Article

Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control 35(2) 138146 The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0142331211435850 tim.sagepub.com

Universal power line manager for wind turbine generator connected to microgrid
P JenoPaul, I Jacob Raglend and T Ruban Deva Prakash

Abstract
A wind power plant meets so many power quality issues when it is connected to a microgrid. This paper envisages a new power quality conditioner to regulate the supply frequency, to control the power flow, to minimize the current harmonics and to regulate the voltage for a fixed-speed inductiontype wind generator. The proposed new power line conditioner is called the universal power line manager (UPLM). The control circuit of the UPLM is the combination of the control system of the unified power quality conditioner, power flow control and a frequency regulator. For these reasons, the compensator proposed here is called the UPLM. The complete system has been developed, analysed and validated by Matlab/Simulink study. Simulation results are presented to confirm that the new approach has a better performance for wind turbine generation.

Keywords
Matrix converter, power flow control, UPQC, voltage and frequency regulation

Introduction
Wind energy is becoming one of the most important renewable energy sources. Nowadays, fixed-speed-type wind turbine generators are more popular because of their simplicity, low maintenance and low cost. The above-mentioned type of windmill can be connected to a strong grid, a weak grid or a microgrid. In a strong grid, heavy loads will affect neither voltage nor frequency (Haesen et al., 2006). In this type of wind turbine generator, connecting with a microgrid will affect the voltage and frequency. So power quality is one of the important problems in a microgrid. Voltage fluctuations, harmonics, blind power regulation problems and supply frequency are important power quality problems present in microgrids. The impact of grid frequency could change with the wind generators power output and the wind generator power could change with the grid frequency (Divya and Nagendra Rao, 2008). The possible reason for this is the widely held view that grid frequencies are closely controlled compared with the grid voltages. It must be noted that the controlled grid frequencies could be the norm in most of the utilities of developed countries, but the situation in developing countries is quite different. For instance, the measured annual frequency variation of one of the grids in India is provided in Raghuram (2005), which shows that the frequency varies between 47.5 and 51 Hz. In this 50-Hz system, the frequency is between 49.5 and 50.5 Hz for just 34% of the time, annually. Hence, in addition to the voltage variation, there is a need to understand the impact of grid frequency variation in the output of the fixed-speed wind turbine generator (FSIWTG). In a fixedspeed wind generator, a 5% frequency variation is allowed (Gerdes and Santjer, 1994).

Another problem in an FSIWTG is that if the wind power increases automatically, the power production will also increase. The FSIWTGs differ fundamentally from the conventional generators in that the power output is not controlled by the operator. The windmills output primarily depends on the wind speed and the power output characteristics of the generator. This causes the power production to exceed the permissible value of the wind turbine generator and it is automatically disconnected from the supply. In India, the wind velocity fluctuates throughout the year. Thus the power production also varies. Another important issue is voltage fluctuation. Wind generators are normally disconnected if the grid voltage varies beyond 10% of the nominal value. Unified power quality conditioner (UPQC)-based compensation is introduced (Farias et al., 2008). This type of compensation is used to solve the current harmonics, voltage sag and swell problems. The main disadvantage in this type of compensation is that it cannot solve the power frequency variation and power flow control. Another type of compensation is the acdcac conversion system. This is adopted in wind power applications for frequency regulation, voltage harmonics removal, power factor correction and power flow control (Singh and Kasal, 2008). The main disadvantages of acdcac conversion are the large
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Noorul Islam University, Tamil Nadu, India Corresponding author: P JenoPaul, Noorul Islam University, Kumarakovil, Tamil Nadu 629001, India. Email: jenopaul1@rediffmail.com

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physical dimensions, high weight and excessive volume/footprint of the dc link, i.e. low reliability of the dc capacitor, poor line power factors and harmonics. In this paper, the impact of frequency, voltage variations and the power output of the FSIWTG has been analysed, and new models have been developed to solve the effect of frequency and voltage fluctuations in the FSIWTGs. The proposed new custom power device is called a universal power line manager (UPLM), and is shown in Figure 1. This provides the supply frequency regulation for the windmill, power flow control at the generator to the grid and reactive power control consumed by the generator (using a matrix converter). The UPQC compensates the input current harmonics, voltage fluctuation and voltage harmonics. The next section reviews the power quality problems and their effects in wind turbine generators. Then, the proposed UPLM is discussed. The system controller for the wind energy conversion system is then described and the simulation results are presented. Finally, an appraisal of the proposed system is considered in the conclusion.

