Finite-element-based design of axial field PMSG for wind energy conversion with MPPT control

Day after day, wind energy is cutting wider segment of energy market. Its clean nature and low running cost make it a good competitor for the traditional and the other renewable energy sources. The electrical generator is the key component of the wind energy generating system. Properly designed generator can maximize the energy gain. Axial field permanent magnet synchronous generator is the choice whenever the axial compactness and the simple manufacturing are the main concerns. This paper presents a three-dimensional finite element based design for a double-rotor single-ironless-stator permanent magnet axial field synchronous generator suitable for simple manufacturing and high efficiency wind generating systems. The dynamic performance of the designed generator is tested when coupled to a wind turbine to clarify its advantages when used for this type of applications. A MPPT control system is adopted to extract the maximum available power from the wind. The simulation results clearly show the effectiveness of the proposed generating system.