2011 IEEE International Electric Machines & Drives Conference (IEMDC)

Synchronous Generator Based Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) Using

Multi-modular Converters with Autonomous Controllers

Maira Zulqarnain David Xu Bo Yuwen

Electrical and Computer Engineering Electrical and Computer Engineering Goldwind Inc.
Ryerson University Ryerson University Beijing, China
Toronto, Canada Toronto, Canada

Abstract Among various options available for wind energy maintenance purpose, the full size converter goes out of service.
conversion systems, this paper focuses on direct driven Another reason that makes the choice of single full-size
Synchronous Generator (SG) based variable speed wind turbine converter less favorable is its reduced efficiency at lower power
(VSWT). Generally SG is connected to the power grid via full-size levels and harmonics injected by it to the grid. Hence to improve
power converters. But with the growing trend of multi mega watt
turbine installation, the idea of modular- converter units is gaining
system reliability, efficiency, and harmonic reduction, multi-
popularity. Multi-module topology has proven its supremacy in modular converter design offers a promising solution [2].
terms of reliability, efficiency and harmonic reduction over its
medium voltage full rating converter counterpart. Research In modular converter system, a single full size converter is
conducted earlier on modular converter system either had a replaced by a number of parallel connected power converters of
centralized control structure or was in master/slave configuration. smaller ratings. The use of a PMSG that has multiple three phase
This paper explores the option of autonomous controller for winding sets, that are both electrically and magnetically
modular converter system. One of the main challenges faced in independent, helps in resolving issue of circulating currents
design of autonomous controller is to ensure equal power sharing which would exists if multi-modular converter structure was
among the operating units without employing any communication
between them. Also in order to enhance system harmonic
connected to a PMSG with single set of three phase winding.
performance, control structure should enable interleaving of
operational units under all conditions. Such an autonomous Shown in Fig.1 is a multi-modular converter system which is
controller will greatly improve system reliability/redundancy. To connected to a SG with multiple three phase winding sets. Each
test the developed autonomous controller, simulation is carried out converter unit has a controller operating independently of the
using MATLAB. others. Effectiveness of proposed control scheme is verified
through simulation using MATLAB.
Index Terms Multi-modular converters, Autonomous
controller, Synchronous generator based WECS, Direct driven SG II. DEVELOPMENT OF SYSTEM MODEL
based VSWT, Multi-phase synchronous generator. Autonomous operation dictates that each of the parallel
connected converter modules will have an independent
I. INTRODUCTION controller. Each converter has controller constituting of a
Depletion of fossil fuel and adverse effects of their usage on machine-side and line-side control unit. In this section, model
environment is what mainly triggered the interest in renewable for a multi-phase (six phase) SG is developed.
energy resources. Being a clean and vastly available energy
source, wind stands as the most promising alternative to
conventional schemes for electricity generation. Various options
are available for wind energy conversion however this work
focuses mainly on the direct driven permanent magnet
synchronous machines (PMSG) based variable speed wind
energy conversion system (WECS). Power electronic interface
in WECS effectively decouples the grid frequency from the
stator frequency, reduces mechanical stress and hence optimizes
systems performance [2]. Low speed operation of PMSG results
in multi-pole generator design. The low rotational speed of a
multi-pole PMSG also successfully eliminates the requirement
of a gear box.
Fig.1.MultiphasePMSGmachineconnectedtothegridusingmultimodular
converters.
In general PMSG based WECS are connected to the power
grid via full-size power converter. One of converter topologies
used in PMSG based VSWT comprises of generator side PWM
rectifier, DC-link, and grid side PWM inverter. Reliability of the
system is jeopardized when due to equipment fault or for

978-1-4577-0061-3/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE 819

Fig. 2. Dynamic Model of PMSG in rotor reference frame (i) d- axis mode (ii)
q-axis model.

A. Model of multi-phase PMSG:

Model of PMSG available in MATLAB is for a three phase

machine whereas our system configuration requires model of a
multi-phase PMSG. It is possible to simplify dynamic model for
a PMSG if it is implemented using rotor reference frame [3].
Dynamic model of three phase PMSG in rotor frame of
reference is shown in Fig.2 (i) and Fig. 2(ii). Like the case of
three phase PMSG, the dynamic model of a multi-phase machine
is developed making use of three sets of equations namely
voltage equations, flux linkage equations and motion equations
[3].

vsd1 Rsisd1 wesq1 ssd1 (1)

vsq1 Rsisq1 wesd1 ssq1 (2)

