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effects occur when applied to a DFIM. The MRAS method has voltages. The machine equations written in a synchronously
been reported in [9] and [10] in which simulations only were rotating reference frame are [1], [2], and [13]
presented for a DFIM operating at very low speed. As with
other research into sensorless methods, the observer dynamics, (1)
the control design procedure, the sensorless accuracy, and the (2)
effect of parameter variations are not considered in [9] and [10]. (3)
These issues will be addressed in the present paper. Experi- (4)
mental validation over the speed ranges commonly associated
with DFIGs will also be presented. The stator flux-based MRAS (5)
observer will be presented in its application to a vector-con-
trolled standalone DFIG. However, it is understood that the (6)
principle of the MRAS structure is extendable to other DFIM
drive applications. Finally, the paper will also cover the starting (7)
regime in which the sensorless algorithm catches the speed of
the pre-revolving shaft. (8)
(9)
II. VECTOR CONTROL OF INDUCTION GENERATORS where the equivalent stator magnetizing current is supplied
FOR STANDALONE OPERATION entirely from the rotor. Aligning the axis of the reference
frame on the stator flux vector gives
The proposed control system is shown in Fig. 1. As is
appropriate for a standalone application, the vector control (10)
scheme is indirect [13] and contains demands for frequency
and magnetizing current to set the constant stator frequency and Eliminating using the definition for given in (1) and
voltage (stator resistance compensation is omitted for simplicity) eliminating using (10) yields, with
in the absence of a grid connection and irrespective of shaft
speed. The scheme is suitable for a variable speed diesel or
(11)
wind drive. The MRAS observer is represented by the block
diagrams inside the dotted box. Its output is the rotor angle
used to modulate/demodulate the rotor currents and reference (12)
712 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 20, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2005
where . Since the last two terms in (5) are zero for A. Small-Signal Model
constant flux operation, is seen to be small, and from (11) The small-signal model for the MRAS observer is derived
it is thus seen that can be controlled using . The rotor using a synchronous rotating frame. The error in coordi-
current can be controlled according to nates is
(13) (18)
which forces the orientation of the reference frame along the The small-signal model for the error is
stator flux vector position. The demodulation of the rotor de-
mand voltages uses the slip angle derived from (19)
For this small-signal system, it is assumed that
(14) . Also , because the system is oriented along the
stator flux . Therefore, the small-signal model for the error
where is estimated from the MRAS observer. In this work, is
the stator flux angle is derived from a free-running integral of the
stator frequency demand (50 Hz). This has the advantage that (20)
the orientation is shielded from measurement noise and stator
voltage harmonics, which may be a problem in a standalone Referring (16) to a synchronously rotating frame yields
application [13]. (21)
Since the proposed sensorless control system is not affected
by the operation of the PWM front-end converter, the control that is, the flux derived from the current model is not a
of this converter is considered outside the scope of this paper. dc signal unless the estimated speed is equal to the real speed.
A discussion about the control of the PWM front-end converter Replacing in (21) yields
can be found in [1] and [13].
(22)
III. MRAS OBSERVER FOR DFIM
A MRAS speed observer is used to estimate the rotational From (22), a variation is obtained as
speed and rotor position of the DFIM. This observer is based on
two models [11], [12]: the voltage model and the current model. (23)
In a stationary frame, the voltage model is used to obtain the
using (23) and assuming , (i.e., in the quiescent point
stator flux as
), is obtained as
(15) (24)
is obtained as
The stator voltage drop will be small under rated op-
eration so that the flux estimate of (15) is relatively insensitive
to . Using a stationary frame, the stator flux is obtained from
(25)
the current model as
Using (20), (24), and (25), the small-signal model for the
(16) MRAS observer is obtained. The small-signal model is shown
where is an estimation of the rotational speed. The current in Fig. 3. A sketch of the root locus, including the PI controller,
is referred to the rotor frame. In the MRAS observer, the flux is shown in Fig. 4.
obtained from (15) is used as the reference flux. By adjusting With reference to (24) and Fig. 3, it is seen that the quiescent
the estimated rotational speed, the error between the reference value of is used which implies that reactive power is sup-
flux and the flux estimated from (16) is reduced. The error in plied from the rotor-side converter, which must be the case for
coordinates is defined as standalone applications. In many grid-connected applications,
especially in wind generation, reactive power generation via
(17) will be preferred since the rotor-stator turns ratio is significantly
Equations (15)–(17) are used to implement the MRAS speed greater than unity. If this is not the case, and , then alter-
observer. The error calculated using (17) is driven to zero by a native measures of MRAS error (e.g., rotor flux) are necessary;
proportional-integral (PI) controller. The output of this PI con- such measures will be considered in a future paper.
troller is the estimated rotational speed used in (16). The imple- From the control loop of Fig. 3 and the root locus of Fig. 4,
mentation of the MRAS observer is shown in Fig. 2. The voltage it is concluded that the bandwidth attainable with the proposed
model is used to obtain the stator flux using a bandpass filter MRAS configuration is limited only by noise considerations.
as a modified integrator to block the dc components of the mea-
sured voltages and currents. Since and are at a frequency B. Speed Catching Operation of the MRAS Observer
well above the filter cut-off frequency, there is no deterioration It is desirable for a sensorless standalone DFIG to be able to
in integral action. catch the rotational speed of an already spinning machine [6].
