Maximum power point tracker of wind energy conversion system

In this paper, a simple control strategy for an optimal extraction of output power from grid connected variable speed wind energy conversion system (WECS) is presented. The system consists of a variable speed wind turbine coupled to a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) through a gear box, a diode bridge rectifier, a dc-to-dc boost converter and a current controlled voltage source inverter. The maximum power point tracker (MPPT) extracts maximum power from the wind turbine from cut-in to rated wind velocity by sensing only dc link power. The MPPT step and search algorithm in addition to the DC–DC and DC–AC converters PWM controllers are simulated using MATLAB-SIMULINK software. The obtained simulation results show that the objectives of extracting maximum power from the wind and delivering it correctly to the grid are reached.     

A method of tracking the peak power points for a variable speed wind energy conversion system

In this paper, a method of tracking the peak power in a wind energy conversion system (WECS) is proposed, which is independent of the turbine parameters and air density. The algorithm searches for the peak power by varying the speed in the desired direction. The generator is operated in the speed control mode with the speed reference being dynamically modified in accordance with the magnitude and direction of change of active power. The peak power points in the P-/spl omega/ curve correspond to dP/d/spl omega/=0. This fact is made use of in the optimum point search algorithm. The generator considered is a wound rotor induction machine whose stator is connected directly to the grid and the rotor is fed through back-to-back pulse-width-modulation (PWM) converters. Stator flux-oriented vector control is applied to control the active and reactive current loops independently. The turbine characteristics are generated by a DC motor fed from a commercial DC drive. All of the control loops are executed by a single-chip digital signal processor (DSP) controller TMS320F240. Experimental results show that the performance of the control algorithm compares well with the conventional torque control method.     

An adaptive feedback linearization strategy for variable speed wind energy conversion systems

This paper presents a control strategy based on adaptive feedback linearization intended for variable speed grid‐connected wind energy conversion systems (WECS). The proposed adaptive control law accomplishes energy capture maximization by tracking the wind speed fluctuations. In addition, it linearizes the system even in the presence of turbine model uncertainties, allowing the closed‐loop dynamic behaviour to be determined by a simple tuning of the controller parameters. Particularly, the attention is focused on WECS with slip power recovery, which use a power conversion stage as a rotor‐controlled double‐output induction generator. However, the concepts behind the proposed control strategy are general and can be easily extended to other WECS configurations. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Study and experimental verification of control tuning strategies in a variable speed wind energy conversion system

This paper analyzes and compares different control tuning strategies for a variable speed wind energy conversion system (WECS) based on a permanent-magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). The aerodynamics of the wind turbine (WT) and a PMSG have been modeled. The control strategy used in this research is composed of three regulators, which may be based on either linear or nonlinear controllers. In this analysis, proportional-integral (PI) linear controllers have been used. Two different tuning strategies are analyzed and compared. The main goal is to enhance the overall performance by achieving a low sensitivity to disturbances and minimal overshoot under variable operating conditions. Finally, the results have been verified by an experimental WECS laboratory prototype.     

A fuzzy control strategy for power smoothing and grid dynamic response enrichment of a grid‐connected wind energy conversion system

This paper concentrates on the output power smoothing and the grid dynamic response enhancement of a grid‐interactive MW‐class permanent magnet synchronous generator‐based wind energy conversion system (WECS). A simple fuzzy controller method is applied to improve the overall performance of the WECS. The proposed method can retrieve the storing kinetic energy from the inertia of a wind turbine, perfectly. As a result, it can ensure a proficient power smoothing of the variable speed WECS. On the other hand, the grid side inverter is controlled by the fuzzy controller. This approach can reduce the fluctuation of DC link voltage and can deliver a smooth power to the power grid. The proposed method is compared with two other methods such as the maximum power point tracking control method and the without fuzzy controller method. A simple shunt circuit also includes in the DC link circuit. Therefore, during the system fault condition, the WECS can perform a stable operation. Effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by numerical simulations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison of oscillation damping capability in three power control strategies for PMSG‐based WECS

