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14 SECCIÓN TÉCNICA

DC-DC Converters in Wind Systems for Micro-generation:


A Systematic Review
Convertidores DC-DC en sistemas de micro-generación eólica: una revisión sistemática

Carlos Alejandro Ramírez (1)*, Andrés Julián Saavedra-Montes (2)*, Carlos Andrés Ramos-Paja (3)*
(1)
Mag ster en Ingenier a-Automati ación Industrial. caramireg unal.edu.co
(2)
Doctor en Ingenier a El ctrica. rofesor asociado. ajsaaved unal.edu.co
(3)
Doctor en Ingenier a Electrónica, Automática y Comunicaciones. rofesor asociado. caramosp unal.edu.co
* Departamento de Energía Eléctrica y Automática, Facultad de Minas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín, Colombia.

Received September 27th, 2013. Modi ed March 27th, 2014. Approved May 1st, 2014.

Key words Palabras clave


Converters control, converters design, literature review, Aerogeneradores, control de convertidores,
power converters, wind generators. convertidores de potencia, diseño de convertidores,
revisión de la literatura.
Abstract
This paper presents a literature review analyzing four topics Resumen
concerning wind systems for micro-generation: system to- Este artículo presenta una revisión de la literatura sobre
pologies, system modeling, power converters design, and sistemas eólicos de micro generación. La revisión anali-
power converter controllers. The review also reveals the za cuatro tópicos: la topología del sistema, su modelado,
open research problems in the literature, and the opportuni- el diseño de los convertidores de potencia y el control de
ties to improve commonly adopted solutions. los mismos. Finalmente, la revisión resalta los problemas
de investigación abiertos, así como las oportunidades para
mejorar soluciones comúnmente utilizadas.

INTRODUCTION system and e tend the life of its elements. owever, recent
Given that fossil fuel consumption is one of the main causes investigations have not addressed the methods for the design
of global warming (Barroso, Rudric , Sensfuss Linares, of power converters based on wind generator requirements
2010), it is vital to reduce our dependence on such fuels or on the wor ing lifespans of the elements involved in the
for electric energy generation. One strategy for replacing wind energy system.
fossil fuels is the use of alternative electric energy sources. The present wor is a systematic review focused on the
Among these, eolic energy production has become hugely design of converters used with micro wind generators, in the
important in promoting the development of such technolo- 2 W range. The review includes 24 articles on the design
gies in recent years. of converters used in micro wind generators. It remar s on
Small wind generators are installed on the rooftops of hou- relevant design issues such as the required design methodol-
ses and buildings for what is nown as micro-generation. For ogy for DC-DC converters ta ing into account the source and
e ample, 400 W to 1, 00 W micro-turbines are commercially load requirements and basic aspects such as the elements that
available in the United Kingdom (Bahaj, Myers & James, ma e up the wind generation system, the types of converters,
2007), and statistics indicate that 87% of micro-turbines in- and their controllers.
stalled in the United Kingdom generate less than 1,500 W. The remaining part of the paper is organized as follows:
The power of the wind generator de nes the characteris- Section 2 presents the methodology to develop the literature
tics of the converters used in the e traction of wind electric review. Section 3 provides the results in two tables and the
power. The designs of such converters are based on the re- discussion of the results. In Section 4, we present the conclu-
quirements of the generation source and the electric load. An sions and nally, the ac nowledgements and references are
optimal design may enhance the ef ciency of the generation presented in the last two sections.

Revista de Ingeniería. Universidad de los Andes. Bogotá D.C., Colombia. rev.ing.


ISSN. 0121-4993. Enero - junio de 2014, pp. 14-19.
Carlos Alejandro Ramírez et al. / Revista de Ingeniería, 40, 2014, pp. 14-19 15

METHODOLOGY (3). When the PAA% of a single question was lower than the
MAPAA%, a detailed review of the articles included in the
To develop the systematic review, the main area of interest, PAA% was performed to evaluate whether the articles fully
DC-DC converters in wind systems for micro-generation, answered the review question or whether additional efforts
was divided into four topics: Topology of the wind energy were required to answer it. When the latter occurred, it was
generation systems, modeling of the elements, design of the because a gap was identi ed in the literature.
converter and its control. Several questions were formulated
per topic and were answered for each analyzed paper. Finally
an assessment system is proposed to highlight the open re- Total articles that answer question
search problems of the proposed topics. PAA%(n) = · 100% (1)
Total articles

