Matching between straight‐wing nonarticulated vertical axis wind turbine and a new wind turbine generator

In the current wind turbine generation system, there are substantial problems such as the fact that the maximum power of the wind turbine cannot be obtained in the presence of fluctuating wind speed, as well as high cost and low annual net electricity production (due to mismatch between generators and wind turbines). A new wind turbine generator optimized for the wind turbine output is presented in order to solve such problems. This wind turbine generator consists of a permanent magnet generator, a reactor, and a rectifier, and uses neither a control circuit which requires standby electricity nor a PWM converter having a switching element. By selecting the most appropriate combination of a permanent magnet generator with multiple windings and a reactor connected in series with each winding, the maximum output of the wind turbine can be obtained without using a control circuit. The new wind turbine generator was directly coupled with a straight‐wing nonarticulated vertical‐axis wind turbine (SW‐VAWT), and matching of the generator with the wind turbine was examined in field tests. The test results and review confirm that the new wind turbine generator is highly matched with the wind turbine in the presence of fluctuating wind speed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 174(2): 26–35, 2011; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.21036