Optimal design and performance analysis of a ferrite permanent magnet synchronous generator

This paper presents the analysis and the design of a ferrite permanent magnet synchronous generator (FePMSG) with flux concentration. Despite the well-known advantages of rare earth permanent magnet synchronous generators (REPMSG), the high cost of the rare earth permanent magnets represents an important drawback, particularly in competitive markets like the wind power. To reduce the cost of permanent magnet machines it is possible to replace the expensive rare earth materials by ferrite. Once ferrite has low remanent magnetization, flux concentration techniques are used to design a cheaper generator. The designed FePMSG is compared with a reference rare earth (NdFeB) permanent magnet synchronous generator (REPMSG), both with 3 kW, 220 V and 350 rpm. The results, validated with finite element analysis, show that the FePMSG can replace the REPMSG reducing significantly the active material cost.