The goal the project was to develop a complete complex system in order to be able to emulate in the laboratory a wind energy based power generation unit, connected to the utility grid. The system was compound of the wind turbine (emulated using a 7kW DC machine), the electrical generator, being a permanent magnet synchronous machine, a back to back electronic power converter and the connection point at the utility grid.
The DC machine was powered using a custom made Semikron converter. The control of the system was accomplished using a dSPACE 1104 card. A wind profile was selected to be imposed and the machine was speed controlled.
The back to back converter was built using also Semikron components. The rated values for each IGBT leg was 1200Vcc and 100Arms. A high capacity DC bus was created in order to whitstand the sudden power variations.
The power legs were driven using dedicated Semikron electronic drivers. Three phase contactors were used to connect the power stage to the grid and to the machine, and also a temporized DC link charging system was included, protecting this way the capacitors during first grid connection.
The 3 phase converters were controlled using an 1103 dSPACE card, using vector control on the generator side and also vector control on the grid side.
The complex system is now an operational test bench for emulation of a wind turbine based electrical power generation unit, controlling the active and reactive power flow from the generator towards the utility grid.
For more details regarding this study, feel free to contact me or to check my journal and conference publications.