15000 RPM Turbo Generator

Andrew Hirzel
LE Incorporated
October 8, 2003

andy@lightengineering.com
Material Slide 1
Patent Pending
 Overview

• Problem Description (1)

• Geometry Construction (8)
• Analyze Base Machine Parameters (17)
• Cogging
• Flux variation
• Losses
• Introduce Geometry Change (2)
• Machine Parameter Comparison (9)
• Problem Solution (6)

Material Slide 2
Patent Pending
 Project Definition

• Power = 100kW
• Synchronous Frequency = 1000 Hz
• 15000 rpm
• Passive Rectification to DC
• Minimum 95% Machine Efficiency

Material Slide 3
Patent Pending
 Axial Airgap Stator

•One stator shown

•Single wound
amorphous metal
ribbon, followed by
slot cutting

• 25 cm diameter

Material Slide 4 Maxwell 3D Magnetostatic

Patent Pending
 Stator shown with Phase Coils

•0.5 slots/phase/pole

•Discrete coils C

•Wired A-B-C-A-B-C A B
B A
C

Material Slide 5 Maxwell 3D Magnetostatic

Patent Pending
 Axial-Gap Rotor and Shaft

•Surface magnets
(thru rotor)

•North red

•South blue

•Shaft and rotor

shown for clarity

Material Slide 6 Maxwell 3D Magnetostatic

Patent Pending
 Complete Axial-Gap Machine

•One rotor assembly

•Two stator assemblies

•Housing not shown

•12 cm axial length

Material Maxwell 3D Magnetostatic

Slide 7
Patent Pending
 Minimum Machine for EM Analysis

•Shaft and disk not

needed for analysis
C
•Actual airgap 1.5 mm
B
A

Material Maxwell 3D Magnetostatic

Slide 8
Patent Pending
 Boundary and Planar Entities

•Master-slave boundaries

•Current sources (not

shown)

•Analysis surfaces;
orthogonal grid

•Tangent/normal
boundaries

Material Maxwell 3D Magnetostatic

Slide 9
Patent Pending
 Alternate Planar Entities

3D Surfaces are
Fan-shaped
segments

Material Maxwell 3D Magnetostatic

Slide 10
Patent Pending
 Maxwell 3D Macro

•1200 lines main code; 400 lines post processor code

•Performs following:
•Allows direct change to all parameters
•Draws geometry
•Assigns materials
•Assigns boundaries
•Defines solver options
•Runs post processor macro
•Writes inputs/outputs and writes to a .txt file
•Iterates all of the above, on any variable

Material Slide 11 “Homegrown” Optimetrics

Patent Pending
 Results from Macro

•Cogging
•Ripple
•Flux in core and backiron
•Flux variation in magnet – demagnetization potential
•Limited by your code

Material Slide 12
Patent Pending
 Variation in Flux Density Inside Coils

1
Analysis for 1/6
0.8
of synchronous
0.6
cycle, i.e. 1/6 of
0.4
pole-pair angle. 0.2
A phase
Tesla

0 B phase
Observation of -0.2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 C phase

symmetry -0.4

concludes that -0.6

this is all the -0.8

analysis needed. -1
Rotor Position

Material Slide 13
Patent Pending
 “Assembled” Variation in Flux Density

0.8

•Assembly of 0.6

synchronous 0.4

cycle from 1/6 Tesla

0.2
A phase
analysis 0 B phase

1
7
13

19
25
31
37
43
49
55
C phase
-0.2

•Makes macro -0.4

code much -0.6

faster and much -0.8

easier to write -1
Rotor Position

Material Slide 14
Patent Pending
 Flux density in Coils:
this is the Shape of the EMF Waveform

no load B in cores
•THD of EMF: load B in cores
1.5
•No Load 5%
1
•Rated Load 9%
0.5
Tesla

Discontinuity is -0.5

not “real”, it’s a -1

function of solver -1.5
accuracy Rotor Position

Material Slide 15
Patent Pending
 Flux Density in Backiron

no load B in backiron
load B in backiron
1
Discontinuity is 0.8
not “real”, it’s a 0.6
0.4
function of solver
0.2
accuracy
Tesla

