AbstractIn this paper, an analytical modeling of an axial flux

permanent magnet synchronous generator (AFPMSG) is

investigated. The proposed model is based on an exact two
dimensional (2D) solution of the magnetic field in the generator.
Then, the generators quantities such as the phase electromotive
force (EMF), the cogging torque and electromagnetic torque are
written based on the developed exact 2D solution. To validate the
proposed modeling, a 2D finite elements analysis (FEA) is
performed, and results issued from the proposed model are
compared with those stemming from a 2D FEA simulations.
According to the simulation results, it is possible to evaluate the
performance of the AFPMSG with reasonable accuracy via the
developed analytical model.
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, wind energy conversion (WEC)
conventional systems with gearbox have been more and more
replaced by a WEC systems without gearbox. Since the WEC
systems with gearbox are subject to vibration, noise and
fatigue. The novel WEC systems which are achieved by
generators, directly driven from the wind turbine, offer other
advantages, namely higher overall efficiency and reliability,
reduced weight and maintenance cost [1]. The direct-drive
generators must have a large number of poles since the
rotational speed of the wind turbine is very low. Generators
with a large number of poles are easily achieved using
permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). In the
PMSG family, AFPMSG can be an attractive solution if the
number of poles is large. The length of AFPMSG is short
compared to the radial flux PMSG [2-4]. The PM which are
used in the AFPMSG can be of a flat shape which is easy to
manufacture. There are many alternatives for the design of the
AFPMSG: N rotors and N+1 stators for internal rotor disc
machine type, or N stators and N+1 rotors for internal stator
disc machine type. They could be either slotted or slotless
(with a toroidal airgap windings) depending on the stator
structure.
The AFPMSM being investigated in this paper has a
double-sided topology (fig.1) and is dedicated to wind energy
applications. In order to develop this relatively new type of
generators, one needs an analytical model helping the designer
to predict the performances of this type of AFPMSM. So, in
this paper, an analytical modeling of AFPMSG is investigated.
Firstly, an exact 2D analytical model of the magnetic field in
the AFPMSG is developed. This exact 2D solution of the
magnetic field is obtained using the separation of variables
method to solve the magnetic vector potential formulation
resulting from Maxwell equations. Secondly, the generator's
quantities are written using the obtained exact 2D solution of
the magnetic field. Thirdly, the three phase voltage of
generator is rectified and then connected to a resistive load.
The voltage equations are used to calculate the armature
current waveforms. Results issued from the proposed model
are compared with those stemming from a 2D FEA
simulations.
II. EXACT 2D ANALYTIC MAGNETIC FIELD SOLUTION
The geometry of the studied AFPMSG is presented in fig.
1. The rotor PMs are surface mounted, axially magnetized and
separated by nonmagnetized zones. The cross sectional view
in Fig. 1 shows the arrangement of airgap, rotor PMs and
stator along the axial direction. Taking into account the
geometry of this generator, its main flux is obviously three
dimensional. Since, the boundary conditions in the radial
direction (inner and outer radii) are very hard to choose in the
case of analytical approach. The first task is to reduce the 3D
problem to a 2D boundary-value problem which can be solved
using the separation of variables technique. This goal is
Analytical modeling of an axial flux permanent
magnet synchronous generator for wind energy
application
J. Azzouzi, G. Barakat and B. Dakyo
Electrical Engineering Department, GREAH, University of Le Havre
25, rue Philippe Lebon, 76600 Le Havre Cedex France, phone: (+332) 32744331, fax: (+332) 32744348,
e-mail: azzouzij@univ-lehavre.fr, Barakat@univ-lehavre.fr, Dakyo@univ-lehavre.fr.
L
cs
L
w
R
i
L
a
R
o
e
Fig. 1. Cross sectional view of the studied AFPMSG
0-7803-8987-5/05/$20.00 2005 IEEE. 1255
achieved by the use of cylindrical cutting plane (fig. 2) at the
main flux region. This approach consists in considering that
the radial component of the magnetic field is neglected and
the axial and circumferential components do not depend on
the radial direction. Consequently, the magnetic vector
potential has only a radial component which depends on the
circumferential and axial coordinates. The magnetic quantities
are then expressed as follows in cylindrical coordinates:
r
e A ) , ( z A = (1)
z
e e B z) , ( B z) , ( B
z


