Design, Optimization and Control Characterization of 15-10 Double Salient-Pole Homopolar Brushless dc Generator for Maximum Output Power for Wind Turbine Applications

The use of wind energy for electric power generation provides a clean and renewable source. Therefore there is an increasing interest in developing and exploiting natural energy generation system. Brushless dc Generators have the potential to be a robust and highly efficient electrical conversion system for variable-speed wind applications. This study presents design, optimization, magnetic field analysis and new approach for optimising Output Power of a 15-10 Double Salient-Pole Homopolar BLDG (DSP-HBLDG) intended for variable-speed direct drive wind turbine applications. For the under consideration generator an assistant dc field is replaced with permanent magnet in the rotor. Varying the amplitude and direction of the current in the field coil can control the generated output voltage to a level between zero volts and the maximum voltage. Output voltage level and field current control have been identified as control variables affecting power generation. To evaluate the accuracy of the calculated parameters, the numerical technique has been utilized. In the numerical analysis, for a three-phase 15-10 DSP-HBLDG as a design example, 3D Finite Element (FE) analysis has been carried out using a MagNet CAD package (Infolytica Corporation Ltd.). The obtained 3-D FE analysis simulation results confirm the accuracy of the proposed design procedure. It provides not only confirmations of the investigation in results but also exact illustration for magnetic field distribution for this complex generator geometry.