PMG: Numerical Model of a Fault Tolerant Permanent Magnet Generator for High RPM Applications

RESUME L’industrie aeronautique fait face aujourd’hui a de nombreux defis. Ces defis, tant sur les plans environnemental qu’economique et social, ont force l’industrie a se tourner vers de nouvelles facons de faire et de penser. C’est dans ce contexte qu’est ne le concept de l’avion plus electrique (aussi appele dans la litterature More Electrical Aircraft – MEA). Ce concept vise a augmenter la contribution de l’energie electrique au sein des aeronefs en comparaison avec les sources d’energie plus traditionnelles telles que l’energie hydraulique ou mecanique. Afin de pouvoir supporter cette demande croissante en energie, la generation d’electricite a bord des appareils doit aussi subir une reingenierie. C’est donc en support au MEA que le moteur plus electrique (aussi appele dans la litterature More Electrical Engine – MEE) a vu le jour. C’est precisement dans le cadre des moteurs plus electriques que le present projet s’inscrit. Ce projet, realise en partenariat avec Pratt & Whitney Canada, se veut une premiere approche a la modelisation electrique de cette nouvelle generation de generateurs destines aux aeronefs. Les principaux objectifs de ce projet sont d’etudier le fonctionnement du NAEM (New Architecture Electromagnetic Machine) et de bâtir un modele simplifie de ce generateur sous EMTP-RV capable de reproduire le comportement du NAEM en regime permanent. Ce memoire contient les resultats obtenus dans le cadre d’un premier projet de modelisation du generateur developpe par Pratt & Whitney Canada (New Architecture Electromagnetic Machine – NAEM) sous un logiciel de simulation electrique. Le modele construit par Pratt & Whitney Canada sous MagNet, un logiciel de simulation par elements finis, a ete utilise comme reference dans le cadre de ce projet. Il a ete possible de developper un modele electrique qui calque bien le comportement du modele magnetique de reference pour des conditions d’operation en regime permanent. Quelques pistes de solutions techniques sont abordees dans la discussion afin de dresser une liste sommaire des travaux a considerer pour la poursuite du projet. ----------ABSTRACT The aerospace industry is confronting an increasing number of challenges these days. One can think for instance of the environmental challenges as well as the economic and social ones to name a few. These challenges have forced the industry to turn their design philosophy toward new ways of doing things. It is in this context that was born the More Electrical Aircraft (MEA) concept. This concept aims at giving a more prominent part to electrical power in the overall installed power balance aboard aircrafts (in comparison to more traditional power sources such as mechanical and hydraulic). In order to be able to support this increasing demand in electrical power, the electric power generation aboard aircrafts needed reengineering. This is one of the main reasons the More Electrical Engine (MEE) concept was born: to serve the needs of the MEA philosophy. It is precisely under the MEE concept that this project takes place. This project, realized in collaboration with Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC), is a first attempt at the electrical modelling of this new type of electrical generator designed for aircrafts. The main objectives of this project are to understand the principles of operation of the New Architecture Electromagnetic Machine (NAEM) and to build a simplified model for EMTP-RV for steady-state simulations. This document contains the results that were obtained during the electrical modelling project of the New Architecture Electromagnetic Machine (NAEM) by the author using data from PWC. The model built by PWC using MagNet, a finite element analysis software, was used as the reference during the project. It was possible to develop an electrical model of the generator that replicate with a good accuracy the behaviour of the model of reference under steady-state operation. Some technical avenues are explored in the discussion in order to list the key improvements that will need to be done to the electrical model in future work.