+ = (2)
The permeability of the magnet yoke and the armature are
assumed to be infinite. The permeability of PM is assumed to
be equal to that of air. Also, the remanence of PM is
considered to be ideal and oriented in the axial direction
yielding to the following Fourier series:
( ) ( ) ( ) k F k E B
M
k
k
M
k R
sin cos + =

(3)
where is the circumferential. So, the magnetic field created
by the permanent magnets in the generators satisfies the basic
equations of magnetostatics
0 . = B (4)
0 = H (5)
and the constitutive relation between B and H:
R rec
B H B + = (6)
where
rec
is the recoil permeability and B
R
is the remanence
of PMs. Combining (5) and (6) yields to:
R
B B = (7)
Using the fact that the magnetic flux density B is equal to the
curl of a vector potential A and choosing the Coulomb gauge
(div A = 0), equation (7) becomes:
R
B A = (8)
Therefore, equation (8) is reduced to a scalar formulation and
can be written in the following form:

R
B
R
z
A A
R
1 1
2
2
2
2
2
= + (9)
Using the separation of variables technique, the vector
potential solution form in the PMs region can be written as:
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

(
(

+ +
+ +
+ =
0
0
k
M
k k k
M
k k k
k E R kz sh F R kz ch E
k F R kz sh D R kz ch C
k
r
a A

sin
cos
(10)
and in the airgap as well as in the slots region:
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

+ +
+
+ =
0
0
k
k k
k k
k R kz sh F R kz ch E
k R kz sh D R kz ch C
k
r
a A

sin
cos
(11)
The slotted AFPMSG is assumed to have Q
s
slots which are
numbered l=0,..., Q
s
-1. The generator is divided into three
regions: PM region, airgap and slots region (fig. 2). The origin
of the circumferential direction is arbitrarily chosen to be in
the center of the first slot.
A. Slots area
In the slots, the magnetic field satisfies the following
boundary conditions:
( )
( )
( )
( )

+ =
+ =
=
s
l
s
l
l
z
Q l w
Q l w
for z B

2 2
2 2
0 ,
2
1

(12)
w
s l
L z for z B = = 0 ) , (
) , (

(13)
With these boundary conditions, the general solution for the
magnetic filed in the slots area can be expressed as:
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( )
l
m
w
l
m
l
w m wR z m
L
wR
m
z
wR
m
f B
1
0
1 1

|
|
.
|

\
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ |
.
|

\
|
=

cos sinh
tanh tanh
(14)
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( )
l
m
w
l
m
l
z
w m wR z m
L
wR
m
z
wR
m
f B
1
0
1



|
|
.
|

\
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ |
.
|

\
|
=

cos cosh
tanh tanh
(15)
B. Airgap: area II
In this region, the general solution of magnetic field is:
( )
( )
( )
( )
( ) ( ) ( )
( )
( )
( )
( ) ( ) ( )

(
(

+ +
+
=
0
2 2
2 2
2
k
k k
k k
k R kz ch F R kz sh E
k R kz ch D R kz sh C
B

sin
cos
(16)
( )
( )
( )
( )
( ) ( ) ( )
( )
( )
( )
( ) ( ) ( )

(
(

+
+
=
0
2 2
2 2
2
k
k k
k k
z
k R kz sh F R kz ch E
k R kz sh D R kz ch C
B

cos
sin
(17)
C. PM region: area III
The boundary condition for this region is:
( )
( ) e z B + = =
a
l z for 0 ,
3

(18)
The general solution for the magnetic field in this region
where this boundary condition has already been accounted for
is:
( ) ( )
( )
( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) r kz r e l k r kz
k E k C B
a
k
k k
cosh tanh sinh
sin cos
0
3 3 3
+
+ =

(19)
III
II
I3 I2
I1

z
Fig. 2. Unrolled surface of a cylindrical cutting plane placed in the
main flux region.
1256
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) R kz R e l k R kz
k E k C B B
a
k
k k R z
sinh tanh cosh
cos sin
+
+ =

