Generator and Power Converter Topology For Wind Energy

Conversion System
Shivangee Shukla*1 and Pooja Maurya 2

ABSTRACT
This paper presents an overview of wind generators and power converter used in wind energy
conversion systems. Renewable energies, and in particular wind energy, are taking a more and
more relevant part in the generation of electric power. The incorporation of a variable speed
function into a wind turbine has a variety of benefits, including: improved power yield during
low wind speed conditions, reduced mechanical loading on drive train components, reduced
audible noise, reduction in tower passing effects. A power electronic converter enables efficient
conversion of the variable frequency output of a wind generator, driven by a variable speed
wind turbine, to a fixed frequency appropriate for the grid or a load. Multilevel converters
show interesting advantages in this field, such as high efficiency, low harmonic distortion and
lower switching losses which is particularly useful for renewable energies, where converters
usually work at these low power levels. The equal voltage cascaded multilevel converter con-
figuration has the advantage of its modularity over the configuration of any other multilevel
converter. Finally, it presents a convert topology from the simplest converters for starting up
the turbine to advanced power converter topologies, where the whole power is flowing through
the converter.

Keywords: wind energy conversion system, renewable energy, wind turbine, power converters, and generators.

1. INTRODUCTION generation cost-competitive, these are: (i) the state

incentives,(ii) the wind indus try that have improved
T he major components of a typical wind energy
conversion system include a wi nd turbine, generator,
the aerodynamic efficiency of wind turbine, (iii) the
evolution of power semiconduct ors and new control
interconnection apparatus and control systems. Wind methodology for the variable-s peed wind turbine, that
turbines can be classified int o the vertical axis type allows the optimization of win d turbine performance.
and the horizontal axis type. Most modern wind A wind turbine can be designed for a constant speed
turbines use a horizontal axis configuration with two or variable speed operation. Variable speed wind
or three blades, operating either down-wind or up- turbines can produce 8% to 15% more energy output
wind. Wind power generation is an important as compared to their constant speed counterparts,
alternative to mitigate this problem mainly due its however, they necessitate powe r electronic converters
smaller environmental impact and its renewable to provide a fixed frequency a nd fixed voltage power
characteristic that contribute for a sustainable to their loads.
development .Three factors have made wind power

1 * . Shivangee Shukla, Department o f Electrical Engg, SRMSCET, Ba reilly, U.P, India, Email: shi [email protected]; Phone: 9 415190086
2. Pooja Maurya, Department of El ectrical Engg, SRMSCET, Bareil ly, U.P, India, Email: maurya. [email protected]

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Generator and Power Converter Topology For Wind Energy Conversion System

2. GENERATORS AND TOPOLOGIES to network through a four-quad rant power converter

There are mainly following three classes of comprised of two back-to-back PWM-VSI. The
Generators: stator side converter regulates the electromagnetic
2.1 D.C. generators torque, while the supply side converter regulates the
real and reactive power delive red by the WPS to the
D.C. generators are relatively unusual in wind
turbine applications because t hey are expensive and utility. The Wound Field Synch ronous Generator has
require regular maintenance. N owadays for most of some advantages that are:
D.C. applications, for example , it is more common to • The efficiency of this machine is usually high,
employ an a.c. generator to generate a.c., which is because it employs the whole stator current for
then converted to D.C. with simple solid-state the electromagnetic torque pro duction.
rectifiers.
• The main benefit of the employ ment of wound field
2.2 Synchronous Generators synchronous generator with salient pole is that it
A synchronous generator usuall y consist of a stator allows the direct control of the power factor of
holding a set of three-phase w indings, which supplies the machine, consequently the stator current may
the external load, and a rotor that provides a source be minimized any operation cir cumstances.
of magnetic field. The rotor may be supplied either • The pole pitch of this generator can be smaller
from permanent magnetic or from a direct current
than that of induction machine . The existence of a
flowing in a wound field. Synchronous generators
winding circuit in the rotor m ay be a drawback as
when fitted to a wind turbine must be controlled
compared with permanent magnet synchronous
carefully to prevent the rotor speed accelerating
generator. In addition, to regulate the active and
through synchronous speed espe cially during turbulent
winds. Moreover it requires flexible coupling in the reactive power generated, the converter must be
drive train, or to mount the gearbox assembly on sized typically 1.2 times of t he WPS rated power.
springs or dampers to abso rb urbulence. t 2.2.2 Permanent-Magnet Synchronous
Synchronous generators are mor e costly than induction Generator (PMSG)
generators, particularly in sm aller size ranges.
2.2.1 Wound Field Synchronous Generator
(WFSG)

