Wind Turbine Emulator with DC Motor

Tadeu F. dos Santos∗ , Igor V. Chacon∗ , Géssica C. de A. Souza∗ ,

Guilherme A. P. de C. A. Pessoa∗ , Felipe O. S. Gama† , Rodrigo de A. Teixeira∗ and Andrés O. Salazar†
∗ Department
of Electrical Engineering (DEE)
Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN)
† Department of Computer Engineering and Automation (DCA)

Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN)

tadeu.felix@gmail.com,igorchacon@yahoo.com.br,gcas @hotmail.com.br,guilhermepillon@hotmail.com,
felipe.gama@dca.ufrn.br,rodrigoandradeteixeira@gmail.com,andres@dca.ufrn.br

Abstract—The proposition of this work is to develop an
emulation of the rotation characteristics of a wind turbine for
later analysis of static and dynamic responses of the system to.
Initially, for this purpose, the emulator system was simulated in a
computational environment. Next, the practical implementation
was executed. In the simulated system, the actual wind turbine
turbine is replaced by a DC motor operating within controlled
speed and torque. A DC/DC converter was used during the
simulation step to power the machine and reproduce system
characteristics. During the initial studies, the horizontal turbine
model with three blades was considered. The results obtained
through simulations and experimental tests demonstrate the
feasibility of using emulation in the proposed system.
Index Terms—Wind turbine emulator, control system, DC
machine.
I. I NTRODUCTION
The increase in energy demand and environmental restric-
tions around the world has considerably increased the use
of renewable sources of electricity generation. Among the
renewable generation sources, wind energy has been showing
great development and competitiveness in recent years [1].
Large wind turbines are complex and usually operate con-
nected to the power grid using different control types, smaller
wind turbines are simpler and can be used for standalone
applications and connected to the local grid.
In this context, there are in the literature several works that
suggest different topologies of electrical energy generation
through the wind energy. In general, these topologies use
mechanical structures to transform the speed involved in
energy generation [2]. A new approach to couple the wind
speed was proposed in [3]. This new approach multiplies
the wind speed without using a gearbox or large converters.
This new structure was called the electromagnetic frequency
regulator (EFR). This work presents a structure to simulate
wind behavior on wind turbines and it shall use this system
in validation of the ERF.
The static and dynamic behavior of a wind turbine can
be emulated in the laboratory for project optimization and
analysis in a controlled environment. In [4] a system capable
of emulating the production curve of a wind turbine was im-
plemented using a DC/DC converter to control a DC machine.
The DC machine emulating the wind resource is mechanical
coupled to an asynchronous machine. In this case, the voltage
and current characteristics showed an electric stable behavior
compatible with the load requirements.
In [5] a DC machine driving a synchronous generator is used
for the emulation of a small wind generator. There, a digital
controller of type PI is designed to impose to the motor a
desired rotational speed according to a setpoint signal obtained
directly from PC. To consider the inertia of the turbine rotor
an inertia disk was incorporated into the emulated system. In
[6] the static and dynamic characteristics of a wind emulator
system are presented. For this purpose, a DC/DC converter
was used to control a DC machine which in turn emulates the
turbine behavior of the wind generator.
This work proposes a didactic emulator for the rotational
characteristics of a small wind turbine, the system emulates the
turbine rotation characteristics using a controlled converter that
drives a DC machine magnetically coupled to a synchronous
machine. Initially, the emulator system was implemented com-
putationally for later practical implementation.
The remaining of this paper is organized as follows. Section
II presents the wind emulation theory and the electromagnetic
frequency regulator. The Section III presents the model of the
wind emulation system proposed in this paper. The results
and discussions are presented in Sections IV and V and the
conclusion is drawn in Section VI.
II. E MULATION S YSTEM
In this section will be presented theories of ERF and of
wind emulation on wind turbines.
A. Ectromagnetic Frequency Regulator
The EFR is equipment that receives variable speed and
delivers constant speed. This equipment was developed from a
machine that resembles an induction machine, and that allows
the system to work with variable speed, coming from the
winds, maintaining constant the speed of exit that, moving
a synchronous generator. Contrary to other topologies, this
machine uses a frequency inverter, which injects currents into
the armature, which is primarily responsible for speed control.
In this topology, the stator rotates in conjunction with the wind
turbine. Already the rotor is responsible for generating the
necessary speed in the generator to generate electricity with
adequate nominal frequency for connecting to the distribution

