Design of wound rotor and permanent magnet synchronous machines for MVDC ship power generation

In this research, a goal has been to explore the design of the generator for a megawatt level DC power system. Population-based multi-objective optimizations have been performed for several machine/rectifier alternatives, including permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) with active rectifiers and wound rotor synchronous machines (WRSMs) with active and passive rectifiers. From the optimizations, Pareto-optimal fronts are used to show that the PMSM-based designs provide a machine with significantly lower mass for a specified efficiency. In addition, it is shown that the WRSMs designed for passive rectification are less massive than those designed for active rectification. Finally, it is shown that for the WRSM/passive rectifier systems, most machines on the Pareto-optimal front have no damper windings, which has the potential to greatly simplify machine construction.