First gearbox-generator combo goes to German OEM

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Excerpt: Wind gear manufacturer Moventas and generator manufacturer The Switch, have announced the delivery of the first commercial order for FusionDrive, a gearbox and generator combination. The first delivery is going to Germany-based DeWind. “We think FusionDrive is the next big thing for the wind …

Generator manufacturer wins funding to encourage more exports

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Excerpt: Danotek, a Michigan-based manufacture of efficient and reliable permanent magnet generators, has been approved for funding from that state’s new State Trade Export Promotion (STEP) program. The program, funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration and administered by the Michigan Econom …

Generator company has ideas for lowering cost of energy

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Excerpt: As wind and solar compete as serious contenders in generating more energy, energy produced must be as cheap, if not cheaper, than that of fossil-based sources, and the quality of energy equally as high, says The Switch in recent news. The company says the formula for lowering the cost of solar a …

Six principles for building cost-effective wind turbine generators

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Excerpt: The six principles are intended for wind-turbine manufacturers that are expanding in the growing U.S. market. Following the principles will assist the companies in delivering cost-effective, safer equipment that is compliant with appropriate standards. The paper is authored by Industry Consul …

Clever MW-sized generator uses printed circuit-board stator and PM-rotor

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Excerpt: A Colorado-based company claims its axial gap, permanent magnet, direct-drive generator can produce the same torque with less than half the mass of comparably rated iron-core, direct-drive versions. The proprietary air-core stator, developed by Boulder Wind Power (boulderwindpower.com), contains …

Generators 101

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Excerpt: The wind industry uses induction and permanent magnet designs. There are many variations of these two, but in general terms, the induction generator must be spun at about 1,000 rpm or more to produce useful power. It produces current by first generating an electric field by passing current through a …

Commentary: Five reasons for optimism in wind, and more

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Excerpt: This edited commentary comes from Jukka-Pekka Mäkinen, president and CEO of  permanent-magnet-generator manufacturer TheSwitch   The Switch came to the market five years ago on a mission to bring better drive train technology to wind power generation and allows more energy per turbi …

Software ready for designing electric machines (think generators)

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Excerpt: The latest release of MotorSolve, electric-machine design software, is now available. Engineers from a wide range of industries use Infolytica software to design and analyze applications such as electromechanical devices, non-destructive testing (NDT), induction heating, power electronics, senso …

Danotek will provide Tecogen with PM generators

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Excerpt: Danotek Motion Technologies (Danotek), a manufacture of permanent magnet (PM) rotating equipment for wind energy, will supply 40 PM generators to Tecogen Inc., 100-kW each. Tecogen of Waltham, MA, is a manufacturer of natural gas fueled engine-driven cogeneration systems. Since 2005, Danotek has …

Detecting generator defects

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Excerpt: Most of the recent end-of-warranty inspections in the US market seem focused on gearbox health. This is rightfully so because the component has a rather high failure rate and associated costs. But what about the generator? How do you inspect the generator which is also a high-ticket item to repa …