Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688

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International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijepes

A novel virtual synchronous generator control scheme of DFIG-based wind

turbine generators based on the rotor current-induced electromotive force
Xuesong Gao , Zhihao Wang , Lei Ding , Weiyu Bao , Zhijun Wang , Quanrui Hao
Key Laboratory of Power System Intelligent Dispatch and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Electrical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This paper focuses on the research of virtual synchronous generator (VSG) control technology for the doubly-fed
Doubly-fed induction generator induction generator (DFIG)-based wind turbines. The key for DFIG VSG operation is to construct an internal
Virtual synchronous generator (VSG) electromotive force (EMF) with the virtual rotor motion characteristic in the stator. The existing control schemes
Wind generation
use the rotor or mutual flux-induced EMF as the internal EMF. Since the flux corresponds to a composite
Internal voltage
Rotor current control
magnetic field generated together by the stator and rotor current. Any variations in the stator current caused by
external disturbances will reflect on the rotor current to keep the flux constant. The rotor overcurrent is inevi­
table under a large external disturbance, threatening the safety of the rotor-side converter (RSC). Moreover, the
flux is immeasurable. The accurate flux control depends on flux observers, increasing the complexity; while the
control without observers cannot ensure the effectiveness, leading to control failure. To address these problems, a
novel DFIG VSG control scheme with the rotor current-induced EMF as the internal EMF is proposed in this
paper. The internal EMF is corresponded to the single magnetic field generated only by the rotor current. This
can lead to the following benefits: the rotor current will not vary with the stator current and can be limited under
large external disturbances, ensuring the safety of the RSC; the rotor current can be directly measured without
the need for extra observers, reducing the difficulty of control implementations; the underlying controlled vector
is unified with the traditional grid-following DFIG, favoring the retrofit of the installed DFIGs. Compared to the
existing schemes, this scheme has a larger equivalent internal impedance. An additional rotor current-terminal
voltage magnitude droop control is added to effectively restrain the problems brought by this larger impedance.
Simulation and analysis results demonstrate that the proposed DFIG VSG control scheme effectively addresses
problems in the existing schemes. Moreover, the results also exhibit that the scheme has a robust adaptability
across a wide range of short-circuit ratios and possesses the grid-forming ability independent of SGs.

1. Introduction
At present, almost all wind-turbine generators (WTGs) are operating
in the phase-locked-loop (PLL)-based grid-following control mode,
which faces the following three problems:
• It tends to maintain constant output power after grid disturbance and
thereby lacks spontaneous inertia response, which leads to frequency
stability problems of the grid [1–3].
• It has poor adaptability to grid with low short-circuit ratio (SCR),
which is easy to cause oscillation problems [4–7].
• It cannot operate independently in an islanded system without syn­
chronous generators (SGs).
generator (VSG) control [8,9] enables WTGs to participate in the fre­
quency and voltage construction of the grid by emulating the external
characteristics of SGs. At present, studies have been extensively con­
ducted on the VSG control of grid-connected converters [10–14].
However, for widely-used doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG)-based
WTGs [15], there is a noticeable lack of research on the VSG control.
To realize the DFIG VSG operation, an internal electromotive force
(EMF) with the virtual rotor motion characteristic should be established
in the stator. For the DFIG, there are several available approaches to
construct such an internal EMF. The following constructing approaches
are mentioned in literatures:
1) Constructing through the stator flux-induced EMF

To address the above problems, the grid-forming control of WTGs has In references [16,17], a kind of control scheme utilizing the stator
received more and more attention from academia and industry. As a flux-induced EMF as the internal EMF to realize the operation of a stand-
representative kind of grid-forming control, the virtual synchronous alone DFIG with loads was proposed. However, this internal EMF