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wave shape. The most important power quality issues and their effects on FSIWTGs are analysed in this chapter.

Voltage rise (or) swell

A swell is a brief increase in the RMS line voltage coupling and the phase. Voltage consists of a positive sequence, negative sequence and zero sequence current V + = Va + aVb + a2 Vc =3 V = Va + a2 Vb + aVc =3 1 2

where a=ej2p/3=1:120 complex operator. Total induction generator outputs active and reactive powers are dependent upon positive sequence and negative sequence of voltage and current Pout = 3Re( V + I + + V I )
1 1

3 4 5

Analysis of power quality issues in a wind power generator

In transient conditions, several types of disturbances arise from the grid. Several investigations have been performed over the years analysing power quality issues like voltage variations, frequency variations, switching transients, harmonics and flicker emissions (Muljadi et al., 2006). A perfect power supply would be one that is always available within voltage and frequency tolerances, and has a pure noise-free sinusoidal

Qout = 3Imag( V + I + + V I )
1 1

ab

V = V + + V

Here V(a,b,c) are the three voltage phases at specified frequency. V + ,V2 are the positive sequence and negative sequence voltages. If the positive sequence voltage increases, the power also increases, as shown in Equation (3). A 610% voltage variation around the rated value is in general accepted in many standards for windmills.

Figure 1 Basic configuration of the universal power line manager (UPLM) for a fixed-speed windmill.

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coefficient, V is the wind speed, T is the mechanical torque, P is the output power of the turbine and vs is the rotor speed of the turbine. At a constant wind speed, coefficient Cp depends on the rotor speed vs and the pitch angle. The above Equation (8) shows that the wind velocity is directly proportional to the total power. In a fixed-speed wind turbine without pitch control the power affects the wind velocity. If the wind speed increases, the power production of wind turbine also increases. In this type of wind turbine, power production will not be controlled by the operator. If the power production exceeds the rating of the wind turbine generator, it is automatically disconnected from the grid. So the power production will stop.

Voltage sag
Voltage sag is an event where the line RMS voltage decreases from the nominal line voltage for a short period. This type of variation can occur if a large load on the line experiences a lineto-ground fault, such as a short circuit in a three-phase motor or a fault in a utility. The acceptable voltage dip limit is \ 3% for windmills. If the voltage decreases below the rated value, the rated torque is obtained at higher slip and consequently higher stator and rotor currents occur. The winding losses increase while the core losses decrease because the voltage (and magnetizing flux linkage) decreases. The voltage sag in a wind farm generator reduces the magnetic field significantly and the electromagnetic torque which produces the acceleration of the turbines. If the voltage sag increases, the reactive power drawn by the generators also increases as shown in the Equation (4).

Grid frequency variation

In the wind farm with a larger installed capacity, the great change in output power has an effect on the system frequency. It can be very serious if the wind farm is suddenly cut out and the system frequency instantaneously falls. In India, the supply frequency increases during the night and falls during the day, and has a distinct drop during peak load hours. Sudden changes in frequency can lead to unacceptable generated power variations (Divya, 2011). To absorb or compensate the active and reactive power produced by the induction generator, we need to consider the relationship between output power and frequency. The grid frequency should be within a range of 47.551.5 Hz. The wind farm should be able to withstand changes in frequency up to 60.5 Hz, but in India the grids maintain the frequency 34% of the time annually as mentioned in the previous section. The most common application of induction machines as generators is in large-scale wind turbines. In terms of power flow, if s \ 0 then this indicates that the mechanical power is negative. Then the input power will also be negative, i.e. power will flow out from the terminals to the electrical system. Because the synchronous speed is Ns = 120f p 6

Universal power line manager system configuration

Figure 2 shows the proposed topology of the universal power line conditioner to compensate voltage, frequency, control power flow and minimize harmonics in a windmill connected to a microgrid. This proposed topology is a combination of a matrix converter and an UPQC. The matrix converter acts as a frequency regulator and power flow controller. It can be seen that the matrix converter is connected to the stator terminals and the terminals of the power grid, as shown in Figure 3. A compact configuration, high efficiency, no DC-link, bidirectional power flow, high and four quadrant operation, adjustable input/output power factor, sinusoidal input current and output voltage, no low order harmonic, flexible controllable output frequency, real and reactive control are the advantages of the matrix converter. However, the matrix converter topology also has some disadvantages. The voltage transfer ratio is 1:0.877. It produces input current harmonics and output voltage harmonics. This proposed configuration eliminates the above problems also. Nine bidirectional switches were implemented using insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), which were required for the matrix converter. A steady state fundamental frequency model of the UPLM for the windmill is shown in Figure 3. Am and am are the converter amplitude and angle modulation indices. Vim and ai are the amplitude and angle of the converter input phase-a voltage. Phasors of the input output voltages and currents are related by
Vao = Am \am Vai Iao = Am \am Ia 0

