Control of Permanent-Magnet Generators Applied To Variable-Speed Wind-Energy Systems Connected To The Grid
Control of Permanent-Magnet Generators Applied To Variable-Speed Wind-Energy Systems Connected To The Grid
Control of Permanent-Magnet Generators Applied To Variable-Speed Wind-Energy Systems Connected To The Grid
grid connection is also provided. The power capability of such generator speed from the pulse encoder signals. Inverter control
an inverter is also discussed. A deeper study of inverter opera- calculations are simpler, as the reference angle needed for vec-
tion may be found in [7]. Different experimental tests in a 3-kW tor control is obtained from the line voltage zero crossing, that
prototype system have been carried out. A digital signal pro- allows a reduction of the sampling time (130 µs). Hall sensors
cessor (DSP)-based board has been used to implement control are used to capture necessary current and voltage signals.
algorithms.
III. CONTROL OF THE PERMANENT-MAGNET
II. PROTOTYPE DESCRIPTION AND CONTROL IMPLEMENTATION GENERATOR-SIDE CONVERTER
A. Permanent-Magnet Generator and Grid Connection In order to get a dynamical model for the electrical genera-
tor that easily allows us to define the generator control system,
The permanent-magnet synchronous generator used was
the equations of the generator are projected on a reference co-
3 kW, 220 V (wye three-phase stator winding), and 375 r/min
ordinate system rotating synchronously with the magnet flux.
(16 poles). NdFeB magnets provide proper flux density in the air
The dynamic model of the surface-mounted permanent-magnet
gap. The winding resistance and inductance (obtained through
generator in the magnet flux reference system is
laboratory tests) are, respectively, RS = 2.4 Ω and LS = 51 mH.
Rotor position is obtained through an encoder giving 1500 diS d
pulses per revolution. uS d = −RS iS d − LS + LS ωiS q
dt
The frequency converter consists of two back-to-back insu- diS q
lated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) bridges; the one connected uS q = −RS iS q − LS − LS ωiS d + ωΨ (1)
dt
to the generator works as a pulse rectifier; the other one, con-
nected to the grid, works as a pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) where LS and RS are the generator inductance and resistance,
inverter. Both of them have six IGBTs (600 V, 15 A). The dc respectively, ω is the generator speed, and Ψ is the magnet flux.
link incorporates a 600-µF, 800-V capacitor. The above equations show how to control current components
An inductive filter has been designed to limit harmonic cur- by means of the applied voltage. The electromagnetic torque is
rent injection into the grid complying with IEC 61000-3-2 reg- given by
ulations. The switching frequency was 3 kHz. A transformer 3
(400/230 V) was used for grid connection to allow the oper- Te = pΨiS q (2)
2
ation of the inverter with leading power factor. The resulting
inductance in the grid connection, including the transformer where p is the pole pair number. Equation (2) shows that the
short circuit reactance, was 4 mH. generator torque may be controlled directly by the quadrature
current component. Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the
B. Wind Turbine Emulation control loops of the permanent-magnet generator-side converter.
direct-axis current component reference is obtained through a
The emulation of the wind turbine is implemented by means calculator f (Ω), in order to minimize power losses.
of a dc motor drive with torque control. In the prototype, a The required d–q components of the rectifier voltage vec-
4.4 kW, 1980 r/min dc motor was used. A computer program tor are derived from two proportional plus integral (PI) current
reads the wind input file, which has been obtained in different controllers: one of them controlling the d-axis component of the
test conditions, and calculates the wind turbine torque, by taking current and the other one the q-axis component. Compensation
into account wind velocity, turbine rotational speed, and the terms are added to improve the dynamic response. The con-
wind turbine power coefficient curve (a lookup table in the trol requires the measurement of the stator currents, dc voltage,
computer was used). and rotor position. Space-vector modulation (SVM) is used to
The control algorithms for turbine emulation are implemented generate the switching signals for the power converter semicon-
in a control board dSPACE DS1102. This board is a commercial ductors.
system designed for rapid prototyping of real control algorithms;
it is based on the Texas Instruments TMS320C31 floating-point A. Efficiency Optimization
DSP and includes four A/D input channels, 16 digital I/O chan-
nels, an eight-channel capture/compare unit, and a six-channel In a variable-speed wind turbine, maximum power is a cu-
PWM generation module. The DS1102 board is hosted by a bic function of rotational speed. To maximize efficiency, losses
personal computer. for a given load must be minimized. A stator q-axis current
component is used to develop generator torque, but a freedom
C. Power Converter Control degree remains to set direct current. A direct-axis current com-
ponent can be set at zero to minimize current for a given torque,
Real-time control was implemented in two dSPACE boards, and therefore, minimize resistive losses [8], but d-axis current
one for each power converter. The sampling time for generator component can also be used to reduce stator flux as
control (175 µs) is longer than that of the grid inverter con-
trol, as the former provides the turbine torque reference besides ΨS = (LS iS q )2 + (Ψ + LS iS d )2 (3)
the corresponding PWM pulse signals. Also, the generator con-
troller board has to obtain the reference angle position and the and minimize core losses.
