American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

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Electromagnetic Design of Aircraft Synchronous Generator
with High Power-Density
Thomas Wu and Tony Camarano
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816
Jon Zumberge and Mitch Wolff
Air Force Research Lab, Wright Patterson, OH 45431
Eric S. Lin
ANSYS Corp., Pittsburg, PA 15219
and
Hao Huang and Xiaochuan Jia
General Electric Aviation Systems LLC, Vandalia, OH 45377
This paper discusses the methodology for the electromagnetic design of an aircraft
synchronous generator with high power-density. A new method is proposed to more
accurately model the air-gap of a salient pole rotor through expanding the inverse of an
effective air-gap function. The corresponding magnetic fields from the rotor and stator
windings, as well as the expressions of back EMF, are derived using the air-gap model. The
stator inner diameter and length are designed by considering a proper cooling scheme and
maximum peripheral-speed of the rotor. This allows for design of the stator winding and slot
geometry, including the derivation of a formula for the stator core thickness. The air-gap
and salient pole shoe face can be designed using the desired specifications for power factor
and torque angle. The rotor windings and geometry are subsequently designed. Following
the above procedure, a 200 KVA high power-density synchronous generator with 12 krpm
rotational velocity is obtained. Finally, the design is verified and finely tuned using ANSYS
RMxprt, Maxwell FEM software, and SimuLink.
Nomenclature

Cu
= coefficient of copper

g
= air-gap coefficient
A
f
= cross-sectional area
B
f,pk
B
a,pk
= field and phase peak magnetic flux density
B
g,pk
= air-gap magnetic flux density
C = number of parallel circuits in a phase winding
C
0
= cooling coefficient
C
f
= number of turns for a salient pole
D
r
D

= rotor and stator bore diameter
g
av
= average air-gap
I
a,rated
= phase winding current
I
F,rated
= field winding current
J
f
J
a
= field and phase winding current density
K
a
= cooling technology coefficient
k
B
= magnetic flux density coefficient
k
v
= field voltage margin
k
w
= winding factor
l = stator length

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l
f
= total mean length of field winding
L
md
L
mq
= direct and quadrature magnetizing inductance
L
mf
= field magnetizing inductance
L
sf
= field-armature mutual inductance

l
turn
= average length of each field winding turn
m = number of phases
N
f
N
a
= field and phase effective number of series turns
n
m
= revolutions per minute

d
= direct axis angle
P = number of poles
p
emb
= pole embrace

Cu
= resistivity of copper
R
f
R
s
= field and armature resistance
r
lD
= length-diameter ratio
S = number of slots
S
rated
= rated apparent power
T
0
= reference temperature
V
Fmax
= maximum field voltage
v
r
= maximum allowable peripheral-speed
W
t
= pole shoe width

I. Introduction
N aircraft electrical system is responsible for the generation, control, and distribution of electrical power
within the aircraft. A typical system uses 115 VAC (400 Hz), 270VDC, and 28VDC
1-4
. Most contemporary
high power-density aircraft generators are designed to provide between 30 to 250 kW and operate at angular
speeds from 7200 to 27000 rpm. The typical topology of an aircraft generator is shown in Fig. 1. The three-phase
synchronous generator includes an outer stator with the windings distributed according to phase and an inner rotor
with compact DC windings. The field windings receive excitation from a synchronous brushless exciter with three-
phase windings on the rotor and concentrated windings on the stator. This is used in conjunction with a PM
brushless exciter. The synchronous generator, synchronous exciter, and PM exciter share the same rotor shaft.
The number of stator slots can range from 24 to 108, depending on the desired slots per pole per phase. In
general, a larger number of slots per pole per phase combined with a double layer lap winding structure will reduce
the effects of higher-order harmonics in magnetic flux density and air-gap MMF. A typical range for salient rotor
poles is from 2 to 12. The design analyzed in this paper is a 30 slot, 10 pole machine with a rated apparent power of
200 kVA operating at 12 krpm.
