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network. It is important to note, that the frequency inverter is
powered by the DC created with the battery bank, feeds the
asynchronous rotor armature and creates a rotating field from
currents that vary at a frequency such as to determine the speed
of this field. The frequency inverter aims to compensate for
variations in wind speed, where it is operated through a rotor
speed controller. Thus, the speed of the rotor will always be
the sum of the speed of rotation of the turbine with the speed
of the rotating field of the stator, less motor slip.
The main objective of this topology is to eliminate the
gearbox that the other topologies use since the gears are the
ones that have a greater need for exchange and maintenance
in the system of generation of energetics through the wind.
Figure 1 illustrates the wind energy generation system with
the EFR, in which the wind turbine identified as (1), the EFR
(2), the synchronous generator (3) and the frequency inverter
(4).
Figure 1. Wind energy generation system with the EFR.
B. Characteristics Wind Turbine
The wind turbine is the most important component of the
wind power conversion system. The mathematical foundations
of its modeling are widely diffused in the literature [6]. Based
on these models the mechanical power at the output of a three-
blade horizontal axis wind turbine can be written as:
Pm = 0.5ρπR2 C(λ, β)υ 3 .
Where πR2 represents the area swept by the turbine rotor,
the plot Cp (λ, β) represents the area swept by the turbine
rotor υ characterizes wind speed. For small and medium wind
power conversion systems the angle of inclination of blades β
is kept constant and the power coefficient is a function only
of speed rate Cp (λ) Equation (2) which can be represented as
a function of angular speed of turbine ω has given in (rad/s)
and the wind speed υ in (m/s) Equation (3).
Cp (λ) = 0.00044λ4 − 0.012λ3 + 0.097λ2 − 0.2λ + 0.11 (2)
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ωR
λ= (3)
υ
The average torque developed by the turbine can be written
as:
Pm
T = (4)
ω
and therefore,
0.5ρφR2 Cp (λ)υ 3
T = (5)
ω
0.5ρφR2 Cp (λ)υ 3
ω= (6)
T
The speed described in Equation (6) plays the reference role
of the rotor at specific wind speed, the torque pulses due to the
shear wind and tower shadow influences can be represented
by the Equation (7), with Tm and Tmill mills respectively
representing the aerodynamic and average torques of a turbine.
Tm = Tmill (1 + 0.2 sin ωmill (t) + 0.4 sin 3ωmill (t)) (7)
1) Proposed System: Proposed System: In the proposed
system the wind turbine is replaced by a DC motor. This
motor responsible for the generation of speed and torque for
the synchronous generator is driven by a controlled DC-DC
power converter. The motor is coupled via an electromagnetic
frequency regulator to the synchronous generator, which in
turn is connected to the load’s Figure (2).
The projected power converter is shown in the model of
Figure (2) consists of two IGBT switches connected to a
voltage source composed of a capacitive link. The voltage
is supplied from the drive to the DC motor through a half-
bridge configuration. The output voltage of the drive has been
connected to the DC motor armature terminals through one
of IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) arms driven by
PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) pulses sent by the drive.
The electromagnetic frequency regulator is an optimizer
system for wind generators, which replaces the gearbox used
to interconnect the blade shaft to the axis of an electric
generator [3] and [2]. The optimizer consists of a set of
electromagnetic components, which in full operation ensure
rotation in the the axis of a constant generator and within the
(1) limits considered acceptable.
Figure 3 illustrates the experimental bench, where you can
see the three main modules of the system: the DC motor
emulating the wind turbine, the EFR, and the synchronous
generator. It is also important to note that all modules are
mechanically connected.
 Load
Electrical Grid C1 +
Generator

220 Vrms REF

L Mechanical
coupling
60 Hz
Rectifier + +
C2 Ue
Circuit ia ω

d PC

Acquisition and Processing

Driver
MC - ATM

Figure 2. Schematic of the proposed system.