Topics and questions about small wind energy PAA%(1) + PAA%(2)+···PAA(n)


generation systems APPA% = (2)
Total number of questions
Topic 1 refers to the topology of the small wind energy ge-
neration system. This topic is analyzed through two review APAA%
questions: MAPAA% = (3)
3
a. What is the connection type reported for the wind energy
generation system?
b. What are the elements of the wind generation system? RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
To record the information, two result tables were construc-
The modeling of a small wind energy generation systems is
ted: Table 1 summarizes the answers to the review questions
addressed in topic 2 and is analyzed through the ne t review
of topics 1 and 2. Table 2 presents the answers to the ques-
questions:
tions from topics 3 and 4. Cells mar ed with an indicate
that the article does not specify an answer to that question.
a. What is the model used for the generator?
In Table 1, Question a, topic 1 was answered by 100% of
b. What is the model used for the recti er?
the articles, revealing that the small wind energy generation
c. What is the model used for the wind turbine?
systems are mainly connected in two forms; 33.33% of the
articles report a connection to the electrical grid, and the
Topic 3 concerns the DC-DC power converter design, and
remaining 66.67% report a connection to an isolated load.
the review questions are the following:
Among the latter connections, 50% of the articles report a
connection to an AC load, and the remaining 50% report a
a. What ind of converter is used?
connection to a DC load. Hence, low power wind systems
b. What types of problems in the electric generator and the
are mostly designed for isolated applications and, therefore,
load can arise from the use of DC-DC converters?
special attention must be devoted to integrate storage and
c. What method is used to calculate the elements of the DC-
management devices for wind systems in order to supply a
DC converters used in the wind energy generation system?
required load pro le.
Question b, topic 1 was answered by 100% of the selected
Finally, topic 4 refers to the control of DC-DC converters.
wor s. It is observed that all micro wind generation systems
From this topic, the following questions were formulated:
have a wind turbine, a permanent magnet generator, and a
recti er; therefore, these elements are not reported in Ta-
a. What strategies are used for the control of the converters?
ble 1. A reluctance synchronous generator is only reported
b. What are the controlled variables in the converters?
in (Goto, Guo & Ichino ura, 2009) and (Whaley, Ertasgin,
c. What performance criteria are used for the design of the
Soong, Ertugrul, Darbyshire, Dehboeni & Nayar, 2006). The
controllers?
remaining elements in the generation system vary depending
on the connection type. 54.17% of the papers report the use
An assessment system to identify the open of an inverter (“I”), where the micro generation system is
research subareas connected to the grid or an AC load. Batteries (“B”) are used
To establish the e istence of a gap, the percentage of articles for storage in 20.83% of the reviewed papers, while Electric
that answer each of the questions (PAA%) was calculated Double Layer Capacitors (“EDLC”) are used in (Goto, Guo
using (1). Ne t, the average of these percentages was calcu- & Ichino ura, 2009). In (Hua & Cheng, 2010), a bidirection-
lated (APAA%) using (2), and the result or average percenta- al DC-DC converter is used to manage the power e changed
ge of articles that answer the review question was then divi- with the battery. As such, the use of DC-DC converters (“C”)
ded by three to obtain a cutoff percentage (MAPAA%) using is reported in 70.83% of the articles.
16 SECCIÓN TÉCNICA Carlos Alejandro Ramírez et al. / Revista de Ingeniería, 40, 2014, pp. 14-19

Table 1.

