Outer rotor eddy current heater for wind turbines

Abstract

This paper proposes a conversion system of wind energy into thermal energy by means of an outer rotor permanent magnet eddy current heater. The main advantages of this device are the following: compactness, easy temperature control by water flow rate regulation, reduced energy cost per kWh, possibility of combination with other heating systems. The analysis presented in the paper is based on the finite element method and its purpose is to optimize the device and to evaluate its performance and operation characteristics such as: analysis of demagnetization level of permanent magnets, output power–rotor speed and electromagnetic torque–rotor speed curves.