IEEE, 7º encuentro de Energía, Potencia, Instrumentación y Medidas. 16 y 17 de Octubre del 2008, Montevideo-URUGUAY.

PAG 194

Grid Synchronization of Brushless Doubly Fed

Asynchronous Generators in Wind Power Systems
R. Carlson, Senior Member, IEEE, and H. Voltolini, Member, IEEE

Abstract-- The vector control of the Brushless Doubly Fed In- II. INTRODUCTION

D
duction Generator (BDFIG) was implemented in Mat-
OUBLY-FED induction generators (DFIG) with a wound
lab/Simulink/SymPowerSystems using a rotating reference frame
fixed on the power winding flux. The control algorithms of the rotor are used as variable speed electric generator espe-
grid-side and control-side converters can regulate the active and cially in wind power generators systems [1]. This type of
reactive power independently. The measure of the power winding generator is controlled by power converters with reduced
flux angle, realized using a PLL, showed good performance dur- power rating when compared with the machine electrical pow-
ing the system startup and has demonstrated a robust behavior er output. The stator winding is connected to the electrical grid
under noisy voltage and current signals. A synchronization strat- and the rotor winding is connected to a bi-directional static
egy is proposed that acts on the control-side converter current power converter through slip-rings. The presence of slip rings
control loops to ensure the conditions for a smooth connection. reduces the lifetime of the machine and increases the mainte-
Soft and fast synchronization is achieved at the minimum rotat-
nance costs.
ing speed. To validate the simulated results an experimental
setup with a Doubly Fed Induction Generator with brushes was
An alternative to overcome this drawback is the brushless
tested with the same control strategy and the experimental re- doubly-fed induction generator (BDFIG) [2,3]. The BDFIG
sults showed coherent with the simulated ones. has its origins in the technology of cascade induction ma-
chines and consists of two three-phase windings with different
Index Terms-- Brushless, induction generator and synchroni- number of pairs of poles in the stator and a special rotor cage.
zation. The stator power and control windings are connected to the
three phase power grid; the power winding is connected di-
I. NOMENCLATURE rectly while the control winding is connected through a bi-
θe… Grid voltage space vector position directional static power converter. A simplified block-diagram
of the BDFIG complete system is presented on Fig. 1.
θp… Power winding flux position
λs… Power winding vector space flux
λqp… q-axis power winding flux
λdp… d-axis power winding flux
ωr… Rotor speed
Pe… Grid active power
Qe… Grid reactive power
vqe… q-axis grid voltage
vde… d-axis grid voltage
Fig. 1. Representation of the power flow in the system
iqe… q-axis grid current using a ‘motor’ convention.
ide… d-axis grid current
L… Grid converter line choke inductance Very few references exist on the synchronization process of
R… Grid converter line choke resistance doubly-fed induction generators [4-7] and none concerning the
BDFIG. A method to synchronize the BDFIG to the grid is
Vq1… q-axis AC-side grid converter voltage presented here that exploits the large capacity of the micro-
Vd1… d-axis AC-side grid converter voltage processors that already control the PWM converters.
Ve… Grid voltage space vector This paper presents an analysis of the BDFIG’s vector control
based on simulated results with Matlab/Simulink/ SymPower-
System. Dynamic results of the control algorithm and grid
R. Carlson is with Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, synchronization process are presented.
SC 88058-500 Brazil (e-mail: [email protected]).
H. Voltolini is with Universidade Tecnologica Federal do Paraná,Ponta
Grossa, PR 84016-210 Brazil (e-mail: [email protected]).
 IEEE, 7º encuentro de Energía, Potencia, Instrumentación y Medidas. 16 y 17 de Octubre del 2008, Montevideo-URUGUAY. PAG 195

