Unit3 Wind Generator Topologies Part1
Unit3 Wind Generator Topologies Part1
TECHNOLOGIES
Course
BY
DR.AHMAD SYED
15-10-2022
Lecture22
• Induction Generators
• Doubly-Fed Induction Generators and their
characteristics
• Permanent-Magnet Synchronous
Generators,
• Power electronics converters
UNIT-III- • Generator-Converter configurations
• Converter Control
WIND • Wind farm behaviour during grid
GENERATO disturbances
• Power quality issues
R • Power system
experiences in the world
interconnection
(WECS)
A wind energy conversion system converts wind energy into some form of
electrical energy.
In particular, medium and large scale WECS are designed to operate in parallel
with a public or local ac grid. This is known as grid-connected system.
A small system, isolated from grid, feeding only to local load is known as
autonomous, remote, decentralized, stand alone or isolated power system.
Conti..
The turbine shaft speed is stepped up with
the help of gears, with fixed gear ratio, to
suit the electrical generator and fine-tuning
of speed is incorporated by pitch control.
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The interface conditions the generated power to grid
quality power.
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Main features of various types of generators and their suitability in wind
power generation are discussed below:
DC Generator
Synchronous Generator
Induction Generator
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foot
tower head
nacelle
Arrangement
Generator Concepts
Synchronous Generator
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The need of dc field current and brushes can be
eliminated by using reluctance rotor.
structure
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When talking about the “synchronous generator”, the
terminology used for the description of the machines
parts is the reverse to that for the description of the DC
generator.
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The example above shows the basic construction of a synchronous generator
which has a wound salient two-pole rotor.
The external DC excitation voltage which can be as high as 250 volts DC,
produces an electromagnetic field around the coil with static North and South
poles.
When the generators rotor shaft is turned by the turbines blades (the prime mover),
the rotor poles will also move producing a rotating magnetic field as the North and
South poles rotate at the same angular velocity as the turbine blades, (assuming
direct drive).
As the rotor rotates, its magnetic flux cuts the individual stator coils one by one and
by Faraday’s law, an emf and therefore a current is induced in each stator coil.
Conti…
The magnitude of the voltage induced in the stator winding is, as
shown above, a function of the magnetic field intensity which is
determined by the field current, the rotating speed of the rotor,
and the number of turns in the stator winding.
WRSG
This excitation is done through the use of brushes and slip rings on the
generator shaft.
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The air gap between the stator and rotor is reduced for maximum efficiency and to
minimise the amount of rare earth magnet material needed.
Permanent magnets are typically used in low power, low cost synchronous
generators.
For low speed direct drive wind turbine generators the permanent magnet
generator is more competitive because it can have higher pole number of 60 or
more poles compared to a conventional wound rotor synchronous generator.
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• In a synchronous motor, its angular velocity is fixed by the frequency
of the supply voltage so N is commonly known as the synchronous
speed.
• Then for a “P”-pole synchronous generator the speed of rotation of
the prime mover (the turbine blades) in order to produce the required
frequency output of either 50Hz or 60Hz of the induced emf will be:
• At 50Hz
Number of
2 4 8 12 24 36 48
Individual Poles
Rotational Speed
3,000 1,500 750 500 250 167 125
(rpm)
• At 60Hz
Number of
2 4 8 12 24 36 48
Individual Poles
Rotational Speed
3,600 1,800 900 600 300 200 150
(rpm)
For a synchronous generator that is being driven by an electrical motor or steam generator,
this synchronous speed may be easy to achieve however, when used as a wind turbine
synchronous generator, this may not be possible as the velocity and power of the wind is
constantly changing.
We know from our previous wind turbine design tutorial, that all wind turbines benefit from the
rotor operating at its optimal tip speed ratio. But to obtain a TSR of between 6 to 8, the
angular velocity of the blades is generally very low around 100 to 500 rpm, so looking at our
tables above, we would require a synchronous generator with a high number of magnetic
poles, eg, 12 or above, as well as some form of mechanical speed limiter such as a
Continuously Variable Transmission, or CVT to keep the rotor blades rotating at a constant
maximum speed for a direct drive wind turbine system.
However, for a synchronous machine, the more poles it has the larger, heavier and more
expensive becomes the machine which may or may not be acceptable.
Conti…
One solution is to use a synchronous machine with a low
number of poles which can rotate at a higher speed of
1500 to 3600 rpm driven through a gearbox.
Rectifiers are electronic devices used to convert AC (alternating current) into DC (direct current).
