Structure Optimization of Rotor Supporting of
Permanent Magnet Direct Drive Synchronous
Generators for Large Wind Turbine Based on
Genetic Algorithm and Finite Element Method
Z. Y. Wu, Student Member, IEEE, R. H. Qu, Senior Member, IEEE, J. Li, Member, IEEE, H. Y. Fang,
Z. S. Fu
Abstract--As wind turbines increase their power rating, the
size and mass grows as well. The higher reliability is
demanded in order to minimize the maintenance. Permanent
magnet direct drive (PMDD) synchronous generators are a
good solution since they omit the gearbox. While the large
generator mass has been also a key difficult problem limiting
the practical use of PMDD generator, which makes them
difficult to build, transport and install. In this paper, the rotor
supporting structure of a 7MW PMDD generator is optimized
by combining finite element method with genetic algorithm
(GA) in order to improve the optimization efficiency. In this
optimization function, it takes the minimum weight as the
objective, the structure parameters of rotor supporting as the
key design variables, and the deflection as the constraint
condition. Comprehensive simulations and comparisons
demonstrate that the method is very feasible and efficient,
which could give good reference to the structural optimization
in practice.
Index Terms--Wind turbine, permanent magnet direct
drive (PMDD), genetic algorithm (GA), structure
optimization, finite element model (FEM), structure
optimization
I. INTRODUCTION
P ERMANENT magnet direct drive (PMDD) wind
turbine generator concepts are more attractive due to
advantages of simplifying drive train and increasing energy
yield and higher reliability because the gearbox is omitted
[1]. However, due to the low-speed operation, PMDD
generators have disadvantages such as the large diameter,
This work was supported in part by the China Postdoctoral Science
Foundation under Grant 2014M562022.
Z. Y. Wu is with Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Wuhan, Hubei, China. (e-mail: wzy5221027@ 163.com).
R. H. Qu is with Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Wuhan, Hubei, China. (phone: +86-027-8754-4355; fax: +86-27-8754-
0937;e-mail: ronghaiqu@mail.hust.edu.cn).
J. Li is with Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Wuhan, Hubei, China. (e-mail: jianli@hust.edu.cn).
H. Y. Fang is with Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Wuhan, Hubei, China. (e-mail: d201377348@hust.edu.cn).
Z. S. Fu is with Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Wuhan, Hubei, China. (e-mail: fzsbeyond@hust.edu.cn).
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heavy weight, and high cost [2]. With the increase of power
rating and the decrease of wind turbine rotor speeds, these
direct drive systems are becoming larger and even more
expensive, and also have higher technical dif¿culties of
transport and assembly [3-5]. The mass of the rotor
supporting is the dominant component of the total mass of
PMDD generator [6]. The structure has to be stiff and
robust since it transmits torque from the air gap and
maintains the air gap clearance against the normal
component of Maxwell stress and holds the active
electromagnetic materials in place against gravity [7]. The
other reason of heavy weight is that some specific structure
parameters of rotor supporting such as the thickness of steel
plate and the number of the stiffeners are still determined
by the experience, and which usually results in material
waste. The aim of this work is employing an optimization
method that can determine the most optimal structure
parameters. The properties can not only meet requirements
but also the mass is minimized. The researchers did the
similar works early [8]. Firstly, an analytical model was
established for deflection calculation of a disc rotor
supporting under radial electromagnetic force. The
deflections that the analytical models returned for each
structure were used as criteria to optimize the generator’s
mass. Then, with the use of a genetic algorithm (GA), an
optimization function was created that would minimize the
weight of the rotor supporting structure, and the deflection
and the mass are all analytical model. But for the
complicated supporting structure with lightweight holes and
stiffeners, the deflection and the mass are difficult to be
derived by analytical method. For solving the problem,
firstly, parameterized finite element model (FEM) is built to
calculate the deflection of an actual rotor supporting instead
of analytical model. Then, GA is used to optimize the
modelled structure and the objective function that was
created for this research seeks to minimize the total mass of
the structure while meeting deflection criteria.
II. STRUCTURE OF THE 7MW PMDD GENERATOR
An actual rotor supporting of the 7MW PMDD generator

