Analysis of Contra-Rotating Brushless Integrated Flux-Modulation Machine With Open-Slot Structure for Wind Power Generation

This article presents a contra-rotating (CR) brushless integrated flux-modulation (BIFM) machine with an open-slot structure for wind power generation, termed CR-BIFM machine. The presented machine employs two CR rotors coupled with two sets of wind turbine blades, thus being able to capture more wind energy than conventional single-rotor wind turbines. Owing to the dual-flux-modulation effect and flux-bridge effect, the presented machine exhibits high torque/power density, making it suitable for direct-drive wind power generation without issues related to mechanical gearboxes. As two sets of windings share the same stator slots in the presented machine, the decoupling design of windings is systematically investigated from the perspective of airgap-modulated magnetic field, considering the influence of both stator and rotors. The advantages of the presented machine are comprehensively evaluated compared with the baseline machine, showing that the presented machine exhibits higher torque/power density, higher efficiency, higher power factor, higher permanent magnet utilization, and better vibration performance. Finally, a prototype is fabricated and tested to validate the analysis.

Automated summary

This article introduces a CR-BIFM machine with an open-slot structure for wind power generation. The machine utilizes two CR rotors coupled with two sets of wind turbine blades, capturing more wind energy compared to single-rotor turbines. Due to its dual-flux-modulation effect, the CR-BIFM machine exhibits high torque/power density, making it suitable for direct-drive wind power generation. The advantages of the machine, such as higher efficiency and permanent magnet utilization, are comprehensively evaluated and validated with a prototype.