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Optimal_Gearbox_Ratio_to_Minimize_the_Power_Converter_Ratings_in_DFIG-Based_Type-3_Wind_Turbines
Optimal_Gearbox_Ratio_to_Minimize_the_Power_Converter_Ratings_in_DFIG-Based_Type-3_Wind_Turbines
Optimal_Gearbox_Ratio_to_Minimize_the_Power_Converter_Ratings_in_DFIG-Based_Type-3_Wind_Turbines
ABSTRACT Type-3 wind turbines based on the doubly-fed induction generator with a partial-scale power
converter are commonly implemented in wind energy conversion systems. This paper investigates the effects
of the rated slip and, thus, the gearbox ratio of the wind turbine on the ratings of the partial-scale power
converter. Three design methods are proposed to select the optimal rated slip and gearbox ratio. The first
design method minimizes the converter’s rated power compared to the system’s rated power. The analysis
showed that a rated slip of −11.84% will minimize the converter ratings. The second design method is
based on selecting the rated current of the converter, while the third design method aims to maximize the
power produced at low wind speeds. The three proposed design methods are analyzed and compared to the
conventional design method for a 2 MW wind energy conversion system. Simulation results for the complete
system were performed where the dynamics in the wind speed and the thermal model of the Silicon-Carbide
MOSFET power converter are considered. The simulation results verified the effectiveness of the proposed
methods. Using the first proposed method, the power converter rating is only around 10% of the rated power.
The third proposed method can be used to maximize the power produced at low wind speeds to maximize
the annual energy production.
INDEX TERMS Doubly fed induction generators, partial-scale power converters, power electronics, wind
energy conversion systems.
electronics converter which must be rated to handle the full method minimizes the converter’s rated power compared to
power of the WECS. The most common generators used in the system’s rated power. The second design method selects a
Type-4 systems are the permanent-magnet synchronous gen- specific rated current of the converter, while the third method
erator (PMSG), squirrel-cage induction generator (SCIG), maximizes the power produced at low wind speeds. Increas-
and synchronous generator with electrical excitation. ing the power production at low wind speeds can significantly
The generator in Type-3 or Type-4 can have different drive- increase the annual energy production [23].
train requirements [6]. For synchronous generators in Type-4, This paper is organized as follows: Section II presents
the gearbox may be eliminated if the generator is designed for a background regarding the DFIG-based wind turbine sys-
low-speed operation. These generators are known as direct- tem. The analysis of the effects of the gearbox ratio on the
drive and have a high number of poles and higher cost. How- converter ratings and the proposed methods are presented in
ever, using a single-stage gearbox can improve the reliability section III. Finally, simulation results for a 2MW WECS are
[7] and reduce the cost [8]. For Type-3 systems, usually, presented in Section IV.
a multi-stage gearbox is used. A cost and annual energy yield
comparison for different generators with different gearbox II. BACKGROUND
options is presented in [9]. The DFIG system with a three- In this section, the overall wind energy conversion system
stage gearbox was found to be less expensive. However, the shown in Figure 1 is described. The wind turbine may be
DFIG system with a single-stage gearbox had a higher energy connected to the DFIG through an optional gearbox. The
yield per cost. stator winding of the DFIG is connected directly to the grid,
The main advantage of Type-3 is the partial rating of the while the rotor winding is connected to the grid through
power-electronics converter. The partially rated power con- a partial-scale, back-to-back converter, and an LCL filter.
verter can be used to control the active and reactive powers The back-to-back converter consists of two three-phase, two-
injected into the grid [10]. Direct power control strategy level converters connected through a DC bus. The rotor-side
[11], [12] and sensorless control techniques [13] could also converter controls the wind turbine’s speed for maximum
be implemented. The reduction in the converter rating reduces power point tracking (MPPT), while the grid-side converter
the cost and size of the converter and the filter. The main dis- controls the DC bus voltage and the reactive power.
