Crowbar Protection for Doubly-Fed Induction Generators under Grid Faults

Yutana Chongjarearn
Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Dhurakij Pundit University
110/1-4 Prachachuen Rd., Laksi, Bangkok, Thailand, 10210, Tel. 02-954-7300 Ext. 585, E-Mail: [email protected]

Abstract arrangement using a stator-vector control method. The

As the increasing installation of doubly-fed induction different crowbar resistance affecting to the DFIG
generators (DFIG) in wind power generation, it is behavior during faults is simulated in MATLAB/Simulin k
becoming more important that the wind turbine remain Environment.
connected to the grid network during faults, so-called
Fault ride through (FRT). A crowbar is generally used
in the rotor circuit protection which will help to support
the FRT capability of the DFIG. In this paper, the
behaviors of the DFIG system under grid faults
influenced by the value of crowbar resistors are Grid
investigated. A stator-voltage, vector control DFIG
Gear
model is developed using Matab/Simulink program to box
DFIG
study the DFIG behavior under three-phase fault
conditions. The simulation results show that rotor RSC GSC
current rise is up to 4.5 pu , especially in case of without
crowbar protection. While with crowbar protection, the
rotor currents will be decreased. Moreover, if increasing Crowbar
R
crowbar resistance values, the best choice of the value CB controller
would be 40 times of rotor resistance in order to protect
the rotor side converter connecting to rotor side of the
DFIG. Fig. 1 A schematic diagram of a DFIG wind turbine

Keywords DFIG, Crowbar, Fault Ride Through. 2. Wind Turbine and DFIG Model
2.1 Wind turbine model
1. Introduction The power in the wind is extracted and then
The Doubly Fed Induction Generators (DFIGs ) are converted into mechanical power. The extracted wind
increasingly used in wind power generation. More than power (Pw) is described by the equation as follows
70% of the installed wind turbines are based on this type o f
induction machine [soter2007]. Many advantages of Pw  0.5R 2 v 3 C p  ,   (1)
variable-speed DFIGs compared with fix-speed ind uct io n
generators which were identified in [1], [2] and [3]. As th e where ρis the air density, R is the turbine radius,
amount of installed wind turbine increases, it is b eco min g
v is the wind speed, CP is the power coefficient, an d θis
increasingly more important that turbine remain connected
to the grid during faults so-called fault ride through (FRT) , the pitch angle of rotor, γ =ωR/v is the tip speed ratio
as required by various national grid codes[4]. (TSR). The relationship between CP and γ for given values
The DFIG ride through system generally has a of pitch angle (θ) is displayed in [ref yc2011].
crowbar in the rotor circuit which will short-circuit the rotor
circuit in order to protect the rotor side converter from The output wind turbine torque related to the win d
over-currents[ref]. The crowbar may be consisted of either power is given by
bidirectional or unidirectional power electronic switches Tw  Pw /  w (2)
that will bypass the over-current, which cause the damages
the converter, into a crowbar resistor. Differen t v alu es o f where ωw is the turbine rotor speed in per unit (p u )
the crowbar resistor are used in the wind turbine system with respect to the synchronous speed.
resulting in a different behavior. A schematic diagram o f a The single-mass model is used as the drive train in
DFIG wind turbine including a crowbar is shown in Fig. 1. which the parameters are referred to the generator sid e . A
In this paper, the behaviors of the DFIG system per unit of the model can be given by
under grid faults influenced by the value of crowbar d
resistors are investigated. The paper provid es DFIG win d Te  Tw  2 H (3)
turbine model with a grid supply connected to stator dt
winding, a rotor winding of the DFIG which two voltage where H is an inertia constant , ω is a per unit rot o r
source converters : a rotor-side converter (RSC) and a grid - speed, Te is a per unit generator torque and Tw is a per u n it
side converter (GSC) connected back-to-back in a d c lin k turbine torque.
2.2 DFIG model and power control
The dynamic model of DFIG is represented by the For GSC control, it can be concluded that t h e DC-
space vector representation of electrical quantities for stator link voltage is controlled by the d-axis GSC current (idg)
and rotor voltage referred to their natural frame: while the reactive power is controlled by the q-axis GSC
rotor current component (iqg). A block diagram of RSC
and GSC control is shown in Fig. 5.
1 d s
s
V ss  R s i ss  (4)
 b dt Vdc Idg