132 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL 21, NO, 1, MARCH 2006
B. Control-Loop Design
From (1), the transfer function of the stator winding is
IS d (s) IS q (s) 1
F (s) = = = (5)
US d (s) US q (s) RS + LS s
where Usd and Usq are the voltage components in the d–q axes
that control the corresponding current components, and s is the
Laplace operator.
The converter can be modeled as a pure delay of one sampling
period. Conventional design techniques are used to calculate Fig. 2. Real-time response of generator current components.
√ the
controller parameters. Choosing a damping factor ξ = 1/ 2 to
maintain overshooting lower than 5%, the resulting controller D. Experimental Results
transfer function is
Fig. 2 shows generator current response under a quadrature
0.0201s + 1
R(s) = 46 . (6) current step at 185 r/min. A fast and decoupled response is
0.0201s obtained. For the test, zero d-axis current command is set. Fig.
Cross frequency of the current control loops is 1414 Hz. 2 shows that the response of the q-axis current does not affect
In the experimental rig, a sampling frequency of 3 kHz is used, the d-axis current response.
which is not high enough, so continuous Laplace domain design
is not justified. The current controller in the z domain for the IV. CONTROL OF THE LINE-SIDE CONVERTER
aforementioned sampling frequency results as follows:
The dynamic model of the grid connection when selecting
46z − 45.2 a reference frame rotating synchronously with the grid voltage
R(z) = . (7)
z−1 space vector is
C. Rectifier Operating Limits did
ud = uid − Rid − L + ωLiq
As said, to achieve maximum efficiency for each load, the dt
proper direct current must be injected. Nevertheless, some lim- diq
uq = uiq − Riq − L − ωLid (10)
its exist on the controller rectifier. These limits are due to the dt
following. where L and R are the grid inductance and resistance, respec-
1) Maximum Current Limit: It is due to the generator rated tively, and uid and uiq are the inverter voltage components. If
current or admissible IGBTs current. the reference frame is oriented along the supply voltage, the grid
2) Maximum Voltage Limit: To achieve a given direct and voltage vector is
quadrature current a certain armature voltage is needed. So cur-
rent component limits may be expressed as a function of the u = ud + j0. (11)
maximun allowable rectifier voltage. Maximum rectifier voltage Then active and reactive power may be expressed as
U1 lim depends on dc voltage and on the amplitude modulation
3
index. With SVM, the rms voltage value of the fundamental P = ud id . (12)
voltage component can be expressed as 2
3
1 Q = ud iq . (13)
U1 = √ √ ma Udc (8) 2
3 2
Active and reactive power control can be achieved by control-
where ma is the amplitude modulation index [7]. When choos- ling direct and quadrature current components, respectively. The
ing ma = 1, the maximum voltage is 0.408 times the maximum control of this converter is quite similar to that of the generator.
dc link voltage. Neglecting RS in (1), it follows that in steady Two control loops are used to control the active and reactive
state, the rectifier current limit may be expressed by power, respectively [3] (Fig. 3).
2 2 An outer dc voltage control loop is used to set the d-axis
E U1 lim
2
IS q + − IS d = (9) current reference for active power control. This assures that all
XS XS
the power coming from the rectifier is instantaneously tranferred
where E is the generator electromotive force (EMF). to the grid by the inverter.
CHINCHILLA et al.: CONTROL OF PERMANENT-MAGNET GENERATORS 133
B. Inverter Sizing
The inverter P-Q capability depends mainly on the following:
1) converter dc-link voltage;
2) grid filter inductance;
3) grid rms voltage.
Of course, the rating of the power switches or any other
physical devices, like the filter, will limit the power capability
of the grid connection.
For sizing the inverter, the following considerations have to
be taken into account.
1) The maximum active power the inverter can inject into the
grid, for a given power factor, increases with dc voltage.
2) The inverter may be used as a reactive power compensator.
The maximum reactive power the inverter can inject into
Fig. 3. Inverter control schemes.
the grid, with a certain power factor, increases with dc
voltage.
3) Higher inductance of the filter leads to lower current total-
The second channel controls the reactive power by setting harmonic distortion (THD) values, but the inverter power
a q-axis current reference to a current control loop similar to capability decreases.
the previous one. The current controllers will provide a voltage 4) Grid voltage plays an important role in the inverter op-
reference for the inverter that is compensated by adding rota- erating limits. Sometimes, it could be useful to connect
tional EMF compensation terms. the inverter to the grid through a step-up transformer.
All controllers are PI and are tuned using the symmetrical The maximum active power that the inverter can inject
optimum method. into the grid, with unity power factor, increases as the
turn ratio increases. The same is true for reactive power
capability.
