IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 19, NO.
3, SEPTEMBER 2004
Development of a Novel Wind Turbine Simulator
for Wind Energy Conversion Systems Using an
Inverter-Controlled Induction Motor
Hossein Madadi Kojabadi, Liuchen Chang, Senior Member, IEEE, and Tobie Boutot
Abstract—A wind turbine simulator for wind energy conversion
systems has been developed with a view to design, evaluate, and test
of actual wind turbine drive trains including generators, transmis-
sions, power-electronic converters and controllers. The simulator
consists of a 10-hp induction motor (IM) which drives a gener-
ator and is driven by a 10-kW variable speed drive inverter and
real-time control software. In this simulator, a microcontroller, a
PC interfaced to LAB Windows I/O board, and an IGBT inverter-
controlled induction motor are used instead of a real wind turbine
to supply shaft torque. A control program based on C language is
developed that obtains wind profiles and, by using turbine charac-
teristics and rotation speed of IM, calculates the theoretical shaft
torque of a real wind turbine. Comparing with this torque value,
the shaft torque of the IM is regulated accordingly by controlling
stator current demand and frequency demand of the inverter. In
this way, the inverter driven induction motor acts like a real wind
turbine to the energy conversion system. The drive is controlled
using the measured shaft torque directly, instead of estimating it
as conventional drives do. The experimental results of the proposed
simulator show that this scheme is viable and accurate. This paper
reports the operating principles, theoretical analyses, and test re-
sults of this wind turbine simulator.
Index Terms—Induction motor, performance coefficient, tip
speed ratio, wind turbine simulator.
I. INTRODUCTION
E LECTRICITY generation using wind energy has been
well recognized as environmentally friendly, socially ben-
eficial, and economically competitive for many applications.
For research into wind energy conversion systems, especially
innovative wind turbine generators, power-electronic con-
verters, maximum power extraction algorithms, and advanced
controls, the provision of a controlled test environment with
steady-state characteristics of wind turbines is significant. In
order to enhance the research and design (R&D) quality and
productivity, the authors have developed a novel wind turbine
simulator (WTS). This WTS simulates steady-state wind
turbine behaviors in a controlled environment without reliance
on natural wind resources and actual wind turbines, for the
purpose of R&D into wind turbine drive trains, especially en-
Manuscript received September 21, 2001; revised March 9, 2003. Paper no.
TEC-00135-2002. This work was supported by the Natural Science and Engi-
neering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.
H. M. Kojabadi is with the Electrical Engineering Department, Sahand Uni-
versity of Technology, Tabriz 51335/1996, Iran (e-mail: hmadadi64@yahoo.ca).
L. Chang and T. Boutot are with the Electrical Engineering Department,
University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3, Canada (e-mail:
lchang@unb.ca).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TEC.2004.832070
0885-8969/04$20.00 © 2004 IEEE
547
ergy conversion systems. The WTS has allowed us to develop,
test, and evaluate wind turbine drive train components and
systems, and has significantly improved R&D effectiveness
and efficiency.
In the past few years, there have been a few studies on wind
turbine simulators. Authors of [6]–[8] utilized separately ex-
cited dc motors with controlled armature current. Reference [6]
presented a wind turbine simulator using the electromagnetic
(EM) torque equation of a dc machine. The armature and the
field circuits were controlled so that the dc machine generated
the static characteristics of a constant pitch wind turbine. In
[9], a more general approach of WTS was presented by the
application of a dc motor. In [10], a microcomputer-controlled
SCR-DC motor was used to supply the shaft torque. A dc ma-
chine, although is ideal from the standpoint of control, is, in gen-
eral, bulky and expensive compare with an AC machine and it
needs frequent maintenance due to its commutators and brushes.
In our research project, an IGBT inverter-controlled squirrel
cage induction motor (IM) was used instead of a dc motor as
a WTS. This drive is controlled using the measured shaft torque
directly, instead of estimating it as conventional drives do. The
proposed novel structure for WTS is achieved in two closed
loops of control: speed control and torque control. This paper
will present the working principles, structures, and test results
of this wind turbine simulator.
The structure of the wind turbine simulator is depicted in
Fig. 1. In this figure, wind simulator, three-phase IGBT inverter,
and IM behave like a real wind turbine in steady states. The wind
simulator was programmed in C language by applications of a
wind turbine model, torque PI controller, and IM model. Each
of these WTS parts will be discussed in detail in Sections II–VI.
II. WIND TURBINE MODEL AND SIMULATOR
The steady-state wind turbine model is given by the power-
speed characteristics shown in Fig. 2. The curves in Fig. 2 rep-
resent the characteristics of a 3-kW, three-blade horizontal axis
wind turbine with a rotor diameter of 4.5 m. These curves can be
obtained by wind turbine tests or calculated during the design
by manufacturers. At a given wind speed, the operating point
of the wind turbine is determined by the intersection between
the turbine characteristic and the load characteristic. Usually,
the turbine load is an electrical generator, such as an induction
generator, synchronous generator, or permanent-magnet (PM)
synchronous generator. From Fig. 2, it is noted that the shaft
power of the wind turbine is related to its shaft speed
548 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 19, NO. 3, SEPTEMBER 2004