Fig. 2. Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Generator with a

Boost Chopper

Figure 2 shows a WPS where a p ermanent magnet

Fig. 1. Variable Speed Field Winding Synchronous
generator Synchronous generator connected to a three-phase
rectifier followed by boost converter. In this case,
The WPS with wound field synch ronous generator the boost converter controls t he electromagnet torque.
is show in Figure 1. The stato r winding is connected The supplyside converter regu lates de DC link voltage

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 Shivangee Shukla and Pooja Maurya

as well as control the input power factor. One However, PM machines have some
drawback of this configuration is the use of diode disadvantages, which can be given below:
rectifier that increases the current amplitude and • High cost of PM material.
distortion of the PMSG. As a r esult this configuration
• Difficulties to handle in manu facture.
has been considered for small size WPS (smaller than
50 kW). • Demagnetization of PM at high temperature.
In recent years, the use of PM s is more attractive
than before, because the performance of PMs is
improving and the cost of PM is decreasing. The
trends make PM machines with a full-scale power
converter more attractive for direct drive wind
turbines. Considering the performance of PM is
Fig.3. Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Generator with
PWM converter
improving and the cost of PM i s decreasing in recent
years, in addition to that the cost of power electronics
is decreasing, variable speed direct-drive PM
Other scheme using PMSG is sho w in Figure 3, in
machines with a full-scale pow er converter become
the system, the PWM rectifier is placed between the
more attractive for offshore w ind powers.
generator and the DC link, and PWM inverter is
connected to the network. The advantage of this 2.3Induction Generators
system regarding the system showed in Figure 2, is Induction generator offers man y advantages over
the use of field orientation c ontrol (FOC) that it allow a conventional synchronous ge nerator as a source of
the generator to operate near its optimal working point isolated power supply. Reduced unit cost, ruggedness,
in order to minimize the losse s in the generator and brush less (in squirrel cage, construction), reduced
power electronic circuit . The main drawbacks, in the size, absence of separate DC source and ease of
use of PMSG, are the cost of p ermanent magnet that maintenance, self-protection a gainst severe overloads
increase the price of machine, demagnetization of the and short circuits, are the main advantages Further
permanent magnet material and it is not possible to induction generators are loose ly coupled devices, i.e.
control the power factor of the machine. they are heavily damped and th erefore have the ability
to absorb slight change in rot or speed and drive train
The advantages of PM machines over electrically
transient to some extent can t herefore be absorbed.
excite machines can be given below:
Reactive power consumption and poor voltage
• Higher efficiency and energy y ield. regulation under varying speed are the major
• No additional power supply for the magnet field drawback of the induction generators, but the
excitation. development of static power co nverters has facilitated
• Improvement in the thermal cha racteristics of the the control of induction gener ator, regarding output
PM machine due to the absence of the field losses. and frequency.
• Higher reliability due to the absence of mechanical The AC generator type that has most often been
components such as slip rings. used in wind turbines is the i nduction generator. There
• Lighter and therefore higher p ower to weight ratio. are two kinds of induction generator used in wind
turbines that are: squirrel ca ge and wound rotor.

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Generator and Power Converter Topology For Wind Energy Conversion System

2.3.1 Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) 2.3.2 Squirrel Cage Induction Generator (SCIG)
A WPS with squirrel cage induction generato r is
show in Figure 6. The stator w inding is connected to
network through a four-quadrant power converter
comprised of two PWM VSI conne cts back-to-back
trough a DC link.
The supply side converter regulates the real and
reactive power delivered from the system to the utility
Fig.4. Doubly Fed Wound Rotor Induction Generator and regulates the DC link.