0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1
Rotor Position

Material Slide 16
Patent Pending
 Cogging

An example of 40

a serious 30

problem… 20

10
N-m

0
0 5 10 15 20
-10

-20

-30

-40
Rotor Position

Material Slide 17
Patent Pending
 Cogging Controlled via 3D Optimized
Magnet Spacing

40

30

20

10

N-m
0
0 5 10 15 20

-10

A better
-20
example!
-30

-40
Rotor Position

Material Slide 18
Patent Pending
 No Load;
Review Flux Density in Magnet Grid

1.2
1.1 Leading OR
1 Central OR
0.9 Trailing OR
Tesla 0.8 Leading R
0.7 Central R
Note: Colors 0.6 Trailing R
on grid match 0.5 Leading IR
colors on graph 0.4 Central IR
0 10 Trailing IR
Rotor Position

Material Slide 19
Patent Pending
 Rated Load;
Review Flux Density in Magnet Grid

1.2
Leading OR
1.1
Central OR
1
Trailing OR
0.9 Leading R
Tesla
0.8 Central R
0.7 Trailing R
0.6 Leading IR
Central IR
0.5
Trailing IR
0.4
0 10
Rotor Position

Material Slide 20
Patent Pending
 3X Rated Current Density all in D-axis
Review Flux Density in Magnet Grid

1.2
1.1 Leading OR
1 Central OR
0.9 Trailing OR
Tesla
0.8 Leading R
0.7 Central R
0.6 Trailing R
Review for
0.5 Leading IR
demagnetization! 0.4 Central IR
0 5 10 15 Trailing IR
Rotor Position

Material Slide 21
Patent Pending
 No Load; Review H Field to Magnet Fan
Segments

0
-50 0 5 10 15 20 Seg1
Seg2
-100
Seg3
KA/m
-150 Seg4
-200 Seg5
Note: Colors Seg6
-250
on grid match Seg7
-300
colors on Seg8
graph -350 Seg9
Rotor Position

Material Slide 22
Patent Pending
No Load; Review H Field to Magnet Fan
Segments; Normalized

100
80 Seg1
60 Seg2
40
Seg3
KA/m 20
Seg4
0
-20 0 Seg5
5 10 15 20
-40 Seg6
-60 Seg7
-80 Seg8
-100 Seg9
Rotor Position

Material Slide 23
Patent Pending
No Load; Review H Field to Magnet Fan
Segments; Normalized and Averaged

80
60
40 ave 9 Segs
20 Leading 1/2
KA/m

0 Trailing 1/2
-20 0 5 10 15 20 Leading 1/3
-40 Center 1/3
-60 Trailing 1/3
-80
Rotor Position

Material Slide 24
Patent Pending
 Rated Load;
Review H Field to Magnet Fan Segments

100
50 Seg1
0 Seg2
-50 0 5 10 15 20 Seg3
KA/m -100
Seg4
-150
-200 Seg5
-250 Seg6
-300 Seg7
-350 Seg8
-400 Seg9
Rotor Position

Material Slide 25
Patent Pending
 3D Eddy Current Model

Question:
Can H-field data be
used to predict
eddy current losses
in a solid model?

