Demagnetization effects of surface-mounted permanent magnet synchronous wind generator

Abstract

To prevent fossil resources from being depleted and protect the natural balance, renewable resources come to the forefront as an alternative to fossil resources. Wind energy resources, among the renewable energy resources, are important in terms of ensuring the reliability of energy and the use of their resources. Generators are the most important components for the conversion of wind power. Permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs) are preferred in wind turbines since they have high efficiency and high volume/torque densities, thereby optimization of the PMSGs is an important topic for the wind energy community. On the one hand, these machines can cause problems due to overheating and mechanical friction during their long-time operation. To identify the performance lack of the machines due to the de-magnetization faults, systematic work has been performed. When a magnet of a PMSG is de-magnetized at different rates (i.e. 33%, 50%, and 100%), we have explored the artifacts in the electric generation. Besides, the torque performances of the generator at rated load are examined and the flux density distributions are revealed. The rated torque decreased substantially when the demagnetization rate of the magnet increased.