Performance Characteristics of PMDC Motor of Small-Scale Experimental Ocean Current Turbine

A comprehensive numerical model was developed to address the performance of a permanent magnet direct current (PMDC) motor which is employed as a small-scale three-bladed horizontal axis ocean current turbine. This numerical model development is presented along with a comparison to experimental data to quantify the motor performance. The proposed experimental design is discussed in detail. Due to the nature of the ocean current turbine, it is required to run it first by applying input power, subsequently to be governed by hydrokinetic energy. Thus, a detailed performance of the PMDC motor is essential when it runs as a motor and generator. Based on our preliminary work, the angular speed of the small-scale turbine is less than 500 rpm. Thus, a combination of the PMDC motor and a planetary gearhead is used to fulfill this low-speed requirement. The gearhead is driven in reverse when operating as a generator which leads to poor efficiency. This efficiency is experimentally derived to be 47.8% at maximum speed of 479.4 rpm at 12V.