The wind power system shown in Figure 4

consists of a doubly fed induc tion generator (DFIG),
where the stator winding is di rectly connected to the
network and the rotor winding is connected to the
network through a four quadrant power converter
comprised of two back-to-back PWM-VSI.
Compared to synchronous generator, this DFIG Fig .5. Variable Speed Squirrel Cage Induction Generator
offers the following advantage s:
• Reduced inverter cost, because inverter rating The uses of squirrel cage induction generator have
typically 25% of the total system power. This is some advantages
because the converters only need to control the • The squirrel cage induction ma chine is extremely
slip power of the rotor. rugged; brush less, reliable, economical a
• Reduced cost of the inverter f ilter and EMI filters, universally popular.
because filters rated for 0.25 p.u. total system
power, and inverter harmonics represent a smaller • Rectifier can generate program mable excitation for
fraction of total system harmo nics . the generator.
• Robustness and stable response of this machine • Fast transient response is pos sible.
facing against external distur bance. • The inverter can be operated a s a VAR/harmonic
The main disadvantages of DFIG wind turbines in compensator when spare capacit y is available.
comparison to FSIGs are their increased capital Among the drawbacks are: (i) c omplex system control
cost and the need for periodic slip ring maintenance. (FOC) whose performance is dep endent on the good
knowledge of the generator par ameter that varies with
temperature and frequency. (ii) the stator side
converter must be oversized 30 -50% with respect to
rated power, in order to supply the magnetizing
requirement of the machine.
3. POWER CONVERTERS
Many different power converters can be used in
wind turbine applications. In the case of using an
Fig .5. General arrangement of fixed-speed generation induction generator, the power converter has to
system
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 Shivangee Shukla and Pooja Maurya

convert from a fixed voltage and frequency to a When the generator is completely connected to
variable voltage and frequency . Other generator types the grid a contactor (kbyp) bypass the soft-starter in
can demand other complex prote ction. However, the order to reduce the losses dur ing normal operation.
most use by reduce the disturbances to the grid.
3.1 Soft starter
The soft starter is a power co nverter, which has
been introduced to fixed speed wind turbines to
reduce the transient current during connection or
disconnection of the generator to the grid. When the
generator speed exceeds the synchronous speed, the
soft-starter is connected. Usi ng firing angle control of
the thyristors in the soft starter the generator is
smoothly connected to the grid over a predefined
number of grid period.

Fig. 8. Control characteristic for a fully controlled soft

starter

• The soft-starter is very cheap

• It is a standard converter in many wind turbines.
• Soft sarter is similar to a primary resistance or
primary reactance starter in that it is in series with
the supply to the motor.
3.2 Capacitor bank
For the power factor compensat ion of the reactive
Fig. 7. Connection diagram of soft starter with generators. power in the generator, AC cap acitor banks are used,
as shown in Figure 9. The generators are normally
The commutating devices are two thyristors for compensated into whole power r ange. The switching
each phase. These are connecte d in anti-parallel. The of capacitors is done as a fun ction of the average value
relationship between the firing angle (α) and the of measured reactive power du ring certain period.
resulting amplification of the soft starter is non-linear
and depends additionally on th e power factor of the
connected element. In the case of a resistive load,
may vary between 0 (full on) a nd 90 (full off) degrees,
in the case of a purely induct ive load between 90 (full
on) and 180 (full off) degrees . For any power factor
between 0 and 90 degrees, α will be somewhere
between the limits draw in fig ure 8.

