Abstract: | This paper presents a method to estimate the output voltage of a high‐speed, surface permanent magnet generator with large air gap length at design stage. The output voltage is estimated by the induced electromotive force and the synchronous inductance obtained from the analytical results of the flux linkage using FEM. Also, a method to classify the synchronous inductance per causative factor is proposed. The air gap leakage inductance is not negligible in a large‐air‐gap machine like this generator. The validity of the proposed method has been proved by the measured values of a generator designed by this method, and the measured values also show that the output voltage of the generator is within the permissible range. The method proposed in this paper will be an effective tool to design a high‐speed, surface permanent magnet generator with large air gap length. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 153(2): 52–60, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20228 |