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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION 1

High-Efficiency Control for a Wind Energy

Conversion System With Induction Generator
Athanasios Mesemanolis, Christos Mademlis, Senior Member, IEEE, and Iordanis Kioskeridis, Member, IEEE

Abstract—In this paper, an improved efficiency control scheme Pe Electrical output power of the generator.
for wind energy conversion systems (WECSs) with squirrel cage Ploss Generator power loss.
induction generators is proposed. Thus, the power harvesting Pohm Generator stator and rotor ohmic losses.
from the WECS is increased and additionally expansion of the
exploitable wind speed region toward the lower speed range is Pm Mechanical power produced by the wind
accomplished. The generator is connected to the power grid by turbine.
means of two space-vector-controlled back-to-back converters. A PN Electrical power injected to the grid.
minimum ohmic loss (MOL) controller is introduced in order to QN Reactive power injected to the grid.
minimize the generator resistive loss that is accomplished by ad- Pw Wind power.
justing the d-axis stator current according to torque conditions.
The implementation of the proposed controller is easy and cost Cp Wind turbine power coefficient.
effective because neither additional control signals nor the knowl- u Wind speed in m/s.
edge of the generator loss model is required. The effectiveness of n Gear ratio.
MOL controller and its successful cooperation with two types of ωe Electrical angular velocity of the generator.
maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controllers, which are ωm Turbine shaft angular velocity.
employed to maximize the wind turbine output power, are exper-
imentally verified. The MPPT controller is implemented by using ωr m Mechanical angular velocity of the generator.
an adaptive search control and a fuzzy-logic-based control tech- Tm Torque produced by the wind turbine.
nique, since both are independent of wind turbine characteristics Tr m Torque at the generator shaft.
and widely used. Selective experimental results are presented to Te Generator electromagnetic torque.
demonstrate the resulting improvements of the suggested control Gd MOL controller parameter.
scheme.
Index Terms—Optimal control, power generation, squirrel cage
induction generator, variable speed, wind energy, wind power gen- I. INTRODUCTION
eration. ENEWABLE energy and especially wind energy conver-
R sion systems (WECSs) have attracted an increasing in-
terest in the last years since they could be considered as con-
NOMENCLATURE firmed alternatives for sustaining the continuous growing energy
Ids , Iq s d- and q-axis components of induction generator needs [1]. Excluding the hydropower plants, wind turbines are
stator current, respectively. currently the largest renewable energy source as well as eco-
Idr , Iq r d- and q-axis components of induction generator nomically competitive for many applications [2].
rotor current, respectively. Squirrel cage rotor induction generator is an attractive option
IdN , Iq N d- and q-axis components of the grid current, for a wind generation system since it is inexpensive with robust
respectively. construction compared to permanent magnet synchronous gen-
Lm , Lr Magnetizing and rotor inductances of the induc- erator and also requires low maintenance compared to wound
tion generator, respectively. rotor synchronous generator [3]. Variable-speed WECSs have
Lls , Llr Stator and rotor leakage inductances of the in- been widely investigated in the technical literature and several
duction generator, respectively. developments in the generator control have been proposed.
Rs , Rr Stator and rotor resistances of the induction gen- The control system is the key technology of the wind en-
erator, respectively. ergy conversion process in order to extract maximum energy
ψr Rotor flux linkage of the induction generator. from the incident wind. Thus, maximum power point tracking
(MPPT) control schemes have been reported which operate by
varying the generator speed in order to optimize wind turbine
aerodynamic efficiency. Search control and fuzzy-logic control
Manuscript received February 13, 2012; revised July 2, 2012; accepted
August 8, 2012. Paper no. TEC-00070-2012.R1. methods have been presented in [4] and [5], respectively. Neural
A. Mesemanolis and C. Mademlis are with the Department of Electrical networks could be an alternative approach for the MPPT con-
and Computer Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54 124 trol [6]. An optimal torque controller based on a priori knowl-
Thessaloniki, Greece (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]).
I. Kioskeridis is with the Department of Electronics, Alexander Technological edge of the turbine characteristics is proposed in [7]. Also, a
Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, GR-57 400 Thessaloniki, Greece (e-mail: fast tracking control algorithm has been presented in [8] and an
[email protected]). adaptive fuzzy-logic-based scheme has been proposed in [9].
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. The appropriate control of the generator excitation is an at-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TEC.2012.2213602 tractive option in order to improve the efficiency of the whole
0885-8969/$31.00 © 2012 IEEE
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2 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION

