A permanent magnet synchronous generator for a small scale vertical axis wind turbine

This paper presents a design of surface mounted permanent magnet synchronous generator with concentrated windings. The machine is designed for a variable speed direct driven vertical axis wind turbine. One of the optimized parameters in the design procedure is the cost of active material. High efficiency, high torque density and easy scalability are some attributes that makes the surface mounted PM machines very attractive solutions for wind power application. However, the cost of the active material, especially permanent magnets, has to be minimized. The results presented here shows low harmonic contents of the air gap flux density and the induced voltage. Hence, the cogging torque is very low, which together with low radial forces indicates a low magnetic noise as well.