By rectifying the power output from the synchronous generator into a DC supply, the wind turbine
generator may be operated at different speeds and frequencies other than its fixed synchronous speed
converting this variable frequency/variable amplitude AC output voltage of the generator to a DC
voltage of a variable level.
By rectifying the output from AC into DC, the generator can now be used as part of a battery-charging
wind systems or as part of a variable-speed wind power system.
Then the synchronous generator of an alternating current is transformed into a generator of a direct
current.
The simplest type of rectifier circuit uses a diode bridge circuit to convert the AC generated by the
generator into a fluctuating DC supply whose amplitude is determined by the generators speed of
rotation.
In this synchronous generator rectifier circuit shown below, the generator’s 3-phase output is rectified
to DC by a 3-phase rectifier.
In this configuration, the wind turbine can operate the generator at a frequency
independent of the synchronous frequency as changing the generator speed varies
the generator frequency.
Hence it is possible to vary the speed of the generator over a wider range and to run
at the optimal speed to obtain the maximum power depending on the actual wind
speed.
Note that the output voltage from the 3-phase bridge rectifier is not pure DC.
This waveform is generally known as “pulsating DC” which can be used to charge
batteries but can not be used as a satisfactory DC supply.
These smoothing circuits or ripple filter circuits use combinations of Inductors and
Capacitors to produce a smooth DC voltage and current.
Grid-connected sine-wave inverters for wind systems are selected with an input
range that corresponds to the rectified output voltage of the turbine.
Then the advantage of an indirect grid connection is that it is possible to run the
wind turbine at variable speeds.
Another advantage of rectifying the output from the generator is that wind turbines
with synchronous generators which use electromagnets in their rotor design, can
use this DC to supply the coil windings around the electromagnets in the rotor.
However the disadvantage of indirect grid connection is the cost as the system
needs an inverter and two rectifiers, one to control the stator current, and another
to generate the output current as shown below.
Conti…
• The major disadvantage of one fixed-speed operation is
that it almost never captures the wind energy at the
peak efficiency.
• The wind energy is wasted when the wind speed is
higher or lower than the certain value selected as the
synchronous speed.
• Variable speed wind turbines use rectifiers and inverters to
convert variable voltage, variable frequency output of the
synchronous generator into the fixed voltage, fixed 50Hz or
60Hz frequency output required by the utility grid.
• This allows for permanent magnet synchronous generators to
be used reducing the cost.
• For low speed direct drive wind turbine generators the
permanent magnet generator is more competitive because it
can have higher pole number of 60 or more poles compared
to a conventional wound rotor synchronous generator.
Induction Generator
Primary advantages of induction machine are the rugged,
brush less construction, no need of separate dc field power
and tolerance of slight variation of shaft speed (±10 per cent)
as these variations are absorbed in the slip.
Conti..
The induction machine requires ac
excitation current, which is mainly
reactive.
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• Induction Generator construction is based
on the very common squirrel-cage induction
motor type machine as they are cheap,
reliable, and readily available in a wide range
of electrical sizes from fractional horse power
machines to multi-megawatt capacities
making them ideal for use in both domestic
and commercial renewable energy wind power
applications.
• Also, unlike the previous synchronous
generator which has to be “synchronised”
with the electrical grid before it can generate
power, the induction generator can be
connected directly to the utility grid and
driven by the turbines rotor blades at variable
wind speeds
CBIT(A),Dept of EEE Dr.Ahmad Syed
Lecture26
Conti..
• For economy and reliability many wind power turbines
use induction motors as generator which are driven
through a mechanical gearbox to increase their speed
of rotation, performance and efficiency.
• However, induction generators require reactive power
usually provided by shunt capacitors in the individual
wind turbines.
• Induction machines are also known as Asynchronous
Machines, that is they rotate below synchronous
speed when used as a motor, and above synchronous
speed when used as a generator.
• So when rotated faster than its normal operating or no-
load speed, an induction generator produces AC
electricity.
• Because an induction generator synchronises directly
with the main utility grid – that is, produces electricity
at the same frequency and voltage – no rectifiers or
inverters are required.
CBIT(A),Dept of EEE Dr.Ahmad Syed
Lecture26
Conti…
• However, the induction generator may provide the
necessary power directly to the mains utility grid, but it
also needs reactive power to its supply which is
provided by the utility grid.
• Stand alone ( off-grid ) operation of the induction
generator is also possible but the disadvantage here is
that the generator requires additional capacitors
connected to its windings for self-excitation.