0
3 3 3

(20)
D. Boundary condition between areas
Boundary conditions between regions are required to
determine the Fourier series coefficients of the magnetic field.
In the studied generator, the permeability of stator and rotor
core is assumed to be infinite. Then, the magnetic field
strength in iron is zero. Also, it is assumed that stator and
rotor iron as well as PM are non conductive materials. So, the
surface current density is equal to zero everywhere. Then, the
boundary conditions between airgap (region II) and PM area
(region III) are:
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) 3 2 3 2
,

H H and B B e z For
z z
= = = (21)
This boundary condition results in the following relations
between coefficients:
( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( )

+ + =
=
+ =
+ =
R ke E R e l k E F
R ke E E E
R ke F R e l k C D
R r ke F C C
M
k a k k
M
k k k
M
k a k k
M
k k k
sinh tanh
cosh
sinh tanh
cosh
3 2
3 2
3 2
3 2
(22)
Boundary conditions between regions I and II can be
expressed as follows:
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
| |
l l l l
z z
; for H H and B B
2 1
2 2


= = (23)
and between region II and stator core adjacent to it is:
( ) ( ) ( )
| |
1
1 2
2
0
+
=
l l
; for H

(24)
The treatment of boundary conditions (22), (23) and (24)
yields to a system of equations made up of relations between
the coefficients of Fourier of the magnetic field in the region
III.
( )
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( )

+ +
+ =
+ +
+ =

R ne E E k n R e la k
R e la k R ke E E
R ne F C k n R e la k
R e la k R ke F C
M
n n
n
M
k k
M
n n
n
M
k k
cosh , , tanh
tanh sinh
cosh , , tanh
tanh sinh
3
1
1
1 3
3
1
1
1 3
(25)
where
( )
( )( )
( ) ( ) ( )( ) | | ( )( ) | | ( ) 2 2 1 1
2
1
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
2
w n k w k n
L
wR
m
w n m w k m
Q kmw
n k
m
m
w
s
+
|
.
|

\
|


=

=
cos cos
tanh , ,
m

(26)
when kn is multiple of 2p and zero otherwise.
The Fourier series coefficients of the magnetic field in the
PMs region can be easily obtained by solving numerically the
previous system (25) and the airgap magnetic field
coefficients are deduced by means of (22).
III. COMPUTATION OF THE GENERATOR'S QUANTITIES
A. Computation of electromotive force
The permanent magnet flux linking a coil j having n
s
turns
in series can be expressed in the cylindrical coordinates by
[5]:
( )
( )
( ) ( )


= =


2
0
2
2 2
2
d B F
R R
S d B n
z D
i o
S
s c
j j
, .
) (
r r
(27)
where S is the surface of the coil, is the angular position of
the rotor with respect to the stator frame, is the angular
position in the stator frame. F
Dj
() designates the distribution
function of coil j. If
b
and
es
designate the coil opening
and the slot opening respectively, the distribution function of
this coil is illustrated in fig. 3 and its expression is given by
[6]
( )
( ) | |
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( ) | |
( ) ( ) | |

+
+ +
+
=
2 ; for
; for

; for
b b
b b
b se
b
es es s sp
es es s
es s sp
es s
s
D
n
n
F

2
2 2
2
2 0
(28)
The distribution function of the coil j can be written in the
form of Fourier series as follows:
( ) ( ) ( ) k F k E E F
D
k
k
D
k
D
D
j
sin cos + + =
0
(29)
Replacing B
z
(2)
by its expression (17), the airgap flux
embraced by the coil j in the linear case is then given by
( )
( )
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

|
|
.
|

\
|
+ +
+

=
0
2 2
2 2
2 2
2
k
D
k
D
k k k
D
k
D
k k k
i o
j
k F k E R kz sh F R kz ch E
k E k F R kz sh D R kz ch C
R R

sin . cos
sin cos

.
) (
) (
(30)
So, the induced electromotive force in the coil j is obtained
by Faraday's law:
( )
( )
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