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2023.109688
Received 29 August 2023; Received in revised form 26 October 2023; Accepted 26 November 2023
Available online 12 December 2023
0142-0615/© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
X. Gao et al.
constructing approach does not adapt well to the grid-connected sce­
narios, since the stator flux of the grid-connected DFIG is mainly
determined by the external grid voltage. The control of the stator flux
through the modulation voltage of the DFIG’s rotor-side converter (RSC)
can be very weak, leading to unsatisfactory dynamic performance or
even instability problems of the internal EMF control. To be summa­
rized, this kind of internal EMF constructing approach can realize the
independent operation of a stand-alone DFIG with loads, but it cannot
meet the large demand for the grid-connected operation of the DFIG
VSG. As a result, though the control schemes in the references [16,17]
were presented earlier, but they are generally not recognized as the first
kind of DFIG VSG control scheme.
2) Constructing through the rotor or mutual flux-induced EMF
The commonly recognized first DFIG VSG control scheme, selecting
the rotor flux as the controlled vector and the rotor flux-induced EMF as
the internal EMF, was proposed in [18]. Several enhanced schemes
based on this scheme were proposed in [19–22]. The implementation for
controlling the rotor flux can be divided into two kinds. The first kind of
implementation is an open-loop control based on an approximate linear
relationship between the modulation voltage of the RSC and the rotor
flux [18–21]. The second kind of implementation requires the flux
observer for closed-loop feedback control on the rotor flux [22].
Another kind of scheme using the mutual flux-induced EMF as the
internal EMF was proposed in [23,24], the implementation of which
only presents the closed-loop control on the mutual flux.
The VSG control schemes under these two internal EMF constructing
methods enable the DFIG to obtain external characteristics similar to
that of the SG. However, there are two main problems with these
schemes as follows.
• It is difficult for the two kinds of schemes to reliably limit the rotor
current within the safe range, especially under grid fault conditions,
which will seriously affect the safety of the equipment and the reli­
ability of operation. The controlled flux vectors in the above-
mentioned schemes are all corresponded to a composite magnetic
field generated together by the stator current and the rotor current.
Any variations in the stator current caused by external disturbances
will lead to corresponding changes in the rotor current to keep the
flux constant. These changes depended on the external disturbance
are uncertain. A large disturbance will inevitably cause a severe rotor
overcurrent, posing safety problems to the RSC.
• The implementation of the schemes faces a contradiction between
complexity and effectiveness. Since the flux cannot be directly
measured, achieving accurate control of the flux requires a flux
observer in the implementation based on the flux closed-loop con­
trol, which increases the complexity of the control system. On the
other hand, the implementation based on the flux open-loop control,
which can avoid the need for the flux observer, cannot ensure the
effectiveness of the control on the flux. For the implementation based
on the open-loop control in [18–21], when the actual rotor speed
varies, there are potential risks of control failure.
The choice of the approach to constructing the internal EMF is vital
to the DFIG VSG control scheme. The above-mentioned several kinds of
constructing approaches bring many problems to the operation of the
DFIG VSG operation. In view of this, a novel DFIG VSG control scheme is
proposed in this paper, which uses the rotor current-induced EMF as the
VSG internal EMF and can bring the following benefits:
• The rotor current can be directly measured without the need for extra
observer, reducing the difficulty of the implementation.
• The internal EMF is only determined by the single magnetic field
generated by the rotor current instead of the composite magnetic
field generated together by the stator and rotor current. This makes
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International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688
the rotor current no longer uncontrollably vary with the stator cur­
rent. It is much easier to limit the max magnitude of the rotor cur­
rent, keeping the RSC away from the threat of the overcurrent under
variable operating conditions.
• The rotor current can be determined independently by the DFIG with
the mature rotor current vector control technology, which is widely
used in the grid-following DFIG. There is no need to redesign the
vector control structure for the grid-following DFIG when they are
going to be retrofitted into VSG control. This leads to good practical
value in engineering.
This internal EMF constructing approach has the above advantages,
helping address the problems in the existing schemes, but it also has a
larger equivalent internal impedance compared to the other construct­
ing approaches. This feature can bring some challenges for DFIG VSG
operation in terms of active power transmission capacity and static
voltage levels. It is found in this paper that a rotor current-terminal
voltage magnitude droop control can restrain the drawbacks, effec­
tively enhancing the performance of the proposed scheme, without
compromising the mentioned advantages. This droop control is an
indispensable part of the VSG control scheme in which the rotor current-
induced EMF is deemed as the VSG internal EMF.
The contributions of this paper are summarized as follows:
• Various available approaches for constructing the internal EMF in
the DFIG VSG control are discussed, highlighting the features of each
approach.
• A novel DFIG VSG control scheme utilizing the rotor current-induced
EMF as the VSG internal EMF is proposed, with a rotor current-
terminal voltage magnitude droop control to enhance its perfor­
mance from the larger equivalent internal impedance. It is verified
that the proposed control scheme effectively addressing problems of
the unsatisfying effectiveness or high complexity of the control
implementation, and the rotor overcurrent risk in existing schemes.
• The static and dynamic characteristic of the proposed VSG control
scheme is studied. The existence and the voltage level of the static
operating point are analyzed. The stability criterion of static oper­
ating points, the dynamic performance under small-signal distur­
bances and the tolerance to large-signal disturbances are studied.
Comprehensively considering the static and dynamic operating
characteristic, and the demand of the grid to the VSG WTGs, rec­
ommended ranges for some key parameters are provided.
The subsequent arrangement of this paper is as follows:
In Section II, the multiple approaches of internal EMF selection
within the DFIG VSG control are firstly discussed, based on which, the
basic control principles of the VSG control scheme proposed in this
paper are introduced. The static operating characteristics of the control
scheme have been analyzed, and the necessity of the rotor current-
terminal voltage magnitude droop control for obtaining reasonable
static operating points has been verified. In Section III, the dynamic and
stability of the proposed control scheme has been investigated, including
the conditions for reducing system order, stability criteria under the
order- reducing conditions, and the influences of parameter variations
on dynamic performance under small-signal disturbances and the
tolerance to large-signal disturbances. Recommended ranges for some
key parameters are provided in this section. In Section IV, the problems
faced by the DFIG VSG control schemes proposed in previous studies,
using the rotor or mutual flux-induced EMF as the internal EMF, are
analyzed and it is pointed out that the method proposed in this paper can
effectively avoid these problems with simulation verifications. In Sec­
tion V, simulation case studies are presented to examine the perfor­
mance of the proposed VSG control scheme in different operation
scenarios, including operation in grid-connected scenarios with different
SCRs, parallel operation with SGs in microgrids, and parallel operation
among DFIG VSGs without SGs in microgrids. Section VI is the
X. Gao et al.
conclusion.
2. The proposed DFIG VSG control scheme
2.1. Selection of the internal EMF
There are multiple electromagnetic inductions between current-flux-
voltage in the windings of the DFIG. The induced EMF in the stator can
be decomposed into many kinds of combination, and theoretically,
controlling any one of these components can realize the VSG control.
The stator voltage equation of the DFIG under a rotational dq coor­
dinate system is shown in (1),
→ → 1 d→
ψs
U s = Rs I s + + jω→
ψs (1)
ωB dt
→ →
where I s is the stator current, → ψ s is the stator flux, U s is the stator
voltage, Rs is the stator resistance ω is the angular velocity of the co­
ordinate system and ωB is the base value of the angular velocity.
Ignoring the derivative of the stator flux, equation (1) can be written
into many kinds of equivalent forms, as shown in (2),
→ →
U s = Rs I s + jω→
ψs
Lm2 →
= [Rs + jω(Ls − )] I s + jω→
ψr
Lr (2)
→
= (Rs + jωLσs ) I s + jω→ ψm
→ →
= (Rs + jωLs ) I s + jωLm I r
where → ψ m and →ψ r are the mutual and rotor flux respectively, Ls, Lm, Lr
and Lσs are the stator, mutual, rotor and stator leakage inductance
respectively. According to this equation, we have several options for the
internal EMF of the DFIG VSG operation. We suggest that the selection of
the internal EMF of the DFIG VSG should follow three principles:
Controllability: the controlled vector corresponding to the con­
structing of this internal EMF need to be weakly correlated with the
external grid state and can be independently determined by the DFIG;
Security: the weak part of the DFIG is its RSC, the control needs to
reliably ensure the safety of the RSC from overcurrent under variable
operating conditions.
Complexity: it is better to design an effective control implementation
as simple as possible.
According to the first equation in (2), jω→ ψ s can be regarded as the
internal EMF and thus the stator flux is the corresponding controlled
vector. However, according to (1), the stator flux is largely determined
by the stator voltage (ignoring the stator resistance, the stator flux will
be totally determined by the stator voltage), which depends on the
external grid to a large degree. It means that the stator flux will show a
strong correlation with the external grid state, and the control of the
stator flux through the RSC modulation voltage can be very weak,
leading to unsatisfactory dynamic performance or even instability
problems of the internal EMF control. This internal EMF constructing
approach has been proposed to realize a stand-alone DFIG operated with
loads [16,17], but it cannot well adapt to grid-connected scenarios.
According to the second equation in (2), jω→ ψ r can be regarded as the
internal EMF and thus the rotor flux is the corresponding controlled
vector. This is the constructing method selected by the references
[18–22]. According to the third equation in (2), jω→ ψ m can be regarded
as the internal EMF and thus the mutual flux is the corresponding
controlled vector, this is the constructing method selected by the
reference [23,24]. Under both above-mentioned internal EMF choices,
the controlled vectors correspond to a composite magnetic field gener­
ated together by the stator current and the rotor current. Any variations
in the stator current caused by external disturbances will lead to cor­
responding changes in the rotor current to maintain the control over the
flux. These changes depended on the external disturbance are uncertain,
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International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688
Table 1
Summary of the several internal EMF constructing methods.
Internal Internal Features
EMF impedance
It is largely determined by the external grid. The
controllability of the DFIG to this internal EMF is
unsatisfying.
The rotor overcurrent cannot be reliably limited,
threatening the safety of the RSC. The
implementation of the flux control is with the
contradiction between the complexity and
effectiveness.
The large equivalent internal impedance can
influence the operation characteristic, which
need to be improved by extra control measures.
making it difficult to reliably constrain the rotor current into the safe
range of the RSC. Besides, the immeasurability of the flux brings a
contradiction between the complexity and effectiveness of the imple­
mentation. It means the implementation with good control dynamics of
the flux requires a flux observer, increasing the control complexity,
while the implementation without the flux observer couples the flux
control with the actual rotor speed, posing the risk of control failure
during actual rotor speed variations. The drawbacks of these two con­
structing methods will be discussed in detail in Section IV.
→
According to the fourth equation in (2), jωLm I r can be regarded as
the internal EMF and thus the rotor current is the corresponding
controlled vector. The control implementation is simpler. Firstly, the
rotor current can be directly measured without the need of extra
observer. Secondly, the rotor current is consistent with the controlled
vector of grid-following DFIGs, which is convenient for the retrofit of
existing units. In addition, the rotor current no longer uncontrollably
vary with the external disturbance. The rotor overcurrent can be limited,
which effectively ensures the safety of the RSC.
From the above four internal EMF construction methods evolved
from the stator voltage equation of the DFIG, it is more consistent with
the above-mentioned principles to realize the DFIG VSG operation by
→
regarding jωLm I r as the internal EMF and the rotor current as the
corresponding controlled vector. However, it is worth noting that this
internal EMF construction method can obtain a larger equivalent in­
ternal impedance compared with other constructing methods, which
will bring other problems in operation and need special attention in the
design of the control scheme.
The features of the several constructing methods are summarized as
shown in Table. 1.
2.2. Basic control principles
In the previous subsection, among the approaches of constructing the
internal EMF of the DFIG VSG, the analysis results show that selecting
→
jωLm I r as the internal EMF has advantages. In this subsection, the basic
control principle is designed based on this kind of internal EMF con­
struction.
→
To use jωLm I r as the internal EMF for VSG operation, it is primary to
give it a virtual rotor motion characteristic. The construction of the
virtual rotor motion characteristic is shown in (3), where Jv is the virtual
inertia, D is the damping factor, Pref is the stator active power reference,
Ps is the stator active power, ωrv is the virtual rotor speed, ω0 is the rated
grid angular velocity, and θrv is the angle of the virtual rotor.
Jv
dωrv Pref − Ps
=
dt ωrv
Pref = Pref 0 + D(ω0 − ωrv )ωrv (3)
dθrv
= ωrv
dt
X. Gao et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688