Fig. 1. System structure of the wind turbine simulator.

and wind speed . In practice, the characteristics of a wind

turbine can also be represented in a simplified form of power
performance coefficient and tip speed ratio as shown
in Fig. 3 for the same wind turbine in Fig. 2. The curve is
usually used in industry to describe the characteristics of a wind
turbine. The tip speed ratio of a turbine is given by
Fig. 2. Power–speed characteristics of a wind turbine.
(1)

where is the turbine rotor radius in meters, turbine rotor

speed in revolutions per minute (r/min), and wind speed in
. The turbine output power is given by

(2)

In a wind turbine simulator, the power-speed characteristics

of a wind turbine are physically implemented by an induction
motor drive. The shaft power and speed of the induction
motor represent the power and speed of the wind turbine rotor.
An inverter fed IM is used to drive a load (i.e., a generator as if
it were driven by a real wind turbine). In order to reproduce the
turbine characteristics of Figs. 2 and 3 in a laboratory, a micro-
controller- and PC-based control system is developed. The wind
speed signal needed for the simulator is supplied from wind pro- Fig. 3. C 0  characteristic of a real wind turbine.
files which can be obtained from measured wind data of a site
or can be set in any artificial form by users. Thus, researchers where , , , , , and are the magnetizing
can conduct their studies on wind turbine drive trains in a con- inductance, stator resistance, electrical angular speed, stator
trollable test environment in replacement of an uncontrollable inductance, magnetizing voltage, and stator supply voltage,
field one. respectively. The rotor leakage reactance is much smaller than
the equivalent rotor load resistance
III. INDUCTION MOTOR MODEL
The model of an induction machine is highly nonlinear and
mutually coupled. The complexity of the model is dictated by where is the slip, and and are the rotor resistance and
the purpose for which the model is employed. A simplified inductance, respectively.
equivalent circuit model of an induction machine is shown The stator impedance is much smaller than the reflected rotor
in Fig. 4. It is used to develop an appropriate controller with impedance at normal operations
an approximate input-output model which relates the stator
voltage input , and the outputs, namely the angular speed
and the developed torque . The model is established based
on the following assumptions.
The IM model consists of
• The dynamics of the electrical subsystem are neglected as
• an algebraic equation which governs the flux linkage
its time constant is substantially smaller than that of the
, the supply frequency , the output current , and
mechanical subsystem.
the slip frequency , as given by . The
• The core loss resistance is ignored.
equation takes the form of [1], [2], and [5]
• The impedance of the magnetizing circuit is much larger
than the impedance of the stator, that is
(3)

where
KOJABADI et al.: DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL WIND TURBINE SIMULATOR FOR WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEMS 549

Fig. 4. Induction motor model.

• a dynamic equation derived from Newton’s law of motion

that relates the rotor angular speed , motor electro-
mechanical torque , and load torque , is given by Fig. 5. Controller for the induction motor.

(4)

where and are the motor friction coefficient and inertia,

respectively. The motor torque is related to the slip frequency
and stator current by an algebraic equation .
The function takes the form of [1], [2], and [5]

(5) Fig. 6. Closed-loop control.