WECS. A fuzzy-logic control method for the d-axis stator cur- control techniques are employed for the implementation of the
rent that can lead to maximum efficiency of the induction gen- MPPT controller, as they are both independent of wind tur-
erator has been presented in [10]. However, the response time bine characteristics. The suggested control scheme has been
is long and the system might fail to follow the fast dynamics applied on a WECS with squirrel cage induction generator but
of the wind. The model-based optimal efficiency control for it can be extended to wound-rotor induction generators and syn-
WECS with induction generator has been investigated in [11] chronous generators as well. Experimental results are provided
and [12]. However, for the implementation, the accurate wind to demonstrate the operational improvements and substantiate
speed measurement is required. Furthermore, the optimum ref- the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
erence d-axis current depends on the accuracy of loss model pa-
rameters that cannot be easily determined in a real application. II. CONTROL STRATEGY OVERVIEW
Control methods for minimum electrical loss of permanent mag- Fig. 1 illustrates the structure of the improved efficiency wind
net synchronous generators have been developed in [13]–[15]. generation system. It consists of a wind turbine coupled to a
Specifically, in [13], the optimal values of the d-axis current for squirrel cage induction generator through a gear box and two
various load conditions are determined offline and its values are back-to-back converters utilizing the space vector control tech-
stored in a lookup table. In [14], a stochastic optimization tech- nique. The gear box is needed in order to adapt the low rotational
nique has been employed in order to obtain offline the optimal speed of the wind turbine to the higher of the generator.
values of d- and q-axis currents and to determine their functions The generator speed is controlled using the indirect vector
versus generator speed. Finally, simulation results for efficiency control technique and is adapted according to wind variations
improvement of a WECS with PM synchronous generator using in order to obtain maximum power from the incident wind. The
a search control technique have been presented in [15]. vector control provides decoupled control of the active and re-
From the above, it is concluded that there is a need for an active current component at the generator, and therefore, the
easily implemented and cost-effective control scheme that can machine torque and magnetic flux can be controlled indepen-
improve the efficiency of the electric generator and thus, in com- dently.
bination with the MPPT control, improve the efficiency of the For the line-side converter, the vector control method is em-
whole WECS. Therefore, from the existing wind energy poten- ployed as well. Thus, the active and reactive powers provided
tial, the electrical energy extracted from the WECS is increased to the grid are independently controlled and the line-side power
and expansion of the exploitable wind speed region toward the factor can be leading, lagging, or unity, depending on the grid
lower speeds can be achieved. Furthermore, the undesirable demands. The filter between the inverter and the grid reduces
startup and shutdown of the wind turbine, which are mainly the harmonic currents injected to the grid. Finally, a dynamic
attained at low wind speed range, are confined. braking resistor is established in parallel to the dc-link capacitor
The aim of this paper is to propose a control scheme that to dissipate the excess electrical energy that cannot be absorbed
provides reduction of the induction generator power loss. A by the grid.
minimum ohmic loss (MOL) controller is introduced in order The output power of the generator Pe is given by
to minimize the generator resistive loss. This is accomplished
by controlling the d-axis stator current through an optimal con- Pe = Pm − Ploss (1)
dition with respect to the rotor flux linkage ψr . The proposed and the efficiency of the whole WECS is defined as
MOL controller is easily implemented, since only the knowledge
of induction generator parameters is required that are already PN
η= . (2)
known from the implementation of space vector control. Hence, Pw
neither the wind speed measurement nor the knowledge of the In order to improve the efficiency of the whole wind energy
generator loss model is required, compared to loss minimization system, an MOL controller is adopted in order to reduce the
control techniques in [11] and [12]. In comparison to previous generator power loss Ploss and an MPPT controller is employed
work of authors [15], the proposed MOL controller determines in order to maximize the mechanical power Pm .
the optimal Ids current through a condition, and therefore, fast The power system is composed of two parts: the rectifier and
dynamic response is accomplished. Moreover, the dynamic per- the inverter. Two closed loops are used for the control of d- and
formance of the controller is improved by introducing a control q-axis current components of each part. Specifically, the Ids
loop that compensates the delayed response of the flux linkage and Iq s stator currents of the induction generator are controlled
to the d-axis current. by the rectifier control system for minimizing the generator
The effectiveness of the MOL controller is experimentally ohmic loss (MOL controller) and extracting maximum energy
verified on a wind generation system at which an MPPT con- of the wind turbine (MPPT controller), respectively. The inverter
troller is applied in order to maximize wind turbine output control system is used to control the IdN and Iq N components of
power. Although main target of this paper is to propose a MOL the grid current in order to maintain constant dc-link voltage and
controller that minimizes the generator resistive loss, it is impor- to provide the demanded reactive power to the grid, respectively.
tant to examine its effective cooperation with the wind turbine Thus, the rectifier has the main role in improving the efficiency
MPPT control. Various control techniques can be applied for of the whole WECS, while the inverter is responsible for the
the implementation of the MPPT controller. In this paper, the proper diffusion of the produced electrical power to the grid
adaptive search control and alternatively the fuzzy-logic-based with the lowest possible harmonic distortion. For the rectifier
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MESEMANOLIS et al.: HIGH-EFFICIENCY CONTROL FOR A WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM WITH INDUCTION GENERATOR 3