→ →
E eq = jωrv Lm I r (5)
Zeq = Rs + jωrv Ls

2.3. Additional rotor current-terminal voltage magnitude droop control

Fig. 1. DFIG connected to the infinite-bus (ignoring the GSC).
As aforementioned, when the the rotor current-induced EMF is
deemed as the internal EMF, a larger equivalent impedance can be ob­
Table 2
tained, which, neglecting the stator resistance, will be equal to the stator
DFIG parameters.
reactance of the DFIG, whose value is typically 2 to 3p.u. This will affect
Parameter Value Parameter Value the maximum power transmission capacity and the steady-state terminal
SN 5 MVA cosφN 0.87 voltage level in some scenarios.
Lr 2.8p.u. Ls 2.78p.u. For a system where the DFIG is connected to the infinite-bus via the
Lm 2.7p.u. Rs 0.01p.u.
transmission line as shown in Fig. 1, the output power of the grid-side
Rr 0.01p.u.
converter (GSC) is ignored and all the active power is considered to be
output from the DFIG’s stator. The parameters of the DFIG are shown in
To make this internal EMF have the motion characteristics described Table. 2.
in (3), it can be realized by fixing the rotor current vector on the d-axis of Discuss the three cases where ird_ref is constant at 0.39p.u. (1.05/Lm),
the coordinate system formed by the virtual rotor motion. The imple­ 1.0p.u., and 1.5p.u., respectively. The static power angle (Ps-δ) curves
mentation of this control can be referred to the vector control structure and the voltage magnitude-active power (Us-Ps) curves at the static
of the grid-following DFIGs, where the underlying structure of the rotor operating points can be illustrated for the three cases when the system
current control remains unchanged, while the control coordinate system impedance Zsys to the infinity bus varies from 0.1p.u. to 1.0p.u.
is changed from that provided by the PLL to the virtual rotor coordinate (neglecting the resistance of Zsys), as shown in Fig. 2, where δ is the angle
system, and the control objective is changed from the control of the d- between the internal EMF and the voltage of the infinite bus.
axis active current and the q-axis reactive current to the control of the When ird_ref is constant at 0.39p.u., the maximum active power
rotor current with its phase fixed on the d-axis of the coordinate system. transmission is greatly restricted. The rated active power cannot be
The rotor current control principle is shown in (4), where ird_ref and output when the system impedance is varied from 0.1p.u. to 1.0p.u.
irq_ref are the d and q-axis rotor current reference respectively, ird and irq When ird_ref is constant at 1.0p.u., the static operation points for
are the d and q-axis rotor current respectively, ωslip is the slip angular outputting the rated active power can be found under part of the system
velocity equaling to ωrv-ωr, and Kp and Ki are the proportional and impedance scenarios. When ird_ref is constant at 1.5p.u., the static oper­
integrational parameters of the rotor current PI regulator respectively. ation points for outputting the rated active power can always be found.
The dq components in (4) are obtained by coordinate transformation of Within the power output range where the static operating point can be
the abc three-phase quantities according to θrv, and irq_ref is constant as found, the voltage at the operating point changes obviously with the
0 to fix the rotor current phase on the d-axis of the virtual rotor coor­ change in active power output. In the latter two cases, depending on the
dinate system. different system impedance, the stator voltage levels vary significantly
∫ and are severely outside the normal voltage range of the grid.
L2 ωslip Lm
urd = Kp (ird ref − ird ) + Ki (ird ref − ird )dt − ωslip (Lr − m )irq + usd To summarize, the magnitude of the rotor current, i.e., the internal
Ls ωrv Ls EMF, affect the static active power transmission capacity and the ter­
∫
L2 ωslip Lm minal voltage level. A smaller rotor current leads to a smaller trans­
urq = Kp (irq ref − irq ) + Ki (irq ref − irq )dt + ωslip (Lr − m )ird + u
Ls ωrv Ls sq mission capacity and terminal voltage drops. A larger rotor current is
(4) beneficial to increasing the transmission capacity but induces over­
voltage problems. Affected by the large equivalent internal impedance,
With the above control, we can obtain the steady-state equivalent
when a constant magnitude internal EMF is constructed with a constant
model with an equivalent internal EMF in series with an equivalent in­
magnitude rotor current, the static active power transmission capacity is
ternal impedance. The equivalent internal EMF and equivalent internal
difficult to be reconciled with the normal static voltage level, and the
impedance are shown in (5).
static operating characteristics are unsatisfactory.
A droop control between the rotor current magnitude and the ter

Fig. 2. Static Ps-δ and Us-Ps curves of the DFIG under the proposed VSG control scheme.

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X. Gao et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688

Fig. 3. Static Ps-δ and Us-Ps curves of the DFIG under the proposed VSG control scheme with ird_ref-Us droop control.

Fig. 4. Static Ps-δ and Us-Ps curves with different Ku.

minal voltage magnitude (ird_ref-Us droop control) can reshape the static actual current capacity of the RSC is generally greater than its rated
Ps-δ and Us-Ps characteristics and help solve the above problems. The capacity). The static Ps-δ and Us-Ps curves can be obtained as shown in
principle of the droop control is shown in (6), where T is the time con­ Fig. 3.
stant of the droop control, Ku is the gain of the droop control, Us_ref is the √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
( )2
terminal voltage reference and ird_ref0 is the basic value of the rotor − a1 + a21 − 4a2 a0 2
Usys 2
Xeq Lm Ir ref 0
Eeq = a0 = − Uref + a1
current reference. 2a2 (Xeq + Xsys )2
Ku Lm
ird ref = ird ref droop + ird ref 0 − 2Usys Xeq Xsys cosδ 2(Uref Ku Lm + E0 )
= − a2
dird ref droop Ku (Us ref − Us ) − ird ref droop
(6) (Xeq + Xsys )2 Ku2 Lm2
= 2
dt T Xsys 1
= − Eeq max ⩽Lm ird ref max (7)
When the ird_ref-Us droop control is added, the static internal EMF (Xeq + Xsys )2 Ku2 L2m
expression of the DFIG is shown in (7). Considering the effect of limiting
the DFIG’s rotor current for RSC safety, there is an upper limit to the Under the influence of both the ird_ref-Us droop control and the rotor
maximum value of Eeq. When Us_ref = 1.05, Ku = 30, ird_ref0 = 1.05/Lm current limitation, the static Ps-δ curves are no longer sinusoidal curves
(the terminal voltage magnitude is equal to 1.05p.u. at no-load opera­ (dashed lines represent the Ps-δ curves without considering the rotor
tion), and the rotor current limiting value of ird_ref_max is 1.5 p.u. (the current limit). The maximum active power transmission is greater than

