Thermal analysis of 3MW permanent magnet embedded salient pole wind generator

In this paper, the thermal field of a large scale permanent magnet embedded salient pole wind generator (PMESPWG) is investigated by using the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling. To reduce the calculation, only one quarter model of the PMESPWG is established according to its symmetry. Based on the electromagnetic analysis and the empirical equations, the copper loss, stator iron loss and rotor loss are calculated and then used as the heat source in the thermal field analysis. The temperature distributions in the generator are predicted by finite element method (FEM). The calculated results are discussed and verified by the measured ones. The analysis results show that the modelling method can provide a valuable evaluation for electromagnetic and thermal designs in the design stage. The generator temperature variation with fan speed is also discussed, which supplies a reliable reference for the cooling system optimization.