Extreme Load Conditions for Wind Powered Direct Drive PM Generators

Abstract: Wind energy is a rapidly growing energy source with vast potential. Vertical axis wind turbines could be more cost-effective than the three bladed horizontal axis turbines that dominate today. A concept based on the straight bladed Darrieus turbine together with a PMgenerator operating in direct drive is studied at Uppsala University; this thesis is a part of that project. This thesis contains a study of stator core loss at low electrical frequencies. The purpose of the study was to test the reliability of core loss simulations where the specific loss at low frequency is extrapolated using specific loss at 50Hz. The simulated loss was compared to the measured loss. Passive rectifiers can be used to connect all wind energy converters in a wind farm to a mutual DC load. This principle has been demonstrated using two PM generators with very different properties. This thesis also contains two studies of a full vertical axis wind turbine prototype. The first study concerns the power coefficient of the turbine. The power coefficient was measured at several wind speeds and turbine rotational speeds. The power coefficient attains its maximum value of 29% when the tip speed ratio is 3.3. In a second study, the armature currents of the generator were used to map the harmonic content of the turbine torque. The third harmonic of the turbine torque was found to be the strongest harmonic. This thesis also presents a wind energy converter that has been tailored for a telecom tower. Several aspects of the design are unique.