The design methodology for the synchronous generator is discussed in Section 2. This includes general design
considerations, detailed descriptions of the armature and salient rotor winding and geometry design, and analytical
estimation for equivalent model inductances and resistances. Section 3 will explain the process of generating a
design solution from theory as well as implementation using RMxprt and Maxwell FEM simulation tools.

A

Figure 1. Aircraft generator topology.

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Simulation results and post processing is discussed in Section 4, followed by a conclusion of the overall design
process in Section 5.

II. Design Methodology
A. General Considerations
One of the primary design parameters for machine design is the maximum allowable peripheral-speed of the
rotor. Modern steel-alloys have a rotor peripheral-speed design limit of about 50,000 ft/min (about 250 m/s). The
maximum rotor diameter D
r
can be estimated using

(1)

where v
r
is the maximum allowable peripheral-speed and n
m
is the rpm of the machine
5
. It is important to note that
Eq. (1) is an approximation and is used to provide simplified design guidance when choosing an appropriate
diameter for the rotor.
The resistivity of copper windings will vary with temperature. Machine working temperature varies depending
on application and should be taken into account. The resistivity of copper versus temperature can be calculated using

(2)

where T
0
is a reference temperature of 20C,
Cu
is equal to 2.668e-9 in/C, and
Cu
is equal to 0.679e-6 in/C at
20C.

B. Stator Design
The number of armature slots per pole may either be integral or fractional. A m-phase synchronous machine will
have S slots that are multiples of mP, where P is the number of machine poles. However, integral S/P may lead to
excessive cogging torque because all pole faces will align with slot mouths simultaneously. A fractional S/P value is
generally used in order to reduce cogging torque. Although S/P is fractional, the number of slots should still be a
multiple of the number of phases.
A relationship between machine size and other machine parameters has been derived using rated phase voltage
and current. It can be shown that
(3)

D and l are the stator bore diameter and stator length, respectively. The winding factor k
w
is for the primary machine
harmonic and is derived using air-gap MMF analysis. The volume of the machine is proportional to Eq. (3) and the
following discussions are generally accurate. A larger K
a
, which is a parameter for quality of cooling technology,
will allow for a smaller machine. The faster the machine speed n
m
, the smaller the volume. A larger gap magnetic
flux density B
g,pk
can be obtained by using advanced materials with larger magnetic saturation; this will also
decrease volume. However, a larger rated apparent power S
rated
will increase the volume of the machine.
A similar approach can be seen in the relationship between machine size, apparent power, and number of poles.
The constant relating these parameters is
(4)


(5)

C
0
is dependent on the cooling technology and should be small in order to reduce machine volume
5
. The value of C
0
for the synchronous generator design studied in this paper is 92 in
3
/MVA, which is for spray cooling. This number
was tuned through previous experience and knowledge of the aircraft synchronous generator cooling technology.
The length-diameter ratio of a machine is defined as the ratio of the length and the stator bore diameter, meaning

(6)

The machine power rating depends on D
2
l for a fixed mechanical speed. As r
lD
increases, the rotor diameter
decreases, causing the moment-of-inertia to decrease. In this case, the rotor peripheral-speed will also decrease. As
r
lD
increases, the machine length increases and the rotor is prone to exhibit critical frequencies at lower speeds. This
0 0
( ) ( ) ( )
Cu Cu Cu
T T T T o = +
2
2
,
60 2
rated
w m a g pk
S
D l
k n K B t
| |
=
|
|
\ .
0 2
1 1
2
e m a
C
f K t o
=
2
0
rated
D l
C
S P
=
lD
l
r
D
=
(in length/s) (in length/min)
max
1.2 1.2 (in rev/min)
v v
r r
D
r
f n
m m
t t
= =

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can result in shaft flexure, causing the rotor to strike the stator. If r
lD
is too large, the machine is difficult to cool.
However, if r
lD
is too small, the leakage inductance of end-turns can severely affect machine performance.
Armature conductor cross-sectional area is also dependent on machine cooling. It can be written as

(7)


where I
a,rated
is the rated current for one phase winding and C is the number of parallel circuits in the phase winding.
The current density values given machine cooling in Table 1 can be used for J
a
6
.










