N.E.D.

University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan

PEAK POWER TRACKING SYSTEM
WITH OVERLOAD PROTECTION AND
CHARGE CONTROLLER FOR WIND
TURBINES
DEPARTMENT of ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

ABDUL RAFAY (EL-020)
MUHAMMAD UMAIR SALEEM (EL-032)
BILAL RIASAT ALI KHAN (EL-057)
ZAHID HUSAIN TURI (EL-006)
Bachelor of Engineering Thesis for final year project


[Results, programming code and observation plus some crucial data
has been removed for the sake of maintaining the original design,
however will be furnished upon request : for online display only]


Objective:

In this project, we developed a fully functional system for small scale stand alone wind
turbines in which we have implemented peak-power-tracking functionality, targeted at
more efficient power capture and battery charging at low wind speeds. The system in effect
converts a fixed speed wind turbine into a variable speed one. The system also includes an
electronic braking system for overload protection and a simple inverter to directly plug-in
the ac load. During this project, we strived to identify the best possible strategies to
integrate such functionalities at the lowest possible cost through the application of 'Value
Engineering'. Our research aimed at simpler yet reliable control techniques and their
implementation, sensor-less control and efficiency improvements. The integration of all
these features will result in a new class of small but 'smart' wind turbines targeting the
unmet need of efficient and cheap electricity generation by the general public throughout
the world.

Wind Energy Basics:
A wind turbine extracts kinetic energy from the swept area of the blades. The power in the
airflow is given by
Pair = A
3

where
= air density, kg/m
3

A = swept area of rotor, m
2

= upwind free wind speed, ms
-1

the power transferred to the wind turbine rotor is reduced by the power coefficient,
CP = Pwind turbine/Pair
A maximum value of CP is defined by the Betz limit, which states that a turbine can never
extract more than 59.3% of the power from an air stream. In reality, wind turbine rotors
have maximum CP values in the range 2545%. It is also conventional to define a tip-speed
ratio, , as
= R/
where
= rotational speed of rotor
R = radius to tip of rotor
= upwind free wind speed, ms
-1
.
Figure below shows that the maximum power coefficient is only achieved at a single tip-
speed ratio and for a fixed rotational speed of the wind turbine this only occurs at a single
wind speed. Hence, by operating a wind turbine at variable rotational speed, it is possible to
operate at maximum CP over a range of wind speeds.







Variable-speed operation of wind turbines is desirable because below rated wind speed, the
wind turbine rotor can extract the most energy if the tip speed ratio can be kept constant,
requiring that the rotor speed vary with the wind speed. Variable-speed operation of the
turbines rotor can result in reduced fluctuating stresses, and hence reduced fatigue, of the
components of the drive train. If the speed of the rotor can be continuously adjusted such
that the tip speed ratio remains constant at the level which gives the maximum CP then the
efficiency of the turbine will be significantly increased [7].
The power output of a wind turbine at various wind speeds is conventionally described by
its power curve, shown below:









The speed control requirement of the rotor has five separate regions:
1. The cut-in speed at which the turbine starts producing power. Below this speed, it is not
efficient to turn on the turbine.
2. The constant maximum Cp region where the rotor speed varies with the wind-speed
variation to operate at the constant TSR corresponding to the maximum Cp value.
3. During high winds, the rotor speed is limited to an upper constant limit based on the
design limit of the system components. In the constant speed region, the Cp is lower than
the maximum Cp, and the power increases at a lower rate than that in the first region.
4. At still higher wind speeds, such as during a gust, the machine is operated at constant
power to protect the generator and the power electronics from overloading. This can be
achieved by lowering the rotor speed. If the speed is decreased by increasing electrical
load, the generator will be overloaded, defeating the purpose. To avoid the generator
overloading, some sort of brake, eddy current, or other type, must be installed on the rotor.
5. The cut-out speed. Beyond certain wind speed, the rotor is shut off producing power in
order to protect the blades, the electrical generator, and other components of the
systems.[8]
Maximum Power Operation
As seen earlier, operating the wind turbine at a constant tip-speed ratio corresponding to the
maximum power point at all times can generate 20 to 30 percent more electricity per year.
However, this requires a control scheme to operate with variable speed. Two possible
schemes used with the variable speed operation are:
1. Constant Tip-Speed Ratio Scheme:
This scheme is based on the fact that the maximum energy is extracted when the optimum
tip-speed ratio is maintained constantly at all wind speeds. The optimum TSR is a
characteristic of the given wind turbine. This optimum value is stored as the reference TSR
in the control computer This scheme has a disadvantage of requiring the local wind speed
measurements, which could have significant error particularly in a large wind farm with
shadow effects. Being sensitive to the changes in the blade surface, the optimum TSR
gradually changes. The computer reference TSR must be changed accordingly many times
over the life.

