Normal and Faulty Performance Analysis of Non-Overlap Winding Technologies of a Large Wound Rotor Synchronous Generator for Wind Energy Conversion

Non-overlap windings present an attractive option to reduce production costs amongst others. However, it is well-known that these windings have a high amount of magnetomotive force harmonic content that negatively affects machine performance, especially in terms of torque ripple. For wind energy conversion, low torque ripple is a stringent requirement. This study performs an analysis of various winding configurations of a non-overlap winding of a 3 MW 16/18 pole/slot wound rotor synchronous generator. The winding configurations considered provide improved machine performance in comparison with a conventional non-overlap winding. Finite element analysis is used to theoretically predict the performance of the winding configurations and a comparative study is conducted. Further assessment in the form of fault-tolerance is performed to determine the robustness of the machines. The theoretical results are finally supported by practical measurements to validate the designs.