The armature slot geometry and corresponding dimensions are shown in Fig 2. In general, the following ranges
yield a satisfactory design of the armature slot:



The defined length d
c
can be shown, for a good design, to be

(8)
















C. Rotor Design
The number of field conductors is an important design consideration. Figure 3 defines the parameters used in the
design of pole geometry and windings. If the average length of each turn of the field winding is assumed to be

(9)

then the total mean length of the field winding is approximately

(10)

The number of turns C
f
are assumed to be the same for each salient pole. Assuming that V
Fmax
is the maximum
voltage of the field winding, is can be shown that

,
/
a rated
a
a
I C
A
J
=
, 0.4 0.6 , 3 7 ,
s s s s s s s s s s
D
b b d b t b
S
t
t t t t = s s s s =
P
D
d
c
6 . 1
~
t turn
W l l t + ~ 2
turn f f
l PC l =
turn f Cu f
f
f Cu
rated F F V
l PC J
A
l
I V k

= =
, max
Table 1. Current density values dependent
on cooling technology.

Cooling Type J
a
(A/in
2
)
Enclosed Machine 3000 ~ 3500
Air Surface Cooling 5000 ~ 6000
Air Duct Cooling 9000 ~ 10000
Liquid Cooling 15000 ~ 20000
Spray Cooling 20000

Figure 2. Stator slot geometry.

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(11)

where A
f
is the cross-sectional area of the field conductor, k
v
(0.7-1) provides a certain design margin, and J
f
is the
allowable current density and depends on cooling. Therefore,
(12)


The calculated results will be rounded to an integer. Referring to Figure 4, the following approximations for the
respective geometry will provide a satisfactory design of the salient pole:




The pole embrace p
emb
for the design analyzed in this paper is 0.7.
The phase diagram in Fig. 4 shows relationships between dq currents, field and phase winding flux linkage, and
dq reactance. The resistance of the phase windings in neglected in Fig. 4. The power factor of the load is lagging,
and the machine is
over excited, meaning
|E
A
|>|V

|.













The relationship between the peak values of the field and phase magnetic flux densities is notated

(13)

and it is assumed that

(14)

It can be shown using Fig. 4 that
(15)

(16)
turn Cu f
F V
f
Pl J
V k
C

max
=
pk a
pk f
B
B
B
k
,
,
=
s B A
V k E ~
o , sin cos
B
k =
o , tan ) tan(
q
d
q q
d d
X
X
I X
I X
= + =

Figure 3. Rotor salient pole geometry and diameters.

Figure 4. Phasor diagram of the dq currents and voltages.
( )
emb
max
( 2 ) sin( ), ( 2 ) 0.45 ~ 0.65 , (0.6 ~ 0.7)
(0.3 ~ 0.5) , ( ) / 2, (0.2 ~ 0.3)
t p r t ra r
sh r tp t p r ra t tp
p
W D g W D H D D
P P
D D H H H D D H H
t t
= ~ ~
~ = + ~ ~

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Typically a power factor is specified, which then defines . Using Eq. (15) and Eq. (16) and the assumption

(17)
and can be obtained. An estimation of the effective air-gap across the salient pole has been derived as follows:


(18)

The gap coefficient is approximately

(19)

An approximation of the rated field current using field and phase magnetic flux densities can be written as

(20)


The angle of the phase voltage is assumed to be zero in Eq. (20). The sign of
i
depends on whether the load is
leading or lagging. N
a
and N
f
are the effective number of series turns in the field and phase windings, respectively.
From Eq. (20), an estimation of the field conductor cross-sectional area can be determined using

(21)
Through a similar derivation for (20), an estimation of the average air-gap is found:

(22)

A function of the gap versus
d
is obtained by substituting Eq. (19) and Eq. (22) into Eq. (18).

