3-D Numerical Modeling of Claw-Pole Alternators With its Electrical Environment

This article describes a methodology for modeling a six-phase claw-pole alternator with its electrical environment. Magnetic nonlinearities, eddy currents, and rectifiers are taken into account. To solve magnetodynamic problems, we use the modified magnetic vector potential formulation. The complex structure of the machine requires a 3-D finite-element analysis. To limit the mesh size, we introduced a refinement strategy based on the calculation of the time derivative of the magnetic vector potential, a solution to the magnetostatic case. In addition, we propose to reduce the transient state by improving the initial solution from the solution of a magnetostatic problem. These different numerical techniques drastically reduce the computational time and memory resources. To validate the proposed approach, some results are compared with experimental ones.