•Easy to do; but

has potential to be
inaccurate

Material Slide 26 Maxwell 3D Eddy Current Solver

Patent Pending
 Complete Macro Code to Iterate Losses in
Previously Shown Magnet
# V e r s i o n 1
a s s i g n H v a l 5 0 0 0 UseCommandSet "Default"
w
a
h
s
i
s
l
i
e
g n
( L E H v
f v a l
a
5
l
0 0
1 0 0 0 0 0 ) UseCommandSet "Plot 3D"
w h i l e ( L E f v a l 3 5 0 0 ) UseCommandSet "PostProcessor3D"
a s s i g n f n a m e " i n d u c t i o n g r i d . t x t " UseCommandSet "FieldCalculator"
L a u n c h B o u n d a r i e s " m o d i f y " UseCommandSet "mod3proj"
B
S
o
a
u
v
n
e
d
B
a
n
r
d
y
s
M o d i f y F u n c t i o n 0 " H " H v a l UseCommandSet "mod3view"
E x i t B n d s 1 UseCommandSet "Generic Module"
S o l n O p t n S e t u p 1
S e t C u r r e n t S o l n P r m s T y p e " S o l n O p t n S e t u p " UseCommandSet "COND"
S e t S o l v e T y p e 1
S e t S o l v e F i e l d s 1
S e t S o l v e P r m s 1 assign fname "inductiongrid.txt"
S e t A d a p t i v e I n f o 1 0 3 0 0 . 0 5 0 . 0 5
S e t R e s i d u a l 1 E - 0 0 8
S e t M e s h T y p e " C u r r e n t " 0
S e t F r e q u e n c y f v a l ShowCalc
S a v e S e t u p
S o l n P r
o n e m s D
" O k " # Version 1
S o l v e N
n a l o m i
F i l e W r i t
f n a m e e
" a " " $ $ $ $ " { H v a l f v a l
ShowCalc
}

i f F i l e E x i s t s F i l e s e t 1 . s o l
Enter "Ohmic-Loss"
a s s i g n s o l u t i o n s e t " F i l e s e t 1 " EnterVolume "NorthredB"
E N D
i f F i l e E x i s t s F i l e s e t 2 . s o l Integrate
a s s i g n s o l u t i o n s e t " F i l e s e t 2 "
E N D Evaluate
a s s i g n f l u x i n s t r u c t s t r c o n c a t " - p r o d uassign
c t 1 1any
- i cGetTopEntryValue
o n i c - m a c a n d e x i t c : / l e / l e m a x w e l l / q u i
E x e c P g m A n d W a i t " p o s t 3 " f l u x i n s t r u c t
FileWrite fname "a" "$$\n" { any }
a s s i g n f v a l ( a d d f v a l 5 0 0 )
e n d
a s s i g n H v a l ( a d d H v a l 5 0 0 0 )
e n d exit

Material Slide 27 Maxwell 3D Eddy Current Solver

Patent Pending
 Expected Losses at Rotor Loss Frequency

•Results look OK,

but are perhaps an 8000

order of 7000

magnitude high! 6000

500
5000 1000
Watts loss 1500
•So … ask your 4000 2000
2500
friendly Ansoft 3000 3000

Application 2000
3500

Engineers for their 1000

opinions – it’s 0
worth it 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
kA/m

Material Slide 28
Patent Pending
 Addition of Frontiron to Mitigate Losses

Frontiron is
•Flat disk
•Toroid
•Amorphous metal

Question:
•How thick should it
be?
•Can we find the
answer any other way
than FEA?

Material Maxwell 3D Magnetostatic

Slide 29
Patent Pending
Ramifications of Thickness of Frontiron

•Can try multiple thicknesses with macro, just

takes machine time
•Determine effect on:
•Rotor losses
•Cogging
•EMF waveform
•Inductance (Q-axis not equal to D-axis)
•New additional loss mechanism, i.e. the
frontiron has losses

Material Slide 30
Patent Pending
Previous No-Frontiron Slide for Reference:
Cogging Controlled via 3D Optimized
Magnet Spacing

N-m 1

0
0 5 10 15 20
-1

Note new -2

vertical scale -3

-4

-5
Rotor Position

Material Slide 31
Patent Pending
 Cogging with No Frontiron and 5mm Thick
Frontiron

4
•No frontiron 3

•5 mm frontiron 1
N-m

0
0 5 10 15 20
-1

-2

-3

-4

-5
Rotor Position

Material Slide 32
Patent Pending
 Previous No-Frontiron Slide for Reference:
“Assembled” Flux density in Coils
this is the shape of the EMF waveform
no load B in cores
load B in cores
1.5
•THD of EMF: 1
•No Load 5%
0.5
•Rated Load 12%
Tesla

