You are on page 1of 6

2009 Third International Conference on Power Systems, Kharagpur, INDIA December 27-29

PAPER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER 164

Performance Analysis of Converter based Variable


Speed Wind Energy Conversion System
Anubhav Sinha

Devesh Kumar

Power & Utility Department


Indian Oil Corporation Limited
Vadodara, India
anubhavsinha7@gmail.com

Aircraft Upgradation R&D Centre


Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
Nasik, India
devesh.kumar.49@gmail.com

Paulson Samuel

Rajesh Gupta

Department of Electrical Engineering


Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology
Allahabad, India
paul@mnnit.ac.in

Department of Electrical Engineering


Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology
Allahabad, India
rajeshgupta@mnnit.ac.in

AbstractIn this paper performance study of converter based


wind energy conversion system (WECS) has been obtained. The
generator used in WECS for this study is a Permanent Magnet
Alternator (PMA) coupled to a wind turbine. It is assumed that
the wind speed varies widely at the chosen site of WECS. The
wide fluctuation of the wind speed produces variable dc voltage
across the ac/dc converter stage. A dc-dc buck converter stage
has been proposed to be used in such a situation to robustly hold
the output dc voltage to the desired constant value needed for the
dc link of the PWM inverter. It is shown through the small-signal
modeling of the buck converter that the system has sufficient
stability margins to control the output voltage and provide
insensitivity against variations in the input voltage due to wind
speed variations. Both dc output voltage of the buck converter
and ac output voltage of the inverter are controlled through a
common control strategy. The proposed wind energy scheme has
been simulated and analyzed in the MATLAB/SIMULINK
platform for different wind speed variations. The experimental
verification of the performance of the buck converter to be used
for the WECS has been obtained on the laboratory model using a
dc motor-synchronous generator set.
Keywords- Buck Converter, Permanent Magnet Alternator
(PMA), Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS), Pulse Width
Modulated (PWM) Inverter

parameters. Numerous studies have been done in this field [2],


[3]. A generator is needed to be coupled with the wind turbine
so as to derive electricity. Recently, Permanent Magnet
Alternators (PMA) have been used in conjunction with a fullbridge rectifier to produce the dc output power. The dc output
voltage of the rectifier depends upon the wind speed. However
the wide wind speed variability has resulted in the need for
robust dc-dc converter stage in the design of a wind energy
conversion system.
This paper analyses the performance of the converter used
in variable speed wind energy conversion system. A small
signal analysis has been used to prove the robustness of the
buck converter over other types of dc-dc converters. Further, a
common control scheme is implemented in both the buck
converter and PWM inverter of the proposed power electronics
converter stages. The controller enables the system to generate
electricity within permissible power quality limits. The
simulation verification of the proposed scheme has been
obtained on the MATLAB/SIMULINK platform. The
experimental verification of the performance of the buck
converter to be used for the WECS has been obtained in the
laboratory model using a dc motor-synchronous generator set.
II.

I.

INTRODUCTION

With the global energy demand set to triple by 2050 [1]


and fossil fuel sources depleting fast, non renewable energy
options are the sources of the future. Wind energy provides a
cheaper and cleaner energy alternative. It is a reliable and
economical option especially for remote and wind potential
areas such as coastal and hill regions. Supplying electricity in
these regions is difficult and costly. However there is huge
potential of wind energy that can be locally converted to
supply electricity.
Variation in the wind speed is the major challenge in
generating efficient electricity as per the required system

WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM

The proposed variable speed wind energy conversion


system is shown in Fig. 1. It shows the power electronics
converters at various stages of the WECS [4].

Fig.1. Block diagram of Variable speed WECS.

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, INDIA


978-1-4244-4331-4/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

2009 Third International Conference on Power Systems, Kharagpur, INDIA December 27-29
PAPER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER 164
A. Permanent Magnet Alternator
In this scheme a Permanent Magnet Alternator has been
used to derive the electricity from wind turbine. An induction
generator is the widely used generator for wind energy
applications due to its robustness and low cost. However, the
operating speed of a typical induction generator is around
1000-1500 rpm while wind turbine rotates at around 30-60
rpm [1]. Hence, a gearbox is needed to couple the generator to
the turbine. This decreases the overall efficiency of the
system.

method proposed in [4]. At the buck converter stage, the


algorithm used is as follows.

On the other hand, a low speed PMA can be coupled


directly to the wind turbine system. This excludes the need of a
gearbox. Further, a PMA can be used in variable speed
systems. The variable-speed based systems inflict lower stress
on the shafts and gears compared to the constant-speed systems
[5]. Also, the absence of field circuit in a PMA makes the set
up less complicated and proves to be convenient for use for
remote applications.

