Evaluation of flux switching PM machines for medium-speed wind generator drives

This study is used to highlight the potentials of flux switching PM machines for medium-speed wind generator drives, considering among other things, that the rotor pole number is critical to the electromagnetic torque output. The initial result obtained by finite-element simulations and theoretical analyses of the pre-optimised 12/10 FSPM topology compared to its 12/14 counterpart show that with higher pole numbers, the latter gives relatively higher torque at lower torque ripple, but increases the core losses. Upon design optimisation, the 12/14 topology exceeded the machine´s operating limit for the 12/10 topology. The results also show that both FSPM topologies possess high torque densities suitable for MS wind generator drives.