III. THE STATIC POWER CONVERTERS The DC link voltage can be controlled for the active power
flow between the two converters above the peak value of the
A. The grid-side converter
grid voltage. Fig. 2 shows the scheme of the grid-side con-
The grid-side PWM voltage fed converter is connected to verter and its controls as simulated in Mat-
the grid through three single-phase chokes. With this configu- lab/Simulink/SimPower Systems.
ration it is possible to operate using boost mode and have
attractive features as constant DC bus voltage, low harmonic B. The control-side converter
distortion of grid current, bidirectional power flow and adjust- The vector control of the control-side converter is repre-
able power factor. The main objective of the grid-side con- sented in block diagram in Fig. 3. The control of the reactive
verter is to keep the DC-link voltage constant regardless the power is realized by acting over the control winding current
magnitude and direction of the control winding power. The idc. The reference current is given by a PI controller that ad-
grid-side converter control, shown in Fig. 2, is based on the dq justs the reactive power to a desired amount (e.g. Q*p ). Simi-
voltage equations of the grid-reactance-converter system ex-
pressed as: larly, the control of the active power is realized by acting over
the control winding current iqc. There are three possible situa-
diqe ⎫
vqe = Riqe + L + ωe Lide + vq1 ⎪ tions for defining the current reference in this case. Two of
dt ⎪ them require a PI controller and correspond to the two speed
⎬ (1)
dide ⎪ limits: the maximum and minimum rotating speed. The third
vde = Ride + L − ωe Liqe + vd1
dt ⎪⎭ one corresponds to track the maximum turbine power for each
where L and R are the inductance and resistance of the chokes, wind speed.
respectively, vqe, vde, iqe, ide are the electrical grid voltages and
currents, vq1 and vd1 are the AC side voltages of the converter IV. POWER WINDING FLUX ESTIMATION
all in the dq reference frame and ωe is the angular frequency of The aim of the control-side converter is to impose a current
the electrical grid. The vector control approach is used, with a to the control winding and to control independently the active
reference frame oriented along the grid voltage vector (Ve) and reactive power in the power winding.
position, such that vde=Ve and vqe=0. This allows independent After the acquisition, the power winding abc voltages and
control of the active and reactive power through ide and iqe, currents are transformed into a stationary αβ coordinate sys-
respectively according to following equations: tem. The axis α is aligned with the line-to-neutral voltage Van.
Then, the αβ power winding voltages and currents are calcu-
3 ⎫ lated as:
Pe = Ve ide ⎪
⎪ ⎫
2
3
⎬ (2)
1
3
(
Vαp = Vabp − Vcap ) ⎪⎪
Qe = − Ve i qe ⎪ ⎬ (3)
⎪⎭
2
Vβp = −
1
3
(
Vabp + Vcap ⎪)⎭⎪

Fig. 2. Control system for the grid-side converter.

 IEEE, 7º encuentro de Energía, Potencia, Instrumentación y Medidas. 16 y 17 de Octubre del 2008, Montevideo-URUGUAY. PAG 196

BDFIG
S1

ibc icc ′ Vbp

Vap ′ Vcp
′ Vap Vbp Vcp iap ibp
abc Position abc abc abc
Space αβ sensor αβ αβ αβ Grid
Vector i c ic ′ p
Vαβ iαβp
Vαβp
PWM
αβ Synchronization
V V dq θr
c c process
iqc idc θc
αβ c Flux Reactive
dq calculation calculation power
i′qc synch i′dc synch calculation
*
Vdc
*
α p
Vqc θp θp αβ
PI PI dq
Maximum r λqp Filter
Power Point
iqc Tracking calculation PLL Qp
+- idc iqc
+-
* r
i qc
*
i dc -+ Qp*
r
PI
i′dc synch *

a
r*
r Max
b -
PI +
Ssynch i′qc synch *
r Mín

Fig. 3. Control-side converter control strategy block diagram.

iαp = iap ⎫
⎪ ωe
⎬ (4)
iβp =
1
3
(
iap + 2i bp ) ⎪
⎭ Ts z
z −1
The power winding flux is calculated in the stationary αβ
and rotating dq axes as: 1

(
λ αp = ∫ Vαp − rp iαp dt ⎫⎪ ) z

⎬ (5)
(
λβp = ∫ Vβp − rp iβp dt ⎪
⎭ )
Fig. 4. PLL power winding flux angle estimation.
( )
λ dp = λ αp cos θp + λβp sin θp ⎫⎪ ( )
⎬ (6)
λ qp = −λ αp sin θp + λβp cos θp ⎪
⎭( ) ( )
Fig. 4 shows the block diagram of the αβ/dq transformation
and a phase locked loop (PLL) used for power winding flux
angle estimation. In resume, the PLL provides the power
winding flux angle such that the d-axis is aligned with total
power winding flux λp, i.e., λdp=λp and λqp=0. In order to set
the initial condition of integration block the constant ωe (angu-
lar grid frequency) is added after the PI controller [8]. Fig. 5. Estimated dq power winding flux dynamics.
The dynamic performance of the PLL during the startup of
the system is shown in Fig. 5. This result shows that, at the V. SYNCHRONIZATION TO THE GRID STRATEGY
startup system, the flux position operating point is reached in The grid connection is realized when the machine speed
approximately 0.1s. This flux angle estimator strategy has reaches the minimum operating value. A soft connection of
demonstrated a good performance even in the presence of the generator to the grid is obtained when the phase, frequency
noise in the voltage and current acquisition. and amplitude of the power winding and grid voltages are
equal before the switch S1 of Fig. 2 is closed.
 IEEE, 7º encuentro de Energía, Potencia, Instrumentación y Medidas. 16 y 17 de Octubre del 2008, Montevideo-URUGUAY. PAG 197