With the aid of small signal analysis and digital simulations, this paper compares the mechanical and power oscillation damping performances of three power control strategies for the multi‐pole permanent magnetic synchronous generator (PMSG)‐based direct driven wind energy conversion system (WECS). Maximal power point tracking (MPPT) control implemented in the generator side has inherent abilities on the oscillation damping. For the smoothed or constant power requirements, power oscillations are hard to damp, and additional active damping controller is required. Active damping can be achieved with power control on the generator or grid side and DC link voltage control on the generator side. With additional compensator in the power or DC link voltage control loop, a damping torque is produced to suppress the oscillations. An improved control structure, which has inherent oscillation damping capability, is proposed for the power control of WECS. Combined with different power control strategies, this structure can be applied to achieve different power outputs. The validation of the proposed control structure is verified by the simulations. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Control of a switched reluctance generator for variable-speed wind energy applications

This paper presents a novel control system for the operation of a switched reluctance generator (SRG) driven by a variable speed wind turbine. The SRG is controlled to drive a wind energy conversion system (WECS) to the point of maximum aerodynamic efficiency using closed loop control of the power output. In the medium and low speed range, the SRG phase current is regulated using pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) control of the magnetizing voltage. For high speeds the generator is controlled using a single pulse mode. In order to interface the SRG to the grid (or ac load) a voltage-source PWM inverter is used. A 2.5-kW experimental prototype has been constructed. Wind turbine characteristics are emulated using a cage induction machine drive. The performance of the system has been tested over the whole speed range using wind profiles and power impacts. Experimental results are presented confirming the system performance.     

风能转换系统的动态矩阵控制

在实际的变速变桨风力机系统中,模型的强非线性、满负载工况下不稳定的风速及系数参数测量误差的存在,使传统的控制方法难以取得满意的控制效果,因此针对满负载工况下的风能转换系统提出了一种基于多变量动态矩阵控制的控制策略,先构建风能转化系统模型,将时变非线性模型在平衡点处线性化,得到其输入输出偏移量的线性化模型;再利用动态矩阵算法,间接控制发电机转速与功率在额定值处稳定;最后在风轮与电机转动惯量测量误差为40%的情况下进行仿真。结果表明,所得动态矩阵控制器具有较小的波动与较好的鲁棒性,能有效减小系统参数误差的影响,可在安全的工作范围内提供期望的性能,有助于提高电力系统的效率和电能质量。     

Controller design for an induction generator driven by a variable-speed wind turbine

This paper presents the modeling, controller design and a steady-state analysis algorithm for a wind-driven induction generator system. An output feedback linear quadratic controller is designed for the static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) and the variable blade pitch in a wind energy conversion system (WECS) in order to reach the voltage and mechanical power control under both grid-connection and islanding conditions. A two-reference-frame model is proposed to decouple the STATCOM real and reactive power control loops for the output feedback controller. To ensure zero steady-state voltage errors for the output feedback controller, the integrals of load bus voltage deviation and dc-capacitor voltage deviation are employed as the additional state variables. Pole-placement technique is used to determine a proper weighting matrix for the linear quadratic controller such that satisfactory damping characteristics can be achieved for the closed-loop system. Effects of various system disturbances on the dynamic performance have been simulated, and the results reveal that the proposed controller is effective in regulating the load voltage and stabilizing the generator rotating speed for the WECS either connected with or disconnected from the power grid. In addition, proper steady-state operating points for an isolated induction generator can be determined by the proposed steady-state analysis algorithm. Constant output frequency control using the derived steady-state characteristics of the isolated induction generator is then demonstrated in this paper.     

Peak current mode control of three-phase boost rectifiers in discontinuous conduction mode for small wind power generators

This paper presents a peak current mode control scheme of a boost rectifier with low distortion of the input current for wind power systems based on permanent magnet synchronous generators with variable speed operation. The three-phase boost rectifier is operated in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM), and power factor correction techniques are applied. It is shown that the DCM operation significantly reduces the total harmonic distortion of the currents in the permanent magnet synchronous generator, increasing the power factor of the system, so that the vibrations and mechanical stress of the generator are minimized. The characteristics of the DCM boost rectifier are studied considering: (1) the series resistance of the inductors; (2) the modeling and adjustment of peak current mode control yielding a stable loop; (3) the design of an input filter that reduces the switching noise in the currents of the generator.     

