Comparison of Power Converter Topologies For Permanent Magnet Small Wind Turbine System
Comparison of Power Converter Topologies For Permanent Magnet Small Wind Turbine System
Comparison of Power Converter Topologies For Permanent Magnet Small Wind Turbine System
Abstract Permanent magnet based wind generators are one Magnet Synchronous Generator, PMSG), the differences
of the more promising technology. This paper presents a between the power converter topologies and the extraction
comparison of power converter topologies for permanent
of power from wind for the two configurations described
magnet small wind turbine systems to improve the power
quality and to extract the maximum power from wind. Two above. Section IV treats the use of a braking chopper to
detailed models are presented and explained: the first dissipate the power in excess. Section V presents the grid-
configuration is made by a diode-bridge rectifier, a boost side converter control. Finally, in the Section VI some
converter and an inverter connected to the grid, the second simulation results are proposed.
configuration is a back-to-back converter. The generator
control is designed to maximize the power output and achieve a II. WIND TURBINE TOPOLOGIES
smooth torque and power profile. The operational
characteristics of the two configurations are investigated Several types of generators can be adopted in wind power
through simulations. turbines: dc and ac types, parallel and compound dc
generators, with permanent magnets or electrical field
I. INTRODUCTION excitation, asynchronous or synchronous generators. The
The power of individual wind turbines is constantly right choice depends on the primary source, the type of load
growing as their size (5 MW wind turbines 124 meters and the speed of turbine. Besides, systems differ with
high). It is obvious that the installation of these turbines also respect to their applications, whether they are stand-alone or
create environmental problems. An interesting alternative is connected to the grid. In small wind turbine systems for
constituted by small wind turbines of less than 100 kW. stand-alone and interconnected applications, the choice is
Their power level enables technologically advanced between variable speed asynchronous and synchronous
solutions and their installation can create a cumulative generators.
power not negligible [1]-[3]. In any case the problems Variable speed asynchronous generators are very easy to
associated with noise and visual disturbances do not operate in parallel with large power systems, because the
recommend the use of such turbines in the towns and make utility grid controls voltage and frequency while static and
them an ideal candidate for remote areas with weak reactive compensating capacitors can be used for correction
connections to the electricity grid. This situation creates of the power factor and harmonic reduction. Abrupt speed
opportunities for the enhancement of "power quality" where changes due to load or primary source changes, as usually
the network is weak. In the future these low power wind expected in small power plants, are easily absorbed by its
turbines can be requested to have innovative features such solid rotor, and any current surge is damped by the
as the ability to manage weak grids and subject to frequent magnetization path of its iron core without fear of
disconnections. These turbines must be able to operate demagnetization, as opposed to permanent magnet based
universally: connected to the grid or in the stand-alone mode generators [5]. With the last advances in power electronics,
or forming a microgrid [4]. the use of variable speed Squirrel Cage Induction Generator
This paper presents a comparison of power converter (SCIG) with a double stage ac-dc-ac power conversion has
topologies for permanent magnet small wind turbine become quite attractive, in both power and very high power
systems to improve the power quality and to extract the levels [6].
maximum power from small wind turbine. On the other hand, the Permanent Magnet Generator (PMG)
Section II presents two power converter topologies used in is a good choice too [7]. The PMG differs from induction
small wind turbine systems. The first configuration is made generator in that the magnetization is provided by a
by a diode-bridge rectifier and a boost converter and an permanent magnet pole system on the rotor. In the PMG the
inverter connected to the grid; the second configuration is output frequency bears a fixed relationship to the shaft
made by a back–to-back converter connected to the grid. speed, whereas in the grid connected induction generator,
Section III describes the generator model (Permanent the frequency is closely related to the grid frequency, being
where ms = 3 is the number of phases and n p are the pole Fig. 1 Wind Turbine system. (a): diode-bridge rectifier and boost converter
pairs. (b): back-to-back converter.
