Study on Modeling and Simulation of Non-grid-
connected Wind Turbine
Jie Chen, Dongxiang Jiang
State Key Laboratory of Control and Simulation of Power System and Generation Equipment
Department of Thermal Engineering, Tsinghua University
Beijing 100084, China
j-chen05@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn, jiangdx@tsinghua.edu.cn
Abstract—In order to fully understand the characters and
working principles of non-grid-connected wind turbine, this
paper makes an analysis on different methods for modeling non-
grid-connected wind turbine. First, according to the structure of
the wind turbine, a theoretical model is presented, including
three subsystems: rotor, transmission system and generator.
Response of the model to a wind sequence is simulated. Then,
based on the data gained from experiment, a model of small wind
turbine is presented using system identification. The main
content of the model is the performance coefficient Cp derived
from experimental data. A comparison is made on the simulation
results of the model and the data measured. With simulation
results of the two methods for modeling wind turbine, by using
theoretical analysis and identification respectively, we can see the
two models are both effective; only that they should be applied in
different conditions.
Keywords-non-grid-connected; wind turbine; modeling; simulation.
I. INTRODUCTION
Over the last decade, various countries have been striving
to develop their wind energy. In 1997, the world’s total
installed capacity of wind power was 7,480MW, and which
increased to 121,188MW last year. Limited by technical
bottleneck of grid integration, the proportion of wind power in
power system can’t exceed a certain value. Yet only part of the
electricity generated by wind turbine is sent to grid, so what is
to do with the rest of the power? For some industries, that need
a large quantity of energy, not necessarily of high quality, they
make good use of non-grid wind power. Not only the
equipment for grid integration can be saved, but the efficient of
the wind turbine also can be raised. In order to operate the non-
grid-connected wind turbines better, we should understand the
characters and working principles of them. So it is necessary to
create a model of non-grid-connected wind turbine.
In this paper, two methods of modeling for non-grid-
connected wind turbine are presented. First, according to the
structure of the wind turbine, models of subsystems are
presented. By integrating them, we can get the whole model of
non-grid-connected wind turbine, and simulate with the model.
Secondly, a model of small wind turbine using system
identification is analyzed. A comparison is made on the
simulation results of the model and the data measured.
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II. THEORY MODEL
Fig. 1 shows the working principles of non-grid-connected
wind turbine.
Figure 1. Working principles of non-grid-connected wind turbine.
Rotor changes the kinetic energy of the air into mechanical
energy. Rotor gets a speed of rotation, at the same time, rotor
gets a torque which is transferred to the shaft. Transmission
system often contains a gear box, which offers a suitable speed
to the generator. Electricity is generated by generator, and the
AC current is transformed to DC current by rectifier. The
energy is stored in battery which supplies power to the loads.
The model of non-grid-connected wind turbine which
contains a gear box has 5 sub models: wind speed model, rotor
model, transmission model, generator model and loads model.
Following are the 5 sub models.
A. Wind Speed
In order to get a wind speed model, which is similar to the
actual wind speed, wind speed is the sum of basic wind speed,
gust wind speed, gradual wind speed and random wind speed. [4]
(1) Basic wind speed
Basic wind speed exists during the whole time wind turbine
operates. The value of basic wind speed reflects the average
wind speed of the wind farm. As the wind speed distribution
meets the Weibull distribution, the value of basic wind speed
can be derived from the data collected in the wind farm.
1
Vwb  C  (1  )  
K
where C is the scale parameter of Weibull distribution, K is the
shape parameter of Weibull distribution and Г is the gamma
function.
(2) Gust wind speed
Gust wind speed can simulate the variation of the wind
speed in a short time. The gust wind speed is given by:
  0 t  T1g where Cp is the performance coefficient which is a function of
   blade tip speed ratio: λ and pitch angle: β. ρ is the density of the
Vwg   Gmax   t  T1g  air, R is the radius of the rotor and U∞ is the wind speed.
 2 1  cos  2   T1g  t  T1g  Tg
  Tg  
 The torque of the rotor is given by:
where Gmax is the peak value of gust wind speed, T1g is the time 1
PW 2 C p  R U  
2 3
gust appears and Tg is the period of the gust.
Tr   
(3) Gradual wind speed  
Gradual wind speed can simulate the variation of the wind
speed in a long time. The gradual wind speed is given by: where Ω is the rotor speed.
And in this paper, Cp is given by:
 0 t  T 1r
  116  
12.5

 R max t  T 1r T 1r  t  T 2r 
C p  0.22   0.48  5  e i  
Vwr   T 2r  T 1r  i 
 R max T 2r  t  T 2r  Tr
 1 1 0.0035
 0 T 2r  Tr  t    3 (11)
i   0.008   1
where Rmax is the peak value of gradual wind speed, T1r is the
time gradual wind appears, T2r is the time gradual wind finishes Fig. 2 shows the relationship between Cp and blade tip
and Tr is the time gradual wind lasts. speed ratio.
(4) Random wind speed
Random wind speed reflects the randomness of wind speed.
It is given by:

