Grant: Strategic Projects Supplemental Competition

The current confluence of enhanced environmental awareness, positive economic conditions and technical developments has led vigorous global efforts toward making wind power a key component of renewable and sustainable energy resources. Large wind plants involving variable speed interior permanent magnet (IPM) synchronous generators and increasing level of wind power penetration in modern power system is becoming an engineering challenge throughout the world. The conventional wind generators are induction machines with cage-rotor and doubly fed wound-rotor types having small and limited wind power production per unit. These induction wind generators are operated at fixed super synchronous speed by intricate mechanical control of wind turbines. In wind power generation systems, variable-speed generation systems are more advantageous than the fixed-speed systems due to improved wind energy production, large capacity generators and reduction of flickers. Using IPM wind generator system, the wind turbine can be operated at its maximum power production point for various wind speeds by adjusting its shaft speed to its optimal generated electrical power from wind energy. Design, development and testing of a set of IPM wind generators are proposed in this proposal to take advantage of high efficiency and high power factor, compact size, large rating, high controllability, stable operation, built-in additional reluctance torque and low cost. The proposed IPM wind generator system will yield maximum output power while taking into account the wind turbine characteristics and constraints of power electronic converters. Two proto-type high efficient IPM wind generators are proposed: one for 4-pole, 25-kW IPM wind generator with straight rotor magnets arrangement having damper cage bars and the 2nd one for 4-pole, 25-kW IPM generator with partial V-oriented rotor magnets arrangement having fewer damper bars. A two-year grant amounting to $99,000 per year for a total of $198,000 under the Strategic Projects Grants Supplemental Competition Program within the Sustainable Energy Systems Area in other renewable energy sources category is requested to achieve the proposed research.