CÁRDENAS et al.: MRAS OBSERVER FOR SENSORLESS CONTROL OF STAND-ALONE DFIGs 713
(28)
(30)
The phase variation for can be calculated as
(31)
Fig. 10. Estimated rotor angle and estimation error for 600 r/min. Top:
estimated angle. Bottom: position error.
Fig. 8. 0
The d q axis rotor currents.
Fig. 11. Rotational speeds for load impacts of 1.4 kW. Top: Load
disconnection. Bottom: Load connection.
Fig. 15. Rotor current and rotational speeds for dynamic operation through
synchronous speed.
TABLE I
EFFECTS OF MACHINE PARAMETERS VARIATION
Fig. 12. Stator quadrature voltage for load impacts of 1.4 kW. Top: Load
disconnection. Bottom: Load connection.
design of the MRAS observer as well as for understanding the [11] C. Schauder, “Adaptive speed identification for vector control of induc-
effects of incorrect parameter estimation in the accuracy of the tion motors without rotational transducers,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol.
28, no. 5, pp. 1054–1061, Oct. 1992.
proposed MRAS observer. The proposed sensorless scheme has [12] R. Blasco-Gimenez, G. M. Asher, and M. Sumner, “Dynamic perfor-
been experimentally validated both in transient and steady-state mance limitations for MRAS based sensorless induction motor drives,
conditions. Several tests including load impacts, transient speed part 1: stability analysis for the closed loop drive,” Proc Inst. Elect. Eng.
B, pp. 113–122, Mar. 1996.
tracking performance, and speed catching on the fly have been [13] R. Peña, R. Cárdenas, G. Asher, and J. Clare, “Vector controlled induc-
presented showing the excellent performance of the proposed tion machine for stand-alone wind energy applications,” in Proc. IEEE
speed-tracking scheme. Moreover, the experimental results are Industry Application Annu. Meeting, Rome, Italy, Oct. 2000.
[14] R. Cárdenas, R. Peña, G. Asher, and J. Clare, “Emulation of wind tur-
in broad agreement with the small-signal models proposed in bines and flywheels for experimental purposes,” in Proc. Eur. Power
this paper. Electron. Conf., Graz, Austria, Aug. 2001.
Although this paper has discussed the application of an [15] X. Xu and D. Novotony, “Implementation of direct stator flux orientation
MRAS observer for a DFIG in standalone operation, the control on a versatile DSP system,” Proc. IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol.
27, no. 4, pp. 694–700, Jul./Aug. 1991.
small-signal models and the effects of parameter sensitivity can [16] R. Pena, J. Clare, and G. Asher, “Doubly-fed induction generators using
be extended to other applications of the DFIM, such as doubly back-to-back PWM converters and its applications to variable-speed
fed induction motor drives. wind-energy generation,” Proc. Inst. Elect. Eng., B, vol. 153, no. 3, pp.
231–241, May 1996.
APPENDIX
Greg Asher (M’98) received the Electrical and Elec- Jon Clare (M’90–SM’04) was born in Bristol, U.K.
tronic Engineering degree and the Ph.D. degree in He received the B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical
Bond Graph structures and General Dynamic Sys- engineering from The University of Bristol.
tems from Bath University, Bath, U.K., in 1976 and From 1984 to 1990, he was a Research Assistant
1979, respectively. and Lecturer at The University of Bristol, involved
He was appointed Lecturer in control with the in teaching and research in power-electronic sys-
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, tems. Currently, he is with the Power Electronics,
University of Nottingham, Nottingham, U.K., in Machines and Control Group at the University of
1984, where he developed an interest in motor drive Nottingham, Nottingham, U.K., where he has been
systems, particularly the control of ac machines. He since 1990. He is a Professor in power electronics
was appointed Professor of electrical drives in 2000 and Head of the Research Group. His research inter-
and is currently Head of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at ests are power-electronic converters and modulation strategies, variable-speed
the University of Nottingham. He has published many research papers, received drive systems, and electromagnetic compatibility.
more than $5M in research contracts, and has supervised 29 Ph.D. students. Prof. Clare is a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and is an
Currently, he is Chair of the Power Electronics Technical Committee for the Associate Editor for IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS.
Industrial Electronics Society. He was a member of the Executive Committee
of European Power Electronics (EPE) Association until 2003. He is a member
of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and is an Associate Editor of the IEEE
Industrial Electronics Society.