAD, modelling, assembly.

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