Topic 1 Topic 2
le
Qa Qb Qa Qb Qc
Uncontrolled
(Deng & Chen, 2013) Isolated DC load C X ta c odel
rec er odel
Uncontrolled
(Fan, Ma, Lim & Williams, 2013) Electrical grid C, I X ta c model
rec er model
Uncontrolled
(Suskis & Rankis, 2012) Isolated DC load LC lter, C DC voltage source model X
rec er model
Uncontrolled
(Rashmi, Suresh & Kamalakkannan, 2012) Isolated DC load C Single-phase source model X
rec er model
Controlled rec er
(Bisenieks, Vinnikov & Galkin, 2011) Electrical grid C, I Three-phase source model X
model
Uncontrolled Dynamic
(Arifujjaman, 2010) Electrical grid C, I Three-phase source model
rec er model model
(Alepuz, Calle, Busquets-Monge,
Electrical grid I Park’s model X X
Bordonau, Kouro & Wu, 2010)
Current source
(Meiqin, Jidong, Ding, Nayar
Electrical grid I, Filter DC current source model model considering X
& Chang, 2010)
the generator
C, I,
(Hua & Cheng, 2010) Isolated AC load idirec onal X X Sta c model
C, B
Uncontrolled
(Sinha, Kumar, Samuel & Gupta, 2009) Isolated AC load C, I X X
rec er model
(Nagliero, Liserre, Orlando, Mastromauro
Electrical grid I, LC lter X X X
& Dell’Aquila, 2009)
C, I,
(Lazarov, Roye & Zarkov, 2009) Electrical grid Three-phase source model X X
Transformer
(Morales, Ordoñez, Morales
Isolated AC load C, I Park’s model X X
& Flores, 2009)
(López & Vannier, 2009) Isolated DC load C, B X X Sta c model
(Goto, Guo & Ichinokura, 2009) Isolated DC load C, EDLC PMRG model X Sta c model
Uncontrolled
(Sinha, Kumar, Samuel & Gupta, 2008) Isolated AC load C, B, I X Sta c model
rec er model
(Chiniforoosh, Alaeinovin, Davoudi,
Isolated DC load LC lter, C Park’s model X X
Jatskevich & Chapman, 2008)
Uncontrolled
(Arifujjaman, Iqbal & Quaicoe, 2008) Isolated AC load I Park’s model Sta c model
rec er model
Uncontrolled
(Eren, Hui, To & Yazdani, 2006) Isolated DC load C, B X Sta c model
rec er model
Uncontrolled
(Ta icht, Agbossou & Cheri , 2006) Isolated DC load C, B Three-phase source model Sta c model
rec er model
(Whaley, Ertasgin, Soong, Ertugrul,
Electrical grid C, I Three-phase source model X X
Darbyshire, Dehboeni & Nayar, 2006)
PAA% 100 % 100 % 54.17 % 50.00 % 41.67 %

Question a, topic 2 was answered by 54.17% of the recti er model, while (Meiqin et al., 2010) models the rec-
articles, and we found that there are ve different ways ti er merged with the generator as a current source. Ques-
to model the permanent magnet synchronous generator. tion c, topic 2 was answered by 41.67% of the articles,
Among them, the most common representations are a where most of them consider a static model for the tur-
three-phase source in series with a reactance element, and bine, while a dynamic model is presented only in (Arifuj-
the model based on Par s transformation. Question b was jaman, 2010). Such results shed light on two main trends:
answered by 50.00% of the reviewed articles, whereby rst, the modeling of the wind turbine, generator and the
83.33% of those papers use an uncontrolled recti er mod- recti er by a static relation; and second, the dynamics of
el. In contrast, (Bisenie s et al., 2011) uses a controlled the turbine and generator. In the former, the power system
Carlos Alejandro Ramírez et al. / Revista de Ingeniería, 40, 2014, pp. 14-19 17

control is designed from the dynamics of the converter, while converter; 23.53%, the use a buc converter; 11.76%, the use
the generator and turbine dynamics are considered perturba- a buc -boost converter, and 11.76%, the use of a bac -to-
tions, which simpli es the design. In contrast, the latter al- bac con guration, whereas (Goto, 2009) reported the use
lows us to include protectors for the generator and the tur- of a qZS DC-DC converter. Such results show that classical
bine in the control design, e.g. over voltage and over speed converters are often used to step-up and/or step-down small
protection. power loads. Hence, there is an opportunity for designing
In Table 2, Question a, topic 3 was answered by 87.50% of specialized converters aimed at optimizing the small power
the articles; among them, 35.29% reported the use of a boost wind systems, e.g. improve the ef ciency.

