Reducing the Structural Mass of Large Direct Drive Wind Turbine Generators through Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces Enabled by Hybrid Additive Manufacturing
As the power output of direct drive generators increases, they become prohibitively large with much of this material structural support. In this work, implicit modeling was coupled to finite element analysis through a genetic algorithm variant to automate lattice optimization for the rotor of a 5 MW...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-03-01
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| Series: | Clean Technologies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/3/1/13 |
| _version_ | 1797416559888564224 |
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| author | Austin C. Hayes Gregory L. Whiting |
| author_facet | Austin C. Hayes Gregory L. Whiting |
| author_sort | Austin C. Hayes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As the power output of direct drive generators increases, they become prohibitively large with much of this material structural support. In this work, implicit modeling was coupled to finite element analysis through a genetic algorithm variant to automate lattice optimization for the rotor of a 5 MW permanent magnet direct drive generator for mass reduction. Three triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS) were chosen: Diamond, Schwartz Primitive, and Gyroid. Parameter and functionally graded lattice optimization were employed to reduce mass within deflection criteria. Inactive mass for the 5 MW Diamond, Schwartz Primitive, and Gyroid optimized designs was 10,043, 10,858, and 10,990 kg, respectively. The Schwartz Primitive rotor resulted in a 34% reduction in inactive mass compared to a 5 MW baseline design. Radial and axial deflections were below the critical limit of 0.65 and 32.17 mm, respectively. The lowest torsional deflection was seen in the Schwartz Primitive TPMS lattice at 3.89 mm. Based on these designs, hybrid additive manufacturing with investment casting was used to validate manufacturability in metal. A fused deposition modeling (FDM) TPMS topology was printed for validation of the FEA results. Comparison between digital image correlation of the FDM printed design and FEA design resulted in a 6.7% deformation difference for equivalent loading conditions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:05:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1265a1f8c33c432ca991792780c1d165 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2571-8797 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:05:57Z |
| publishDate | 2021-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Clean Technologies |
| spelling | doaj.art-1265a1f8c33c432ca991792780c1d1652023-12-03T12:03:22ZengMDPI AGClean Technologies2571-87972021-03-013122724210.3390/cleantechnol3010013Reducing the Structural Mass of Large Direct Drive Wind Turbine Generators through Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces Enabled by Hybrid Additive ManufacturingAustin C. Hayes0Gregory L. Whiting1Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80303, USAPaul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80303, USAAs the power output of direct drive generators increases, they become prohibitively large with much of this material structural support. In this work, implicit modeling was coupled to finite element analysis through a genetic algorithm variant to automate lattice optimization for the rotor of a 5 MW permanent magnet direct drive generator for mass reduction. Three triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS) were chosen: Diamond, Schwartz Primitive, and Gyroid. Parameter and functionally graded lattice optimization were employed to reduce mass within deflection criteria. Inactive mass for the 5 MW Diamond, Schwartz Primitive, and Gyroid optimized designs was 10,043, 10,858, and 10,990 kg, respectively. The Schwartz Primitive rotor resulted in a 34% reduction in inactive mass compared to a 5 MW baseline design. Radial and axial deflections were below the critical limit of 0.65 and 32.17 mm, respectively. The lowest torsional deflection was seen in the Schwartz Primitive TPMS lattice at 3.89 mm. Based on these designs, hybrid additive manufacturing with investment casting was used to validate manufacturability in metal. A fused deposition modeling (FDM) TPMS topology was printed for validation of the FEA results. Comparison between digital image correlation of the FDM printed design and FEA design resulted in a 6.7% deformation difference for equivalent loading conditions.https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/3/1/13permanent magnet direct drive generatoradditive manufacturingstructural optimizationimplicit modelingTPMS latticesgenerative design |
| spellingShingle | Austin C. Hayes Gregory L. Whiting Reducing the Structural Mass of Large Direct Drive Wind Turbine Generators through Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces Enabled by Hybrid Additive Manufacturing Clean Technologies permanent magnet direct drive generator additive manufacturing structural optimization implicit modeling TPMS lattices generative design |
| title | Reducing the Structural Mass of Large Direct Drive Wind Turbine Generators through Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces Enabled by Hybrid Additive Manufacturing |
| title_full | Reducing the Structural Mass of Large Direct Drive Wind Turbine Generators through Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces Enabled by Hybrid Additive Manufacturing |
| title_fullStr | Reducing the Structural Mass of Large Direct Drive Wind Turbine Generators through Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces Enabled by Hybrid Additive Manufacturing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reducing the Structural Mass of Large Direct Drive Wind Turbine Generators through Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces Enabled by Hybrid Additive Manufacturing |
| title_short | Reducing the Structural Mass of Large Direct Drive Wind Turbine Generators through Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces Enabled by Hybrid Additive Manufacturing |
| title_sort | reducing the structural mass of large direct drive wind turbine generators through triply periodic minimal surfaces enabled by hybrid additive manufacturing |
| topic | permanent magnet direct drive generator additive manufacturing structural optimization implicit modeling TPMS lattices generative design |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/3/1/13 |
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