Equation (3) reveals the relationship between the stator current

is the model of the induction motor whose input is the control
and the slip frequency at a given flux which is a constant
input , and outputs are the rotor angular speed and torque
in the constant torque operating regime and is a variable in the
. The digital controller synthesizes the control input from
constant power operating regime. This relationship can
the feedback signals of and , and the setpoint . The
be obtained from (3) by offline point-by-point calculations, and
closed-loop system has two loops (i.e., an inner torque loop and
then stored in a table for access by a digital control system as
an outer power loop as shown in Fig. 6). To design a controller,
described in Section IV.
the plant model is linearized about the operating point. Consid-
ering the nonlinear equations and , we get
IV. DIGITAL CONTROLLER
For a specified power and speed , the stator current and (6)
frequency demands (i.e., and ) of the induction motor can
be calculated by a control program based on the model of the in- where
duction motor. These demands are then sent to an IGBT inverter
as the control variables. A torque/speed sensor mounted on the (7)
shaft of the induction motor detects the actual torque, speed, and
power in order to form a closed-loop control system. In such a where . Hence, the linearized plant model
way, the operating characteristic (i.e., the power-speed curve of becomes
the wind turbine is established for a particular wind speed). As
far as the electrical generator is concerned, the steady-state shaft (8)
power and speed are the same as if it were driven by a real tur-
where
bine. The user can define a wind speed profile as the input to
the wind simulator model, thus achieving the simulated wind
turbine under time-varying wind speeds as obtained by the ac- (9)
tual anemometer readings. The structure of the controller for the
induction motor is shown in Fig. 5. The rotor speed and where is a state variable of the controlled plant.
the shaft torque are the feedback signals from the torque/speed The digital controller is thus given by
transducer. The torque error determines the demand stator cur-
rent by a proportional integral (PI) regulator. This demand (10)
stator current, in turn, determines the required slip frequency
based on the function generator in a tabular format as de- where is the sample period, , and is an
fined by (3). integrator part of the PI controller which is regarded as a state
variable of the controller. The stator current is calculated based
A. Closed-Loop Control System on the principles of the controller as shown in Fig. 6
The closed-loop control system is formed of the plant namely
the IM and a digital PI controller as shown in Fig. 6. The plant (11)
550 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 19, NO. 3, SEPTEMBER 2004

B. Design of the Controller TABLE I

INDUCTION MOTOR PARAMETERS
The controller is designed as follows.
• The plant is discretized using a zero-order equivalent.
• The inner torque loop is designed for a given operating
condition by choosing the PI optimal gains and to
meet requirements of response overshoot and speed [3].
• The outer power loop is designed to be slow as compared
to the inner loop [4].
The discretized model of the plant is derived from (9)

(12)

The discretized closed-loop model of the plant and the controller

can be written in a compact form

(13)

where . The gains and are chosen to stabilize

the closed-loop system for a given operating point as determined
by .

V. INVERTER CONTROL
The three-phase IGBT inverter converts the fixed dc link
voltage obtained from a three-phase bridge rectifier into a
three-phase variable frequency variable current source, feeding
to the induction machine as the prime mover of a synchronous
generator, which acts as the load of the wind turbine. The
inverter is controlled by an Intel 80C196KD microcontroller.
The microcontroller accepts current and frequency signals
from the output of the wind simulator as the demand input and
sends out the appropriate triggering pulses to the IGBT driver
circuits, based on the errors between the demand current and
actual current using the current hysteresis control strategy. The
current hysteresis control forces the inverter output currents to
track demand current waveforms within a hysteresis band. The
output currents are detected by current sensors and compared
with the demand current waveforms. When an output current
exceeds the upper band, the IGBT gate control signal will be
switched to an appropriate state to reduce the actual current.
The IGBT gate control state will be properly switched again
when the actual output current drops below the lower band.
Regulating the magnitude of the sinusoidal demand current
waveform will provide an effective control to the inverter output
power. The hysteresis bandwidth can be decided by considering
the switching frequency limitations and the switching losses of
the IGBT modules. Since output currents are always detected
and regulated, the current hysteresis control scheme has a
fast current response and provides an inherent overcurrent
protection. However, the scheme may be more expensive to
implement due to the requirements for current sensors and
fast A/D conversion devices. The microcontroller system for
the IGBT inverter incorporates various hardware and software
protection functions such as overcurrent, overvoltage, and
undervoltage and overtemperature protections.
Fig. 7. Tested power–speed characteristics of a WTS.
VI. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The described wind turbine simulator has been implemented
and tested in our laboratory. The wind turbine model and the
digital PI controller are realized using a PC interfaced to LAB
Windows I/O board. This LAB Windows system is equipped
with eight A/D channels and two D/A channels for control and
acquisition purposes. The controller generates the current and
frequency demands for the IGBT inverter. The inverter control
system is implemented by an Intel 80C196KD microcontroller
and associated hardware-software. In this research, a horizontal
axis wind turbine as described by Figs. 2 and 3 is used. The
parameters of the IM are listed in Table I.
The power–speed characteristics of WTS at different wind
speeds as measured during tests are shown in Fig. 7, and are
compared with those of a wind turbine of Fig. 2. Based on (1)
and (2), the characteristic can be derived from the mea-
sured characteristics of Fig. 7. The measured
characteristic is compared with that of the wind turbine given in
Fig. 3, as presented in Fig. 8. Both Figs. 7 and 8 verify that the
developed wind turbine simulator reproduces the steady-state
characteristics of a given wind turbine at various wind condi-
tions. The power response of a WTS that simulating a 8.5-kW,
three-blade horizontal axis wind turbine with a rotor diameter
of 6.1 m is shown in Fig. 9. When the system was initially set
at 2.6 kW, the output power increased until it reached the ref-
erence power of 2.6 kW. At 4.3 s, the load had a step increase.
After a transient period, the power reached the steady state at
KOJABADI et al.: DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL WIND TURBINE SIMULATOR FOR WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEMS 551

Fig. 8. C 0  characteristics of a WT and WTS.

