DIRECT DRIVE FIELD WINDING SYNCHRONOUS

GENERATORS FOR MEDIUM POWER WIND TURBINES

M. Mirzaei and S. M. R. Mirjalili*
*Yazd Electrical Distribution Company, Yazd, Iran
Electrical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of technology, Tehran, Iran

Keywords: Direct drive, field winding, synchronous

generator, wind turbines. 2 Model
Abstract Fig. 1 shows the models for direct drive filed winding
synchronous wind generators with different bore diameters.
This paper presents design and analysis of direct drive field Table 1 lists the parameters and dimensions of the proposed
winding wind generators. The power of salient pole wind generators.
synchronous wind generators is 660 (kW) with 28.5 (rpm).
Rotor is skewed to reduce the torque oscillations. Magnetic
analysis of wind generators is done using finite element
method. Temperatures of wind generator structure are
analyzed using numerical thermal calculations. Finally a
direct drive permanent magnet wind generator is also
designed and analyzed to compare with field winding wind
generators performances and dimensions.

1 Introduction
Conventional thermal power plants and nuclear power plants
contribute most of the electrical power production all over the
world. In recent years, the proportion of electrical power
production through renewable energy grows very fast.
Renewable energy source commonly seen are solar, wind and
hydro power, among those wind energy is currently especially
attractive due to its short construction cycle and the ability of
large amount electrical power production; in addition, the
power production cost with wind energy can actually come
close to the cost with conventional source of energy.
Induction wind generators with gearbox are usually used
especially for low power less than 1 MW in Iran [1]. Direct
drive wind generators offer more reliability than wind
generators with gearboxes and they are more suitable due to
the less maintenance. High pole number synchronous
generators with high diameter are used for direct drive wind Fig. 1: 2D model of direct drive field winding synchronous
generators to reduce the mass of generators [2]-[4]. Due to wind generators.
high price of permanent magnets, field winding synchronous
generators are suitable options for direct drive wind turbine Models A B
generators. The main advantage of synchronous generator Number of phases, m 3 3
with field winding is easy control of excitation field under Line voltage, VL 690 (V) 690 (V)
variable speed operations. The main disadvantage of field Number of poles, 2p 30 40
winding synchronous wind generators is high rotor losses due Bore diameter, D 2 (m) 2.5 (m)
to the Ohmic losses in copper windings and heavy rotor in Axial Length, L 1.2 (m) 0.75 (m)
comparison with permanent magnet generators. The direct Mechanical airgap, g 7 (mm) 7 (mm)
drive generator needs a full power converter, which is
expensive. In this paper, direct drive field winding Table 1: The parameters and general dimensions of 660 kW,
synchronous generators with number of slot per pole and per 28.5 rpm wind generators
phase, q = 1 are analyzed for wind turbine purposes.
3 Analysis and design
Apparent power of machine is calculated as follows [5]-[6]:
2 2
S S ˜ k W ˜ Aˆ ˜ Bˆ į ˜ D ˜ L ˜ n syn.
(1)
Aˆ 2 ˜ m ˜ N s ˜ Iˆs /(S ˜ D )
where, kW, Â , B̂į , D, L, nsyn, Iˆs and Ns are winding factor,
amplitude of current loading, amplitude of magnetic flux
density, airgap or bore diameter, axial length of machine,
synchronous speed in round per second, amplitude of stator
current and number of stator winding turns in series per
phase, respectively.
The synchronous wind generators are full power converter fed
machines with DC link voltage 1150 V to provide 690 V line
voltage for network.
The torque with d-q current and pole magnetic flux (\ˆ p ) for
2p poles synchronous machines is as following:
reduce from 35.5% of average torque before skewing to 3.8%
of average torque after skewing in model A. The torque
oscillations reduce from 22.8% to 3.2% in model B after
skewing. The average torques also reduce about 4% due to
the skewing in both models A and B. Large airgap 7 mm is
chosen to damp harmonics and minimize the torque
harmonics.
The calculated parameters of the generators A and B are
shown in Table 2. The iron losses have been calculated with
consideration of punching factor 1.5. Copper losses and
efficiencies are calculated assuming the temperature for the
rotor and stator windings equal 100 oC.
The current displacement factor for the stator copper losses is
neglected due to the small stator frequencies. The
fundamental frequencies are 7.125 Hz and 9.5 Hz for models
A and B generators. The model B has smaller losses and
higher efficiency due to the less volume and mass.