Fig.9. Capacitor bank configuration for power factor

compensation in a wind turbine
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Generator and Power Converter Topology For Wind Energy Conversion System

The capacitor banks are usually mounted in the

bottom of the tower. In order to reduce the current at
connection/disconnection of ca pacitors a coil (L) can
be connected in series. The ca pacitors may be heavy
loaded and damaged in the case of over-voltages to
the grid and thereby they may increase the maintenance
cost.
3.3 Diode rectifier
The diode rectifier is the most common used
topology in power electronic a pplications.For a three- Fig. 11. The back-to-back PWM-VSI converter topology
phase system it consists of six diodes. It is shown in
Figure 10 3.4.1 Advantages of the back-to-back PWM-VSI
The PWM-VSI is the most freque ntly used three
phase frequency converter. Furthermore, many
manufacturers produce components especially
designed for use in this type of converter (e.g., a
transistor-pack comprising six bridge coupled
transistors and anti-paralleled diodes). Due to this,
the component costs can be low compared to
converters. A technical advant age of the PWM-VSI
is the capacitor decoupling be tween the grid inverter
Fig. 10. Diode rectifier for three-phase ac/dc conversion
and the generator inverter.
The diode rectifier can only b e used in on quadrant, 4. WIND POWER ELECTRICITY
it is simple and it is not pos sible to control it.It could PRODUCTION
be used in some applications w ith a dc-bus.
In 1997 German installed capac ity surpassed the
3.4 The back-to-back PWM-VSI
U.S. and led until once again overtaken by the U.S.
The back-to-back PWM-VSI is a bi-directional in 2008. China has been rapidly expanding its wind
power converter consisting of two conventional installations the late 2000s and passed the U.S. In
PWM-VSI. The topology is shown in Figure 11.
2010 to become the world leader.
The back-to-back four-quadrant PWM-VSI is
Europe accounted for 48% of th e world total wind
widely used in WPS. The PWM mo dulation reduces
power generation capacity in 2009. In 2010, Spain
the current harmonic component in the input and output
became Europe’s leading produc er of wind energy;
of the system. As a result, it reduces the torque
pulsation on the generator and improves the output achieving 42,976 GWh. Germany held the top spot
Power quality, respectively. in Europe in terms of installe d capacity, with a total of
27,215 MW as of 31 December 2010. The world’s
Normally, a field orientation control (FOC) is
five leading countries in term s of installed wind power
preferred for control the stator/rotor side converter
capacity are:
while the supply side converte r use vector controller.

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 Shivangee Shukla and Pooja Maurya

Table-I WTS both DFIG and SG are preferred. The back-

Rank Nation 2009 2010 2011 to-back four-quadrant PWM-VSI converter is
preferred because the PWM modu lation reduces the
1. Chain 25,777 44,733 62,733
.0MW MW MW current harmonic component in the input and output
2. US 35,1 40,180 46,919 of the system. As a result, it reduces the torque
9.0 MW MW pulsation on the generator and allows improving the
MW
3. Germany 25,777 27,215 29,060 output power quality.
MW MW MW
As a result, it reduces the to rque pulsation on the
4. Spain 19,149 20,676 21,674
.0 MW MW latest trend of wind power gen eration from off shore
MW sites. Today wind power accoun ts for about0.4% of
5. India 10,925 13,065 16,084
.0 MW MW world’s electricity demand. Wo rldwide wind energy
MW industry could install an estimated 1200, 000 MW
by 2020,which needs global exp loitation of available
wind potential and to generate power from off shore
In 2010, more than half of all new wind power
sites. Global wind power installations increased by
was added outside of the tradi tionalmarkets in Europe
and North America. This was largely from new 41,236 in 2011, bringing total installed capacity up to
construction in China, which a ccounted for nearly half 238,351 MW, a 20.6% increase o n the 197,637 MW
the new wind installations (16 .5 GW). installed at the end of 2010. For the last two years
more than half of all new wind power was added
5. INSTALLED WIND POWER CAPACITY
outside of the traditional mar kets of Europe and North
Table-II America, mainly driven by the continuing boom in
Country Wind power % world
China which accounted for nearly half of all of the
production total installations at 18,000 MW. China now has 62,733
US 95.2 27.6 MW of wind power installed.
China 55.5 15.9
Spain 43.7 12.7 As of 2011, 83 countries around the world are
Germany 36.5 10.6
India 20.6 6.0 using wind power on a commercial basis.
UK 10.2 3.0
France 9.7 2.8
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