The controller at the PWM inverter stage is similar to the


above equation and is given by

B. Power Electronics Converters


The variable ac voltage from the generator is converted to
usable electricity by the power electronics based scheme
consisting of rectifier, buck converter and pulse width
modulated (PWM) inverter stages.
The diode bridge rectifier converts the variable ac voltage
into a variable dc voltage. The operating equation of a rectifier
is given as [6]
Vo =

(3 2 )Vrms

(1)

Conversion into dc eliminates the frequency component


from the variable ac obtained from the generator.
The variable dc is controlled by using a dc-dc buck
converter stage with a controller. The theory and performance
analysis of this converter stage is discussed in detail in the
following sections.
The controlled constant dc voltage obtained from the dc-dc
converter is converted into ac by a PWM inverter. The PWM
inverter with double edge sinusoidal modulation has been used
in the proposed system. Each edge of the carrier wave is
modulated by a variable angle and can be mathematically
represented as [7]

= m sin( ) max

(2)

where m is the modulation index and ranges from 0 to 1, is


the angular displacement of the un-modulated edge and max is
the maximum displacement of the edge for a chosen frequency
ratio. A PWM topology considerably reduces harmonics in the
ac output voltage. A controller is also implemented at this
stage to regulate the ac output voltage feeding the load.

Vref
K
(Vref Vo ) +
s
Vin

(3)

where variables are defined as, the duty ratio of gating pulse,
Vin is the input voltage, Vo is the output voltage, Vref is the
reference voltage and K the constant gain.
The duty ratio of the gating pulse of the IGBT switch is
varied by the controller to obtain the voltage Vref at the output.

m=

V ref _ rms
K
(V ref _ rms V o _ rms ) +
s
Vin _ dc

(4)

The modulation index m in (4) of the PWM output is varied


according to the variations in the input and output rms
voltages of the inverter.
III.

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF DC-DC CONVERTER


STAGE

A. Buck Converter Operation


A buck converter steps down the dc voltage from one level
to another level [8]. The operating equation is given as
Vout = Vin

(5)

where the variables in (5) are defined as follows. Vin is the


input voltage to the converter, Vout is the output voltage of the
converter, is the duty cycle of the gating signal. The
simplified circuit diagram of the buck converter is shown in
Fig.2.

Fig.2. Buck converter circuit.

In the circuit shown in Fig. 2, the inductor current I and the


capacitor voltage VC are the dynamic variables [9]. The
operation of the converter can be analyzed in terms of these
variables separately during the ON and OFF periods of the
switch as follows.
1)
During ON Period: When the switch is ON, the
equivalent circuit of the buck converter is as shown in Fig.3.

C. Controller Design
The control algorithm is implemented at the buck
converter and the inverter stages of the system following the

2009 Third International Conference on Power Systems, Kharagpur, INDIA December 27-29
PAPER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER 164

x = A2 x + b 2Vi

(14)

Vo = q 2 x

(15)

where

Fig.3. Buck converter equivalent circuit for ON period.

Applying Kirchoffs current and voltage laws, the


following equations can be derived.

dI Vi Vc
=
dt L L

(6)

dVc I
Vc
=
dt
C RC

(7)

Vo = Vc

(8)

From (6), (7) and (8), the state space model for the system can
be obtained during the ON Period:
x = A1 x + b1Vi

(9)

Vo = q1 x

(10)

where

dI

dt
0
;
A1 =
x =

dVc
1

dt
C

1
1
L ; b1 = ; and q1 = [0 1]

L
1
0


RC

2)
During OFF Period: When the switch is OFF, the
equivalent circuit of the buck converter is as shown in Fig.4.

Fig.4. Buck converter equivalent circuit for OFF period.

Following equations can be derived using Kirchoffs


current and voltage laws.

dI
Vc
=
L
dt

(11)

dVc I
Vc
=
dt
C RC

(12)

Vo = Vc

(13)

From (11), (12) and (13), the state space model for the OFF
Period can be written as

dI

dt
0
x =
;
2
A
=
1
dVc

C
dt

1
L ; b 2 = 0 and q 2 = [0 1]

1
0

RC

B. Averaged Model of the Converter


The above equations (9), (10) and (14), (15) describe the
system operation separately during the ON and OFF periods
respectively. The system may be represented by a single
equivalent dynamic model by deriving its averaged model as
follows [9], [10]
xavg = xON + xOFF (1 )

(16)

Vo avg = [q1 + q 2(1 )]x

(17)

The averaged model for the buck converter can be derived


by using equations (16) and (17):
dI
dt 0
dVc = 1


dt C

1
L I + 0Vi
1 Vc 0

RC

I
Vo = [0 1]
Vc

(18)

(19)