Comprehensive control strategy for a variable speed cage machine wind generation unit

A comprehensive control strategy, that addresses all three control objectives in a wind generation system, i.e. control of the local bus voltage to avoid voltage rise, capture of the maximum power in the wind and minimization of the power loss in the induction generator is proposed. The control signals are the desired current wave shapes (instantaneous three-phase currents) of the rectifier and the inverter in a double-sided PWM converter system connected between the wind generating unit and the grid. Studies performed on a complete model for a variable speed cage machine wind generation unit, including wind profile, wind turbine, induction generator, PWM converter, local load and transmission line, show that even as the wind speed changes randomly, the proposed control strategy leads the system to the optimum operating conditions.     

Neural network controller for a permanent magnet generator applied in a wind energy conversion system

In this paper a neural network controller for achieving maximum power tracking as well as output voltage regulation, for a wind energy conversion system (WECS) employing a permanent magnet synchronous generator, is proposed. The permanent magnet generator (PMG) supplies a DC load via a bridge rectifier and two buck–boost converters. Adjusting the switching frequency of the first buck–boost converter achieves maximum power tracking. Adjusting the switching frequency of the second buck–boost converter allows output voltage regulation. The on-times of the switching devices of the two converters are supplied by the developed neural network (NN). The effect of sudden changes in wind speed, and/or in reference voltage on the performance of the NN controller are explored. Simulation results showed the possibility of achieving maximum power tracking and output voltage regulation simultaneously with the developed NN controller. The results proved also the fast response and robustness of the proposed control system.     

Perturbation estimation based robust state feedback control for grid connected DFIG wind energy conversion system

This paper develops a perturbation estimation based robust state feedback control (PER-SFC) scheme of doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) for maximum power point tracking (MPPT). The combinatorial effect of nonlinearities originally stemmed from wind turbine aerodynamics, generator modelling uncertainties and wind speed randomness is aggregated as a perturbation, which is rapidly estimated online by a sliding-mode state and perturbation observer (SMSPO). Then, a linear state feedback controller is designed to fully compensate the perturbation estimate in real-time. Furthermore, only the measurement of rotor speed and reactive power is needed while no accurate DFIG model is required by the proposed approach. Under such framework, the elegant merits of conventional linear state feedback control (favourable implementation simplicity and high reliability) and nonlinear robust control (global control consistency and considerable robustness) can be wisely incorporated. Meanwhile, their inherent drawbacks could be significantly reduced. Case studies are undertaken which verify the effectiveness and superiority of PER-SFC compared to that of other classical methods.     

Energy and reliability benefits of wind energy conversion systems

The electrical energy production and reliability benefits of a wind energy conversion system (WECS) at a specific site depend on many factors, including the statistical characteristics of the site wind speed and the design characteristics of the wind turbine generator (WTG) itself, particularly the cut-in, rated and cut-out wind speed parameters. In general, the higher the degree of the wind site matching with a WECS is, the more are the energy and reliability benefits. An electrical energy production and reliability benefit index designated as the Equivalent Capacity Ratio (ECR) is introduced in this paper. This index can be used to indicate the electrical energy production, the annual equivalent utilization time and the credit of a WECS, and quantify the degree of wind site matching with a WECS. The equivalent capacity of a WECS is modeled as the expected value of the power output random variable with the probability density function of the site wind speed. The analytical formulation of the ECR is based on a mathematical derivation with high accuracy. Twelve WTG types and two test systems are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. The results show that the ECR provides a useful index for a WTG to evaluate the energy production and the relative reliability performance in a power system, and can be used to assist in the determination of the optimal WTG type for a specific wind site.     