p
Me m˜ ˜ (\ˆ p ˜ I q  ( L d  L q ) ˜ I d ˜ I q )
2
Iq Iˆs ˜ cos( E ) (2)

Id Iˆs ˜ sin( E )

Angle between back emf and stator current (Is), ȕ is adjusted

to obtain maximum torque and improve power factor. The
terminal voltage of permanent magnet generator with d-q
currents and internal power factor are calculated, while
winding resistances and end winding leakage inductances are
ignored:

Us (Z ˜\ˆ p  Z ˜ Ld ˜ I d ) 2  (Z ˜ Lq ˜ I q ) 2 / 2 a) Model A
(3)
M e.˜Z / p
cos I
3 ˜U s ˜ I s

Fig. 2 shows the torque versus rotor position for models A

and B, which calculated using 2D FEM. The applied current
loadings are 50.7 kA/m and 54.00 kA/m for models A and B
respectively to obtain 660 kW output power after subtraction
of losses components in rotor and stator. The stator and rotor
iron cores are laminated steel M400-50 A. The applied
currents have only q-component to obtain maximum torque.
Applying small d-component of current improves power
factor but it decreases the average torque slightly.
Without rotor skewing, the torque curve shows high torque
oscillations for direct drive wind turbine. The dominant
torque oscillations harmonic is 6th order, which caused by
interaction of harmonic orders of 5th and 7th from stator
winding and slot fields and rotor fields. Skewing of rotor is b) Model B
necessary to reduce the torque oscillations. The pole shoe is
skewed about one slot pitch to reduce 6th order harmonics in Fig. 2: Torque versus rotor position for field winding
the torque curve in salient rotor field winding synchronous synchronous wind generators- models A and B
wind generator (Fig. 3). The torque oscillations (peak to peak)
Higher diameter wind generator model B has better
performance with smaller mass in comparison with wind
generator model A.
3 Permanent magnet wind generator
Here, the permanent magnet (PM) direct drive wind generator
is presented as an alternative to field winding direct drive
wind generators (Fig. 4). The stator structure, current loading,
poles number, axial length and bore diameter of the stator in
permanent magnet wind generator are considered the same as
field winding synchronous wind generator model B.
The interior PM rotor structure consists two layers of magnets
to simplify rotor manufacturing process and minimize rotor
eddy current losses.
Skewing of the rotor is also implemented to reduce torque
oscillations. The torque oscillations are 3.6% of average
torque after skewing. The calculated parameters of the
generator C are shown in Table 3.
The interior PM wind generator model C has better
performance in comparison with models A and B. It produces
more power and fewer losses in the rotor, which means higher
efficiency. The power factor is only improved 0.01. Model C
has 25% and 40% less mass in comparison with models A
and B masses, respectively. Efficiency improved 3.5% in
model C in comparison with model B.
The angle ȕ is -160 Deg. to obtain reluctance torque to
improve wind generator power density. Magnet mass is
0.8 (t), which used magnets will be expensive.