C. Small Signal Stability Analysis


The averaged model represented by (18) and (19) is linear
but not time invariant. The system equations must be
linearized so that the converters transfer function may be
defined and linear system theory may get applicable to the
design of closed loop controllers for the converters [9].
Let us consider and vi be the quiescent operating points


for the duty ratio and input voltage respectively and and v i
be the respective perturbations about the operating point due
to time varying inputs. The duty ratio and input voltage may
be expressed as

= +
(20)

Vi = vi + v i
(21)


vi

<< 1 and
<< 1 . Substituting the values defined
where,
vi

in (20) and (21) in (16) and (17):





X = [ A1( + ) + A2(1 )]( X + x )
(22)



+ [b1( + ) + b2(1 )](vi + v i )
vo = [q1( +  ) + q 2(1  )]( X + x )
(23)

2009 Third International Conference on Power Systems, Kharagpur, INDIA December 27-29
PAPER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER 164

where, X is the dynamic variable at the operating point and x
is the perturbation about it. Solving (22) and (23) and equating
the dc component from the result to zero, the following
equations are obtained.




x = Ax + bVi + e
(24)


vo = qx + (q1 q 2) X
(25)
where,
A = A1 + A2(1 ); b = b1 + b 2(1 )
q = q1 + q 2(1 )

e = [( A1 A2) X + (b1 b 2)Vi ]; X = A 1bVi


The input transfer function can be derived from (24) and (25)
as

v o( s )
= q( sI A) 1 e vi =0
(26)

(s)
where, I in (26) is an identity matrix. The control transfer
function of a buck converter derived from the results of (24),
(25) and (26) is given as

v o(s)
1
= Vi
(27)

L
(s)

2
s
1
+
+
s
LC

From the results it is seen that the gain and phase margins
of the buck converter are both positive. Therefore the buck
converter based system under voltage control mode will be
stable.
It can be seen from (28) that the boost converter under
voltage control mode has a non-minimum phase
characteristics. Also as can be seen from Fig. 6, the phase
margin and gain margin for this converter are found to be
negative. This indicates the instability of the boost converter
under voltage control mode. Similarly, it can be shown that the
buck-boost converter also has the non-minimum phase
characteristics and hence show instability under voltage
control mode of operation.
This implies that for the applications such as wind energy
conversion system where the converter is required to control
the output voltage directly the buck converter is a suitable dcdc converter due to its stability and robustness under voltage
control mode. This leads to the constant dc link voltage at the
PWM inverter stage and relieves the designer from using
complicated control strategy at the inverter stage [11], that
otherwise may be required to provide the high performance
control against variations in the dc link voltage. The constant
dc link voltage allows to use a slow RMS controller (4) at the
PWM inverter stage to regulate the voltage across the load.

In order to make comparison with the other dc-dc


converter, the control transfer function of a boost converter
can be similarly derived as [9]
L
1 s

v o(s)
Vi
R(1 ) 2
=

2
( s) (1 )
L
LC
+ s2
1 + s

2
R(1 )
(1 ) 2

IV.

(28)

ANALYTICAL COMPARISON OF BUCK CONVERTER WITH


BOOST CONVERTER

In this section the performance of the buck converter in the


VSWECS model is analyzed by evaluating the frequency
response of its control transfer function obtained from (27).
The system is tested for the 2 kW rating of the buck converter
and load. The input and output voltages are considered 440 V
and 220 V respectively. The inductance and capacitance
values of 10mH and 45F are considered respectively so as to
maintain continuous conduction mode in the buck converter
stage.

Fig.5. Bode plot of control transfer function of Buck converter.

The results of the frequency response of the buck converter


are compared with that of the boost converter using equations
(27) and (28) for the common system ratings. Fig 5 and Fig. 6
shows the frequency response results of the buck and the boost
converter respectively for a typical duty ratio of 0.4 through
the bode plots.

2009 Third International Conference on Power Systems, Kharagpur, INDIA December 27-29
PAPER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER 164

Fig. 7. Circuit diagram of the laboratory model of the buck converter based
wind system.

Fig.6. Bode plot of control transfer function of Boost converter.

V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The buck converter control under varying wind input is
tested on the laboratory model of the wind energy system. The
converter has been designed for the reduced rating of 200W.
The laboratory model consists of a dc motor-synchronous
generator set that models the wind turbine as shown in Fig. 7.
An IGBT is used as the switching device in the buck
converter. The controller algorithm is implemented through
ATmega32 microcontroller. The voltage sensors (model LV25P) have been used to convert the input and the output
voltage of the buck converter with the voltage conversion ratio
of 1/50. These reduced voltages are used for the control
algorithm implementation in the microcontroller.

Fig. 8. Transient response of the output voltage.