Table 2. Ans ers to topic 3 and topic 4 revie ques ons

Topic 3 Topic 4
cle
Qa Qa Qb Qc
(Deng & Chen, 2013) IFBTL Lookup table, PI Input voltage Ma imize the po er produc on
LCC resonant Input current, Output
(Fan, Ma, Lim & Williams, 2013) PI Ma imize the po er produc on
converter voltage
Algebraic rela on Regulate a constant DC link
(Suskis & Rankis, 2012) Buck-Boost Output voltage
voltage/duty cycle voltage
Three input port
(Rashmi, Suresh & Kamalakkannan, 2012) Four port DC-DC X X
voltages
(Bisenieks, Vinnikov & Galkin, 2011) qZS X X X
Regulate a constant DC link
(Arifujjaman, 2010) Boost PI Input current
voltage
Generator speed,
(Alepuz, Calle, Busquets-Monge, Bordonau,
Back-to-back PI output voltage, and Regulate the required power
Kouro & Wu, 2010)
power factor
Generator speed and Provide a sinusoidal waveform
(Meiqin, Jidong, Ding, Nayar & Chang, 2010) X PI
current sent to the grid of the current sent to the grid
Boost and a Algorithm for ba ery
(Hua & Cheng, 2010) Load power Regulate a constant load power
bidirec onal one management
Monitor and regulate the
(Sinha, Kumar, Samuel & Gupta, 2009) Buck PI Output voltage
constant DC link voltage
Output voltage and
(Nagliero, Liserre, Orlando, Mastromauro Regulate a DC link voltage and
Back-to-back P and PI power factor sent to
& Dell’Aquila, 2009) power factor equal to one
the grid
Cuto frequency 400 Hz and 20
(Lazarov, Roye & Zarkov, 2009) Boost X Output voltage
dB/dec
Regulate the voltage and
(Morales, Ordoñez, Morales & Flores, 2009) Boost PI Output voltage
frequency of an AC load
Input and output
(López & Vannier, 2009) Boost and a Buck PI in cascade X
voltage
Normal and Op miza on
Extracted power and
(Goto, Guo & Ichinokura, 2009) Bidirec onal Buck- algorithm and charge X
load voltage
Boost balance
Monitor and regulate the
(Sinha, Kumar, Samuel & Gupta, 2008) Buck X Output voltage
constant DC link voltage
(Chiniforoosh, Alaeinovin, Davoudi,
Boost PI Output voltage X
Jatskevich & Chapman, 2008)
(Arifujjaman, Iqbal & Quaicoe, 2008) X PID Load e ec ve value X
Output current Output
(Eren, Hui, To & Yazdani, 2006) Buck X Charge the ba ery
voltage
MPPT control Constant voltage-
(Ta icht, Agbossou & Cheri , 2006) Buck-Boost X
algorithm current
(Whaley, Ertasgin, Soong, Ertugrul, Provide a sinusoidal current in
X Lookup table Current to the grid
Darbyshire, Dehboeni & Nayar, 2006) phase with voltage
PAA% 87.50 % 79.17 % 95.83 % 70.83 %
18 SECCIÓN TÉCNICA Carlos Alejandro Ramírez et al. / Revista de Ingeniería, 40, 2014, pp. 14-19

Question b, topic 3 was only answered by (Lazarov et al., of systems, where storage management is an open problem.
2009), who reported that the presence of harmonics increases Another topic not fully addressed in literature concerns the
losses in the generator, which decreases its ef ciency. Simi- inclusion of turbine and generator dynamic models for con-
larly, Question c, topic 3 was only answered by (Sinha et al., trol design, which are required to develop protection and op-
2008) and (Eren et al., 2006), who impose a ma imum ripple timization algorithms.
of 5%. Again, such results ma e evident the requirement for Concerning the DC-DC converters, the review points out
design specialized converters for wind power systems, which the opportunity to design specialized converters to replace
needs to analyze the effects of DC-DC converters in the gen- the classical structures used in current literature. The aim
erator of those applications, e.g. ma imum ripple level, the of the new converters could include the improvement of the
permissible level of harmonics in the generator or the load. energy ef ciency, cost reduction, and the avoidance of trans-
For the sa e of brevity, Questions b and c are not present in formers, among others. But such a design process requires
Table 2 due to the small number of answers. analyzing the effects of DC-DC converters in the genera-
Question a, topic 4 was answered by 79.17% of the ar- tor and turbine rst another open problem to propose a
ticles, where the most frequently used control strategies are suitable methodology for designing the converter compo-
the proportional-integral-derivative (P, PI, PID) with 45.83% nents, e.g. inductor and capacitor sizes. Finally, the review
of the studies. Additionally, custom algorithms are used to also shows that current literature mainly adopts classical
perform several speci c tas s such as the charge manage- controllers to regulate the converter operation, which made
ment of a battery ban , trac the ma imum power, interfac- clear the opportunity to propose non-linear controllers to
ing with the grid, etc. improve system performance in operating points far from
Question b, topic 4 was answered by 95.83% of the ar- the linearization condition imposed in linear solutions.
ticles, where the control variable depends on the application.
For this reason, each article includes one or more variables of
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
interest, among them are: the output voltage of the inverter,
the generator speed, the generator output current, the power This paper was supported by GAUNAL group of the Univer-
delivered to the load, etc. Question c, topic 4 was answered sidad Nacional de Colombia under the projects RECONF-
by 70.83% of the papers, where the criteria most frequently OP-21386 (Colombian Departamento Administrativo de
adopted was to trac a reference variable in 50.00% of pa- Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación - COLCIENCIAS - call
pers, e.g. the generator output current, voltage supplied to 617 of 2013) and MICRO-RED-18687. This wor was also
the load, among others. Such results show that the control supported by COLCIENCIAS under the doctoral scholarship
variable and performance criteria strongly depend on the ap- 095-2005.
plication, hence there is no clear trend: regulate dc-lin or
load voltage, regulate generator current, ma imize the power
production, etc. Similarly, P, PI, PID controllers are com-
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