Performance comparison of optimum wound-field and ferrite PM flux switching machines for wind energy applications

There has been growing interest in harnessing wind energy for power generation using non-conventional electrical machines, the flux switching machine (FSM) being one of such emerging electrical machines. However, the dominant FSM design uses rare-earth PM material which may be unattractive for wind energy applications in terms of electrical machine cost. This work represents an attempt to study the potential of using ferrite PM or wound-field excited FSMs for wind generator applications. Thus, the popular 12-slot 10-pole FSM design is optimised and compared by using 2D and 3D finite-element analyses for both ferrite and wound-field topologies. Based on preliminary design specifications at 1.5 kW, ferrite PM-FSM is found to possess better electromagnetic qualities than the wound-field option. The comparison is further stressed by the potentials of both design with regards to industrial wind energy applications, especially in terms of ongoing studies on 10 kW and 3 MW designs.