|
|
.
|

\
|
+ +
+

=
0
2 2
2 2
2 2
2
k
D
k
D
k k k
D
k
D
k k k
i o
j
k E k F R kz sh D R kz ch C
k F k E R kz sh F R kz ch E
R R
e

cos sin ) ( ) (
cos . sin ) ( ) (
k
.
) (
) (
(31
-
F
Dj
(
S
)
n
sp

es

s

b
Fig. 3. Distribution function of coil 'j'.
1257
)
where is the angular speed of the rotor. If the stator phase is
constituted of N
c
coils in series, the distribution function of the
stator phase is obtained by summing all the distribution
functions of the N
c
coils. Also, the stator phase EMF is
obtained by summing the EMFs of the N
c
coils.
B. Computation of cogging torque:
The cogging torque is calculated by means of the moment
of the Maxwell stress tensor applied to the rotor and can be
written in the following form:
( )
( )
( )
( )

=
S
z c
dS e B e B r T , ,

3 3
0
(32)
where S is the PMs surface and dS=rdrd .
After the integration on the radial direction between the inner
and outer radii, the cogging torque expression becomes:
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )

2
0
3 3 3 3
0
3
1
d e B e B R R T
z ai ae c
, , (33)
Incorporating (19) and (20) in (30) and integrating on the
tangential direction yields to the final expression of the
cogging torque in terms of Fourier series coefficients of
region III :
( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( )

k E E F C
k F E E C
R R
T
M
k k
M
k k
k
M
k k
M
k k
ai ae
c
sin
cos
+ +
+

=

0
0
3 3
3
(34)
where:
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

+ =
+ =
r ke r e l k r ke E E
r ke r e l k r ke C C
a k k
a k k
cosh tanh sinh
cosh tanh sinh
3
3

C. Stator phases voltages equations

The three phases voltages of generator are rectified and then
connected to a resistive load R. The rectifier is a three-phase
diode bridge. The diodes are considered ideals. Consequently,
the conduction of the diodes corresponds to a short circuit and
the blocking corresponds to an open circuit. With these
conditions, for each sequence, the two diodes which conduct
correspond to the phase having the most positive voltage for
the diode of the higher half-bridge and to the phase having the
most negative voltage for the diode of the lower half-bridge.
The rectifier voltage and the rectifier current are connected to
the phase voltages and the phase currents by means of a
commutation vector (whose elements are exposed in Table I)
written as follows :
| | | |
T
r r r R
S = (35)
where the T subscript is the transpose of a vector. The
relations between the rectifier voltage, the rectifier current ,
the stator voltage and the rotor current are expressed as :
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
R
t
R R R
t
R R
t
R R
V S V I S i
V S V i S I
;
;
2
1
2
1
= =
= =
(37)
where [i ] = [ i
a
, i
b
, i
c
]
T
is the stator currents vector and [V]
=[ v
a
, v
b
, v
c
]
T
is the stator voltages vector. So, the stator
phases voltages can be expressed in a vector-matrix form as
follows
| | | | | | | | | | | | i
dt
d
L i R e V
s
= (38)
where:
| |
(
(
(

=
c
b
a
e
e
e
e ; | |
(
(
(

=
s
s
s
L M M
M L M
M M L
L ; | |
(
(
(

=
s
s
s
s
R
R
R
R
0 0
0 0
0 0
[e] the EMF vector, R
s
the per-phase stator resistance, L the
main inductance of a stator phase and M is the mutual
inductance between two stator phases.
Combining (37) and (38), the differential equation governing
the generator-rectifier system can be written as [7]:
| | | | | |
| | | | | | | || | ( ) ( )


R R s
t
R
t
s
R
t
R
R
I R S R S e R
S L S
dt
dI
+
=
1
(39)
A. Computation of electromagnetic torque:
The general electromagnetic torque equation is written as:
( ) ( ) ( )
c
m
j
j j em
T t i t E t + =

=1
1
.