D. Resistance/Inductance Estimation
Analytical estimations for armature and field resistances, magnetizing inductances, and mutual couplings are
shown below. These parameters are used for effective modeling of the machine for high-level system simulation.
The armature winding resistance is estimated as
(23)

where N
a
is the number of series turns per phase, C is the number of parallel circuits, and l
turn
is the estimated length
of a winding turn. The field winding resistance is estimated as
(24)

The inductances can be estimated using the following relationships, derived using the dq frame:

(25)


(26)

(27)


(28)


(29)



d q
X X ) 8 . 0 ~ 6 . 0 ( ~
)
2
2 cos( 1
) ( '
d g
av
d eff
P
g
g
u o
u
+
=
1 ( / )
2
1 ( / )
mq md
g
mq md
L L
L L
o

=
+
/ 0.4 ~ 0.8
mq md
L L =
,
,

1.5 2 1 ( / 2) cos 2( )

(1 ( / 2))
B a g g i r a rated
F rated
f g
k N I
I
N
o o
o
+ +
~
+
,
/
f F rated f
A I J =
( )
0 , ,

(6 / )( / )( / ) 1 ( / 2) cos 2( ) 2 cos sin

av a g pk g g i r a rated B
g N P B I k t o o o , = + + +
( / )( ) /
s a Cu turn a
R N C l A =
( ) /
f Cu f f
R l A =
2
0

8
a
A
av
N Dl
L
g P

t
| |
=
|
|
\ .
3 3
( ) (1 )
2 2 2
g
md A B A
L L L L
o
= + = +
2
0

8
(1 )
2
f g
mf
av
N
Dl
L
g P
o

t
| |
= + |
|
\ .
3 3
( ) (1 )
2 2 2
g
mq A B A
L L L L
o
= =
2
g
B A
L L
o
=

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(30)



III. Design and Simulation Results
The analytical design theory described above can be used to generate the specifications of geometry, windings,
source excitation, and effective resistance and inductance modeling for a high power-density aircraft synchronous
generator. The design analyzed here is a 200 kVA, 12 krpm, 3-phase machine. The number of poles and slots chosen
are 10 and 30, respectively. The operating temperature is set at 250C, with a defined maximum field voltage of 50
V. From these parameters, an analytical design can be produced. The geometry and machine specifications are put
into ANSYS RMxprt modeling software to create an initial simulation design. The generator specifications are
shown in Table 2. Tables 3 and 4 contain the generator stator and rotor details, respectively. Figures 5, 6, and 7
show generator, stator slot, and rotor pole geometry, respectively. Table 5 shows the exciter specifications, followed
by exciter rotor and stator details in Tables 6 and 7, respectively. Figures 8, 9, and 10 show exciter, rotor slot, and
stator pole geometry, respectively.































































Table 2. Designed generator parameters.
n
m
= 12000 rpm mechanical speed
f
e
= 1000 Hz electrical frequency
S
rated
= 200 kVA apparent power
V

= 115.4339 V
RMS
phase voltage
I

= 577.5309 A
RMS
phase current
T
work
= 250 C work temperature
V
Fmax
= 50 V max field voltage
I
Fmax
= 154.93 A max field current
S
exciter
= 8.1546 kVA exciter apparent power
J
a
= 20000 A/in
2
armature current density
J
f
= 20000 A/in
2
field current density
k
B
= 1.5 flux density coefficient
k
v
= 0.7 field design margin
pf = 0.95 power factor
= -18.1949 power angle
= 33.0649 torque angle
R
s
= 0.007788 armature winding resistance
R
f
= 0.22138 field winding resistance
L
md
= 8.7912e-5 H d magnetizing inductance
L
mq
= 3.956e-5 H q magnetizing inductance
L
mf
= 0.00669 H field magnetizing inductance
L
sf