advantage of the DFIG system is the need for brushes which
could be a reliability issue, especially for offshore WECS. A. WIND TURBINE
Another issue is the high vulnerability to grid disturbances The mechanical power that can be captured from the wind is
and faults. For this reason, modifications to the system are given by [24],
required to have a low-voltage-ride-through (LVRT) capabil- 1
ity [14], [15]. Pm = ρπR2 Vw3 cp (1)
2
The objective of this paper is to optimize the power con-
verter ratings in a DFIG-based Type-3 system based on the where ρ is the air density which is generally taken as its value
selection of the optimal gearbox ratio. The optimal selection at sea level at 15o C, which is 1.225 kg/m3 , R is the radius of
of the gearbox ratio and the power converter rating for a the area swept by the blades in meters, Vw is the wind speed
DFIG based on the annual energy yield and the initial cost is in m/s, and cp is the power coefficient which is given by [25],
presented in [16]. In [17], the optimal selection of the power 116 −12.5
TABLE 1. Wind Turbine Parameters [25]. flux linkages are given by [27],
λds = (Lls + Lm )ids + Lm i′dr (11)
λqs = (Lls + Lm )iqs + Lm i′qr (12)
λ′dr = (Llr′ + Lm )i′dr + Lm ids (13)
λ′qr = (Llr′ + Lm )i′qr + Lm iqs (14)
where Lls and Llr′ are the stator and rotor leakage inductances
respectively in H , and Lm is the magnetizing inductance in H .
The rotor parameters are donated with a prime to show that
on the value of the optimal tip-speed ratio λopt that results they have been referred to the stator using the turns ratio a
in the maximum power coefficient cp(max) , the wind turbine defined as,
rotation speed is controlled to be, Ns
a= (15)
Vw λopt Nr
ωturbine = (6)
R where Ns is the number of turns of the stator windings, and Nr
The wind turbine parameters are listed in Table 1. is the number of turns of the rotor windings. The mechanical
model is given by [27],
B. DOUBLY-FED INDUCTION GENERATOR MODEL 3P ′ ′
Te = λdr iqr − λ′qr i′dr (16)
Assuming that the three-phase windings on the stator and 22
the rotor are sinusoidally distributed, the DFIG model in an dωrm
J + Bωrm = Te − Tm (17)
arbitrary dq rotating reference frame can be obtained using dt
the winding function theory and Park transformation [26]. P
ωr = ωrm (18)
The dq stator quantities are obtained using Park transfor- 2
mation with an arbitrary angle T (θ). In contrast, the rotor where Te and Tm are the electromagnetic torque and the
quantities are obtained using Park transformation with an mechanical torque respectively in N .m, P is the number of
angle T (θ − θr ) and referred to the stator side using the turns poles, J is the total moment of inertia in Kg.m2 , B is the
ratio. The voltage equations in the arbitrary reference frame damping coefficient in Kg.m2 /s.
are given by [27], Using a reference frame rotating with the synchronous
dλds frequency ωe , the sinusoidal steady-state model could be
vds = Rs ids + − ωλqs (7) derived as,
dt
dλqs Ṽs = (Rs + jXs )Ĩs + jXm Ĩr′ (19)
vqs = Rs iqs + + ωλds (8)
dt Ṽr′ = (R′r + jsXr′ )Ĩr′ + jsXm Ĩs (20)
dλdr′
v′dr = R′r i′dr + − (ω − ωr )λ′qr (9)
dt where Ṽs and Ṽr are the stator and rotor voltage phasors
dλ′qr respectively, Ĩs and Ĩr are the stator and rotor current phasors
v′qr = R′r i′qr + + (ω − ωr )λ′dr (10) respectively, Xm is the magnetizing reactance in , Xs and Xr
dt
are the stator and rotor reactances respectively in and are
where Rs and R′r are the stator and rotor resistances respec-
given by,
tively in , ω and ωr are the reference frame angular speed
and the rotor electric angular speed respectively in rad/s. The Xm = ωe Lm (21)
TABLE 2. DFIG and converter parameters. Selecting the turns ratio a to be sṼs /Ṽr , the magnitude of
the rotor voltage is limited to the rated voltage magnitude