A. Mathematical Formulation of the Inverter P-Q Capability
The inverter operating limits represent the maximum active V. MAXIMUM POWER TRACKING
and reactive power inverter capability. These limits depend on
the following constraints. A. Wind Turbine
1) The rated current of the power switches or any other lim- The mechanical power delivered by a wind turbine is ex-
iting element in the grid interface (Imax ) pressed as
the system, different stages can be distinguished, depending on floating-point DSP. Experimental results show the appropriate
the wind velocity (Fig. 4). behavior of the system.
Taking into account these stages, the control strategy is the
following REFERENCES
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generators for wind turbine applications,” Proc. Inst. Elect. Eng.—Elect.
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provides quadrature axis current reference as this current is pro- [3] R. Peña, J. C. Clare, and G. M. Asher, “Doubly fed induction generator
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as low as possible (around 2 rad/s) in order to obtain a smooth ergy converter,” in Proc. Int. Conf. Electrical Machines, Istanbul, Turkey,
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An efficient generator control means also minimizing the wind turbines,” M.S. thesis, Chalmers Univ. Technol., Göteborg, Sweden,
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[6] M. G. Simoes and B. K. Bose, “Design and performance evaluation of
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2) When Wind Velocity Is Greater Than vw 1 : Generator [7] M. Chinchilla, S. Arnalte, J. C. Burgos, J. Sanz, and J. L. Rodrı́guez,
“Active and reactive power limits of three-phase PWM voltage source
speed is held at its rated value by limiting speed reference. inverter connected to the grid,” in Proc. EPE-PEMC, Dubrovnik, Croatia,
The speed control loop will act on the quadrature-axis current Sep. 2002.
component (proportional to generator torque) to achieve this [8] W. Leonhard, Control of Electrical Drives. New York: Springer, 1997.
[9] G. Johnson, Wind Energy Systems. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall,
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3) When Wind Velocity Is Higher Than Rated: Power is lim- [10] A. Miller, E. Muljadi, and D. S. Zinger, “A variable speed wind turbine
ited by pitch control. To avoid over rated power excursions due power control,” IEEE Trans. Energy Convers, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 181–186,
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to wind gusts, a constant power reference is obtained by reduc- [11] E. N. Hinrichsen “Variable Rotor Speed for Wind Turbines: Objectives
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B. Experimental Results
Mónica Chinchilla (M’02) was born in 1970. She
Fig. 6 shows experimental results for the wind velocity shown received the degree in industrial engineering and the
Ph.D. degree from the Universidad Carlos III de
in Fig. 5. Fig. 6(a) shows shaft speed; it can be observed that Madrid, Leganes, Spain, in 1995 and 2001, respec-
the system tracks the maximum power point until rated gen- tively.
erator speed is achieved. Fig. 6(c) shows reference and actual Since 2001, she has been an Associated Pro-
fessor in the Electrical Engineering Department,
values of quadrature axis current, which is proportional to gen- Universidad Carlos III. Her main area of interest
erator torque. Note that the speed control loop does not impose is permanent-magnet synchronous generator control
any abrupt change in torque reference, resulting in low-power and wind energy.
fluctuations [see Fig. 6(b)]. Power coefficient cp [see Fig. 6(d)]
Santiago Arnaltes (M’02) was born in 1963. He
is close to its maximum value until the generator gets its rated graduated in 1984 and received the Ph.D. degree in
power; then, the pitch angle is changed to limit power and speed. 1989 from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Inge-
nieros Industriales de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Since 1997, he has been an Associate Professor
at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganes,
VI. CONCLUSION Spain. His main area of interest is the control of ac
electrical machines, mainly for applications of wind
This work shows the performance of a direct-driven energy.
permanent-magnet synchronous generator used in variable-
speed wind-energy systems. When exciting the system with
a real wind profile, the system is able to track maximum power Juan Carlos Burgos (M’01) was born in 1955.
using generated power as input. The speed controller sets the He graduated in 1980 and received the Ph.D. de-
generator torque command, which is achieved through a current gree in 1987 from the Escuela Técnica Supe-
rior de Ingenieros Industriales de Madrid, Madrid,
control loop. An efficient generator control has been proposed. Spain.
To achieve this objective, the optimum generator d-axis current In 1980, he joined the Escuela Tecnica Superior
component is imposed by the power converter, i.e., the current de Ingenieros Industriales as an Associate Profes-
sor. Since 1994, he has been an Associate Professor
that leads to the minimum losses. The proposed system has at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganes,
been implemented in a real-time application, with a commer- Spain. He has been the Director of the Electrical En-
cial permanent-magnet synchronous generator and a dc drive gineering Area since 2003. His main area of interest
is transformer fault prevention, but he also works in dynamic control of ac
that emulates the wind turbine behaviour. The real-time pro- electrical machines and control of variable-speed electrical generators for wind
cess is running in a dSPACE board that includes a TMS320C31 turbines.