=
0.000626
H
armature-field mutual inductance
Table 3. Designed generator stator.
S = 30 slots
N
c
= 1 turns per coil
D = 6.3872 in stator bore diameter
L = 4.471 in stator length
D
0
= 8.0882 in stator core diameter
k
w
= 0.82699 winding factor
b
s0
= 0.05 in stator slot mouth width
b
s
= 0.26755 in stator slot width
d
s0a
= 0.025 in stator slot mouth depth
d
s0b
= 0.025 in stator slot shoulder depth
d
s1
= 0.40132 in stator slot depth
g
min
= 0.02079 in minimum air-gap
A
slot
= 0.10737 in
2
area of stator slot
A
a
= 0.02888 in
2
bare area of each coil
A
cond
= 0.05775 in
2
total area of bare coils per slot



Figure 5. Generator geometry.



Figure 6. Generator stator slot geometry.

0
2

8
(1 )
2
a f g
sf
av
N N
Dl
L
g P
o

t
| |
= + |
|
\ .

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Table 4. Designed generator rotor.
P = 10 poles
p
emb
= 0.7 pole embrace
C
f
= 10 turns per rotor pole
D
r
= 6.3456 in rotor core diameter
D
ra
= 4.2516 in rotor diameter at pole bottom
D
sh
= 2.5383 in shaft diameter
v
r
= 19935 ft/min rotor peripheral speed
W
t
= 1.3643 in pole shoe width
H
t
= 0.3141 in pole shoe depth
W
p
= 0.8083 in pole leg width
H
p
= 0.7329 in pole leg length
A
slotR
= 0.2100 in
2
area of half rotor slot
A
f
= 0.00775 in
2
bare area of field conductor
A
condR
= 0.07747 in
2
total area of bare conductors
Table 5. Designed exciter parameters.
n
m
= 12000 rpm mechanical speed
f
e
= 600 Hz electrical frequency
S
rated
= 8.5 kVA apparent power
V

= 21.3767 V
RMS
phase voltage
I

= 132.5433 A
RMS
phase current
T
work
= 250 C work temperature
V
Fmax
= 5 V max field voltage
I
Fmax
= 301.1639 A max field current
S
PMexciter
= 1.5851 kVA PM generator apparent power
J
a
= 20000 A/in
2
armature current density
J
f
= 20000 A/in
2
field current density
k
B
= 1.7 flux density coefficient
k
v
= 0.7 field design margin
pf = 0.95 power factor
= -18.1949 power angle
= 28.2937 torque angle
Table 6. Designed exciter rotor (armature).
S = 21 slots
N
c
= 3 turns per coil
D = 2.5008 in Rotor diameter
L = 0.75024 in rotor length
v
r
= 7856 ft/min rotor peripheral speed
D
sh
= 1.2812 in shaft diameter
k
w
= 0.96299 winding factor
b
a0
= 0.05 in armature slot mouth width
b
a
= 0.14965 in armature slot width
d
a0a
= 0.025 in armature slot mouth depth
d
a
= 0.2993 in armature slot depth
g
min
= 0.0242 in minimum air-gap
A
slot
= 0.044789 in
2
area of armature slot
A
a
= 0.006627 in
2
bare area of each coil
A
cond
= 0.039763 in
2
total area of bare coils per slot


Figure 9. Exciter rotor slot geometry.


Figure 8. Exciter geometry.


Figure 7. Generator rotor pole geometry.


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RMxprt is used to verify the dq inductances, armature and field resistances, and rated apparent power of the
generator. Some fine tuning for conductor cross-sectional area is often necessary to match the analytical results to
the software specifications. The design has some freedom in specifications of the stator slot mouth. Any change of
this geometry will affect the dq inductances. The inductances from the analytical result are used as a reference to
iterate on the geometry until a satisfactory implementation is obtained. Once the design has been verified, it is
transferred directly into ANSYS Maxwell 2D and 3D FEM software. Figures 11 and 12 show the 2D and 3D FEM
models, respectively. The 2D simulation uses only the portion of the model with unique winding structure and
assumes the rest of the machine has symmetry.















