Our Printed Circuit Board Stator

Enabling Feature: Printed Circuit Board Stator

Design Advantage: Proven, Highly Automated, Quality Controlled Stator Manufacturing

Economic Benefit: Higher Winding Reliability, Less Downtime

Multi-megawatt generators are manufactured using low-volume production methods. These methods are dependent on highly skilled labor and introduce a concern that build quality will depend on the skill of the craftsperson performing the task. The BWP stator, by contrast, is manufactured using mature and repeatable PCB operations. Perfected by the proliferation of computer technology, PCB manufacturing is ubiquitous, robust and cost effective. Our engineers, using proprietary design tools developed by BWP, prescribe the circuit to be etched on the PCB. This formula is electronically transferred to the PCB manufacturer and the PCBs are etched or “printed,” stacked, pressed, drilled, and plated. This automated manufacturing simplicity is unique to BWP for wind turbine applications and it leverages the low cost, high quality, globally installed PCB production base.

BWP’s stator winding insulation is applied to the conductors as an integral part of the automated stator manufacturing process developed for the PCB industry over the last 50 plus years. As such it is subject to very effective manufacturing process controls. This eliminates the common defects associated with conventional motor and generator manufacturing. The BWP insulation and conductor support system is uniform over the entire conductor surface - the end turn areas are encapsulated and supported in the exact same manner as the working area conductors. This is vastly superior to conventional construction, in which the end turns are cantilevered and unsupported.