1 d r
r + -
Idgref +
V rr  R r i rr 
- mg Vg
(5) Vdcref
 b dt PI
Iqgref +
PI
Transfer to
stator frame
Qgref
Stator and rotor flux-linkage can be given by + - - GSC

Qg Iqg
 ss  L s i ss  Lm i rs (6)
Ps Idr
 rr  Lr i rr  Lm i sr (7)
- Idrref + - mr RSC
Psref + Vr
Transfer to
where superscript s and r refer to a stator an d ro t o r +
PI
Iqrref +
PI
rotor frame

frame,  is angular speed,  is flux-linkage, R is

Qsref -
-

resistance, L is inductance and i is curren t . Su bscrip t s Qs Iqr

and r refer to stator and rotor while b and m ind icat e b ase Fig. 5 Block diagram of RSC and GSC control
and mutual value. The electromagnetic torque (Te )
produced by the DFIG can be given by Due to the fact that the switching of both RSC
and GSC is not taken into account, the reference volt ages
Te  Lm (i ss  i rs ) (8) (Vr and Vg) generated by controllers are directly applied t o
the rotor side of DFIG and the grid.
To control active and reactive power, PW M ro t or- The PWM Six-IGBTS (insulated gate bipolar
side converter (RSC) and grid-side converter (GSC) are transistors) converters are operated as voltage source
implemented. In this paper, the stator-voltage vector control converters which are connected back to back for RSC an d
is used to independently control the active and reactive GSC. The model of the PWM converter is shown in Fig. 6.
power generated by the DFIG. All voltages, cu rrent s an d
flux-linkages are decomposed into the d-q frame and can be
transferred to other reference frame or vice versa [ref
yc2011.
For RSC control, all quantities in stator voltage
vector reference frame are written without superscript. Th e
stator active (Ps) and reactive (Qs) power generated b y t h e Fig. 6 PWM converter
DFIG can be given by The model equations of RSC and GSC are
expressed as
 L i 
Ps  Vs i ds  Vs   m dr 
 (9) 3m
 Ls  V AC 
Vdc (16)
2 2
 L i  where m is the modulation factor ( mr for RSC an d
Qs   Vs iqs   Vs  qs  m qr  (10)
mg for GSC).
 Ls Ls 
To make simulation faster, an average model b ased 3. Crowbar
on the power balance between the DC side and AC s id e is
used to model the converter and switching of the power
electronic devices are neglected as illustrated in Fig. 4. When a rotor current has increased more than a
limited value of 2 pu, three-phase crowbar resistor is
Pr , Qr applied by activating power electronic switches connected
iinv irec Pg, Qg
in series with a resistor and the rotor circuit of the DFIG is
ir ig switched from the RSC to the crowbar resistor(RCB ).A s a
Vdc ic
result, the DFIG behaves as a squirrel cage induction
RSC c
GSC generator with an increased rotor resistance((Rr+RCB).