Fig. 1. System structure of a variable-speed WECS with three-phase squirrel cage induction generator.

control system, the d- and q-axis are oriented along the generator
flux linkage and torque vectors, respectively, while for the line-
side inverter, the d- and q-axis currents control the active and
reactive powers, respectively.

III. WIND TURBINE CHARACTERISTICS

The power captured by a wind turbine is given by
1
Pm = ρACp (λ, β)u3 (3)
2
where ρ is the air density (typically 1.25 kg/m3 ), A is the swept
Fig. 2. Structure of a wind turbine emulator.
area (cross-sectional area) of the turbine (in m2 ), Cp (λ, β) is
the wind-turbine power coefficient, and u is the wind speed (in
m/s). The coefficient Cp (λ, β) depends on the pitch angle of the
blades β (in degrees) and the tip-speed ratio λ, which is defined
as the ratio of the linear velocity of the blade tip (ωm R) to the
wind speed u as follows:
ωm R
λ= (4)
u
where ωm is the wind turbine shaft speed (in rad/s) and R is the
radius of the blades (in meter).
In this paper, a wind turbine emulator is used for the labora-
tory tests, implemented by an inverter fed induction motor, as
per [16]. Fig. 2 presents the structure of the wind emulator. A
programmable logic controller (PLC) obtains wind speed val-
ues and, by using turbine characteristics and induction motor
speed, calculates the torque value of the wind turbine. This is
the reference value to the torque-controlled drive that forces the Fig. 3. Power coefficient versus tip-speed ratio (C p − λ) of a three-blade
three-phase induction motor to act like a real wind turbine to horizontal-axis wind turbine, for various blade pitch angles β.
the energy conversion system.
The relation of Cp versus λ of a three-blade horizontal-axis
wind turbine for various blade pitch angles β is illustrated in A three-blade horizontal-axis wind turbine with radius of
Fig. 3. The curves have been obtained by using the following 2.25 m is emulated on the system. Fig. 4 illustrates the steady-
equation that is commonly used in wind turbine simulators [6], state power–speed characteristics (solid curves) and the maxi-
[17]: mum power point curve (dashed curve) attained at each wind
  speed, for a blade pitch angle of 0◦ (β = 0◦ ). Since a gear box
116 − 5
Cp (λ, β) = 0.5176 − 0.4β − 5 e λi + 0.0068λ (5) is used, the wind turbine speed ωm and torque Tm = Pm /ωm
λi
are converted to the machine level on the basis of the gear ra-
with tio n as follows: ωr m = n ωm and Tr m = Tm /n where ωr m
1 1 0.035 and Tr m are the mechanical speed and torque of the generator,
= − 3 . (6)
λi λ + 0.08β β +1 respectively.
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4 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION

and from (10), (12), and (13) yields

   
Rs 2 L2m
Pohm = 3 ψ r + 3 R s + R r Iq2s . (15)
L2m L2r

V. IMPROVED EFFICIENCY CONTROL OF A WECS

Fig. 5 illustrates the block diagram of the proposed rectifier
control system. The optimal generator speed is determined by
the MPPT controller and the flux linkage is adjusted by the
MOL controller. An improved control technique is applied to
∗
provide the optimal Ids and Iq∗s reference stator currents. The
two controllers operate at different sampling rates. Specifically,
the sampling period of MPPT controller Tsq is longer than the
sampling period of the MOL controller Tsd (Tsq > Tsd ), be-
cause the mechanical time constant of the wind turbine is higher
Fig. 4. Power–speed characteristics of a three-blade horizontal-axis wind tur-
bine, for various wind speeds and blade pitch angle at 0◦ (β = 0◦ ). (due to its inertia) compared to the electrical time constant of
the generator.
IV. BASIC EQUATIONS AND LOSS MODEL OF AN INDUCTION A. MOL Controller
GENERATOR
The ohmic loss minimization condition at steady state (Te
Field-oriented control on an induction generator provides de- and ωe constant), with respect to ψr is given by
coupled control of d- and q-axis stator current components and 
the electromagnetic torque is given by [18] ∂Pohm 
= 0. (16)
∂ψr ω e
3 Lm
Te = p Iq s ψr (7)
2 Lr Using (15), (16) is satisfied when
   
The developed electromagnetic torque responds instanta- Rs L2m ∂Iq s
neously to Iq s current but has delayed response due to Ids which ψr + Rs + Rr 2 Iq s = 0. (17)
L2m Lr ∂ψr
depends on the rotor time constant Tr = Lr /Rr . In Laplace for-
Since resistive loss minimization is accomplished at the
mulation, the rotor flux linkage is given by
meantime of MPPT control steps, during each step interval,
Lm the electromagnetic torque is kept constant. Thus, it is deduced
ψr = Ids (8)
Tr s + 1 that

and in z-transformation (for DSP applications) is determined by ∂Te 
=0 (18)
Lm Tsd ∂ψr  ωe
ψr = Ids (9)
z(Tr + Tsd ) − Tr and using (7) results
where Tsd is the sampling period. ∂Iq s Iq s
At steady state, the rotor flux linkage ψr is aligned to the d- =− . (19)
∂ψr ψr
axis (ψdr = ψr while ψq r = 0), and therefore, the d- and q-axis
Substituting (19) into (17), the MOL condition is given by
rotor currents, respectively, are given by
Lm ψr = Gd Iq s (20)
Iq r = − Iq s (10)
Lr where
  2
and
Rr Lm
ψr Lm Gd = Lm 1+ . (21)
Idr = − Ids . (11) Rs Lr
Lr Lr
The existence of MOL condition is experimentally verified in
From (8), it is concluded that at steady state, the rotor flux
Fig. 6(a), which shows the variation of ohmic loss versus rotor
linkage is given by
flux linkage ψr measured in a 5-kW squirrel cage induction gen-
ψr = Lm Ids (12) erator. At each wind speed, the mechanical power supplied to
the induction generator corresponds to maximum output power
and consequently, from (11) results
of the wind turbine. It can be seen that considerable loss reduc-
Idr = 0. (13) tion is accomplished at low wind speed, since at low wind speed,
the torque is lower, and therefore, there is significant margin for
The stator and rotor ohmic losses can be written in terms of
flux reduction.
component d- and q-axis currents as
The parameters of the induction generator and the MOL con-
2
Pohm = 3Rs (Ids + Iq2s ) + 3Rr (Idr
2
+ Iq2r ) (14) troller are given in Table I. The ohmic loss is calculated by (15).
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MESEMANOLIS et al.: HIGH-EFFICIENCY CONTROL FOR A WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM WITH INDUCTION GENERATOR 5

Fig. 5. Block diagram of the rectifier control system for high efficiency of a WECS.