Fig. 3: 2D model of skewing of pole shoe in synchronous

wind generator

Models A B
The output power 683 (kW) 690 (kW)
Stator copper losses 31.0 (kW) 26.0 (kW)
Stator iron losses 2.26 (kW) 2.27 (kW)
Rotor copper losses 30.02 (kW) 28.0 (kW)
Rotor iron losses 0.11 (kW) 0.13 (kW)
Efficiency 91.5% 92.5%
Power factor 0.92 0.92
Stator iron mass 9.3 (t) 6.9 (t)
Stator copper mass 1.5 (t) 1.4 (t)
Rotor copper mass 2.7 (t) 2.7 (t)
Rotor iron mass 7.3 (t) 5.4 (t)
Total active mass 20.8 (t) 16.4 (t)
Number of winding turns
per phase, Ns 75 100
Number of parallel paths in
the winding, a 15 20
The angle ȕ -180 (Deg.) -180 Deg.
Current per phase, Is 707 (A) 707 A
Ampere turns in rotor
windings, NfIf 7500 (A) 8000 A
Fig. 4: Model of PM wind generator (Model C) and torque
Table 2: The calculated parameters of the field winding direct versus rotor position
drive wind generators after skewing
 Model C 5 Conclusion
The output power 716 (kW)
Stator copper losses 26.0 (kW) This paper presented the general design and analysis of field
Stator iron losses 3.0 (kW) winding direct drive wind turbine generators. The proposed
Rotor magnet losses 0.84 (kW) generators do not need gearbox which causes mechanical
Rotor iron losses 0.24 (kW) simplicity and higher efficiency in variable speeds operation.
Efficiency 96% The field winding rotor generators do not produce no load
Power factor 0.93 cogging torque, which is important for direct drive wind
Stator iron mass 6.9 (t) generators with minimum no load and loading torques
Stator copper mass 1.4 (t) oscillations. The q current control is mostly used with full
Rotor magnet mass 0.8 (t) converter control.
Rotor iron mass 3.2 (t) Skewing of the rotor has been applied to minimize the torque
Total active mass 12.3 (t) oscillations below the 4% of load average torque. One can
Number of winding turns also minimize the loading torque oscillations by making
per phase, Ns 100 sinusoidal airgap but may not be successful due to the big slot
Number of parallel paths in opening with q = 1. Higher diameter is an advantage because
the winding, a 20 higher torque to mass ratio are obtained and axial length of
The angle ȕ -160 (Deg.) wind generators reduced and total losses are lower due to the
Current per phase, Is 707 (A) less mass and volume in the higher diameters wind
Remanence flux density of generators. Efficiency of field winding direct drive wind
magnet at 100 oC 1.1 (T) generators is usually lower than PM generators because of
higher rotor Ohmic losses. Interior permanent magnet direct
Table 3: The calculated parameters of the PM direct drive wind generator has better performance in comparison with
wind generator after skewing field winding models because of high energy NdFeB magnets
and utilization reluctance torque to obtain higher torque with
less magnet volume. The price of NdFeB magnets is
4 Thermal analysis
increasing and PM direct drive wind generator will be
The thermal calculations using finite element analysis is done expensive. Thermal insulation class F is used in the rotor and
for model B with field winding on the rotor. The heat transfer stator windings and temperature of field winding wind
coefficient hc [5] and [7] for outer surface of the stator is generators will be in the safe region below 150 oC. The
considered 100 (W/m2K) and it is 50 (W/m2K) in the inner cooling systems of field winding generators use the flowing
surface of the stator and outer surface of the rotor. The wind to the wind turbine structure.
thermal conductivities of copper wires, iron cores and The paper has shown performance of field winding generators
winding insulation are 390 (W/mK), 30 (W/mK) and in comparison with PM wind generators. The proposed wind
0.2 (W/mK). The iron losses are neglected in thermal synchronous generators are low line voltage 690 (V). The low
calculations, which are smaller than copper losses. The voltage form wound winding with open slots could be used
copper losses are calculated at 100 oC. The ambient and it is economical.
temperature is assumed 35 oC. The thermal analysis results The detail magnetic analysis, design optimization and thermal
are shown in Fig. 5. Maximum temperature is in the rotor calculations of 660 kW direct drive wind generators will be
winding due to the less cooling area in comparison with stator published later.
winding. The region between two rotor poles is considered
empty, which means air can circulate in between rotor coil References
windings to improve cooling of rotor winding. The thermal
results are without iteration to reach stable point but it is [1] http://www.sabaniroo.co.ir/
estimated that maximum temperatures of windings are less [2] http://www.enercon.de/
than 150 oC for calss F insulation in the worst case. [3] http://www.ewtinternational.com/
[4] http://www.mtorres.es/
[5] E. S. Hamdi, “Design of small electrical machines”,
Chichester ; New York : Wiley, ©1994.
[6] H. Polinder, F. F. A. van der Pijl, G. J. de Vilder, and P. J.
Tavner, “Comparison of Direct Drive and Geared Generator
Concepts for Wind Turbines”, IEEE Trans. On Energy
Conversion, Vol. 21, No. 3, 2006
[7] W. Li, C. S. Peng, and M. Zhang, “Thermal Analyses and
Calculations of 1.5MW Half-Direct Permanent Magnet Wind
Power Generator When PM Embedded in Different Rotor
Positions”, 2011 International Conference on Computer
Distributed Control and Intelligent Environmental
Fig. 5: Thermal analysis of model B – The values are in oC Monitoring, 2011 IEEE