In order to verify the analytical design, FEM analysis and a flux linkage method for calculating self and mutual
inductance are used. The flux linkages can be found using a sweep of the field and phase currents in the Maxwell
software. Since the machine operates within the magnetic saturation region, the flux linkages and inductances will
vary with current. A numerical function for the dq inductances versus current is built and compared with the
analytical derivations. The analytical values should be approximately equal to the peak inductances versus current.
Table 8 shows the numerical results compared with the analytical derivations. Figure 13 shows the open circuit 3-
phase voltage waveform for the Maxwell models.









Figure 11. Maxwell 2D FEM model.


Figure 12. Maxwell 3D FEM model.
Table 8. Analytical compared with
numerical results. Units are Henry.
Inductance Analytical Numerical
L
md
8.7912e-5 8.8128e-5
L
mq
3.956e-5 4.2603e-5
L
mf
0.00669 0.00622
L
sf
0.000626 0.0005412


Figure 10. Exciter stator pole geometry.
Table 7. Designed exciter stator (field).
P = 6 poles
p
emb
= 0.75 pole embrace
C
f
= 5 turns per rotor pole
D
s
= 2.5492 in Stator bore diameter
D
sa
= 3.4414 in Stator diameter at pole bottom
D
0
= 4.2253 in Stator core diameter
W
t
= 1.0272 in pole shoe width
H
t
= 0.1115 in pole shoe depth
W
p
= 0.6532 in pole leg width
H
p
= 0.3346 in pole leg length
A
slotF
= 0.2231 in
2
area of half field slot
A
f
= 0.01506 in
2
bare area of field conductor
A
condF
= 0.07529 in
2
total area of bare conductors

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SimuLink is employed to perform high-level simulations of the generator when interfaced with control and load
7
.
Figure 14 shows the upper-level block diagram of the generator-exciter synchronous machine attached to a 200 kW
load. The detailed SimuLink model for the machine is shown in Fig. 15. This model includes the synchronous
generator, exciter, controller, and rectifiers. The main generator output voltage and current versus time is shown in
Fig. 16, respectively.













Figure 13. Numerical results for phase voltages.
Induced phase voltages for an open circuit 200kVA, 12
krpm 3-phase synchronous generator. Field current
excitation: 60 VDC.


Figure 14. High-level SimuLink model.
Figure 15. 3-Phase synchronous generator-exciter model. Main blocks from left to right: controller, exciter,
exciter rectifier, main generator, main rectifier.


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IV. Conclusion
An analytical design methodology has been developed which creates a relatively accurate design for high power-
density aircraft synchronous generators. Important design parameters such as rated apparent power, mechanical
speed, machine poles, and stator slots can be specified for a 3-phase generator. The equations and design process
described in this paper produce a guideline for the machine geometry, winding parameters, and source excitation.
FEM simulation and post processing verify the design method using a numerical flux linkage method to confirm
machine inductances. The design methodology can be used to develop new and innovative high power-density
synchronous generators. The performance of these designs can be simulated, verified, and optimized to fabricate
high-quality, reliable machines.

References


1
J. F. Gieras, Advancements in Electric Machines, Springer, 2008, Chap. 4.
2
P. C. Krause, O. Wasynczuk, and S. D. Sudhoff, Analysis of Electric Machinery and Drive Systems, 2nd Edition, Wiley,
2002.
3
C.M. Ong, Dynamic Simulation of Electric Machinery, Prentice Hall, 1998.
4
A.E. Fitzgerald, C. Kingsley, Jr., and S. D. Umans, Electric Machinery, 6th Edition, page 270, McGraw-Hill, 2003.
5
J. J. Cathey, Electric Machines: Analysis and Design Applying MatLab, McGraw Hill, 2001, pp. 477.
6
T. A. Lipo, Introduction to AC Machine Design, Wisconsin Power Electronics Research Center, University of Wisconsin,
2007, pp. 356-358.
7
Jie Chen, Thomas Wu, Jay Vaidya and Nonlinear Electrical Simulation of High-Power Synchronous Generator System,
2006 SAE Power Systems Conference.




Figure 16. Output voltage and current.