Synchronous Mechanical Turbine Emulator

Generator REF coupling DC Motor dia
ua = e + Ra ia + La (8)
dt

die
ue = Re ie + Le (9)
dt

Φ = kie (10)

Figure 3. Workbench developed for experimental testing.

III. M ACHINE M ODEL
The DC motor equivalent circuit used to emulate the system
turbine is shown in Figure (4). The armature circuit, including
the compensating and switching poles of machine, maybe
represented as the series association of a f.e.m a resistor Ra
and an inductance La . The field circuit, is equivalent to a
coil with inductance Le and resistance Re [7]. Considering
the permanently fixed flux, the electromechanical behavior of
machine is completely described by the Equations (8), (9)
e (10). Speed is dependent on the behavior of all involved
mechanics, the Equation (11) supposes a moment of inertia J
and a torque Tr corresponding to the effects of loading.
dω
T =J + Tr (11)
dt
In steady-state the Equations described above give rise to
the Equations (12) and (14). In the equation (12) the f.e.m
ka Φω becomes much larger than the parcel Ra Ia as the
speed becomes significant, therefore, f.e.m is proportional
to the spin speed ω and to the excitation flux Φ Equation
(13). With constant flux the speed of machine is almost
exclusively dependent on the tension applied to its armature
which allows its speed regulation. The machine torque T
from the electromechanical conversion is proportional to the
flux, the armature current, and the proportionality constant
ka which depends on the constructive parameters of machine.
Considering the constant flux the torque can be regulated by
the action of armature current ia Equation (14).

Ra Re
Ua = ka Φω + Ra ia (12)

+ +
ia La Le ie
e = ka Φω (13)
Ua + Ue
e
ω T = ka Φia (14)

The DC motor parameters used in this work are shown in

Figure 4. Equivalent machine circuit Table I below.

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 Table I
M ACHINE PARAMETERS 1 + τe s
Ci (s) = Ke (15)
s
Parameters Values
Nominal Armature Voltage 180 V 1 + τv s
Nominal Armature Current 8A Cω (s) = Kω (16)
Nominal Active Power 0,932 KW s
Nominal Speed 1800 RPM The embedded system was developed with microcontrollers
Field Resistance 0,58 Ω
Armature Resistance 3,33 Ω of type Atmega328p used in the Arduino Uno. The Atmega
Field Inductance 1,99 mH 328p is a high performance low power 8-Bit microcontroller
Armature Inductance 547 mH with 32 Kbytes InSystem programmable flash memory. The
Moment of Inertia 0,0540845 kgm2
Coefficient Friction 0,0034445 Arduino UNO is composed by the Atmega328 (model 328p is
Electromechanical Constant 0,1211 available too) chip and a recording circuit. The system offers
support for C language, but other languages are possible to
use with external softwares [8]. Figure (7) presents the layout
of circuit employed in the project.
A. Control and Microprocessing System
In addition to the model based on the characteristics of Speed Sensor
the turbine, two PI type controllers were designed in the MCU 2
computational development environment for speed and current ω PE1/TX OC4A/PH3
R
ω
ωref PE0/RX
control of the DC machine. Initially, a model provides the
reference signal as a function of the radius of rotor R, the GND1 GND2
density of air ρ, the wind speed υ and the control feedback SPI
Current Sensor
signals. The calculated speed is used as the reference value iaref R
for the speed controller, in turn, the speed controller generates MCU 1 ia
the reference signal for the current control, the output signal AD0
of that controller is compared with a triangular carrier and the
GND1 GND2
PWM, pulses are generated and sent to the converter IGBTs PWM
command. The control scheme used is made up of a classical Duty-cycle Actuator
structure that is widely used in other types of drives with an
external speed controller Figure (6) and an internal current
R R
regulator Figure (5).

