Novel five-phase permanent magnet generator systems for wind turbine applications

Abstract

This paper discusses the benefits of five-phase technology for applications including wind turbine generators. The performances of three-phase and five-phase permanent magnet generator (PMG) systems that use diode rectifier circuits are discussed. Investigations proved that the five-phase topology harnesses some specific and important benefits that are not provided by three-phase systems. The benefits include improved fault tolerance and reliability, and reduced voltage and torque ripple and size of DC link capacitor. These are general improvements that are sought after in many applications including renewable energy applications. The paper also discusses the design of a novel five-phase wind turbine generator which was optimised to make use of the key competitive advantages of our five-phase technology in renewable energy sector. Finite element (FE) and Matlab / Simulink are used in the investigations. Test results are also presented in this paper and used to validate simulations where possible.