(40)
V
R
R
i
R
e
a
e
b
e
c
R
s
L
s
i
a
i
b
i
c
Fig. 4. Circuit diagram for the generator with rectifier model
Table I : Values of the commutation vector components
V
+
V
-

r

r

r
V
a
V
c
1 0 -1
V
b
V
c
0 1 -1
V
b
V
a
-1 1 0
V
c
V
a
-1 0 1
V
c
V
b
0 -1 1
V
a
V
b
1 -1 0
1258
where T
c
is the cogging torque, m is the number of phases, E
j
and i
j
are respectively the EMF and the current of the phase j.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUTION
The proposed analytical model is now used to study a 10
kW / 130 rpm, 28-poles, three-phase armature windings
accommodated in 84 stator slots AFPMSG. The rotor PMs are
surface mounted, axially magnetized and the remanence is
1.25 T. The geometrical dimensions of the studied AFPMSG
are: R
i
=0.31 m and R
o
= 0.35 m, L
a
= 5.1 mm, e = 1.3 mm
and L
w
= 65 mm. These values are issued from an
optimization design procedure based on the global equations
and using the genetic algorithm [8].
Figure 5 reports the comparison between the magnetic field
components in the airgap calculated by (16) and (17) and the
2D FEA simulation results. These magnetic field components
are calculated in the medium of airgap (z = e/2) and for an
arbitrary angular position ( = 0) of the rotor with respect to
the stator. The effect of the slots is clearly visible. In figures 6
and 7, the computed values of the axial flux density are
compared to the FEA simulation results respectively on the
surface between the airgap and the PMs area (z = e) and in the
medium of PMs area (z = e+l
a
/2). The effect of the slots
decreases progressively as z increases.
In the three figures 5, 6 and 7, the computed axial flux values
are slightly lower than the corresponding FEA simulation
results in front of the slots. In spite of the small differences,
the results obtained from the presented analytical model can
be considered as largely satisfactory.
Figure 8 shows the three phases EMF waveforms obtained
using the analytical expression (31). Figure 9 gives the phase
stator current waveform when the three phase voltage of
generator is rectified and then connected to a resistive load.
Figure 10 shows the rectified current wave form. The
temporal variation of active power is presented in Fig. 11. The
fluctuation of in the power is due to the effect of
commutation.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, an analytical modeling of an AFPMSG is
investigated. The proposed model is based on an exact 2D
solution of the magnetic field in the generator. . This exact 2D
Fig. 8. Simulated EMF per phase for a 130 rpm versus the angular
position of the rotor with respect the stator frame
0 5 10 15 20 25
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
Stator surface
2D FEA
Analytical model
PMs remanence
B
z
B
phi
Fig. 5. Comparison between FEA results and analytical magnetic model
in the airgap for arbitrary angular position.
0 5 10 15 20 25
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
Analytical model
2D FEM
Fig. 6. Comparison between FEA results and analytical magnetic model
for z = e and arbitrary angular position .
0 5 10 15 20 25
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2D FEA
Analytical model
Fig. 7. Comparison between FEA results and analytical magnetic model
for z = e+la/2 and arbitrary angular position.
1259
solution of the magnetic field is obtained using the separation
of variables method to solve the magnetic vector potential
formulation resulting from Maxwell equations. Then, the
generators quantities such as the phase EMF, the cogging
torque and electromagnetic torque were written based on the
developed exact 2D solution. Finally, the proposed model was
used to study an AFPMSG dedicated to 10 kW / 130 rpm
WEC system. the obtained results were compared with those
stemming from 2D FEA. According to the simulation results,
it is possible to evaluate the performance of the AFPMSG
with reasonable accuracy via the developed analytical model.
REFERENCES
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permanent-magnet generator," IEE proceedings-B, vol. 139, no. 6,
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[3] B. J. Chalmers, W. Wu, E. Spooner, "An axial-flux permanent magnet
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[5] J. Azzouzi, G. Barakat and B. Dakyo, "Analytical model for a design
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th
European conference on Power
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2
nd
- 4
th
, 2003.
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nd
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th
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th
international conference of electrical
machines (ICEM 04), Cracow, Poland, September 5-8, 2004.
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16
0
5
10
15
20
25
Fig. 10. Rectified current waveform
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Fig. 11. Temporal variation of active power.
0.04 0.045 0.05 0.055 0.06 0.065
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
Fig. 9. Phase current waveform
1260