e(s)
+ GND1 GND2
iaref (s) + k 1 R i(s)
Σ C i (s) Σ
- 1 + ‫ح‬es 1 + ‫ح‬i s Figure 7. Schematic illustration of hardware module
i(s)
The hardware module, illustrated in Figure 7 was based on
Figure 5. Current control
two Atmega 328 microcontrollers, one of which (MCU-1) was
responsible for execution of PI algorithm, measure armature
current and generate signal PWM, while the function of other
Internal loop
(MCU-2) was to measure the speed v from the DC motor,
ωref (s) + iaref (s)
execution of PI algorithm and sending the reference armature
1 R 1 kd ω(s)
Σ Cω (s) k aΦ current for (MCU-1).
- 1 + ‫ح‬s 1 + ‫ ح‬ms
The monitoring used an Interface Man Machine (IMM)
with a Personal Computer connected with the Arduino UNO
ω(s)
sending and receiving data. This IMM makes possible to
control the parameters of wind, such as density and speed.
Figure 6. Speed control
These parameters are going to be used for control feedback.
In Figure 8, we present the experimental bench to validate
The sizing of controllers was done in two steps, initially,
the proposed wind speed emulation system on wind turbines.
the internal current controller was designed disregarding the
It is important to emphasize that the proposed system will use
disturbing f.e.m due to its slow dynamics. The sizing of
microcontrollers with low cost, enabling the implementation
the speed controller considers the pair of conjugated complex
of the proposed system in other systems.
poles of i(s)/iref by a first-order approximation highlighted
in Figure (6), so that the controller was scaled based on the
Equation (12).

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 Armature current
Refernce current

Tr = 0 Nm Tr = 1 Nm
4

Current (A)
2
DC Micro
Converter Controllers 1

Figure 8. Workbench developed for experimental testing with the system 3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4
Time (s)
control.
Figure 11. Armature current controller
IV. S IMULATION R ESULTS
This section presents some preliminary results of the control V. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS OBTAINED
system designed to validate the proposal.
This section presents the results obtained through practical
A. Speed Control experiments of the proposed control system. Experimental
In Figure 9 the speed response of the system is shown when tests and open-loop computational simulations were performed
subjected to an acceleration ramp for a time interval of 2 by applying 15 volts to the armature and 200 mA of field
seconds until it reaches the rated speed of the motor used. In current, in order to validate the motor model so that the
evidence the instant of time that the engine reaches its rated cascade controllers can be tuned.
speed. Figure 12 illustrates the results obtained by computer sim-
ulation and experimental test, in which it should be noted that
Reference speed the engine model obtained is similar to the actual dc engine.
Motor speed
200 180.2 Thus, control tuning techniques were applied to obtain the
180.0
160 controllers gains.
Speed (rad/s)

120
450
80
40 400

0 350
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Time (s)
300

Figure 9. Speed controller 250

RPM

200

B. Current Control 150

Figure 10 shows the variation in the armature current of the 100

machine during the acceleration imposed by the speed ramp. Simulated
50
Figure 11 shows the current variation in the motor armature Practical experiment
when it is subjected to a load of the order of 1N.m at steady- 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
state and at rated speed. Time (s)

Figure 12. System open loop response to a step input 15 Volts.

10

Armature current
12 Refernce current After validating the engine model obtained and tuning the
8 controllers, experimental tests of the proposed control system
Current (A)

4 were performed. In order to verify the performance of the

0
control system was verified the system response for several
-4
setpoints, which is illustrated in Figure 13. It can be observed
0 0.5 1 1.5
Time (s)
2 2.5 3 in this figure that the proposed control system is controllable
for low setpoints of rotations, which is justified since the
Figure 10. Armature current controller rotations of the wind turbine blades are low.

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 450

400

350

300

250
RPM

200

150

100

50 System response
Reference
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Time (s)

Figure 13. Proposed system response for multiple setpoint.

VI. C ONCLUSION
This paper presents a control system for the implementation
of an emulator of the rotation characteristics of a wind turbine
using a DC motor. The turbine emulation algorithm is under
development, however, the efficiency of the speed and current
controllers used in the control system can be verified using
simulation tools. The presented simulation and the algorithm
under development served as basis for the application of
the methods in a practical experiment. The practical results
obtained validate the proposed system for the speed control
of a dc motor coupled to the REF. Finally, this paper also has
the contribution of proposing and implementing a dc motor
speed control system using simple microntrollers instead of
using DSP.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was suported by Comissão de Aperfeioamento de
Pessoal do Nı́vel Superior (CAPES) and Conselho Nacional
de Desenvolvimento Cientı́fico e Tecnológico (CNPq).
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