5
X. Gao et al.
Fig. 5. Static Ps-δ and Us-Ps curves at Xsys = 0.4p.u. with different Ku.
Fig. 6. Control diagram of the proposed DFIG VSG control scheme.
the rated active power for different system impedances. As a result, as
the system impedance varies from 0.1p.u. to 1p.u., static operating
points can be found for active power outputs below the rated value,
which is a prerequisite for system stability. Additionally, for different
active power outputs and system impedances, the voltage level of the
static operating points remains within a small normal range.
When the value of Ku is changed to 5 or 50, the corresponding curves
changes are shown in Fig. 4. The value of Ku should not be too small,
otherwise it will make the rated active power output impossible under
too large or too small system impedance (marked in red line in Fig. 4),
and the terminal voltage variation range of the static operation point is
large. The difference of the static Ps-δ curves is not obvious when Ku is
taken to be 30 and 50. In fact, when Ku is sufficiently large, the variation
of the Ps-δ curve with Ku is no longer apparent, which can be observed
visually in Fig. 5.
In summary, the ird_ref-Us droop control can overcome the effect of the
large steady-state internal impedance to ensure the existence of static
operating points and the stabilization of the terminal voltage level at
static operating points over a wide range of SCR, which is indispensable
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International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688
for the proposed VSG control scheme.
As for the control of the GSC of the DFIG, it is consistent with the GSC
control of the grid-following DFIG, which is used to maintain the sta­
bilization of the DC link voltage and keeps unit power factor operation.
The control block diagram of the proposed DFIG VSG control scheme
can be obtained as shown in Fig. 6, where the related control of the GSC
is omitted.
3. Dynamic and stability analysis of the proposed control
scheme
In this section, a study on the dynamic and stability of the proposed
control scheme will be carried out. Firstly, the reduced-order condition
of the DFIG grid-connected system with the proposed control scheme is
analyzed, and a simplified reduced-order model when satisfying this
condition is established. On the basis of this model, the stability criterion
of the static operating point is obtained. Then the dynamic performance
of the system for small-signal disturbances as well as the tolerance to
large-signal disturbances are analyzed, and the value ranges of some key
X. Gao et al.
Fig. 7. The eigenvalue trajectory as T varying.
Fig. 8. Influence of the time scale of the ird_ref-Us droop control and the virtual
rotor motion on the stability.
parameters are suggested.
3.1. Mathematical modeling
The dynamic model of the DFIG using the control shown in Fig. 6 is
going to be established. The actual rotor and driven shaft dynamics of
the DFIG are neglected and the actual rotor speed is considered to be
constant. For the system shown in Fig. 1, in the rotating coordinate
system oriented at the infinite bus voltage, its small signal model is
Fig. 9. The eigenvalue trajectory as Zsys varying and the participation factor.
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International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688
established as shown in (9). Where δ here means the angle of the q-axis
of the virtual rotor coordinate system in the rotating coordinate system
oriented at the infinite bus voltage.
Δẋ = A9×9 Δx
(8)
Δx = [Δisd Δisq Δird Δirq Δuid Δuiq Δird ref droop Δδ Δωrv ]T
Firstly, we investigate the influence of the ird_ref-Us droop control time
constant T on the stability of small-signal disturbances at the static
operating point. Ku equals to 30, Jv equals to 400 kgm2, D equals to 950
Nms/rad, and Zsys is taken to be 0.25p.u. (R/X = 1/10). The DFIG output
rated active power. The PI parameters of the rotor current control are
taken to be typical options as 0.2 and 8, respectively, and will not be
changed. When T is varied from 0.001 s to 10 s, the system eigenvalue
trajectory is shown in Fig. 7.
As T increases, the pair of conjugate eigenvalues closest to the
imaginary axis will first cross the imaginary axis from the left half-plane
to the right half-plane, and the static operating point becomes unstable;
as T increases further, the pair of eigenvalues will return to the left half-
plane again, and the static operating point becomes stable again. A
smaller or larger T can make the static operating point remain stable.
X. Gao et al.
Fig. 10. Simplified model for the DFIG gird-connected system with the pro­
posed VSG control scheme.
This phenomenon can be explained as the stability of the system will be
impacted when the time scale of the ird_ref-Us droop control is mixed up
with the time scale of the virtual rotor motion, as shown in Fig. 8.
However, from the point of view of reducing the amplitude of voltage
dynamic fluctuation after disturbance, the droop control should not
regulate the magnitude of the internal EMF too slowly, i.e., it is not
appropriate to keep the system stable by a too large T. Otherwise, the
voltage out-of-limits problem with a longer duration may occur during
the dynamic. On the other hand, considering the harmonic and noise
disturbances in the actual operation, T should not be too small, or else
many noises will be introduced to the control, causing other stability
problems. The recommended value of T is in the order of tens of milli­
seconds, which ensures the voltage dynamic stability, and at the same
time effectively suppresses the high-frequency noise interference.
When T is within the above range and Jv has an inertial time constant
of more than one second to get an obvious difference between the time
scale of the ird_ref-Us droop control and the virtual rotor motion, there will
be an obvious decoupling characteristic between the modes of the
Fig. 11. The eigenvalue trajectories and the damping ratios as Jv, D, and Ku varying.
8
International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688
system. This condition for T and Jv is the premise to get a simplified
reduced-order model and is called the dynamic-decoupling prerequisite
in the following part of this paper.
When T equals to 10 ms, other parameters are taken to be un­
changed, the order of magnitude of the eigenvalues real part and the
participation factor of each eigenvalue at Zsys equaling to 0.1, 0.4, 1.0p.
u. respectively are shown in Fig. 9.
It can be found that the seven fast-dynamic eigenvalues show strong
correlations with the dq-axis stator and rotor current, the RSC integral
output voltage, and ird_ref_droop of the ird_ref-Us droop control, while the two
slow-dynamic eigenvalues show strong correlations with the ωrv and δ.
This indicates that the system modes corresponding to the seven fast
dynamic eigenvalues depend on the rotor current control and the ird_ref-
Us droop, while the system modes corresponding to the two slow dy­
namic eigenvalues depend on the virtual rotor motion. This indicates
that under the dynamic-decoupling prerequisite, there is an obvious
decoupling characteristic between the control of the electromagnetic
quantities and the control of the virtual mechanical motion. The elec­
tromagnetic quantities’ control is fast enough that when we focus on the
transient response due to the virtual rotor motion that exists for a longer
period after the disturbance, the dynamics of the state variables other
than the ωrv and δ can be neglected to simplify the analysis.
Thus, a simplified dynamic model of the above system can be
established, as shown in Fig. 10. The DFIG can be regarded as a
controlled voltage source with a virtual rotor motion characteristic and a
series stator reactance. According to this model, we can deduce that the
Ps-δ curves in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 not only describe the static relationship
between Ps and δ, but also approximately represent the relationship
between Ps and δ in real-time during dynamics, when the dynamic-
decoupling prerequisite is satisfied.
The mathematical expression for the system shown in Fig. 10 is given
in (9).
⎡ ⎤
dΔωrv
⎢ dt ⎥
[ ][ ]
A11 A12 Δωrv
⎢ ⎥
⎣ dΔδ ⎦ = A21 A22 (9)
Δδ
dt
X. Gao et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688

Fig. 12. Acceleration and deceleration areas under different Xsys and different Ku.

where point is positive.

