Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Motors constitute the largest % of loads in the electrical power system (over 50% in developed countries). While their initial requirements were for fixed speed applications, they are increasingly required to work at higher speeds and designed to work with non-sinusoidal excitation. The core losses at high frequencies and during non-sinusoidal excitation, is poorly understood. Recent work has been conducted by the applicant on advanced instrumentation to measure the losses, but a theoretical foundation still needs to be developed. One component of this work is to examine the widely used core loss formulas and to understand their limitations. Then both an analytical and a numerical approach will be taken, using Maxwell's equations, to produce better, more accurate formulas for loss calculations in electrical machines of different designs. Wind generators have come of age, particularly at the utility level MW range. A smaller number of choices exist in the small range (less than 10kW), yet there is a significant market in the medium range (10-300kW). While the machine type at the utility level and the small range have been largely agreed upon, in the medium range this is still an open question. This research will examine the design and control strategies that are competitive in this range. Of particular concern to the operators of wind utility generators are reliability and the detection of faults. Advanced signal processing and mathematical algorithms will be applied to detect machine, gearbox or other faults to improve protection, reduce serious damage and even predict time to failure. This will improve the reliability and reduce maintenance costs.