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the turbine by a braking chopper. Then the braking chopper
controls the power on the DC bus. Applying the K.C.L. in
the point P (Fig. 5), results:
dv
it = iBC + C dc + i0 (7)
dt
where it is the generator-side converter current, iBC is the
braking chopper current and i0 is the grid-side converter
current. Multiplying the first and the second member of (7)
for vdc results:
dvdc
vdc ⋅ it = vdc ⋅ iBC + vdc ⋅ C + vdc i0 (8)
dt
(a) (b) ∆P = vdc ⋅ it − vdc i0 (9)
Fig.2: Generator-side converter control. (a): diode-bridge rectifier and
boost converter (b): back-to-back converter. The energy-balance of the braking chopper is:
v2 v2
vdc ⋅ iBC = BC = k 2 dc (10)
R R
where k is the duty cycle. Then, the (9) results:
2
vdc dv
∆P = k 2 + vdc ⋅ C dc (11)
R R
Fig. 3: Rotor speed estimated by dq phase locked loop (PLL).
The (11) represents the power exchanged among the braking
C Maximum power extraction chopper, the DC capacitors, the rectifier and the grid
converter. Using this equation is possible to tune a
The time - average mechanical input power Pm at the shaft controller that manages the braking chopper.
of the generator can be calculated from [1]:
1
Pm = ρAv w3 C p (λ , β ) (6) V. GRID-SIDE CONVERTER
2
where CP ( λ , β ) is the aerodynamic power coefficient, as a A Standards and recommendations
function of the tip speed ratio λ and the pitch angle β. For a The IEEE 1547 [13] and IEC 61400-21 [14] standards
given Cp (λ, β) the mechanical power can be plotted as a request that the Wind Turbine (WT) systems contribute to
function of the rotor speed for different values of the wind preserve the grid power quality in terms of voltage
speed, as shown in Fig. 4. The dashed line represents the amplitude, frequency and phase. Particularly, the current
conditions of maximum power generation. injected into the grid should not have a total harmonic
1.4
distortion (THD) higher than 5%; the limits for each
11.5 m/s
harmonic is recommended by [13]. They are valid for all
1.2
11m/s
distributed generation systems with aggregate capacity up to
1 10 MVA. In the European standard [14], the WT systems
Mechanical Power (p.u.)
10 m/s
are treated as polluting loads. Depending on the grid [15]
0.8
[16], it is required that the current THD is lower than 6-8 %.
0.6 9 m/s
In case there are several wind turbines connected to the
0.4
8 m/s same PCC, the hth harmonic can be computed as:
7 m/s β
N
⎛I ⎞
Ih ∑ = β ∑⎜ hi ⎟
0.2 6 m/s
5 m/s (12)
0 i =1 ⎝ υi ⎠
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
Rotor speed (p.u.)
where β is 1 for h < 5, 1.4 for 5< β <10 and 2 for h>10.
Fig. 4: Mechanical power vs. rotor speed function of wind speed.
B Converter control
The grid-side three-phase converter is connected to the
dc-side of the WT system through a capacitor and to the grid
through an isolation transformer and a filter.
The converter is controlled by two cascade-loops. The outer
Fig. 5: back-to-back power converter with DC bus model highlighted. dc-voltage loop provides the reference for the inner current
loop. The control scheme of the grid-side converter control
IV. BRAKING CHOPPER is shown in Fig. 6. It allows to obtain an high power factor
The PMSG has the possibility of accepting overload for a and sinusoidal grid currents. The current control has been
certain time range. In this condition it is possible to brake operated by two PI controllers acting in a d-q rotating
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system. It is synchronous with the grid voltage frequency Fig. 8 shows the comparison between the reference electric
and the d-axis is aligned to the grid voltage vector. The d- torque and the electric torque measured in the configuration
component ensures the dc-voltage regulation while the q- of diode-bridge rectifier and boost converter (a) and in the
component is controlled in order to obtain an unitary-power- configuration of back-to-back converter (b). In Fig. 9 the
factor. comparison between the mechanical torque and the
The model of the grid-side system can be defined by generator torque is shown.
⎧ did Fig 10 shows the comparison between the electric power
⎪⎪vd = R ⋅ id + L dt − ω L ⋅ iq + ed and the grid power in the configuration of diode-bridge
⎨ (13) rectifier connected to the grid (a) and in the configuration of
⎪ v = R ⋅ i + L diq + ω L ⋅ i + e
⎪⎩ q q
dt
d q back-to-back converter (b).
where R and L are respectively the parasitic resistance and Fig. 11 shows the comparison between the actual rotor
the inductance of the grid-side system, ed and eq denotes speed and the rotor speed estimated with phase locked loop
respectively the d, q components of the grid voltage vector. (PLL) in the configuration of back–to-back converter.