Fig. 3. Model of six -phase PMSG.
vsd 2 Rsisd 2 wesq 2 ssd 2 (3)
v sd1 R s i sd1 we L sq i sq1 Ld si sd1 (10)
vsq 2 Rsisq 2 wesd 2 ssq 2 (4)
vsq1 Rsisq1 we Lsd isd1 werf Lsq sisq1 (11)
sd1 L d i sd1 rf (5)
v sd 2 R s i sd 2 we L sq i sq 2 Ld si sd 2 (12)
sq1 L q i sq1 (6)
vsq 2 Rsisq 2 we Lsd isd 2 werf Lsq sisq 2 (13)
sd 2 Ld isd 2 rf (7)
Rotor mechanical speed (wm) and electromagnetic torque
(Te) of multiphase PMSG are given by (14) and (15) where
sq 2 Lq i sq 2 (8) parameters Tm, J, F and Np stand for mechanical input torque,
moment of inertia, friction factor and number of pole pairs
Equations (1), (2), (5) and (6) are voltage and flux linkage respectively.
equations corresponding to 1st set of three phase windings and
(3), (4), (7) and (8) correspond to the 2nd set of three phase 1 1
wm Te Tm wm F (14)
winding. For a PMSG the field winding is replaced by J s
permanent magnets which can be visualized as a fixed
magnitude field current source (If).
Te
3
2

N p L sq L sd i sq i sd rf i sq (15)
rf Lm I f (9)

Substitution of equation for rotor flux and d and q axis flux Based on these equations, model of six phase PMSG is
linkages into voltage equations results in the following four developed in MATLAB and is shown in Fig.3.
equations.

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Fig. 4. Reference frame of permanent magnet synchronous generator
III. SUB-CONTROLLER DESIGN
A. Machine side Controller:
Beside wind regime, the amount of energy extracted from a
wind turbine, also depends on the control strategy used. The
synchronous machine is controlled by the generator side
converter and its controller has a nested-loop structure. The
outer slower loop is responsible for torque control of the PMSG
and the fast inner loop controls stator d- or q-axis currents.
Control strategies conventionally used for PMSG include, 1)
constant stator voltage control, 2) unity power factor control and
3) maximum torque control [6],[7]. By controlling the stator
voltage in the constant stator voltage control scheme, the risk of
over voltage and converter saturation at high speeds is
eliminated. The main drawback of using constant stator voltage
control is that it requires a higher power rating converter, which
is due to the reactive power demand of generator [6].
Contrary to the stator voltage control, in unity power factor
control, the direct and quadrature components of the stator
current are controlled so as to compensate stators reactive
power. Main benefit of this scheme is unity power factor
operation of generator however the lack of direct control over
stator voltage may cause stator voltage to surpass its rated value
in case of an over speed [6].
In Fig. 4 stator current and magnet flux space vector of
permanent magnet generator in d-q reference frame are shown
[4]. The stator current space vector is denoted by (is) and the
permanent magnet flux (rf) is aligned with the d-axis. In (16)
the stator current vector is expressed in terms of d and q-axis
components.
i s iq id (16)
In the maximum torque control, the stator current is
controlled such that the direct axis current component is set to
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Fig. 5. Block diagram of sub-controller for machine-side converter.
zero [6]. Without direct axis current component, the
electromagnetic torque (Te) is given by (17) and it is the
maximum possible torque provided by generator.
Te
3
2
N p rf isq (17)
Structure of a conventional maximum torque control strategy
implemented in rotor reference frame is presented in Fig. 5.
Measured quantities include rotor position (determined by using
an encoder mounted on the rotor) and stator currents. The
optimal power reference is determined through the MPPT
controller, which sets the q-component reference of the stator
current. The d-component reference of the stator current is set to
zero.
In order to maintain a constant switching frequency within
the converter, both direct and quadrature axis currents are
controlled indirectly through a current regulated voltage-source
PWM rectifier [6]. By comparing the d and q-axis current
reference signals with the measured generator stator d- and q-
axis currents, the voltage reference signals for the converter are
obtained. Carrier phase shifted (CPS) PWM scheme is used for
creating gating signals for the power converter.
B. Grid side controller:
Various control strategies have been developed for control of
the grid side converter. These strategies can be can be classified
on the basis of the reference frame used for their implementation
[5]. This paper designed grid side controller using synchronous
reference frame. The three-phase electrical quantities are
transformed into d-q quantities using reference
 P 1.5v gd i gd (22)

Q 1.5v gd i gq (23)

The control structure for the grid side converter controller is

shown in Fig. 6. As seen the controller contains cascaded loops
using PI regulators. Resultant of the current controllers output,
voltage feed-forward and cross coupling terms generates voltage
reference signal for the PWM generator. Similar to rectifier
controller, Carrier based PWM scheme is used for generation of
gating signals for inverter unit.

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS

In order to test the control strategy, a WECS connected to stiff
grid through a six phase PMSG and two converter modules
operating in parallel is implemented in MATLAB. Parameters of
the test system are listed in Table.1 in appendix section. The
simulation results obtained are given in Fig. 7 up to Fig. 14.