1
n 2
Vwn  2  SV i    cos i t  i   
i 1

 2 K N F 2i  
SV i   4
  F 2  3
 1   i  
2

     Figure 2. The relationship of Cp-λ

 i  (i  0.5)   C. Transmission

Transmission system consists of the rotor with rotational
where φi is stochastic tolerances with uniform distribution, KN inertia Jr which is connected to the generator with rotational
is roughness coefficient of surface, F is amplitude of random inertia Jg via a gear box having a transmission ratio ν. [5]
wind speed, ωi is circular frequency of ith component and SV(ωi)
is the amplitude of ith random component. d 2  JV J d
JV 2
 Tr  TD   V Te  k  T  
The constitution of the combined model of wind speed is dt Jr Jg dt
basic wind speed, gust wind speed, gradual wind speed and
random wind speed. where Jv is the equivalent rotational inertia. ξ is angular torsion
of the secondary shaft. The generator electro-mechanical torque
Vw  Vwb  Vwg  Vwr  Vwn   is Te. TD is the total amount of friction of the transmission
system.TD is given by:
B. Rotor
Rotor realizes the function of energy conversion, the energy TD  C1  C2 /   C3  (13)
captured depends on wind speed. [2]
Torque Tξ is the static axis torque and is a function of the
1 torsion ξ.
PW  C p  R 2U 3  (8)
2

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 T  104 100 3  20 2  2   (14) Radius of the rotor: 38.5m; pole pairs of generator: 2; rated
wind speed: 11m/s.

At steady state, we can derive the following equation with Fig. 4- Fig. 7 shows the simulation results.
the definition of the torsion ξ.

 JV  JV 
0 Tr  TD     1 Te 


Jr  Jg 
As Jv=JrJg/(Jr+ν2Jg), we can get the following equation.

Tr  TD  Te  0  

D. Generator
In this paper, induction generator model is picked.
Generator electro-mechanical torque Te is given by:
Figure 4. Simulation of the torque of rotor
'
pm1 r /s  
Te  u12 2

1  r1  c r / s    x1  cc x2' 
2 2 2
c 2

where p is the pole pairs of the generator, m1 is the phase of the

stator, ω1 is the angular frequency of the stator, u1 is the rated
voltage and s is the slip, s=(n-n1)/n1, n is the speed of the
generator and n1 is the rated speed.
E. Loads
The current generated by generator is AC current, a rectifier
changes it to DC current, through which energy can be stored
in battery. And the battery supplies the power to the loads.
III. SIMULATION OF THE THEORY MODEL
According to the model of wind speed, we can get the
Figure 5. Simulation of the rotor speed
diagram of the wind speed. Fig. 3 shows the wind speed in 10
days.

Figure 6. Simulation of the power

Figure 3. Simulation of wind speed

Based on the wind speed, we can get the simulation result

of the non-grid-connected wind turbine with the parameter as
following:

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 Figure 9. Rotor speed-wind speed

Figure 7. Simulation of the pitch angel

  1.223U 2  87.84U   6.71  

IV. MODELING AND SIMULATION OF A SMALL TYPE WIND Cp can be calculated using the following equation with the
TURBINE GENERATOR IN LABORATORY data gained from experiment:
Based on the data gained from experiment, a model of
small type wind turbine generator can be created using system
 PW P /  
identification. [3][6] The parameters that can be gained from Cp  
1 1
experiment are wind speed, rotor speed and power. The  R 2U 3  R 2U 3
parameter to identify is the performance coefficient Cp. 2 2
Cp is a function of blade tip speed ratio: λ and pitch angle: On the other end of the equation, Cp only depends on wind
β. λ is a function of wind speed and rotor speed, if we get the speed. We can get a function relationship between Cp and wind
relationship between rotor speed and wind speed, λ would be a speed using the polynomial fitting algorithm.
function of wind speed only. As the small type wind turbine
generator with a fixed pitch has a constant value of pitch angle,
and λ just depends on wind speed, the performance coefficient
Cp can be a new function of wind speed. Using the function we
get, we can simulate the output power of the small type wind
turbine generator.
The relationship between the parameters shows below:

Figure 10. Polynomial fitting for Cp

C p  0.01462U 3  0.44911U 2  5.37072U 

 
30.81103  79.71841/ U   75.54185 / U 2

Figure 8. Relationship between the parameters. With the relation (20), we can derive the output power as
following:
First, the polynomial fitting algorithm is used to get a
function relationship between rotor speed Ω and wind speed U∞. 1
P  PW   C p  R 2U 3 
2
  0.013363U 6  0.4104897U 5  4.908876U 4  
28.1615U 3  72.86319U 2  69.045788U 

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 Fig. 11 shows the relationship between the power and the
wind speed.
Figure 11. Power-wind speed
The model of the small wind turbine generator is developed.
And the simulation results as bellow:
Figure 12. Simulation of rotor speed
From Fig. 12 and Fig. 13, we can see the model of the small
wind turbine generator is practical. The data gained from
experiment is in keeping with the simulation results.
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Figure 13. Simulation of output power
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, two methods for modeling of wind turbine are
presented. Theory model suits the real wind turbines and
system identification is fit for the turbines which can be
monitored. Both of them are practical, and we can simulate
with these two models in order to fully understand the non-
grid-connected wind turbine.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This project is supported by National Basic Research Program
of China (973 program) (grant no. 2007CB210304).
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