is treated as research object. The main data of the generator
are given in Table I. It’s designed as an interior permanent
magnet (IPM) [9] and radial flux machine. The V-shape
rotor [10] is selected for the 7 MW PMDD generator. The
inner rotor structure with the single bearing system is
applied in the 7 MW PMDD generator, as illustrated in Fig.
1. The generator is composed of a single main bearing, a
stator frame, a cover plate, a supporting cylinder and a rotor
supporting. The hub, rotor supporting and supporting
cylinder are connected directly to the inner race of the main
bearing. The supporting cylinder plays a role in supporting
the rotor. There are some stiffeners in the supporting
cylinder to improve its stiffness. The outer race of the main
bearing is connected to the cover plate which is fasten to
the nacelle. The stator frame is connected to the cover plate.
Cover plate
Stator frame
for improving stiffness. The structural variables that are
used to create different structures are listed as follows:
z the outer diameter of the lightweight hole D1 
z the inner diameter of the lightweight hole D2
z the distance between supporting plate and the steel
shaft l1
z the top length of the stiffeners l2
z the bottom length of the stiffeners l3
z the distance between the stiffener and lightweight hole
l4
z the thickness of the steel shaft t1
z the thickness of the rotor yoke t2
z the thickness of the supporting plate t3
z the thickness of the stiffeners t4
z the number of the stiffeners n1
z the number of the lightweight hole n2

Nacelle
Rotor supporting

Hub

Main bearing Fig. 2. Rotor supporting of the 7MW PMDD generator

Supporting cylinder

Fig. 1. Mechanical structure diagram of the 7 MW PMDD generator

TABLE I
Specifications of the 7MW Generator
Parameter Unit Value
rated power MW 7 Fig. 3. Depiction of the variable dimensions that were used for the
rotating speed rpm 12 optimization of the generator structure
stator slot number 216 The above variables are illustrated in Fig. 3. All of these
pole number 180 variables are allowed to vary between specific values so
air gap length mm 7 that the rotor supporting could be modelled and optimized.
rotor outer diameter mm 7676
The parameterized FEM which combines design variables
stator outer diameter mm 8044
axial length mm 975 with model structure is the foundation to realize the
structure optimization. The shape can be changed by
III. THE OPTIMIZATION METHOD dimension driving in the parameterized FEM. In the paper,
the parameterized modeling is carried out by the ANSYS
A. the Parameterized FEM parametric design language (APDL). Here the appropriate
Fig. 2 is a graphic depiction of the rotor supporting of constraints and forces (normal stress q and gravity g) are
the 7MW PMDD generator. The steel shaft combined with applied and material constants are assigned [11]. In this
hub is welded with the supporting plate in the center of case the axis of the generator is set at 5° to the horizontal.
generator, as illustrated in Fig 2. As can be seen from this The radial deflection due to the normal stress q and gravity
figure, the outside of supporting plate is rotor yoke into g is used as criteria, so the lightest structure can be found.
which permanent magnet are embedded. The lightweight The allowable deflection value is 5% of the airgap
holes are dug to reduce the weight of the rotor supporting. clearance.
The stiffeners are welded on the back of supporting plate


B. the Optimization Model
The objective function used here seeks to minimize
total mass of the structure while meeting deflection criteria
that is mentioned earlier. The deflection should not exceed
a specific limit in order for the structural design to be
robust, but the dimensions should be great enough to
provide the necessary torque that is needed at the same
time. The optimization model can be found as shown in
equation (1).
M min = f ( l1 , l2 , l3 , l4 , t1 , t2 , t3 , t4 , D1 , D2 , n1 , n2 )
8) Substituting the extracted results into the fitness
function to evaluate the individuals;
9) Creating offspring from current population using the
three operators namely selection, crossover and
mutation;
10) Replace the current population with the new
population;
11) Repeat the above step 4) until the termination criterion
is reached.
The optimization process based on FEM and GA is
(1)
shown as Fig. 4.