-0.5

-1

-1.5
Rotor Position

Material Slide 33
Patent Pending
 EMF Waveform; 5 mm Thick Frontiron

no load B in cores
load B in cores
1.5
•THD of EMF: 1
•No Load 5%
0.5
•Rated Load 12%
Tesla

-0.5
•Note saturated
-1
waveform
-1.5
Rotor Position

Material Slide 34
Patent Pending
Previous No-Frontiron Slide for Reference:
No Load Flux Density in Magnet Grid

1.2
1.1 Leading OR
1 Central OR
0.9 Trailing OR
Tesla

0.8 Leading R
0.7 Central R
0.6 Trailing R
0.5 Leading IR
0.4 Central IR
0 10 Trailing IR
Rotor Position

Material Slide 35
Patent Pending
 No load Flux Density in Magnet Grid;
5 mm Thick Frontiron

1.2
1.1 T in B1
1 T in B2
0.9 T in B3
Tesla

0.8 T in B4
0.7 T in B5
0.6 T in B6
Low variation
0.5 T in B7
must equal 0.4
low loss T in B8
0 5 10 15
T in B9
Rotor Position

Material Slide 36
Patent Pending
Previous No-Frontiron Slide for Reference:
Rated Load Flux Density in Magnet Grid

1.2
Leading OR
1.1
Central OR
1
Trailing OR
0.9 Leading R
Tesla

0.8 Central R
0.7 Trailing R
0.6 Leading IR
Central IR
0.5
Trailing IR
0.4
0 10
Rotor Position

Material Slide 37
Patent Pending
Rated Load Flux Density in Magnet Grid;
5 mm Thick Frontiron

1.2
1.1 T in B1
1 T in B2
0.9 T in B3
Tesla

0.8 T in B4
0.7 T in B5
0.6 T in B6
0.5
T in B7
0.4
T in B8
0 5 10 15
T in B9
Rotor Position

Material Slide 38
Patent Pending
 15 k-rpm, 100 kW, passive rectification
Frontiron Thickness vs. BEMF and Inductance

Line EMF
Inductance constant Kl (Permeance)
350 1.20
300 1.00
250

Permeance
0.80
Voltage

200
0.60
150
0.40
100
50 0.20

0 0.00
0 2 4 6
Frontiron Thickness, mm

Material Slide 39
Patent Pending
15 k-rpm, 100 kW, passive rectification
Frontiron Thickness vs. Losses

Total Loss
Rotor Eddy Current Loss
18000

16000

14000

12000

10000
Watts

8000

6000

4000

2000

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Frontiron Thickness, mm

Material Slide 40
Patent Pending
 15 krpm, 100 kW, passive rectification
Frontiron Thickness vs. Gamma and Efficiency

gamma (phasor angle E-I)

Efficiency
50 96%

40 94%
Angle Degrees

30 92%

Percent
20 90%

10 88%

0 86%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Frontiron Thickness, mm

Material Slide 41
Patent Pending
15 krpm, 100 kW, passive rectification
Frontiron Thickness vs. Cogging

Cogging
Ripple at Rated Load
9.00 40%
8.00 35%
7.00 30%

Percent Ripple
Cogging, N-m

6.00
25%
5.00
20%
4.00
15%
3.00
2.00 10%
1.00 5%
0.00 0%
0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00
Frontiron Thickness, mm

Material Slide 42
Patent Pending
 A Plug for Maxwell 2D: AC Ohmic Loss

•2D transient analysis

•Determines AC losses

•Due to proximity effects

on adjacent phases, and
within phases

•+/-20% error vs. test

Material Slide 43 Maxwell 2D Transient Solver

Patent Pending
 Project Results

ü Power = 100kW
ü Synchronous Frequency = 1000 Hz
ü 15000 rpm
ü Passive Rectification to DC
~ 95% Machine Efficiency, achieved 94.7% on paper
? Introduction of new component – 5 mm Frontiron
? Excessive Ripple at rated Load
? Rotor Eddy Current Heating Accuracy

Material Slide 44
Patent Pending