Therefore, in conjunction with the results in the previous section, on
∂Eeq
SB Usys
∂Eeq premise the dynamic-decoupling prerequisite is satisfied, when the
SB Usys sinδ0 + SB E0 Usys cosδ0
A11 = − ( ∂ω)rv
−
D
A12 = − ( ∂δ ) value of Ku is large enough, the existence of a stable static operating
Jv Xeq + Xsys ωrv0 Jv Jv Xeq + Xsys ωrv0 point located to the left of the highest point of the Ps-δ curve can always
A21 = 1 A22 = 0 be found, over a wide range of SCR and within the rated active power
∂Us output.
∂Eeq Eeq0 ∂Eeq Lm Ku
= =− ∂δ
∂ωrv ∂Us ∂δ ∂Us 3.2. Dynamic performance under small-signal disturbances and tolerance
ωB + ωB Lm Ku 1 + Lm Ku
∂Eeq ∂Eeq to large-signal disturbances
∂Us Xsys (usd0 cosδ0 + usq0 sinδ0 ) ∂Us Eeq0 Xsys (− usd0 sinδ0 + usq0 cosδ0 )
= = On the premise that the static operating point is stable, the values of
∂Eeq Us0 (Xeq + Xsys ) ∂δ Us0 (Xeq + Xsys )
the parameters will have influence on the dynamic performance after
Eeq0 = Lm Ku (Us ref − Us0 ) + Lm Ir ref 0 small-signal disturbance, which will be investigated in the following.
(10) The baseline parameters: Ku is 30, Jv is 400 kgm2 and D is 950 Nms/
The necessary and sufficient condition for the stabilization of (9) is rad. The eigenvalue trajectories as well as the variation of the damping
that both A11 and A12 are negative. For A11, it represents the damping ratios are shown in Fig. 11 when Jv, D, and Ku are varied respectively at
effect in the dynamics. ∂Eeq/∂ωrv is always positive, which represents the system impedances equal to 0.25, 0.33, 0.5, and 1p.u.
trend that Eeq will increase with the increase of ωrv. Hence, in the case of The increase of Jv will make the eigenvalues move right closing to the
both D and Jv taking positive values, A11 is always negative. For a imaginary axis, and the damping ratio also decreases. The transient
negative A12, it means that the increase of δ will make ωrv tend to component decays slower, and the oscillation is more obvious after the
decrease, in other words, there is a tendency for Ps to increase. As disturbance with a larger Jv. The increase of D will make the eigenvalue
mentioned before, when the dynamic-decoupling prerequisite is satis­ move left far away from the imaginary axis, and the damping ratio in­
fied, the Ps-δ curves in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 not only describes the static creases. The transient component decays faster, and the oscillation is
relationship between the output power and δ, but also approximately more inconspicuous after the disturbance with a larger D. If the values of
represents the real-time counterpart in dynamics. Thus, the negative Jv and D are determined from the point of view of obtaining a better
value of A12 implies that the slope of the Ps-δ curve at the static operation dynamic performance, Jv should be as small as possible and D should be
as large as possible. However, in fact, the settings of Jv and D should first

Fig. 13. Control modes of the flux magnitude.

9
X. Gao et al.
consider the inertia demand of the grid and the allocation of re­
sponsibility for frequency regulation, rather than pursuing the rapidity
of DFIG’s own dynamics.
A too small Jv will make the VSG control unable to provide sufficient
inertia response for the system to reduce the rate of change of the grid
frequency after the disturbance, and it will also make the dynamic-
decoupling prerequisite destroyed, which may bring other aspects of
stability problems that cannot be reflected in the second-order simpli­
fied model. Therefore, it is not advisable to set Jv too small to pursue a
faster dynamic response. The value of Jv can be referred to the inertial
time constant H of the SG, which is typically 3 ~ 5 s, thus taking Jv to be
2HSN/ω20 .
An excessive D will cause the DFIG to take on too much active power
regulation when the grid frequency deviates from the rated frequency. It
can greatly exceed the power regulation range of the DFIG, leading to a
continuous drop or rise in the actual rotor speed. It is also not advisable
to set D too large to pursue a faster dynamic response. The value of D can
be taken with reference to the coefficient of the primary frequency
regulation of the SG, and is recommended to take 4 %~6% rated torque/
(rad/s), thus enabling a more consistent distribution of active power
regulation requirements with SGs.
As for the effect of Ku change on the dynamic performance, the in­
crease of Ku hardly makes the eigenvalues move left or right, but makes
the damping ratio decrease. It is not advisable to keep Ku as small as
possible in order to pursue a larger damping ratio on the premise that the
stable static operating point exists. On the one hand, the aforementioned
static voltage level is difficult to be guaranteed under a small Ku, on the
other hand, the tolerance to large-signal disturbances is also one of the
very important factors to be considered for stability.
As mentioned before, when the dynamic-decoupling prerequisite is
satisfied, the Ps-δ curve can reflect the real-time relationship between Ps
and δ in dynamics. This allows the usage of the acceleration and
deceleration areas for the discussion of large-signal disturbance toler­
ance. When there is a large change in the system voltage angle, the
maximum magnitude of the angle change that can be tolerated at
different Ku is discussed below.
The Ps-δ curves under Ku equaling to 10 and 30 with Xsys equaling to
0.25p.u. and 0.5 p.u. are shown in Fig. 12. The unstable static operating
point (as shown by the black dashed line perpendicular to the δ-axis in
the figure) is the same for different Ku. This point and the stable static
operating point determine the maximum deceleration area. It can be
seen that a larger Ku results in a larger maximum deceleration area, and
the stable static operating point is further to the left. Thus, when δ re­
duces, the maximum disturbance angle δd1_max which makes the accel­
eration area equal to the maximum deceleration area will be larger
under a larger Ku. When δ increases, the maximum disturbance angle
δd2_max which does not cross the unstable static operating point will also
be larger under a larger Ku. Thus, a larger Ku can get a larger tolerance to
large-signal disturbances. However, as mentioned in the last section,
when Ku is large to a certain degree, its effect on the Ps-δ curve becomes
less pronounced, that is, the effect on the tolerance to large-signal dis­
turbances is no longer obvious.
Considering the influence of several aspects, the recommended value
range of Ku is 20 ~ 40 to ensure the existence of stable static operating
point and normal static voltage level over a wide range of SCR and
within the rated active power output. Meanwhile, a good balance be­
tween the dynamic performance of the small-signal disturbances and the
tolerance to large-signal disturbances can be get with Ku in this range.
4. Comparative study with other DFIG VSG control schemes
In this section, a comparative study between the proposed scheme
and other DFIG VSG control schemes is carried out. In 4.1 and 4.2, the
VSG schemes based on the internal EMF constructed by the rotor and the
mutual flux are introduced and the problems on the implementation are
10
International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688
analyzed, respectively. In 4.3, the rotor overcurrent problem faced
together by the two schemes is analyzed. In 4.4, the effectiveness of the
proposed scheme in addressing these problems is verified.
4.1. Scheme 1 based on the internal EMF constructed by the rotor flux
The schemes mentioned in [18–21] use the rotor flux as the
controlled vector to constructing the VSG internal EMF. There are two
kinds of implementation for controlling the rotor flux.
• Implementation 1 [18–21]: open-loop control of the rotor flux,
which is performed to directly control the RSC modulation voltage
according to an approximately linear relationship between the RSC
modulation voltage and the rotor flux.
• Implementation 2 [22]: closed-loop control of the rotor flux, which is
performed to observe and feedback the rotor flux to adjust the RSC
modulation voltage.
Implementation 1 is based on the simplification of the DFIG’s rotor
voltage equation. The DFIG’s rotor voltage equation is shown in (11).
→ → d→ ψr
U r = Rr I r + + jωslip →
ψr (11)
dt
The effect of rotor resistance can be neglected when ωslip is large, and the
approximated relationship shown in (12) can be deduced.
→
U r ≈ jωslip →
ψ r = j(ωrv − ωr )→
ψr (12)
According to this equation, supposing the actual rotor speed is constant,
to get a certain magnitude rotor flux, the magnitude and the phase of the
RSC modulation voltage need to be fixed under the virtual rotor coor­
dinate system.
However, in practical operation, the actual rotor speed of the DFIG is
varying. The obtained rotor flux of Implementation 1 will be affected by
the variation of the actual rotor speed. The correction of the RSC mod­
ulation voltage by real-time measurement of the actual rotor speed has
been proposed in the literature [] to help solve this problem, but when
the rotor resistance has a non-negligible effect as ωslip approaches 0, the
relationship between the RSC modulation voltage and the rotor flux no
longer satisfies Eq. (12), and this correction method will be invalidated.
Implementation 2 establishes closed-loop feedback control of the
rotor flux based on (11), as shown in (13), using a more accurate rela­
tionship to adjust the RSC modulation voltage to get a rotor flux with the
virtual rotor motion characteristic.
∫
urd = Kp (ψ rd ref − ψ rd ) + Ki (ψ rd ref − ψ rd ) + Rr ird − ωslip ψ rq
∫ (13)
urq = Kp (ψ rq ref − ψ rq ) + Ki (ψ rq ref − ψ rq ) + Rr irq + ωslip ψ rd
To be summarized, Implementation 1 has a simpler control structure
compared to Implementation 2. However, variations in the actual rotor
speed can cause variations in the magnitude and phase of the rotor flux
under the virtual rotor coordinate system, which in turn affects the
magnitude and phase of the internal EMF. Particularly, when ωslip
crosses 0, the relationship between the RSC modulation voltage and the
rotor flux no longer satisfies the linear relationship shown in (12), and a
large change in the rotor flux and the internal EMF can occur, resulting
in the out-of-control of the output power of the DFIG. This makes DFIG
risky in the face of, for example, sudden and large changes of the wind
power.
In contrast, Implementation 2 is able to address the influence of the
actual rotor speed variations on the rotor flux control. However,
Implementation 2 faces problems in practical application. The rotor flux
cannot be measured directly and needs to be obtained by a flux observer.
Although the open-loop flux observer is simpler to implement [25], it is
easily affected by the errors of the integration initial value and the
X. Gao et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688