The varying voltage due to variable wind speed has been


implemented using the motor-generator set. The input and
output voltages of the buck converters are recorded using a
digital oscilloscope to analyze the performance of the
converter and its controller.
Fig. 8 shows the transient response of the output voltage
when the circuit is switched on. It is seen that the output
voltage settles to within 5% of the pre-programmed reference
voltage of 80 volts in 13 ms. Fig. 9 shows the step response of
the circuit when the reference voltage is doubled from 40 volts
to 80 volts suddenly at 27 ms. It is seen that the controller of
the buck converter successfully tracks the new reference
voltage. The respective change in the gating signal can also be
seen in Fig. 9.

Fig.9. Response for step change in reference voltage.

2009 Third International Conference on Power Systems, Kharagpur, INDIA December 27-29
PAPER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER 164
VI. SIMULATION RESULTS FOR COMPLETE WIND ENERGY
CONVERSION SYSTEM
In this section the simulation results are obtained for the
complete wind energy conversion system for the load ratings
as considered in Section IV. The power electronics converters
and their controller given in Section II.B have been
implemented
in
MATLAB/SIMULINK.

of the inverter for the step input. The figure also shows the
total harmonic distortion of the inverter output voltage that
settles to 0.75 %.
VII. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper performance of the buck converter based
wind energy conversion system has been analyzed. The results
have been obtained using frequency response characteristics of
the small signal model of the converter. It has been shown that
the buck converter used in the dc-dc converter stage controls
the output voltage robustly against variations in the input wind
speed. This allows the use of a slow RMS controller at the
PWM inverter stage. A common control algorithm used in this
paper for both dc-dc and dc-ac converter stage eases the
controller implementation. The experimental results verified
the performance of the buck converter used for the wind
energy conversion system. The simulation results have been
obtained to show the performance of the complete wind
energy conversion system upon change in the input wind
speed.
REFERENCES
[1]

Fig.10. Controller response to step input voltage change.

Fig. 11. Inverter output voltage waveform for step input voltage.

The results of Fig. 10 show the performance of the


controller in tracking the desired reference voltage. At the time
instant t = 1.2 and 1.7 seconds, the input ac voltage to the
rectifier stage is suddenly changed. This is due to the change
in the wind speed. The controller is seen to successfully track
the RMS reference voltage of 220 V and give a constant
inverter output voltage irrespective of the change in the input
voltage. Fig. 11 shows the single-phase PWM output voltage

Ali M. Eltamaly, Modeling of wind turbine driving permanent magnet


generator with maximum power point tracking system, Journal of King
Saud Uni.. Eng. Sci., vol. 19, no. 2, pp.223-237, 2007.
[2] F. Blaabjerg, Z. Chen, Power Electronics for Modern Wind Turbines,
Synthesis Lectures on Power, vol. 1.no. 1, pp.1-68, Morgan and
Claypool Pubilishers, 2006.
[3] V. Lavanya, N. A. Gounden, and P. M. Rao, A simple controller using
line commutated inverter with maximum power tracking for wind-driven
grid-connected permanent magnet synchronous generators, IEEE Int.
Conf. on Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Systems (PEDES), pp.16, 12-15 Dec., 2006.
[4] A. Sinha, De. Kumar, Da. Kumar, P Samuel and R Gupta, A TwoStage Converter based Controller for a Stand Alone Wind Energy
System used for Remote Applications, 30th IEEE Int. Conf. on
Telecom. Energy, 2008. (INTELEC 2008), 14-18 Sept. 2008, San. Diego,
CA.
[5] E. Koutroulis and K. Kalaitzakis, Design of a maximum power tracking
system for wind-energy-conversion applications, IEEE Trans. Ind.
Electr., vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 486-494, April 2006.
[6] M.H.Rashid, Power Electronics Handbook, Academic Press, 2001.
[7] R. M. Hilloowala and A. M. Sharaf, A rule-based fuzzy logic controller
for a PWM inverter in a stand alone wind energy conversion scheme,
IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 57-65, Jan.-Feb., 1996.
[8] N. Mohan, T. M. Undeland and W. P. Robbins, Power Electronics,
Converters, Applications and Design, Singapore, John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., 1989.
[9] V. Ramanarayanan, Course Material on Switched Mode Power
Conversion, 2nd ed. IISc Bangalore, India, 2006.
[10] R. D. Middlebrook and S. Cuk, Advances in Switched-Mode Power
Conversion, TESLAco , 1983.
[11] R. S. Bajpai and R. Gupta Voltage and Power Flow Control of Grid
Connected Wind Generation System using DSTATCOM, IEEE PES
General meeting 2008, Pitts., PA, 20-24 July 2008.

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, INDIA

You might also like