if the frequency is changed, the synchronous speed will also change. Ns is closely related to the slip. S= Ns N Ns 7

9 10

If the slip is \ 0, then only the induction machine acts as a generator. So the grid frequency is the most important power quality issue in FSIWTGs.

Wind velocity
P = 1 rACp V 3 2 8

Wind power is converted into real electrical power and delivered to the grid in Equation (8), where r is the density of air, A is the swept area of the blade, Cp is the performance

The generator side voltage is represented as VL, IL is the generator current, VPCC is the intermediate bus voltage and Vinj is the voltage injected by the series active filter of the UPQC. The voltage is injected in phase with the positive sequence of the generator side voltage. Vi and Vo are the matrix converters input and output voltages. The generator side voltage is in phase with the PCC (point of common coupling) voltage. IS is the grid current, which is in anti-phase with the generator side voltage. IC is the current injected from the shunt active filter of the UPQC. Under normal operating conditions, the shunt active filter acts as a reactive power source

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Figure 2 Detailed diagram of the universal power line manager (UPLM) for the windmill.

ampere (VA) rating of the UPLM is a combination of the VA rating of the individual compensators (shunt, series and matrix converter). The rating of the shunt converter is determined by the maximum current IC handled by the shunt active filter. The rating of the series converter is determined by the grid current IS (that flows through it) and the injected voltage Vinj. The rating of the matrix converter depends on the generators power.

Control system of the UPLM Frequency regulating control block

Figure 3 Steady-state fundamental frequency model of the universal power line manager for the windmill.

and the current IC is injected by the shunt active filter. During the frequency fluctuation, the matrix converter regulates the supply frequency to the generator. During a high wind velocity condition, the matrix converter controls the power flow in the wind generator to the grid. The volt

The control systems of the matrix converter-based frequencyregulated power supply for a utility is shown in Figure 4. There are nine bi-directional semiconductor switches in the matrix converter. Each output phase can be connected to each input phase with the switching signal. In order to produce trigger signals according to the space vector pulse width modulation (PWM) technique at the matrix converter output, voltage and current space vectors are used. For each switching combination, the value of current and voltages are

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Figure 4 Control system of the power flow and frequency regulator.

different. The input, output voltages and currents of the converter in space vectors can be written as follows:
! Vi

Power flow control

The power flow control in a microgrid connected windmill is shown in Figure 4. The entire control system is designed by the Park and Clark transformations. The matrix converters threephase current and voltage are converted from V(abc) to V(a,b) by transformation (known as the Clarke transformation), which is shown in the equation. It can be written as follows: ! r" 2 1 Va = Vb 3 0 1 p2
3 2

= 2 Vab + aVbc + a2 Vca = VO ejai 3

11 12 13 14

! 2 Vo = VAB + aVBC + a2 VCA = VO ejao 3 ! ii ! io

= 2 ia + aib + a2 ic = Ii ejbi 3

= 2 iA + aiB + a2 iC = Io ejb0 3

#2 3 Va 1 p 2 4 5 V b 23 Vc

15

In the above equations, ai is the phase angle of the space vector of phase to phase input voltages, ao is the phase angle of the space vector of phase to phase output voltages, bi is the phase angle of the space vector of input phase currents and bo is the phase angle of the space vector of output phase currents. 2p 2p a = ej 3 , a2 = ej 3 are the state space vectors. The principle of this control method is similar to the flux-oriented vector control technique of the AC motor drives, while the speed control loop is omitted and the co-ordinate transformation angle u is calculated, with respect to the output frequency f and the sampling time t. The supply frequency fs is compared with the reference frequency fs*. The frequency error signal Dfs is added to the supply frequency to obtain the required frequency. In this research, a closed-loop control system is used to obtain the accuracy. The compensated signal is fed to the PLL (phaselocked loop), which depends upon the input frequency and the PLL produces the co-ordinate transformation angle u (sin u, cos u) and the reference frequency fref. When fref is added to fs, the required supply frequency fref* is obtained.