Table 3
Summary of Scheme 1 and Scheme 2.
Scheme The Implementation Problems
controlled
vector to
form the
internal EMF
Fig. 14. Simulation system diagram.
Scheme Rotor flux Implementation 1: Adaptability to Hard to
1 open-loop RSC actual rotor reliably
modulation speed variations limit the
Table 4
voltage control is not satisfying rotor
Parameters of the simulation system.
Implementation 2: Dependence on current
rotor flux closed- the flux observer within a 0.69/35 kV Transformer Parameters
loop feedback in practical safe range
RT1 0.001p.u. LT1 0.05p.u.
control applications,
Scheme Mutual flux Mutual flux closed- brings errors and 35/110 kV Transformer Parameters
2 loop feedback more complexity RT2 0.001p.u. LT2 0.05p.u.
control into the control System Impedance Parameters
system RL 0.047p.u. LL 0.233p.u.

parameters, which can invalidate the flux observation results. In order to the Implementation 2 of Scheme 1, i.e., the challenges associated with
exclude the errors of the integration initial value and the parameters, it the practical application of the flux observer.
is necessary to use a closed-loop feedback flux observer such as the
Luenberger observer, which needs to find a suitable error gain matrix,
4.3. Rotor overcurrent problems faced by the above two kinds of schemes
making the design of the entire control system more complicated.
In the two aforementioned schemes, the controlled vectors corre­
spond to a composite magnetic field generated together by the stator
4.2. Scheme 2 based on the internal EMF constructed by the mutual flux
current and the rotor current. Under the effect of the internal EMF,
external disturbances will cause variations in the stator current. In order
In addition to the Scheme 1 in which the internal EMF is constructed
to maintain the control objective of the flux, the rotor current will adjust
by controlling the rotor flux, there is also a scheme in which the internal
accordingly in response to the changes in the stator current. This vari­
EMF is constructed by utilizing the mutual flux [23,24]. The closed-loop
ation in the rotor current depends on the degree of the external distur­
feedback control methods for the mutual flux will be introduced in the
bances and possesses strong uncertainty. A large external disturbance
following.
like a grid fault will inevitably cause a large rotor current. This poses a
The relationships among the mutual, stator and rotor flux are shown
significant threat to the safe operation of the DFIG, since the RSC is a
in (14), and thus the stator and rotor voltage equation can be re-written
vulnerable part of the DFIG and with strict limitations on its overcurrent.
as shown in (15).
It is worth noting that there are several kinds of magnitude target of
→ → →
ψ m = Lm ( I s + I r ) the controlled flux, which have influences on the rotor overcurrent. The
→ → →
ψ s = ψ m + Lσ s I s (14) three magnitude control modes of the flux will be covered when sub­
→ →
ψ = ψ +L I
r m
→
σr r
sequently studying the rotor overcurrent phenomenon of the two
schemes through simulations.
1 d→
ψm 1 d I s
→ The analysis of Scheme 1 and 2 is summarized as shown in Table. 3.
→ → →
U s = Rs I s + + Lσs + jωrv → ψ m + jωrv Lσs I s
ωB dt ωB dt
(15) 4.4. Verification of the improvement of the scheme proposed in this paper
→
→ → 1 d→
ψm 1 d I r →
U r = Rr I r + + Lσr + jωslip →
ψ m + jωslip Lσr I r for the above problems
ωB dt ωB dt
According to (14)(15), we can get (16). In the above two kinds of schemes, there is a contradiction between
[ ] the complexity and effectiveness of flux control implementation. Addi­
→ 1 Lr Lσr d→ ψm Lσr Lσr Lσr tionally, the rotor current is susceptible to uncertain current components
Ur = ( + ) + Rs + j(ωslip + ωrv + ωrv ) → ψm
ωB Lm Lσs dt Lm Lσs Lσs Lm due to external disturbances, posing a threat to the safety of the RSC.
Lσr → Lσr → The proposed scheme in this paper achieves VSG operation by uti­
+(Rr − Rs − jωr Lσr ) I r − Us
Lσs Lσs lizing the rotor current-induced EMF as the internal EMF. The controlled
(16) vector, rotor current, can be directly measured and is unified with the
grid-following DFIGs’, eliminating the need for extra observer and
According to (16), the closed-loop feedback control of the mutual
redesigning the vector control structure. This significantly reduces the
flux can be designed as shown in (17).
∫ complexity of control implementation.
Lσr Lσr Furthermore, this vector control structure ensures fast and accurate
urd = Kp (ψ md ref − ψ md ) + Ki (ψ md ref − ψ md ) − (ωslip + ωrv + ωrv )ψ mq
Lσs Lm control of the rotor current under actual rotor speed variations, effec­
Lσr Lσr tively eliminating the impact of actual rotor speed changes on VSG
+(Rr − Rs )ird + ωr Lσr irq − usd
Lσs Lσs operation.
∫
Lσr Lσr Lastly, by directly using the rotor current as the controlled vector to
urq = Kp (ψ mq ref − ψ mq ) + Ki (ψ mq ref − ψ mq ) + (ωslip + ωrv
Lσs
+ ωrv )ψ md
Lm construct the internal EMF, the rotor current no longer uncontrollably
vary with the external disturbance. It can effectively prevent rotor
Lσr Lσ r
+(Rr − Rs )irq − ωr Lσr ird − usq overcurrent under various operating conditions by limiting the rotor
Lσs Lσ s
current reference within its hardware constraints. The DFIG can provide
(17)
support to the grid by regulating the magnitude of the internal EMF,
This kind of VSG scheme, called Scheme 2, faces similar problems as while ensuring its own safety.

