High-performance electric machines for renewable energy generation and efficient drives

Advances in permanent magnets, electronics and design techniques over the p ast thirty years have led to the development of a new generation of electri c machines. Sintered rare-earth neodymium-iron-boron magnets have a magneti c energy product up to an order of magnitude larger than those of alnico an d ferrite magnets, with high remanence and coercive force. Coupled with new smart power electronics and the use of advanced computer aided design opti misation. the new machines are of high efficiency and/or compact size. Some state of the art developments of high-performance machines are reviewed wi th particular examples drawn from a number of novel designs developed by UT S and CSIRO, (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.