Then it is converted to synchronous reference frames a,b to dq (Park transforms) ! ! ! id cos u sin u ia = iq sin u cos u ib 16

Similarly, the voltage is also converted to a dq reference frame. The dq voltage, dq current, real power and reactive power are calculated by using this relation and can be written as P = Vd 3Id + Vq 3Iq Q = Vq 3Id Vd 3Iq 17 18

The real and reactive powers are compared with the reference value of the error signal and fed to the reference current calculation block. The reference signal is derived from this equation. The reference signal is further modified using a PI controller and the equivalent voltage dq frame. Then an inverse transform is taken as shown in the equation

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Figure 5 Voltage and harmonics mitigation (active filter) control system of the universal power line manager (UPLM).

! Va cos u = Vb sin u

sin u cos u

Vd Vq

! 19

The corresponding reference voltage Va is fed to the space vector PWM for switching purposes of the matrix converter. i a = P:Vd Vq :Q i b = P:Vq + Vd :Q 20

The voltage in d axes (VSd) given in (22) consists of average and oscillating components of source voltages ( vsd and ~ vsd ). The average voltage  vsd is calculated by using a second-order low pass filter (LPF). vsd =  vsd + ~ vsd 22

Voltage sag and swell control

The function of the series active power filter (APF) is to compensate the voltage disturbance in the source side, which is related to a fault in the distribution line at the PCC. The series APF control algorithm calculates the reference value to be injected by the series APF transformers, comparing the positive sequence component with the load sideline voltages. The proposed series APF reference voltage signal generation system is shown in Figure 5. In Equation (21), supply voltages V(Sabc) are transformed to dq0 co-ordinates 2 3 Vs0 4 Vsd 5 = Vsq 2 1 1 2 2 24 sin (vt) sin (vt 2 p 3) 3 cos (vt) cos (vt 2 p 3) Vsa 54 Vsb sin (vt + 2 p ) 3 cos (vt + 2 p Vsc 3)
1 2

The load side reference voltages v Labc are calculated as given in Equation (23). The switching signals are assessed by comparing the reference voltages (v Labc ) and the load voltages (VLabc) through the sinusoidal PWM controller.
2 3 VLa 5 4 VLb = VLc 2 sin (vt) cos (vt) 24 sin (vt 2 p cos (vt + 2 p 3) 3) 3 sin (vt + 2 p ) cos (vt + 2 p 3 3) 32 3 1  vsd 1 54 0 5 23 1 0

These three-phase load reference voltages are compared with load line voltages and the errors are then processed by a sinusoidal PWM controller to generate the required switching signals for the series APF IGBT switches.

32

3 5

Current harmonics control

The shunt APF described in this part is used to compensate the current harmonics and reactive power generated by the

21

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Figure 6 Power production against voltage sag and swell conditions.

non-linear load. The shunt APF reference current signal generation block diagram is shown in Figure 5. The instantaneous reactive power (pq) theory is used to control shunt APF in real time. In this theory the instantaneous three-phase currents and voltages are transformed to (ab0) co-ordinates as shown in Equation (24). 2 3 r2 1p 1p 1p 32 3 i0 isa 2 2 2 1= 1= 7 4 ia 5 = 26 4 isb 5 4 1 5 2 2 p p 3 ib isc 3 3 0 2 2

hysteresis band PWM controller to generate the required switching signals for the shunt APF switches.

Simulation result
To validate the effectiveness of the proposed system-based windmill, different cases have been examined for this study. In the proposed topology, simulations are carried out using Matlab/Simulink for voltage sag, current harmonics, power flow regulation and frequency regulation investigations. The results of each test are described below. All the simulations are simulated with the discrete sampling time of T=t/ts (seconds). Here ts=33104 and t is one cycle period of the waveform.

24

The source side instantaneous real and imaginary power components are calculated by using source currents and phaseneutral voltages as given in (25). The instantaneous real and imaginary powers include both oscillating and average components as shown in (26). Average components of p and q consist of positive sequence components ( p and  q) of source currents. The oscillating components (~ p and ~ q) of p and q include harmonics and negative sequence components of source currents. In order to reduce the neutral current, p0 is calculated by using average and oscillating components of imaginary power and the oscillating component of the real power as given in Equation (26). i sa , isb and is0 are the reference currents of shunt APF in (ab) co-ordinates. These currents are transformed into the three-phase system as shown in (27). ! va p = vb q vb va ! ia ib ! 25

Voltage sag
In Figure 6, the the UPLM compensates the voltage sag and swell effectively, as shown in the simulation results. During the sag and swell condition, wind power production is affected as shown in Figure 6. After implementing the UPLM, the sag and swell is not affected by the wind production, as shown in Figure (7).