11
X. Gao et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688

Fig. 15. Simulation results for Scheme 1 Implementation 1, Scheme 1 Implementation 2, Scheme 2 and the proposed scheme under actual rotor speed variations.

Fig. 16. Simulation results for Scheme 1 Implementation 2 and Scheme 2 under the grid fault.

The verification of the above contents will be conducted through
simulation. An electromagnetic transient simulation system as shown in
Fig. 14 is built in the DIgSILENT PowerFactory software. The parameters
of the DFIG are listed in Table. 2, while the other system parameters can
be found in Table. 4. The initial conditions for the subsequent
simulations are the same, with the DFIG rotor speed at 1.2p.u., stator
outputting 3 MW and 0.4 MVar power, and the GSC providing a corre­
sponding 0.6 MW active power output to maintain the DC link voltage.

12
X. Gao et al.
Fig. 17. Simulation results for the proposed scheme under the grid fault.
4.4.1. Operating comparison during actual rotor speed variations
At t = 1 s, there is a sudden decrease in wind power by 1.5 MW. The
actual rotor speed of the DFIG starts to decrease. Firstly, we will conduct
a study on the performance of Scheme 1 Implementation 1, together
with the adoption of real-time rotor speed correction measures under
this operating condition. This will validate the earlier analysis on how
actual rotor speed variations affect this implementation. The rotor flux
magnitude control target is constant. The simulation results are shown
in Fig. 15. It can be observed that when the wind power decreases and
the rotor speed does not show a significant drop, the rotor flux can be
maintained at a relatively constant level. However, as the rotor speed
gradually decreases and approaches zero, the rotor flux undergoes sig­
nificant changes and eventually evolves into oscillations. Consequently,
the internal EMF also experiences oscillations, causing oscillations in the
DFIG’s power output.
For Scheme 1 Implementation 2, Scheme 2, and the proposed scheme
in this paper, such problems do not exist. The corresponding simulation
results are shown in Fig. 15. As the actual rotor speed changes, the active
power output from the stator remains constant for all schemes, and the
controlled vectors maintain stability. Under these schemes, there is a
good decoupling relationship between the external characteristics of the
DFIG VSG and its actual rotor speed. It is essential to emphasize that the
proposed scheme achieves this decoupling characteristic at a much
lower control complexity compared to the other two schemes.
4.4.2. Operating comparison during grid faults
During the simulation, a three-phase short circuit occurs at the 110
kV bus with a fault impedance of 300 + j150 Ω. The fault lasts for 1 s
before being cleared. Firstly, we will investigate the performance of
Scheme 1 Implementation 2, and Scheme 2 under this scenario. As
mentioned earlier, different control modes for the flux magnitude will
affect the rotor current during the fault period. We conducted simula­
tions for all three control modes shown in Fig. 13, and the results are
presented in Fig. 16. For the simulation, the action of the rotor-side
hardware protection device crowbar [26,27] is not considered.
For Mode 1, after the disturbance occurs, both VSG control schemes
can accurately control their chosen flux along the d-axis of the virtual
rotor coordinate system. However, during the fault duration, in order to
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International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688
maintain a constant flux, the magnitude of the rotor current will increase
significantly. The average magnitude of the rotor current vector during
the fault period is close to 2.5p.u. for Scheme 1 and close to 2.8p.u. for
Scheme 2. This increase in rotor current can cause damage to the RSC,
which has limited overcurrent capability. In practical operation, it will
continuously trigger the crowbar protection, which is detrimental to
system stability.
For Mode 2 and Mode 3, the performance of the rotor current during
the fault period will differ. In Mode 2 control mode, after the fault oc­
curs, the flux magnitude will inevitably increase further, resulting in a
higher level of rotor current. However, at the same time, it provides
stronger voltage support to the grid.
In Mode 3, depending on the value of Ku and the fault situation, the
flux magnitude may either increase or decrease. If Ku is set to 5 and
under the simulation fault conditions, the flux magnitude decreases,
leading to a decrease in the level of the rotor current during the fault
period. The average magnitude is limited to below 2p.u. However, this
decrease in flux magnitude also corresponds to a decrease in voltage
support to the grid. When the fault conditions change, the current level
during the fault period will also vary accordingly.
There is one more thing need to be noted. Regarding Scheme 2, as
mentioned in reference [23], an additional rotor current limiting mea­
sure is taken during grid faults. This measure is equivalent to adding a
virtual rotor resistance by the RSC, which slows down the control dy­
namics of the mutual flux during the initial stage after the fault. As a
result, the magnitude and phase of the mutual flux in the virtual rotor
coordinate system cannot be maintained quickly and accurately, which
slows down the increase in rotor current. However, under the closed-
loop control of the mutual flux, if the fault persists for a long dura­
tion, the rotor current will still increase to a dangerous level.
In summary, for Scheme 1 and Scheme 2, it is challenging to reliably
limit the rotor current within a safe range during grid fault conditions.
This difficulty poses a significant impact on the reliability of operation
and the lifespan of the DFIG RSC with limited capacity.
The performance of the proposed scheme in the above-mentioned
fault scenario is comparatively studied through simulation. In this
simulation, the crowbar protection is implemented with an action cur­
rent of 1.8p.u., and each time it is activated for 20 ms. The limit of the
X. Gao et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688

Fig. 18. Simulation results under system voltage 10◦ phase disturbance with different SCRs.

Fig. 19. Simulation results under system voltage − 10◦ phase disturbance with different SCRs.

rotor current magnitude ird_ref_max is set to 1.5p.u. The simulation results reflects on the rotor windings, constituting the rotor frequency transient
are presented in Fig. 17. component of the rotor current. This transient component causes rotor
After the fault occurs, due to the stator flux conservation, a DC overcurrent in the short time after the fault occurs. After the crowbar
transient component is induced in the stator current. This current also protection acts once to bypass this transient current, the RSC promptly

Fig. 20. Microgrid diagram.