TABLE I
THREE-PHASE, 5-KW, INDUCTION MACHINE AND MOL
CONTROLLER PARAMETERS

controlled by the proposed method; however, they are indirectly

controlled by the decreasing of harmonic voltages, because of
the flux weakening. It should be noted that, since the MOL con-
troller reduces the power loss of the generator, it does not affect
the torque at the turbine shaft.
In order to calculate the optimal flux linkage ψr from (20),
the measurement of Iq s current is required. The gain Gd can
be easily determined by (21). The stator resistance Rs can be
measured, while the Rr and the inductances Lm and Lr are
already known because they are needed for the implementation
of the induction generator space vector control. The resistances
and the inductances vary due to temperature and saturation,
respectively; however, their ratios remain almost unaffected.
Thus, the gain Gd might be affected by saturation only because
of Lm ; however, due to flux weakening, the generator operates
almost in the linear region, and therefore, the variation of Gd is
Fig. 6. Variation of (a) ohmic loss and (b) q-axis stator current versus normal-
ized rotor flux linkage, for various wind speeds, in a 5-kW induction generator. narrow. Moreover, successful approximation of the minimum is
At each wind speed, the power provided to the generator corresponds to the possible since the resistive loss curves, as shown in Fig. 6(a),
maximum power of the wind turbine. The rated rotor flux linkage is 1.95 Vs. are smooth around the minimum. In the MOL control, upper
(At each wind speed, the generator rotor speed corresponds to maximum power
of the wind turbine.) and lower limits are imposed on the reference rotor flux linkage
ψr so that it does not exceed the rated value and it does not fall
below 40% of the rated value.
It can be seen that, for each wind speed, there is one point (noted
by asterisk) at which MOL is accomplished. Fig. 6(b) illustrates
B. MPPT Controller
the variation of Iq s versus ψr and it is validated that all points
noted by asterisk, which correspond to MOL operation, are on The MPPT controller maximizes the wind turbine mechan-
a dashed line that satisfies (20). It is also worth mentioning that, ical power by maximizing the power Pm = Te ωr m /c where
since the resistive loss is minimized through flux weakening, c = (3/2)p(Lm /Lr ), which by using (7) is given by Pm =
the iron loss is reduced as well. Harmonic loss is not directly Iq s ψr ωr m . The search algorithm is implemented by sampling
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6 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION

TABLE II
FUZZY RULES

Fig. 8. Experimental WECS that consists of an induction generator, the wind

turbine emulator, power converters, and digital controllers.

In order to improve the dynamic performance of the system,

a proportional-integral (PI) controller is introduced in the flux
Fig. 7. Fuzzy-logic controller membership functions.
control loop to compensate the delay caused by the rotor time
constant Tr . Additionally, in order to ensure high-performance
the Iq s , ψr , and ωr m at constant intervals of time and the power operation of the speed loop, the torque reference current Iq∗s
Pm = Iq s ψr ωr m is calculated. The incremental change of Pm is determined by dividing the product Iq∗s · ψr∗ obtained by the
power is calculated as speed control loop with the ψr estimated from the flux con-
trol loop. As a result, the flux weakening effect of the MOL
ΔPm (k) = Pm (k) − Pm (k − 1) (22) controller is directly taken into account, and consequently, the
performance of the speed control loop is highly improved.
and the reference speed change is accordingly adjusted by

Δωr∗m (k + 1) = aq · ΔPm (k) · sign [Δωr∗m (k − 1)]. (23) VI. LABORATORY TEST SETUP AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

