Optimal design of permanent magnet flux switching generator for wind applications via artificial neural network and multi-objective particle swarm optimization hybrid approach

• A new optimal design of flux switching permanent magnet generator is developed.
• A prototype is employed to validate numerical data used for optimization.
• A novel hybrid multi-objective particle swarm optimization approach is proposed.
• Optimization targets are weight, cost, voltage and its total harmonic distortion.
• The hybrid approach preference is proved compared with other optimization methods.

In this paper a new hybrid approach obtained combining a multi-objective particle swarm optimization and artificial neural network is proposed for the design optimization of a direct-drive permanent magnet flux switching generators for low power wind applications. The targets of the proposed multi-objective optimization are to reduce the costs and weight of the machine while maximizing the amplitude of the induced voltage as well as minimizing its total harmonic distortion. The permanent magnet width, the stator and rotor tooth width, the rotor teeth number and stator pole number of the machine define the search space for the optimization problem. Four supervised artificial neural networks are designed for modeling the complex relationships among the weight, the cost, the amplitude and the total harmonic distortion of the output voltage respect to the quantities of the search space. Finite element analysis is adopted to generate training dataset for the artificial neural networks. Finite element analysis based model is verified by experimental results with a 1.5 kW permanent magnet flux switching generator prototype suitable for renewable energy applications, having 6/19 stator poles/rotor teeth. Finally the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid procedure is compared with the results given by conventional multi-objective optimization algorithms. The obtained results show the soundness of the proposed multi objective optimization technique and its feasibility to be adopted as suitable methodology for optimal design of permanent magnet flux switching generator for wind application.

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