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X. Gao et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688

Table 5 The 100 MW SG is equipped with a speed governor and automatic

Parameters of the microgrid. voltage regulator. The speed governor’s control structure is adopted
0.69/35 kV Transformer Parameters IEEE Type I Speed Governing Model, and the automatic voltage regu­
lator’s control structure is adopted IEEE Type 1 Excitation System. The
RT1 0.001p.u. LT1 0.05p.u.
base capacity of the system is selected as 25 MVA. The other parameters
RT4 0.0025p.u. LT4 0.125p.u. for the system are shown in Table. 5. The values of Kf and Ku for the SG
35/110 kV Transformer Parameters
RT2 0.001p.u. LT2 0.05p.u.
are the gain coefficients from speed deviation to mechanical power
RT5 0.0025p.u. LT5 0.125p.u. increment for the speed governor and from terminal voltage deviation to
110/10.5 kV Transformer Parameters excitation voltage increment for the automatic excitation control,
RT3 0.0p.u. LT3 0.0125p.u. respectively.
Line 1 Parameters
Load 1 is 30 MW, Load 2 is 10 MW, Load 3 and Load 5 both are 5 MW,
RL 0.03p.u. LL 0.3p.u.
Line 2 Parameters and Load 4 is 0.5 MW + 3MVar. For DFIGs1, each individual DFIG has an
RL2 0.02p.u. LL2 0.1p.u. actual rotor speed of 1.2p.u., outputs 3 MW of stator active power, and
Line 3 Parameters the GSC outputs 0.58 MW of active power. For DFIGs2, each individual
RL3 0.02p.u. LL3 0.1p.u. DFIG has an actual rotor speed of 0.9 p.u., outputs 1 MW of stator active
SG Parameters
xd 2p.u. xq 2p.u.
power, and the GSC outputs − 0.1 MW of active power. The SG maintains
x′d 0.3p.u. x′q 0.3p.u. the terminal voltage at 1.02p.u. At t = 1 s, Load 3 is connected into the
x˝d 0.2p.u. x˝q 0.2p.u. grid. At t = 10 s, Load 4 is connected into the grid. At t = 15 s Line 1 is
T′ 1s T′q 1s disconnected, splitting the microgrid into two parts: one part with SG
d
T˝d 0.05 s T˝q 0.05 s operating independently, and another part with DFIGs1 and DFIGs2
J 10,132 kgm2 Kf 4.77 MWs/rad operating in parallel. At t = 20 s, Load 5 is connected. The simulation
Ku 40 cosφN 0.8 results are shown in Fig. 21.
After Load 3 is connected, the output active power of DFIGs1 and
DFIGs2 immediately increases, providing a similar inertia response as
resumes control over the rotor current, maintaining it along the d-axis in the SG. As the virtual rotor speed decreases, the power reference grad­
the virtual rotor coordinate system while limiting its magnitude to the ually rises, stabilizing the virtual rotor speed and power output of the
1.5p.u. limit. This demonstrates that the proposed VSG control scheme DFIGs, providing a similar primary frequency control effect as the SG’s
effectively avoids rotor overcurrent after grid faults and ensures the governor. At the same time, the rotor current magnitude of the DFIGs
safety of the DFIG itself. also increases to stabilize the grid voltage, which has decreased due to
Load 3 connection.
5. Case studies After Load 4 is connected, since Load 4 is a reactive power load, the
output active power of the DFIGs and SGs has few variations, and the
In this section, we will conduct simulation analysis on the proposed virtual rotor speed of the DFIGs and the rotor speed of the SG are almost
DFIG VSG control scheme under various operating conditions, including unchanged. The connection of this reactive power load mainly causes
the performance under different SCRs, the performance operated the decrease of the voltage. Thus, the rotor current magnitude of the
together with the SG and the performance operated independently DFIGs is increased under the effect of the ird_ref-Us droop control.
without the SG in a microgrid. When Line 1 is disconnected, DFIGs1 and DFIGs2 can still maintain
normal power supply operation. As the loads connected to them
5.1. Operation under disturbances with different SCRs decrease, the output active power immediately decreases, and the vir­
tual rotor speed rises and eventually stabilizes. After Load 5 is con­
For the DFIG adopting the VSG control scheme proposed in this paper nected, the output active power of DFIGs1 and DFIGs2 increases, and the
and with the parameters shown in Table. 1, in the system depicted in virtual rotor speed decreases and eventually stabilizes. Throughout the
Fig. 14, the actual rotor speed is at 1.2p.u., and the output is the rated process, the rotor current of the DFIGs is well controlled along the d-axis
active power. The stator outputs 3.625 MW of active power, and the GSC of the virtual rotor coordinate system, and its magnitude is adjusted to
outputs 0.725 MW of active power. The system impedance varies in the stabilize the grid voltage.
range of 0.1 to 1p.u. (R/X = 1/5). These results indicate that the proposed DFIG VSG control scheme
The system voltage experiences a ± 10◦ phase disturbance within 50 can achieve stable parallel operation with SGs and provide similar
ms at t = 1 s. The simulation results are shown in Fig. 18 (+10◦ ) and inertia response and primary frequency control as SGs. It can also ach­
Fig. 19 (− 10◦ ) respectively. ieve stable operation independent from the SGs, possessing grid-forming
Under different system impedances (SCRs), the DFIG remains stable ability.
after the system voltage phase disturbances, validating that the pro­
posed DFIG VSG control scheme exhibits a wide-range SCR adaptability. 6. Conclusion
It can ensure stable power delivery at rated power even in extreme fault
ratio scenarios. This paper focuses on the VSG control technology of the DFIG based
WTGs.
5.2. Operation under microgrid The available approaches for constructing the internal EMF for DFIG
VSG control are discussed in this paper. Considering controllability,
The microgrid scenario is illustrated in Fig. 20. There are 5 units of 5 security, and complexity, utilizing the rotor current-induced EMF as the
MW DFIG connected in parallel, referred to DFIGs1, and another 2 units internal EMF offers advantages. Based on the discussion, a DFIG VSG
of 5 MW DFIG connected in parallel at different locations in the grid, control scheme that utilizes the rotor current-induced EMF as the in­
referred to DFIGs2. It is assumed that each DFIG in the same group has ternal EMF is proposed. An additional rotor current-terminal voltage
the same parameters and operating status. magnitude droop control is added into the scheme to solve the problems
DFIGs1 VSG-related parameters: Ir_ref0 = 1.05/Lm = 0.39p.u., Ku = associated with the larger steady-state internal impedance compared to
30, Jv = 400 kgm2, and D = 950 Nms/rad. DFIGs2 VSG-related pa­ other constructing approaches. The static and dynamic operating char­
rameters: Ir_ref0 = 1.05/Lm = 0.39p.u., Ku = 20, Jv = 300 kgm2, and D = acteristics of the proposed scheme are investigated, based on which,
800 Nms/rad. combined with the requirements of the power grid to the VSG WTGs,

15
X. Gao et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688

Fig. 21. Simulation results of the microgrid scenario.

recommended ranges for several key parameters are provided.
Simulation and analysis results demonstrate that the proposed DFIG
VSG control scheme effectively addresses problems in the existing
schemes, including overcurrent in the RSC, out-of-control during actual
rotor speed variations, and reliance on flux observers for implementa­
tion. The simulation and analysis results also demonstrate the robust
adaptability across a wide range of short-circuit ratios, the parallel
operating ability with SGs, and the independent grid-forming operating
ability without SGs of the proposed scheme.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
No data was used for the research described in the article.

CRediT authorship contribution statement Acknowledgement

Xuesong Gao: Conceptualization, Methodology. Zhihao Wang: This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of
Conceptualization, Methodology. Lei Ding: Supervision, Writing – re­ China (U22B20101).
view & editing. Weiyu Bao: Writing – review & editing. Zhijun Wang:
Writing – review & editing. Quanrui Hao: Writing – review & editing.

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X. Gao et al. International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems 156 (2024) 109688

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