The proportional parameter aq provides adaptive speed ref- The basic construction details of the emulated wind turbine
erence change, and therefore, fast convergence of the MPPT are described in Section III and the test system is illustrated in
search controller is ensured. Fig. 8. A gear box of ratio 1/4 is considered in the wind-turbine
Alternatively to the implementation of the MPPT with search emulator system. A capacitor of 2 mF and a braking resistor of
control technique, the cooperation of the MOL controller with 70 Ω are used at the dc link. The LCL filter between the inverter
an MPPT controller implemented with fuzzy-logic technique is and the grid is composed of two series inductances of 4.4 mH
examined. A fuzzy-logic controller operates using fuzzy rules each and a capacitor of 15 μF.
expressed in a form of IF–THEN and the fuzzified inputs are Two dSPACE DS1104 controller boards are used for the im-
related by a logical AND operator. Table II reports the rules plementation of the rectifier and the inverter control systems.
governing the controller’s operation. The incremental changes The rectifier controller board houses the MPPT and the MOL
of ΔPm (k) and Δωr m (k) are measured and the controller ac- controllers. The sampling period of the MPPT controller is
cordingly adjusts the reference speed change Δωr∗m (k + 1). Tsq = 0.5 s, while the sampling period of the MOL controller is
Fig. 7 displays the normalized membership functions of Tsd = 5 ms. The speed PI controller runs at a sampling period
ΔPm , Δωr m , and Δωr∗m , where nl = negative large, nm = of 5 ms, while the flux PI controller operates at 0.1-ms sampling
negative medium, ns = negative small, pl = positive large, z = period. The inverter controller board houses a PI controller for
zero, ps = positive small, and pm = positive medium. regulating the IdN current that maintains constant the dc-link
voltage at 600 V and a PI controller for regulating the Iq N cur-
rent that controls the reactive power injected to the grid. Both PI
C. Improvement in WECS Dynamic Performance controllers on the inverter side run at sampling periods of 5 ms.
As can be seen in Fig. 5, the torque current component Iq s For the experiments, a power factor of unity is considered, and
is determined from the speed control loop so as the maximum therefore, the inverter only injects active power into the grid.
power of the wind turbine is extracted, and the field current Thus, the inverter output power factor is slightly capacitive to
component Ids is derived from the flux control loop so as gen- compensate for the filter reactive power.
erator ohmic loss is minimized. However, due to the rotor time Fig. 9 illustrates the improvements of the optimal-controlled
constant Tr , the rotor flux linkage might have delayed response WECS in the produced electrical power and efficiency versus
[see (8)] and additionally, due to the MOL controller, the flux wind speed, for power factor equal to unity at the point of
weakening might instantly reduce the electromagnetic torque common coupling to the grid. The diagrams extended up to
[see (7)] causing delayed response of the speed control loop. wind speed of 8 m/s because, according to Weibull probability
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MESEMANOLIS et al.: HIGH-EFFICIENCY CONTROL FOR A WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM WITH INDUCTION GENERATOR 7

Fig. 10. WECS performance when only the MOL controller is activated. The
wind speed is constant at 5 m/s and the reference generator speed is n ∗r m =
680 r/min that corresponds to optimal speed of the MPPT control.

