Taguchi Method for Design and Optimization of a High-Speed Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator Protected by Retention Sleeve

High-speed permanent magnet synchronous generators (HS-PMSGs) suffer from mechanical stresses due to high speeds. With the predicted mechanical stresses that may occur in the rotor of the HS-PMSGs, the design of these machines should be very accurate. So, for the HS-PMSGs, a proper electromagnetic coupled with mechanical design is a critical issue. This paper presents a novel method for the electromagnetic and mechanical design of an HS-PMSG by finding an appropriate dimension of the retention sleeve and permanent magnets (PMs) based on the well-known Taguchi optimization method. A 40-kW, 60-krpm, 2-poles and 18-slots HS-PMSG is designed at the first step, and next, it has been optimized by the proposed optimization method, and finally modeled and analyzed through Finite-Element Method (FEM). Results obtained from the electromagnetic and mechanical simulations of the HS-PMSG show that in the optimized design of the HS-PMSG some parameters changed and the HS-PMSG has a better performance compared to the initial design. For example, The effective air gap has been reduced which leads to the better electromagnetic and mechanical performance of HS-PMSG compared to the initial design. By the reduction in the thicknesses of the retention sleeve and the PM, it can be concluded that the total size and dimensions of the HS-PMSG have been reduced. The weight of the PM and the retention sleeve are reduced by about 16.31% and 29.28% responsively, and as a result, the total weight of the HS-PMSG is reduced by approximately 1.94%, The Joule loss is reduced by about 9.80%, the HS-PMSG efficiency has been improved by 0.02%, and finally, the cogging torque is reduced by 27.87%, comparing with the initially designed. The FEM results ensure the electromagnetic and mechanical performance of the machine around the predicted speed of 60-krpm.