• Three-phase induction machines are very well suited
for wind power and even hydroelectric generation.
Induction machines, when functioning as generators,
have a fixed stator and a rotational rotor the same as
for the synchronous generator.
• However, excitation (creation of a magnetic field) of
the rotor is performed differently and a typical design
of the rotor is the squirrel-cage structure, where
conducting bars are embedded within the rotors body
and connected together at their ends by shorting rings
as shown.
CBIT(A),Dept of EEE Dr.Ahmad Syed
Lecture26
Induction Generator Construction
• As already mentioned at the beginning one of the many
advantages of the asynchronous machine is that it can be
used as generator without any additional circuitry, such as an
exciter or voltage controller, when it is connected to a three-
phase mains supply.
• When an idle asynchronous generator is connected to an
alternating current grid, voltage is induced into the rotor
winding, similar to a transformer with the frequency of this
induced voltage being equal to the frequency of the applied
voltage.
• As the squirrel cage rotors conducting bars are short-circuited
together, a large current flows around them and a magnetic
field is created inside the rotor causing the machine to rotate.
Conti…
• Since the rotor cage magnetic field follows the stators
magnetic field, the rotor accelerates up to synchronous
speed set by the frequency of the grid supply.
• The faster the rotor rotates, the lower is the resulting
relative speed difference between the rotor cage and
the rotating stator field and thus the voltage induced
into its winding.
• As the rotor nears synchronous speed it slows down as
the weakening rotor magnetic field is insufficient to
overcome the friction losses of the rotor in idle mode.
• The result is that the rotor is now rotating slower than
synchronous speed.
• This means then that an induction machine can never
reach its synchronous speed as to reach it there would
be no current induced into the rotors squirrel cage, no
magnetic field and thus no torque.
Conti…
• The difference in rotational speed between the stators
rotating magnetic field and the rotor speed is referred
to in induction machines as “slip”.
• Slip must exist for there to be torque at the rotor shaft.
In other words, “slip”, which is a descriptive way of
explain how the rotor is continually “slipping-back”
from synchronisation, is the difference in speed
between the stators synchronous speed, given as: ns =
ƒ/P in rpm, and the rotors actual speed nR also in rpm,
and which is expressed as a percentage, ( %-slip ).
• Then the fractional slip s, of an induction machine is
given as
Conti…
• This slip means that an induction generators operation
is thus “asynchronous” (not-synchronised) and the
heavier the load attached to an asynchronous
generator, the higher is the resulting slip, as higher
loads require stronger magnetic fields.
• More slip is associated with more induced voltage,
more current and a stronger magnetic field.
• Thus for an induction machine to operate as a motor its
operating speed will always less than the rotational
speed of the stator field, namely, the synchronous
speed.
• For an induction machine to work as a generator its
operating speed must be above the rated synchronous
speed as shown.
Conti…
• The result is that the slip now becomes negative ( s = -1 ),
and the induction machine generates current at a leading
power factor back into the mains utility grid.
• The power transferred as an electromagnetic force from the
rotor to the stator can be increased by simply rotating the
rotor faster which will then result in an increase in the amount
of electricity generated.
• The torque characteristics of an induction generator ( s = 0
to -1 ) is a reflection of the induction motor characteristics ( s
= +1 to 0 ) as shown.
• The speed of the induction generator will vary with the
rotational force (moment, or torque) applied to it by the winds
energy but it will continue to generate electricity until its
rotational speed falls below idle.
• In practice, the difference between the rotational speed at
peak generating power and at idle, (synchronous speed) is
very small, only a few percent of the maximum synchronous
speed.
• For example, a 4-pole generator with a synchronous idle
speed of 1500 rpm attached to the utility grid with a 50 Hz
current, may
CBIT(A),Dept of EEEproduce its maximum generated power rotating
Dr.Ahmad Syed
Lecture26
Conti…
• This is a very useful mechanical property that
the generator will increase or decrease its
speed slightly if the torque varies.
• This means that there will be less wear and
tear on the gearbox resulting in low
maintenance and long service life and this is
one of the most important reasons for using
an Induction Generator rather than a
synchronous generator on a wind turbine
which is directly connected to the electrical
utility grid.
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GENERATOR (DFIG)
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CBIT(A),Dept of EEE
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Power electronics
converters
Generator-Converter
configurations
Converter Control
Systems for converting mechanical energy
Lecture28
to electrical energy
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manufacture
converters
power converters
WIND generator
topologies?