Hence, the d-current and the q-current references can be B Braking chopper
calculated by Fig. 12 shows the generator power, the braking chopper
⎧ vd* power and the grid power.
⎪id * = When the power is in excess and can not be injected in the
⎪ Ls + R
⎨ (14) grid, the braking chopper power has a peak due the high
⎪ vq* dynamic control. Then, the power which can not be injected
⎪⎩iq * = Ls + R in the grid is dissipated by the braking chopper.
where vd* and vq* denotes the control voltage 180
⎧⎪vd* = vd + ω L ⋅ iq − ed 160
⎨ * (15)
⎪⎩ vq = vq − ω L ⋅ id − eq
140
The PI controllers have been tuned with the optimum design 100
method: k p = L 3Ts , TI = L R where Ts is the sampling time.
80
60
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
time [s]
Fig. 7: Rotor speed due to a wind speed variation at 20 s (5.5 m/s to 11m/s).
1800
1600
1400
1200
Torque measured Reference torque
Torque [N*m]
1000
800
600
400
200
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
time [s]
(a)
1800
1400 ReferenceTorque
Torque measured
1200
VI. RESULTS
Torque [N*m]
1000
500 Kgm2 and the grid LCL-filter values are: L = 1.4 mH,
400
200
Lfilter = 1 mH, Cfilter = 10 µF, Rdamping = 10 Ω. 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
time [s]
A. Wind turbine behavior (b)
The Fig. 7 shows the rotor speed related to a wind speed Fig. 8: Reference electric torque and the electric torque measured. (a):
variation between 5.5 m/s and 11 m/s occurring at t=20 sec. diode-bridge rectifier and boost converter; (b):back-to-back converter.
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1800 208
1600
206
1400
800
200
600
400 198
200
196
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
time [s]
194
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
time [s]
Fig. 9: Comparison between the mechanical torque and the generator
torque for diode-bridge rectifier and back-to-back converter. Fig. 11: Comparison between rotor speed frame and rotor speed estimated.
25 4
x 10
4
3.5
Generator power
20
3
Electric power Grid power
15
Power [kW]
2.5
1.5
0.5
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
time [s]
0
(a) 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
time [s]
0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
35
25 30
Electric power
Grid power
20
Power [kW]
20
15
10
10
current [A]
5 0
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 -10
time [s]
(b) -20
Fig. 10: Comparison between the electric power and the grid power. (a):
-30
diode-bridge rectifier; (b): back-to-back converter. 0.8 0.81 0.82 0.83 0.84 0.85 0.86 0.87 0.88 0.89 0.9
time [s]
(a)
C Generator behavior 30
In this section it is analyzed the quality of the currents on
the generator side in case of: a) diode-bridge rectifier; b) 20
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30
estimate the rotor speed have been discussed. Then the use
20
of a braking chopper to dissipate the power in excess is
treated. Finally, the grid converter control is presented with
10 reference to standard compliance.
Simulation results are included to highlight the differences
current [A]
-10
influence of filtering capacitor for the three-phase diode
bridge rectifier case. The back-to-back converter guarantees
-20 a better tracking of the reference torque and higher power
into the grid.
-30
0.8 0.81 0.82 0.83 0.84 0.85 0.86 0.87 0.88 0.89 0.9
time [s]
8 8
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Guisado, Á M Prats, J I. León, and N. Moreno-Alfonso, “Power-
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2
2
“Flexible Active Power Control of Distributed Power Generation
1 1 Systems During Grid Faults” IEEE Transactions on Industrial
0
0 5 10 15 20
0
0 5 10 15 20
Electronics, vol. 54, issue 5, pp. 2583-2592, October 2007.
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(a) (b) Generators for Small Wind Energy” IEEE Power Electronics Society
Fig. 15: Generator current harmonic spectra: without (a) and with (b) Newsletter pp.19-23.
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with Grid Failure Detection Operating in Stand. Alone and Grid
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connected Mode” IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 19,
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300 [7]. I. Boldea, “Variable speed generator” Taylor & Francis Group, Boca
grid voltage
200
Raton 2006.
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Voltage [50V/div] Current [A]
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