Fig. 9. Comparison between the WECS improved efficiency control and con-
ventional control: (a) electrical output power and (b) energy efficiency.
toward the lower range. Specifically, with the optimal control
TABLE III
(both MOL and MPPT controllers in operation), the WECS
WECS EFFICIENCY AND POWER OUTPUT INCREASE WITH MOL CONTROLLER starts to provide electrical power to the grid from a wind speed
of 3.7 m/s, whereas with the conventional control (only MPPT
in operation and generator under nominal flux linkage), WECS
attains electrical power production only above 4.2 m/s wind
speed.
Fig. 10 illustrates the WECS performance for wind speed
5 m/s and blade pitch angle at 0◦ , when only the MOL controller
is activated. The generator reference speed is n∗r m = 680 r/min
(or 680/4 = 170 r/min of the wind turbine) that corresponds
to the optimal value of the MPPT controller (see Fig. 4). It
can be seen that the MOL controller is very fast and finds the
MOL operating point in almost 0.5 s. Due to the MOL control,
additional electric power of 50 W can be provided to the grid,
distribution, this region covers the most probable mean and and thus, the efficiency of the WECS is increased.
average wind speeds [19]. The operational improvement in compensating the delay
Specifically, Fig. 9(a) and (b) compares the produced elec- caused by the rotor time constant Tr is examined in Fig. 11.
trical power to the grid and the efficiency, respectively, accom- Specifically, in Fig. 11(a), the reference Ids current is deter-
plished when both MOL and MPPT controllers operate, against mined using the improved control scheme as presented in Fig. 5,
those produced when only the MPPT controller is active and the while in Fig. 11(b), the reference Ids current is directly deter-
∗
generator operates with nominal flux linkage. It can be seen that mined from the MOL controller as Ids = ψr∗ /Lm . It can be seen
the increase of the produced electrical power and efficiency is that when a step change of the reference flux occurs, the flux
higher at low wind speeds, since at this region, the load power control loop provides faster response of the flux and the gen-
is low, and therefore, considerable reduction of generator loss erator speed equilibrium is established in a shorter period [see
can be accomplished by reducing the generator flux linkage. Fig. 11(a)] compared to the conventional open-loop method [see
Additionally, the exploitable wind speed region is expanded Fig. 11(b)].
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8 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION

Fig. 11. Comparison of the WECS performance when a step change of the Fig. 12. Response of the improved efficiency WECS to a step change of the
reference flux value is occurred: (a) with flux control loop and (b) without flux wind speed from 4 to 6 m/s (both MPPT and MOL controllers operate). The
control loop. The wind speed is constant at 5 m/s and the generator reference MPPT controller is implemented with search control technique.
speed is n ∗r m = 680 r/min that corresponds to the optimal speed of the MPPT
control.

Although the aim of this paper is to propose an MOL con-

troller that minimizes the generator resistive loss, it is important
to examine its effective cooperation with the wind turbine MPPT
control. The search control and alternatively fuzzy-logic-based
control techniques are selected for the implementation of the
MPPT controller, because both are independent of wind turbine
parameters. Figs. 12 and 13 illustrate the WECS response to
an abrupt change of the wind speed from 4 to 6 m/s, when
both MOL and MPPT controllers are in operation. The blade
pitch angle is steady at 0◦ . The wind speed values are chosen
on purpose to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control
system of the WECS in wind speed step changes. In Fig. 12,
an adaptive MPPT search controller is used, while in Fig. 13, a
fuzzy-logic-based MPPT controller is employed.
From Figs. 12 and 13, it can be concluded that the proposed
MOL controller can satisfactorily cooperate with both MPPT
control techniques. The optimal generator speed is determined
by the MPPT controller by controlling the Iq s current and
simultaneously, the MOL controller determines through (20)
the optimal rotor flux linkage and consequently the optimal Ids
current. Comparing Fig. 10 (that only MOL controller operates)
with Figs. 12 and 13 (that both MOL and MPPT controllers op- Fig. 13. Response of the improved efficiency WECS to a step change of the
erate), it is concluded that the MOL controller is faster than the wind speed from 4 to 6 m/s (both MPPT and MOL controllers operate). The
MPPT controller is implemented with fuzzy-logic control technique.
MPPT controller, since the MOL controller determines the opti-
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MESEMANOLIS et al.: HIGH-EFFICIENCY CONTROL FOR A WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM WITH INDUCTION GENERATOR 9