4. Studied system of DFIG wind turbine under

AC DC AC fault conditions
Machine parameters of the studied system are
Fig. 4 Block diagram of RSC and GSC
illustrated in Table I.
 TABLE I RSC has been no controlled to supply rotor voltages
PARAMETERS OF DFIG
and the turbine keeps operation with a speed of 1.2
Rated power: 32kVA, Rated stator voltage: 460V Rated rotor pu.
voltage: 1530V, 60 Hz 4 poles
Stator resistance (Rs) 0.04 pu
Stator leakage inductance (Lls) 0.08 pu
5.1 DFIG behavior under fault conditions, without
Rotor resistance (Rr) 0.032 pu crowbar protection
Rotor leakage inductance (Llr) 0.08 pu
Mutual inductance (Lm) 4.83 pu The DFIG is controlled to generate stator act iv e
Number of pole pairs 2
Inertia constant (H) 0.77 s
power (Ps) of 1.0 pu at unity power factor at a normal
condition with independently controlled the d-axis an d q -
In normal condition the DFIG is operated at a speed axis rotor current components. While three-phase fau lt is
of 1.2 pu to generate stator active power of 1.0 pu at u n it y initiated at time = 10 sec and cleared at time = 10.15 sec,
power factor, i.e. reactive power is zero. During fault, the 3- the DFIG loses power control from 10 sec to 10.15 sec.
phase supply voltage dips from normal voltage (1 pu) to After fault clearance time of 500 msec, the generator
fault voltage (0 pu) at time = 5 sec and then the fault is resumes pre-fault operation for generating stator active
cleared at time = 5.15 sec as shown in Fig. 7. When the power of 1 pu while the machine has no reactive power
rotor current occurs over 2 pu, the crowbar is activated an d consumption as shown in Fig. 8.
Stator Active and Reactive Power (pu)
the machine behaves like a squirrel cage induction machine 4
which the stator winding remain connected to the g rid . A t Ps
Qs
the same time the RSC is opened and the rotor currents 2
flow through the crowbar resistor instead. W henev er t h e
rotor current decreases less than 2 pu, the crowbar is 0
inactivated and the RSC is reconnected. Two cases of
between having crowbar and without crowb ar p ro t ectio n -2
are studied. Further, different crowbar resistance values
(from 10 to 50 times of rotor resistance) are investigated as -4
shown in Table 2.
Stator Voltages (pu) -6
1.5 Vsa 9.8 10 10.2 10.4 10.6 10.8
Vsb time (sec)
Vsc
1 Fig. 8 T he stator active (Ps) and reactive power (Qs) response
Rotor Currents (pu)
5
0.5 ira
4
irb
3 irc
0
2
1
-0.5
0
-1 -1
-2
-1.5 -3
9.8 10 10.2 10.4 10.6 10.8
time (sec) -4
-5
9.8 10 10.2 10.4 10.6 10.8
Fig. 7 Voltage waveforms during t hree-phase supply voltage fault time (sec)
Fig. 9 Simulation results for t he rotor currents
TABLE II
STUDIED CASES OF VARIOUS CROWBAR RESISTANCE Speed, Electromechanical Torque
and Turbine Torque
2
Case no. Crowbar resistance(pu)
1 Without crowbar 0
2 With crowbar
(10-50×rotor resistance) -2