within this operating range. In this case, the gearbox ratio N
could be selected as,
2 R
N = (1 − srated )ωe (31)
P Vw(rated) λopt
and the minimum wind speed for maximum power production
is,
1 − smin
Vw(min) = Vw(rated) (32)
1 − srated
For srated = −1/3, the minimum wind speed for which the
maximum wind extraction is possible is Vw(rated) /2. This is
usually acceptable as a practical lower limit since the actual
wind power production at this wind speed is 12.5% of the
rated power. Below this wind speed, the slip must be kept
constant at smin for the rotor voltage to not exceed the rated
Xs = ωe (Lls + Lm ) (22) value. Power production is still possible; however, it will
Xr′ = ωe (Llr′ + Lm ) (23) not be the maximum possible power. Figure 2 shows the
and s is the slip defined as, steady state analysis of the conventional method. Figure 2(a)
shows that the reduction in power for wind speeds below
ωe − ωr
s= (24) Vw(min) is negligible. Figure 2(b) and Figure 2(c) show that the
ωe maximum rotor power is almost 33% of the stator power as
Neglecting the copper losses and leakage flux, expected from (28). The values are not exact since the copper
loss and leakage flux were considered in this steady-state
Ṽs = jXm (Ĩs + Ĩr′ ) (25)
analysis. Figure 2(d) shows that the maximum rotor voltage
Ṽr′ = jsXm (Ĩr′ + Ĩs ) = sṼs (26) is below the rated value. Although the system works properly
Then, the actual rotor voltage is [17], with this value of srated = −1/3, the rotor current and power
ratings and, thus, the converter ratings are not optimized.
Ṽr′ s
Ṽr =
= Ṽs (27)
a a III. PROPOSED METHODS
and the rotor power Pr could be written in terms of the stator In this section, various methods to design the value of the
power Ps and the mechanical power Pm as, rated slip are proposed. The effect of changing the rated slip
s value on the rotor power, rotor voltage, and the operational
Pr = −sPs = − Pm (28) wind speed range is studied. Three methods are proposed to
1−s
select the srated value. Once the value of srated is determined,
Table 2 shows the DFIG parameters [25]. Field-oriented
the turns ratio a is selected based on (27) to keep the rotor
control (FOC) is used to control the rotor-side converter,
voltage limited to the rated voltage. Moreover, the slip at
while voltage-oriented control (VOC) is used to control the
minimum wind speed smin is selected as −srated to limit the
grid-side converter [29].
rotor voltage to the rated value. Table 1 and Table 2 show the
wind turbine parameters considered in this paper. However,
C. CONVENTIONAL DESIGN (METHOD 0)
the methods could be applied to any system with different
The slip for optimal power could be derived using the above
parameters.
equations as,
PN λopt A. METHOD 1
s=1− Vw (29)
2Rωe In this method, the objective is to minimize the converter’s
Then, it can be shown that, rated power. The ratio between the converter power Pr and
Vw 1−s the rated power of the system Prated is defined as r,
= (30)
Vw(rated) 1 − srated Pr Pr Pm
r= = (33)
Equations (27) and (28) could be used to design the system. Prated Pm Prated
It is a common practice to choose to limit the operation region Using (1) and (28),
such that the slip s is limited between smin = 1/3 to srated =
s Vw
−1/3 [28]. Within this range of operation, the rotor power is r =− ( )3 (34)
limited to 1/3 of the stator power. 1 − s Vw(rated)
FIGURE 2. Analysis of the convectional design method (a) mechanical FIGURE 3. Analysis of design method 1: (a) mechanical power, (b) stator
power, (b) stator power, (c) rotor power, (d) rotor voltage and current. power, (c) rotor power, (d) rotor voltage and current.
At rated conditions, r becomes, Figure 3(d) shows that the rated current of the converter is
srated reduced significantly to 185.9A compared to the conventional
rrated =− (35) case.