s.t. RMS ≤ 5%δ

where M is the mass of rotor supporting, RMS is the
maximum radial deflection for rotor subjected to the normal
stress q and gravity g, δ is the airgap clearance,
δ = 7mm . The following ranges of the parameters are
chosen:
0.2835m ≤ l1 ≤ 0.347m 0.1395m ≤ l2 ≤ 0.171m
0.0981m ≤ l3 ≤ 0.1296m 0.09m ≤ l4 ≤ 0.121m
0.1125m ≤ t1 ≤ 0.144m 0.0405m ≤ t2 ≤ 0.048m
0.045m ≤ t3 ≤ 0.0605m 0.018m ≤ t4 ≤ 0.0215m
6.025m ≤ D1 ≤ 7.3m 3.2m ≤ D2 ≤ 3.835m
n1 = 6,8,10,12 n2 = 3, 6
C. the Optimization Procedure
GA written by Matlab is taken as the main program, in
which the individual fitness is calculated by calling the
deflection results of FEM [12]. In other words, the batch
processing mode of ANSYS is carried out using system-call Fig. 4. The process of optimization based on FEM and GA
function in the main program, and the parameterized FEM
program can be invoked. The data of different program IV. THE OPTIMIZATION RESULTS
can’t be exchanged directly, therefore a data interface For the rotor supporting, the number and dimensions
should be developed to realize data exchanging indirectly. of lightweight hole are determined by the stiffeners, for
In the paper, because the Matlab and APDL all have file example if there are six stiffeners, there are only three or
handling ability, the external data files are used to exchange six lightweight holes. Firstly, the structure without
the data between different programs. Number of individuals lightweight holes is analyzed, and then the number and
per subpopulations is 10. Maximum Number of generations dimensions of lightweight hole are optimized.
is 20. Generation gap is 1. The optimization procedure is
summarized as follows:
1) Defining parameters such as initialization parameters,
design variables, the operational parameters of GA,
the loop control variables and the arrays recording
populations, codes and fitness;
2) Binary coding for the design variables;
3) Generating the initial populations;
4) Decoding;
5) Establishing parameterized FEM of rotor supporting
based on decoded design variables using the pre-
processing calculation module of ANSYS;
6) Calculating the deflection of two cases using solution
Fig. 5. The deflection of the initial structure without lightweight hole
module of ANSYS;
7) Extracting the results of deflection and mass;


 Fig. 5 shows the deflection of the initial structure
without lightweight hole. The max deflection is 0.101mm
while the allowable deflection is 0.35mm. Thus, the initial
structure can be optimized further. The first optimal results
are listed in Table II. It is seen that the total mass can be
reduced from 32000kg to 28600kg by the new optimization.
Fig. 6 shows the deflection of the optimal structure without
lightweight holes. The max deflection (0.132mm) is much
smaller than the allowable value 0.35mm, which
demonstrates that the material hasn’t been used efficiently,
and the mass of the structure can still be lighten by the
lightweight holes. Fig. 7 shows the evolutionary process
which shows clearly that the total mass appears an
obviously decreasing trend. The initial populations Fig. 7. The mass of structure without lightweight hole during evolution
converge to optimal solution after about 8 generations. On the basis of the optimal supporting structure
TABLE II without lightweight holes, the dimensions and number of
COMPARISON OF THE INITIAL AND OPTIMAL STRUCTURE lightweight holes will be optimized further. The optimal
FOR SUPPORTING STRUCTURE
Initial 1st Optimal 2nd Optimal
results are listed in Table II. At last, the optimal structure is
Parameter checked (Fig. 8). The maximal deformation is 0.34mm,
structure structure structure
l1 315mm 343mm 343mm which is still within the allowable range. The mass of
l2 155mm 154mm 154mm
supporting structure decreases from 32000kg to 19000kg,
l3 109mm 109mm 109mm
l4 107mm which is reduced by 40% in the condition of satisfying
t1 125mm 115mm 115mm deformation by the optimization, as shown in Table II.
t2 42mm 41mm 41mm Fig.9 shows the evolutionary process, which shows clearly
t3 50mm 45mm 45mm
t4 20mm 19mm 19mm that the total mass appears an obviously decreasing trend.
D1 6900mm The initial populations converge to optimal solution after
D2 3235mm about 11 generations.
n1 8 6 6
n2 6
deflection 0.101mm 0.132mm 0.34mm
mass 32000kg 28600kg 19000kg

