Design and simulation of a novel planar switched reluctance generator

A novel two-dimensional (2D) direct-drive generator based on switched reluctance principle is proposed in this paper. Due to its unique structure, the device is considered as a 2D power generator for sustainable energy utilization such as wind and wave energy with multidimensional motion forms. The generator has the advantages of simple structure and elimination of mechanical gears and rotary-to-linear motion converters. In this paper, a three dimensional (3D) mechanical model of this generator is designed and finite element analysis (FEA) is applied to simulate the model. From the simulation results, the coupling effect between each direction of power generation is negligible and each phase can be controlled independently. It is expected that the planar switched reluctance generator (PSRG) finds its potential applications in energy utilization area.