1 − srated
The maximum value of r could be found to be,
B. METHOD 2
4 1 In this method, the objective is to choose the rated slip based
rmax =− (36)
27 (1 − srated )3 on the converter’s rated current Irated . In this case, the rated
Setting rrated = −rmax , the value of the rated slip srated could slip can be selected to be,
be found to be −0.1184. This value for the rated slip will 1
guarantee the minimization of r to 0.1059, which means the srated = 2 Prated
(37)
1− 3 Vrated Irated
inverter power rating is minimized to 10.59% of the rated
power. Once srated is selected, the gearbox ratio N could be where the resistance and leakage inductance terms are
found using (31), and the minimum wind speed at which the dropped for convenience.
maximum power production is possible could be determined Figure 4 shows the steady state analysis of method 2. In this
using (32). analysis, the rated current is selected to be 300A. Figure 4(a)
Figure 3 shows the steady state analysis results for this shows that the reduction in power for wind speeds below
proposed method. Figure 3(a) shows that the reduction in Vw(min) is less significant compared to method 1. Although
power for wind speeds below Vw(min) is more significant since the maximum rotor power is higher than method 1, as shown
Vw(min) is 9.46 m/s in this case. Figure 3(c) shows that the in Figure 4(c), it is still lower than the conventional method.
maximum rotor power is below 10% of the rated power. Figure 4(d) shows that desired rated current of the converter
Again, the value is not precisely 10.59% since the copper loss (300A) is achieved and that the maximum rotor voltage is
and leakage flux are considered in the steady state analysis. below the rated value.
FIGURE 4. Analysis of design method 2: (a) mechanical power, (b) stator FIGURE 5. Analysis of design method 3: (a) mechanical power, (b) stator
power, (c) rotor power, (d) rotor voltage and current. power, (c) rotor power, (d) rotor voltage and current.
FIGURE 7. Dynamic simulation results of the conventional design FIGURE 8. Dynamic simulation results of design method 1: (a) wind
method: (a) wind speed, (b) generator reference and actual speed, speed, (b) generator reference and actual speed, (c) mechanical, stator,
(c) mechanical, stator, and rotor power, (d) rotor voltage and current, and rotor power, (d) rotor voltage and current, (e) MOSFET junction
(e) MOSFET junction temperature. temperature.
FIGURE 11. Results for all designs: (a) Mechanical power at low wind
speeds of 4 m/s and 6 m/s, (b) stator and rotor powers at a rated wind
speed of 12 m/s.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, the effects of the rated slip and the gearbox
ratio of the wind turbine on the ratings of the converter are
investigated. Three design methods are proposed to select the
rated slip. Once the rated slip is selected, the gearbox ratio
can be found using (31).
The first design method is based on minimizing the con-
verter’s rated power compared to the system’s total power.
It was found that a rated slip of −11.84% will minimize
the converter’s rated power. However, the power produced at
low wind speeds is not optimal. The second design method
is based on the rated current of the converter as given by
maximizing the power produced at low wind speeds and (37). This method could be helpful if the system is to be
minimizing the rotor current at the rated wind speed. At the designed for a specific switching device. The third design
rated wind speed of 12 m/s, the first proposed design method method is based on the cut-in wind speed as given by (38).
minimizes the rotor power Pr to 0.199 MW; thus, the con- This method maximizes the operating wind speed range and
verter rating is minimized to around 10% of the rated power. improves power production at lower wind speeds. However,
However, the power produced at low wind speeds of 4 m/s the converter’s current rating is increased.
and 6 m/s is not maximized. For instance, at 6 m/s, only These proposed methods were analyzed and compared
0.147 MW is produced using the first method out of the to the conventional method for a 2 MW wind energy con-
available 0.256 MW. version system. Method 1 is preferred if the objective is to
On the other hand, the third proposed design method max- minimize the converter rating, while method 3 is preferred
imizes the power produced at low wind speeds of 4 m/s with if the aim is to increase power production at low wind
all available 0.076 MW produced. However, at 12 m/s, the speeds. Method 2 represents a trade-off between the other
rotor power Pr is 0.713 MW which is much higher than the two methods. Dynamic simulations for the complete system
rotor power in the first method, which is 0.199 MW. This were performed in PLECS® software. The power converter
means that the converter power for the third method must was implemented using Silicon-Carbide MOSFET devices
be more than three times the converter rating in the first and simulated with the device thermal model. The simulation
method. results verified the proposed methods for different wind
The first method minimizes the converter ratings, while speeds.
the third method maximizes the power produced at In the future, this work can be extended by includ-
low wind speeds. The second proposed design method ing a more detailed model of the DFIG based on finite
represents a trade-off between the other two proposed element analysis (FEA) and a more detailed gearbox
methods. model.