-4
5. Simulation Results and Analysis Speed
The simulation scenario is defined as follow s : -6 Te
the DFIG is controlled to generate stator power of 1 Tw
-8
pu at unity power factor at normal operation, stator
-10
side of the DFIG remaining connected to the grid 9.8 10 10.2 10.4 10.6 10.8
time(sec)
during faults, as long as rotor over-current higher than
2 pu, a set of the crowbar resistors is activated to
Fig. 10 Simulation results for Speed, Electromechanical torque
connect to the rotor side of the generator while the
and T urbine torque
 The peak rotor currents are decreased resulting with
Fig.9 apparently shows that the rotor current reaches using higher crowbar resistance values. Moreover, the
about 2pu at fault initiation but around 4.5 pu after fault currents are precipitated in a safety level of 2 pu wit h t h e
clearance. These high rotor currents can damage the ro t o r - usage of a minimum crowbar resistance value of 30 t imes
side converter (RSC) if it has no protection. During the of the rotor resistance value (30Rr) as shown in Fig. 12. As
fault occurrence (between time=10 and 10.15 sec) a result, the RSC will be protected from high rotor
electromechanical torque (Te ) falls from 1 pu to 0 pu currents.
because of demagnetization of the DFIG while turbine Rotor Currents (pu)
4.5
torque (Tw) remains constant at 1 pu. As a result, the turbine 4
speed (ωm) slightly rises but is rather constant b ecause o f 3.5
having speed control as shown in Fig 10. After fault 3
clearance at time =10.15 sec, turbine torque is immediately 2.5
decreased to zero and then a speed controller has res t art ed 2
to control the generator speed, thus reducing high speed to a 1.5
normal speed of 1.2 pu.
No CB 10 20 30 40 50
Crowbar resistance values (times of rotor resistance)
5.2 DFIG behavior under fault conditions, with
crowbar protection Fig. 12 Relations between crowbar resistance (times of rotor
resistance) and rotor current (pu)
The DFIG is operated as mentioned above in
beginning of section 5 and also has a crowbar p ro t ectio n. 6. Conclusion
Three different crowbar resistors are investigate; i.e. Rcb = This paper presents a stator voltage vector co nt rol
10Rr, 20Rr and 30Rr. The simulation results are shown in of DFIG wind turbine under normal and fault condit io ns.
Fig.11. The results show that stator active and reactive power can
Rotor Currents (pu) be independently controlled by manipulation of the d-axis
3
ira and q-axis rotor current components, respectively. Durin g
irb
2 irc
three-phase voltage fault, high rotor currents rise sharply .
1 This can damage the rotor-side converter and also high
0 DC-link voltage can occur. Finally, during the fault,
-1 unbalance of power in the shaft will cause the speed of the
-2 DFIG wind turbine to increase to a large extent if t h ere is
-3 no protection. Further research will use this developed
9.8 10 10.2 10.4 10.6 10.8
model to study the ride-through operation o f DFIG win d
time (sec) turbine.
a) 10Rr References
Rotor Currents (pu)
3 [1] S. Muller, M. Deicke, and R. W. De Doncker,
ira
2 irb "Doubly fed induction generator systems for wind
irc turbines," in IEEE Industry Applications Mag azin e.
1
vol. 8, 2002, pp. 26-33.
0 [2] I. Serban, F. Blaabjerg, I. Boldea, and Z. Chen, "A
-1 study of the Doubly-Fed Wind Power Generator
-2
Under Power System," in 2003 EPE Power
Electronics and Applications, 10th European
-3
9.8 10 10.2 10.4 10.6 10.8 Conference Proceedings, 2003, pp. 1-10.
time (sec)
b) 20Rr [3] L. Xu and Y. Wang, "Dynamic modeling and control
Rotor Currents (pu) of DFIG-based wind turbines under, unbalanced
3
ira network conditions," IEEE Transactions o n Po wer
2 irb Systems, vol. 22, 2007, pp. 314-323.
irc
1
[4] M. Tsili, S. Papathanassiou, G. Georgantzis, and G.
Antonopoulos, "Grid code requirements for large
0 wind farms: A review of technical regulations and
-1 available wind turbine technologies," in Proc.
-2
EWEC'08, Brussels , 2008, pp. 1-11.
[5] M. Yin, G. Li, M. Zhou, G. Liu, and C. Zhao, "Study
-3
9.8 10 10.2 10.4 10.6 10.8 on the control of DFIG and its responses to grid
time (sec)
disturbances," in IEEE Power Engineeri ng S ociety
c) 30Rr General Meeting Montreal, Que., 2006, pp. 1-6.
Fig.11 Simulated Rotor currents in various cro wbar [6] W. Sae-kok, "Simulation and Experimental System
resistance a) 10Rr b) 20Rr and c) 30Rr of a Doubly-Fed Induction Generator," in EECON
32th Electrical Engineering Conference. Prachinburi,
Thailand, 2009.