Power frequency variation control

Here the supply frequency is 50 Hz at normal conditions. The permissible limit of the supply frequency is 49.550.5 Hz, particularly for a FSIWTG, but in a microgrid it will vary from 47 to 52 Hz, as shown in Figure 8(a). In this case the supply frequencys variation will affect the power production of the windmill. When the supply frequency increases rapidly, the generators power production rapidly decreases from 400 to 10 kW, as shown in Figure 8(b). At the same time, real power decreases and reactive power is drawn by the supply as shown in the Figure 8(c). After the implementaion of the UPLM in the windmill, the terminal frequency is 50 Hz and is maintained as a constant by the UPLM (Figure 9a); when the input frequency varies, the power production by the windmill is constant, as shown in Figure 9(b).

p0 = v 0 v0 p= p+~ p 2  3 3 r 1 p 2 3 1 0 2 i p s0 sa p  7 i 26 1 1 3 4 i 5 4 i sa 5 6 7 =2 sb = 2 2 4 5 p 3   i i sb 1 p 1= 3 sc 2 2 2 2 26

27

The reference currents are calculated in order to compensate the neutral, harmonic and reactive currents in the load. These reference source current signals are then compared with threephase source currents, and the errors are processed by a

Power flow control

As discussed in the above sections, the FSIWTGs power is not controlled, but the proposed UPLM controls the power

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Figure 7 Universal power line manager (UPLM)-based compensated power production voltage sag and swell conditions.

Figure 8 (a) Supply frequency; (b) power production of windmill; (c) real and reactive power supplied to the grid.

Figure 9 (a) Universal power line manager (UPLM) output frequency; (b) power production by the wind generator.

Figure 10 Controlled real power flow using the universal power line manager (UPLM).

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flow from the generator to the microgrid. The reference power is fixed at 250 kW in 0.36 s. The power flow is effectively controlled after 0.36 s. The UPLM controls the power flow at 250 kW as shown in Figure 10.

Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control 35(2) References

Divya KC (2011) Wind generator annual energy output estimation considering grid voltage and frequency variations. European Transactions on Electrical Power 21: 263272. Divya KC and Nagendra Rao PS (2008) Effect of grid voltage and frequency variations on the output of wind generators. Electric Power Components and Systems 36(6): 602614. Farias MF, Cendoya MG and Battaiotto PE (2008) Wind farms in weak grids enhancement of ride-through capability using custom power systems. IEEEE Conference Proceedings Transmission and Distribution, 15. Gerdes G and Santjer F (1994) Power quality of wind turbines and their interaction with the grid. Proceedings of the 1994 European Wind Energy Conference (EWEC94), October. Haesen E, Minne F, Driesen J and Bollen M (2006) Hosting capacity for motor starting in weak grids. IEEE International Conference on Future Power Systems, 615. Muljadi E, Butterfield CP, Chacon J and Romanowitz H (2006) Power quality aspects in a wind power plant. IEEE Power Engineering Society General Meeting, Montreal, vol. 3, 815. Raghuram PR (2005) Wind integration issues from grid point of view. Workshop on Integration Issues of Wind Farm and Grid, Central Power Research Institute, Bangalore, 115. Singh B and Kasal G (2008) Solid state voltage and frequency controller for a standalone wind power generating system. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics 23(3): 11701177.

Conclusion
This paper investigated the effects of a FSIWTG on voltage sag, voltage swell and supply frequency variation conditions. A new UPLM system has been proposed to evaluate the performance of the windmill connected with a microgrid system. Simulation studies have been carried out in Matlab/Simulink software to examine the impacts of the FSIWTG in steadystate and unbalanced supply frequency fluctuating conditions. This new power quality conditioner compensates the voltage sag, swell and supply frequency, and controls the power flow to the FSIWTG. The simulation results show that the UPLM behaves satisfactorily during steady-state and transient periods. The proposed system effectively mitigates almost all power quality issues present in the windmill.

Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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