基于直流电机的风力机模拟技术研究

分析了风力机的运行原理,建立了风力机模型,制定了简单有效的转速、转矩控制模拟方案,搭建了基于DSP的直流电机风力机模拟平台,应用LabWindows/CVI开发了上位机界面。该风力机模拟系统应用于并网型变速恒频交流励磁双馈风力发电系统,实现了模拟风力机在不同风速、转速下的运行状态,满足了双馈发电机在同步、超同步、亚同步状态下运行以及进行风电系统最大风能追踪等方面研发的需要,可方便用于实验室条件下风电技术的研究。     

Comparative study of speed estimators with highly noisy measurement signals for Wind Energy Generation Systems

This paper presents a comparative study of several speed estimators to implement a sensorless speed control loop in Wind Energy Generation Systems driven by power factor correction three-phase boost rectifiers. This rectifier topology reduces the low frequency harmonics contents of the generator currents and, consequently, the generator power factor approaches unity whereas undesired vibrations of the mechanical system decrease. For implementation of the speed estimators, the compared techniques start from the measurement of electrical variables like currents and voltages, which contain low frequency harmonics of the fundamental frequency of the wind generator, as well as switching frequency components due to the boost rectifier. In this noisy environment it has been analyzed the performance of the following estimation techniques: Synchronous Reference Frame Phase Locked Loop, speed reconstruction by measuring the dc current and voltage of the rectifier and speed estimation by means of both an Extended Kalman Filter and a Linear Kalman Filter.     

Control strategy of a wind turbine drive by an integrated model

In this paper, an integrated equivalent circuit is defined to analyse the operation of a wind generator–rectifier system connected to a DC link, with the electric machine consisting of a surface‐mounted permanent magnet synchronous generator (SPMG) directly coupled to the wind turbine. Such circuit is defined by integrating the models related to the electromechanical equations implemented into a Simulink® code, where the SPMG parameters are derived by the elaboration of sequences of magnetostatic FEM analyses. The integrated equivalent circuit can be very useful to examine the wind generator dynamics because of wind speed variations, and to analyse the influence of the electromechanical parameters on the energy output in order to identify the appropriate control strategies involving the regulation of the rotor speed, the DC link current and the blade pitch angle. In particular, a sensorless algorithm is implemented to estimate the main mechanical quantities (output torque and rotor speed) and to determine the wind speed by means of only electrical measurements. The comparison with an anemometer‐based solution shows that similar performances can be achieved in different operating conditions. The control strategies set up by the circuit model are verified on a 20 kW‐rated SPMG with outer rotor, comparing the sensor and sensorless approaches in terms of capability of energy production, dynamic promptness and sensitivity to parameter disturbances, also with wind turbulence. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigation of maximum wind power extraction using adaptive virtual lookup‐table approach

With the advance of power electronic technology, direct‐driven permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSG) have increasingly drawn interests to wind turbine manufacturers. Unlike a fixed‐speed wind turbine, the maximum power extraction of a PMSG wind turbine is affected by (1) electrical characteristics of the generator, (2) aerodynamic characteristics of the turbine blades, and (3) maximum power extraction strategies. In an environment integrating all the three characteristics, it is found in this paper that the existing commercial lookup‐table maximum power extraction mechanism suitable to a DFIG wind turbine is not suitable to a PMSG wind turbine. Through the integrative study of all the three characteristics, this paper proposes a novel PMSG maximum power extraction design. The special features of the proposed strategy include (i) an adaptive virtual lookup‐table approach for PMSG maximum power extraction and (ii) an implementation of the peak power‐tracking scheme based on a novel direct‐current vector control configuration. The proposed maximum power extraction mechanism with a nested speed‐ and current‐loop control structure is built by using MatLab SimPowerSystems. Simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed PMSG peak power‐tracking strategy has superior performance in various aspects under both stable and gust wind conditions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Open loop wind turbine emulator

A new wind turbine emulator (WTE) is presented, which is able to simulate the turbine power curves without using a closed loop control system. The state of the art emulators use DC or AC motors, closed loop controlled by processors with the turbine power curves recorded. The presented emulator has a DC voltage source, a power resistor and a DC motor with independent excitation. The motor power curve has a shape similar to a wind turbine power curve for a given wind speed; the wind speed variations can be emulated by the variations of the DC voltage source. The open loop emulator is completely different and new, because it works in open loop and does not require the presence of a processor.The following elements are included: the theoretical foundations of the emulator, the emulator power curves adjustment procedure to simulate a commercial wind turbine and the experimental tests.