Fig. 6. Block diagram of sub-controller for Grid side converter.

frame transformation. The frame rotates synchronously with grid

voltage vector and the transformation angle (g) is detected by
using Phase Locked Loop (PLL) [2].

Grid-side converter regulates the flow of active and reactive

power to the grid. The control strategy has nested loop structure
with inner loop controlling current flowing towards the grid and
the outer loop is responsible for regulating DC-link voltage and
reactive power flow [5],[11]. To enable successful power
transfer from turbine to grid it is important to have a very stable
DC link voltage. Closed loop control of the DC bus generates
reference for active power whereas grid management service
decides the reference for the reactive power. When no reactive Fig. 7: Total active power reference
power compensation is required then grid operator sets Qref as
zero, enabling maximum active power transfer to the grid.

If grid side resistance and inductance is represented as Rg

and Lg respectively and inverter d and q axis voltages are vid and
viq then grid d and q axis voltage components vgd and vgq are
represented by (18) and (19) as under [1]:-
v gq viq w g L g i gd R g i gq L g si gq (18)

v gd v id w g L g i gq R g i gd L g si gd (19)

With control implemented in a reference frame that is

rotating synchronously with grid voltage, the dq- components of
vg are given by (20) and (21).

v gq 0 (20) Fig. 8: Active power delivered through each channel towards the grid

v gd vg (21)
It is possible to express active and reactive power in terms of
grid voltage and currents. From (22) and (23) it is evident that
active and reactive power can be controlled by controlling direct
and quadrature components of grid current [1].

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Fig. 9: Reactive power delivered through each Channel to the grid under
unity power factor (UPF) operation Fig. 13: Total electromagnetic torque (Te) reference.

Fig. 10: Current flowing towards each converter module from PMSG

Fig. 14: Total electromagnetic torque (Te)

The simulation results are for unity power factor

operation where Qref is set as zero VAR by grid management
services. As verified in Fig. 9 the reactive power delivered to
gird is as per its reference value. DC-link voltage is
maintained through grid side controller and its reference was
set to 975 V for both converter units as shown in Fig.11. The
measured DC link voltage stayed close to the reference value
as seen in Fig.12.

Fig. 11: DC link voltage reference for each channel Both converter units have carrier phases shifted by
180. The active power reference signal for each converter
module is determined through MPPT and is shown in Fig .7.
Both converter modules followed the active power reference
signal closely, as seen in Fig. 8. Current flowing in each of
the parallel module from PMSG is plotted in Fig. 10.
Electromagnetic torque of the PMSG is controlled through q-
axis component of stator current. Total electromagnetic
torque reference is shown in Fig.13. The electromagnetic
torque developed by PMSG is plotted under Fig. 14, value of
it is found to be 1.69 M N.m which corresponds accurately to
the total reference power of 4MW when wm is 2.365 rad/sec.
Fig. 12: Measured DC link voltage for each channel

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 V. CONCLUSIONS
Power electronic interface in WECS offers clear advantage
over fixed Speed Wind Turbines (FSWT) as possibility of
variable speed operation is accompanied by improved power
production and reduction in mechanical / structural load.
Although the concept of using single full size power converter in
drive systems is common practice; but with the growing trend of
Multi-MW-turbine installation, the idea of modular- converter
units is gaining popularity.
This paper explores control strategy for autonomous
operation of controllers working in conjunction with modular
converter system. Main challenges faced in designing such
independent controllers is to ensure that without any means of
communication, the parallel connected modules continue to
share power equally even in case of a channel failure or system
unbalance.
The control structure enables interleaving of operational
units under all conditions so as to enhance system harmonic
performance. Such an autonomous controller will improve
system redundancy and will help in acquiring benefit of
reliability from modular converter system. Control strategy
devised was simulated for the base case using MATLAB and
revealed proper functioning of the parallel converter modules.
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APPENDIX
TABLE I. Parameters of multi-phase, salient pole PMSG based WECS
Rated Shaft power 4 MW

Rated phase voltage 398 V (rms)

Rated Stator current 3346.9 A

Rated Torque (Te) 1.69 M N.m

Rated stator frequency 11.29 Hz

Rated rotor flux linkage (rf) 6.76 Wb (peak)

Stator Resistance (Rs) 7.3m

d-axis Syn. Inductance (Ld) 0.3 mH

q-axis Syn. Inductance (Lq) 0.5 mH

DC link voltage 975 V

Number of pole pairs (Np) 30

Line side Filter inductance 0.126 mH

REFERENCES
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generators applied to variable-speed wind-energy systems connected to the
grid," Energy Conversion, IEEE Transactions on , vol.21, no.1, pp. 130-
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Grid-connected Wind Farm, Springer-Verlag,London,Oct 2008.
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