Fig. 10. WTS speed and tip speed ratio responses at a perturbation; upper
trace—response of IM speed under different loads; middle trace—reference
power of WTS; lower trace—tip speed ratio of WTS.

Fig. 9. An 8.5-kW WTS power response to a step increase; upper

trace—reference power of WTS; middle trace—produced power of IM; lower
trace—error power.

a high power level determined by the wind turbine model. The

lower trace of Fig. 9 shows the steady-state error of output and
reference powers.
The response of the wind turbine speed (i.e., IM rotor speed) Fig. 11. Upper trace—tip speed ratio of WTS under different loads; middle
and tip speed ratio are shown in Fig. 10 under a load perturba- trace—performance coefficient of WTS; lower trace—output power of IM.
tion (i.e., an increase in output power during a period from 2.2 s,
to 3.6 s). During the load increase, both the motor speed and tip the wind turbine characteristic of Fig. 3. Figs. 9–11 con-
speed ratio were decreased, as clearly as indicated by the firm the steady-state performance of the developed wind turbine
characteristic of Fig. 3 and performance (1) and (2). The re- simulator under the designed digital controllers. The reference
sponses of the tip speed ratio and coefficient are shown in Fig. 11 torque can be calculated based on the following equation:
under a load power increase at a constant wind speed. When
the output power was increased, the tip speed ratio was reduced
and the performance coefficient was increased as governed by
552
Fig. 12. An 8.5-kW WTS torque response to a load increase; upper
trace—reference torque of the torque-controller; middle trace—measured
or feedback torque; lower trace—error between the reference and measured
torques.
In the WTS control system, is compared with the actual
torque measured from the IM shaft in order to find the torque
error. A specially designed controller as shown in Fig. 5 forces
the output torque of the WTS tracking the reference torque
. The reference torque, measured torque, and error between
them (i.e., the wind turbine) of 8.5-kW WTS are shown in
Fig. 12. The lower trace of this figure shows that after some
transients, the shaft torque of IM always tracks the reference
torque of controller. Therefore, the error is always zero at steady
states. It can be observed that in all figures the transition time
takes less than 1 s at the startup of WTS before the algorithm
reaches its steady states.
VII. CONCLUSION
In order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of
research into wind energy conversion systems, a novel wind
turbine simulator has been developed to create a controlled test
environment for drive trains of wind turbines. The simulator is
realized using an IGBT inverter controlled induction motor drive.
The wind turbine model and the digital controller are developed
on a C-language platform for easy access, programming, and
modifications. Various wind turbines and wind profiles can be
incorporated in the control software. The inverter controller
itself is developed on an assembly language platform for fast
execution of the control tasks and fault protection functions. The
experimental results show that the steady-state characteristics of
the WTS are similar to those of the given wind turbine. Various
tests conducted on the developed WTS for two wind turbines
and the resultant responses of a variety of WTS parameters
have confirmed the performance of the wind turbine simulator
under the designed digital controllers.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 19, NO. 3, SEPTEMBER 2004
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Hossein Madadi Kojabadi received the B.Sc. and
M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering (Hons.) from
the University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran, in 1989 and
1992, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical
engineering from the University of New Brunswick,
Fredericton, NB, Canada, in 2003.
Currently, he is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the
University of New Brunswick. Since 1993, he has
been a faculty member with Sahand University
of Technology, Tabriz, Iran. His research interests
include variable speed drives, power electronics,
electrical machines, state estimation, energy conversion, control, and
applications.
Liuchen Chang (S’87–M’92–SM’99) received the
B.Sc. degree from Northern Jiaotong University,
Beijing, China, in 1982, the M.Sc. degree from
the China Academy of Railway Sciences, Beijing,
China, in 1984, and the Ph.D. degree from Queen’s
University, Kingston, ON, Canada, in 1991.
Currently, he is a Professor and Chair in Environ-
mental Design Engineering at the University of New
Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada. His research
interests include distributed power generation,
renewable energy, electrical machines, variable
speed drives, finite-element analysis and design, power-electronic converters,
and electric-vehicle traction systems.
Tobie Boutot was born in Edmunston, NB, Canada,
in 1971. He received the B.Sc. degree in electrical
engineering from the University of New Brunswick,
Fredericton, NB, Canada.
He has worked on numerous power converter
projects from 1 kW to more than 100 kW. His
research interests include electrical machines, power
electronics, variable speed drives, inverters, and
energy storage.