mal flux linkage value through a condition, whereas the MPPT

controller searches for the optimal rotor speed value.
Regarding the MPPT control techniques, it is observed that
both succeed in reaching the new optimum rotational speed of
the shaft. However, the fuzzy-logic controller reaches the opti-
mum speed with fewer fluctuations and is generally more stable,
due to the filtering achieved by the fuzzification of the sampled
signals. In contrast, the search controller has the disadvantage
of being partially unstable, while its implementation is consid-
erably simpler compared to the fuzzy-logic controller. However,
both controllers are able to track the changes of the wind speed
and it is shown that the MOL controller does not affect the
MPPT procedure.
Figs. 14 and 15 verify the effectiveness of the proposed high
efficiency control system of the WECS in real wind speed con-
ditions. Specifically, Fig. 14 shows the WECS performance with
MOL and search MPPT controllers and Fig. 15 shows the WECS
performance with MOL and fuzzy-logic MPPT controllers. The
same wind profile, which is obtained from measurements, is
used for both MPPT control schemes and imposed as input to
wind turbine emulator (see Fig. 2).
It can be seen that the MOL controller cooperates with both
MPPT controllers and can follow the wind speed variations
by successfully finding the WECS optimal operating point for
providing both minimum copper losses of the induction gener-
Fig. 14. Response of the improved efficiency WECS to a real wind speed ator (MOL controller) and maximum power harvesting of the
profile obtained by measurements (both MPPT and MOL controllers operate).
The MPPT controller is implemented with search control technique.
wind turbine (MPPT controller). Note that in cases of high wind
speed (above 8.5 m/s), the flux linkage reaches its nominal value,
while in lower wind speed (below 8.5 m/s), the MOL controller
provides the optimal flux that corresponds to minimum copper
losses of the induction generator.

VII. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a control system that improves the efficiency
of the whole wind energy conversion process has been pro-
posed. The control system provides minimum resistive power
loss of the squirrel cage induction generator in combination
with maximum power tracking of the wind turbine. Thus, by
making use of the existing wind energy potential, the electrical
energy extracted from the WECS is increased and expansion
of the exploitable wind speed region toward the lower speeds
can be achieved. The generator is connected to the power grid
by means of two back-to-back PWM converters, both employ-
ing the space vector control technique. The minimum resistive
loss of the generator is achieved by introducing an MOL con-
troller that adjusts the d-axis stator current according to torque
conditions. The proposed controller can be easily implemented
because neither additional control signals nor the knowledge
of generator loss model is required. The effectiveness of the
MOL controller and its successful cooperation with an MPPT
controller are experimentally verified. The adaptive search con-
trol and alternatively the fuzzy-logic-based control techniques
Fig. 15. Response of the improved efficiency WECS to a real wind speed are employed for the implementation of the MPPT controller, as
profile obtained by measurements (both MPPT and MOL controllers operate). they are both independent of wind turbine characteristics. Thus,
The MPPT controller is implemented with fuzzy-logic control technique.
a high-efficiency WECS with induction generator is developed
that is easily implemented, since neither the knowledge of the
 This article has been accepted for inclusion in a future issue of this journal. Content is final as presented, with the exception of pagination.

10 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION

wind turbine characteristics nor the generator loss model is re- [17] S. Heier, Grid Integration of Wind Energy Conversion Systems. New
quired, except only the induction generator parameters that are York: Wiley, 1998.
[18] B. K. Bose, Power Electronics and Motor Drives. Oxford, U.K.:
already known from the space vector control implementation. Elsevier, 2003.
Selective experimental results are presented to validate the the- [19] F. D. Bianchi, H. de Battista, and R. J. Mantz, Wind Turbine Control
oretical considerations and the resulting improvements of the Systems, Principles, Modelling and Gain Scheduling Design. London,
U.K.: Springer-Verlag, 2007.
proposed control scheme.
The current study verifies the theoretical analysis through an
experimental laboratory setup with an emulated wind turbine
and demonstrates the improvements over conventional WECS
control schemes. However, the future direction is to apply the
proposed control system on a real wind turbine in order to verify
Athanasios Mesemanolis was born in Thessaloniki,
its effectiveness in actual wind conditions. Greece, on July 13, 1986. He received the Diploma
degree in 2009 from the Department of Electrical and
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