The block diagram in Fig. 6 shows how the synchronization

of the power winding and grid voltages algorithm was imple-
mented.
To start synchronizing the generator with the grid, the con-
trol winding is fed by the back-to-back converters to create a
power winding flux and induced voltages. The power winding
′ , Vcap
voltages Vabp ′ and the grid voltages Vabp and Vcap are
acquired using similar procedures. With the angle θp, obtained
from the PLL, the transformation αβ/dq is applied to both grid
and power winding voltages. The grid voltages Vdp and Vqp
Fig. 8. Simulated results: Power and control winding phase ‘a’ currents
are compared to the power winding voltages Vdp ′ and Vqp ′ .
during the synchronization process.
The resulting error is processed by the PI controller that acts
over the control winding idc and iqc current control loops. As VI. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ON A BRUSH DFIG SYSTEM
the angle used in the grid and power winding αβ/dq voltages In order to verify the control and synchronization strategy
transformation is the same, equal Vdp and Vdp ′ values and here proposed, an experimental bench based on a wound rotor
′ values imply equal phase, frequency and
equal Vqp and Vqp induction machine was set-up (brush DFIG). The same strat-
egy and components were used in this test bench.
amplitude of the grid and power winding voltages. In other Fig. (9) shows the grid and stator voltages during the syn-
words, when the error signals of the dq grid and power wind- chronization process as well as the rotor currents.
ing voltages reaches a small defined value; the synchronism is The experimental dq voltages of Fig. 9 are shown in Fig. 10
attained and the system is ready for connection. At this mo- during the synchronization process. In this figure, t1 corre-
ment a signal is sent by the software to turn on switch S1. sponds to the start of the synchronization procedure. At time
t2 the grid side and the stator side voltages amplitude, phase
and frequency are sufficiently close and the order is given to
switch S1 to close. However, there is a time delay between the
instant the order to close is send (t2) and the instant the switch
is effectively closed (t3).

Fig. 6. Block diagram of the synchronization controller.

Fig. 7 shows the simulated results of a synchronization

process, t1 and t2 define the initial and the final instants of the
process, here they are t1=2.38 s and t2 = 2.45 s.

Fig. 9. Experimental results of a brush DFIG - stator and grid voltages, ira
and irb rotor currents during the synchronization process.

810
t1 vqs t2 t3
540
Voltage (V)

v'qs
Fig. 7. Simulated results: power winding and grid voltages 270 vds
during the synchronization
0

v'ds
The quality of the synchronization procedure can be evalu- -270
ated examining the phase ‘a’ currents in both the power and 0 50 100 150 200 250
Time (ms)
the control windings presented in Fig. 8. No severe transient is
Fig. (10): Experimental dq grid and stator voltages of a
observed on those currents. brush DFIG during the synchronization process.
 IEEE, 7º encuentro de Energía, Potencia, Instrumentación y Medidas. 16 y 17 de Octubre del 2008, Montevideo-URUGUAY. PAG 198

VII. CONCLUSIONS [9]

In this paper the vector control of the BDFIG using a rotat-

IX. BIOGRAPHIES
ing reference frame fixed on the power winding flux was im-
Renato Carlson (SM’91) was born in Porto Alegre,
plemented in Matlab/Simulink/SymPowerSystems. The simu- Brazil, on July 31, 1943. He received the B.C.E.E.
lations of the PLL in order to measure the power winding flux degree from the Federal University of Rio Grande
angle show good performance during the system startup and do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 1969, the M.S.E.E.
degree from the Federal University of Santa
its implementation on an experimental DFIG setup has dem- Catarina, Brazil, in 1973, and the D.Eng. degree
onstrated a robust behavior under noisy voltage and current from the University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France,
signals. in 1977. In 1970, he joined the staff of the Electrical
The proposed synchronization process showed to be fast Engineering Department, Federal University of
Santa Catarina, Brazil, where he has been a
and smooth. Matching the amplitude, frequency and phase of Professor of electrical engineering until 1998. He
the power windings and grid voltages it assures the conditions has been Vice-President for Graduate Studies and Research at this university
for the connection by acting over the control windings current from 1996 up to 1998 when he retired. From 1989 to 1990, he was with the
Laboratoire d’Electrotechnique et d’Electronique de Puissance of the Institut
control loops. National Polytechnique de Toulouse, France, for a sabbatical year, obtaining
at this time the Diplôme d’Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches. Although he
VIII. REFERENCES is retired from the University he maintains research and consultancy activities
in the area of electrical machines and drives.
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back-to-back PWM converter and its application to variable-Speed Hélio Voltolini was born in Nova Trento, Santa
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3, May 1996. received the B.C.E.E. degree from the Federal
[2] H. Voltolini, R. Carlson, F. Runcos, N. Sadowskim P. Kuo-Peng, “Per- University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil,
formance and Vibration Analysis of a 75 kW Brushless Double-Fed In- in 1990, and the M.S.E.E. and Doctoral degrees
duction Generator Prototype.” in Proc. IEEE/IAS 41st Annual Meeting, from the same University in 1995 and 2007,
Florida, EUA, October 8 - 12, 2006. respectively. Since 1996 he joined the Electronic
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lorca/Espanha, v.1, p. 1-5, 2006.
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