Fig. 8. The deflection of the optimal structure with lightweight hole

Fig. 6. The mass of structure without lightweight hole during evolution

Fig. 9. The mass of structure with lightweight hole during evolution


 V. THE COMPARISON WITH OTHER OPTIMIZATION METHOD VI. CONCLUSION
At present, ANSYS software also has an optimization In this work, an optimization method based on GA and
design toolbox. For the design optimization, the first step is finite element method is presented for the structure design
to build FEM. The second step is to optimize the FEM by of the rotor supporting of the 7MW PMDD generator. The
response surface model (RSM) rather than GA which is simulation results show that the structure parameters of the
used in the paper. The same rotor supporting is also rotor supporting that have the lightest weight while meeting
optimized using the ANSYS optimization toolbox. The the deflection criteria can be determined. The mass and
final optimization results are summarized in Table III. Fig. defection of the rotor supporting under electromagnetic
10 shows the deflection of the optimized rotor supporting. force and mechanical force can be calculated exactly by
Compared with the optimization in the Table II, the results finite element method which is more suitable for
of different method are very similar, which also complicated structure than the analytical method. For the
demonstrates the method combining GA with finite element complicated rotor supporting with lightweight holes and
method is reasonable. Although the results are similar, but stiffeners, it is difficult to calculate the defection under
the efficiency is very different. The whole optimizing normal stress and gravity by analytical method.
course takes about three hours by ANSYS optimization The optimization results are also checked by ANSYS
toolbox, but it only takes about twenty minutes by the optimization toolbox. The results demonstrate that the
method presented in this paper. This is because that two optimization method presented in this paper is technically
different kinds of optimization methods have been used. feasible. Although the two optimization results are very
GA as an intelligent optimization algorithm, is computing similar, the computation time is shortened substantially by
models simulating the evolutionary mechanisms of nature. GA. This is because GA is an intelligent optimization
So GA can find the approximate optimal solution fast. But algorithm which simulates the evolutionary mechanisms of
in ANSYS, the optimization method is RSM which is the nature. However, the RSM is an approximate model which
approximate mathematical model of deflection of rotor is modeled by a large number of samples and data in DOE,
supporting. The accuracy of model depends on the numbers and which needs a lot of calculations. GA is the better
of sample in the design of experiments (DOE). The method solving the high dimensional optimization
numbers of sample are up to 237, for which it takes a long problems than RSM.
time. Thus, the GA can reduce the computation cost of This work chooses the rotor supporting as optimized
optimization models comparing with RSM. object to prove availability of the method, and the same
TABLE III method can also be applied to the stator supporting or other
THE OPTIMIZATION RESULTS BY RSM
complicated structure components of generators.
Parameter Value Parameter Value
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BIOGRAPHIES
Zhenyu Wu was born in Liaoning, China. He received the B.S. and M.S.
degree in mechanical engineering from Liaoning Technical University,
Fuxin, China, in 2004 and 2007, respectively, Ph.D. degree in mechanical
engineering from Northeastern University, Shenyang, China, in 2010.
From 2010 to 2013, he as a senior mechanical engineer worked Wuhan
Marine Machinery Plant CO. LTD, Wuhan, China. He is a post-doctor
of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong Universi
ty of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. His research interests
include structural optimization of permanent magnet direct drive wind
generators and dynamic analysis of high-speed permanent magnet
machines.
Ronghai Qu (S’01---M’02---SM’05) received the B.E.E. and M.S.E.E.
degrees from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 1993 and 1996,
respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, in 2002. In 1998, he joined the
Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortiums as
Research Assistant. He became a Senior Electrical Engineer with
Northland, a Scott Fetzer Company in 2002. In 2003, he joined the
General Electric (GE) Global Research Center, Niskayuna, NY, USA, as a
Senior Electrical Engineer with the Electrical Machines and Drives
Laboratory. He has authored over 50 published technical papers and is the
holder of over 40 patents/patent applications. From 2010 till now, he is the
"Thousands of People Plan" professor in Huazhong University of Science
& Technology, Wuhan, China. Prof. Qu is a full member of Sigma Xi. He
has been the recipient of several awards from GE Global Research Center
since 2003, including the Technical Achievement and Management
Awards. He is the recipient of the 2003 and 2005 Best Paper Awards, third
prize, from the Electric Machines Committee of the IEEE Industry
Applications Society at the 2002 and 2004 IAS Annual Meeting,
respectively.
Jian Li (M’10) received the B.E.E degree from Dalian University of
Technology, Dalian, China, in 2005, and the M.S.E.E and PhD degrees
from Dong-A University, Busan, Korea, in 2007 and 2011, respectively.
He is currently associate research professor of the School of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Wuhan, China. His research interests include design and analysis of PM
and switched reluctance machines, electric drives.
Haiyang Fang was born in Hubei, China. He received the B.S. degree in
mechanical engineering from Huazhong University of Science and
Technology, Wuhan, China, in 2013. He is currently working toward the
Ph.D. degree in Huazhong University of Science and Technology in
electrical engineering. His research interests include mechanical design
and analysis of large-scale wind generators and high-speed permanent
magnet machines.
Zansong Fu was born in Hubei, China. He received the B.S. degree in
mechanical engineering from Huazhong University of Science and
Technology, Wuhan, China, in 2013. He is currently working toward the
Ph.D. degree in Huazhong University of Science and Technology in
electrical engineering. His research interests include mechanical design
and analysis of large-scale wind generators and high-speed permanent
magnet machines.