2. Peak Power Tracking Scheme(preferred)
The power versus speed curve has a single well-defined peak. If we operate at the peak
point, a small increase or decrease in the turbine speed would result in no change in the
power output, as the peak point locally lies in a flat neighborhood. Therefore, a necessary
condition for the speed to be at the maximum power point is as follows:
dP/d = 0
The speed is increased or decreased in small increments, the power is continuously
measured, And P/ is continuously evaluated. If this ratio is positive, meaning we get
more power by increasing the speed, the speed is further increased. On the other hand, if
the ratio is negative, the power generation will reduce if we change the speed any further.
The speed is maintained at the level where P/ is close to zero. This method is
insensitive to the errors in local wind speed measurement, and also to the wind turbine
design. It is, therefore, the preferred method. This principle is used in the control scheme
below [1]:







Proposed System:
1. Hardware Description:
The proposed system is a peak-power-tracker for small scale wind turbine, a feature commonly
found only in state-of-the-art MW-class wind turbines. It is intended to be a plug-and-play
module that includes an electronic braking system for overload protection and a simple inverter,
all integrated in a single package. The block diagram is shown overleaf.







1.1. Theory of Operation:
A MPPT (maximum power point tracker) is an electronic DC to DC converter that optimizes the
match between the output of the wind turbine and the battery bank. It converts a higher voltage
DC output from a wind generator down to the lower voltage needed to charge batteries. This is
because at a high voltage, only small current can be obtained from the fixed power of a turbine at
a certain speed. The controller looks at the output of the turbine, and compares it to the battery
voltage. It then figures out what is the best power that the turbine can put out to charge the
battery. It takes this and converts it to a voltage level to get maximum current into the battery,
thus increasing efficiency. The output of the MPPT charge controller might vary continually to
adjust for getting the maximum amperes into the battery.
The DC/DC converter used is a buck converter which means it takes a higher input voltage and
converts it to a lower output voltage. Since this a switching converter topology it doesnt
dissipate any power internally (except for some small resistive losses). That means the output
power is equal to the input power. So if the watts stay the same and the voltage drops then output
current must be greater than the input current. NMOS is used for the MOSFET switch because of
a lower Rdson which means there is less resistive losses in the switch. However, this causes
problems with driving the high side MOSFET. To fully turn on an NMOS, we must have a gate
to source voltage (Vgs) of roughly 8V or greater. The high side switch in the DC/DC converter
has its source pin tied to the input voltage so we have to generate a gate drive voltage of at least
8V higher than the input voltage. This is taken care of by the MOSFET gate driver IR2110, one
of the most challenging potions of the hardware!
The microcontroller, a PIC16F877A, controls the conversion ratio of the of the DC/DC
converter. The PIC generates a 200kHz PWM signal with its internal PWM circuit. The duty
cycle of the PWM signal sets the ratio of the on time for the high side MOSFET switch versus
the on time of the low side MOSFET switch. The ratio of the on time of the switches sets the
conversion ratio of the input to the output voltage of the DC/DC converter. The PIC tries to set
the conversion ratio of the DC/DC converter to allow the wind turbine to operate at the
Maximum Power Point. The microcontroller does this using an iterative algorithm to maximize
the output power of the turbine. The output power is calculated by measuring the voltage and
current with the PICs A/D inputs and multiplying internally to get the power. The output voltage
runs through a resistor divider network to get it down in the 5v range of the PICs A/D converter.
The output current is measured with a current sense resistor and difference amplifier to condition
the signal before it is read by the PICs A/D.
Finally, to drive loads directly, we needed an inverter. The inverter used is a simple BJT based
half-bridge square wave inverter using CD4047 for PWM generation. The output is connected to
a 24V to 240V step-up transformer.

1.2. Circuit Description:
1.2.1. Transformer, Rectifier and Filter:
The need for a step-down transformer arose for effective isolation as well as to reduce the
voltage ratings of all the components. Initially, we started with a 240V-12V step-down
transformer keeping in mind a single battery of 12V to charge but later, to reduce the current
ratings and the hazards associated with high currents, we switched to a 240V-48V step-down
version with adequate power ratings.
A rectifier had to be used before the DC/DC converter stage along with a low-pass filter to
smooth the dc input to the Buck regulator. A full-bridge rectifier and capacitor filter were used
due to the following reasons:
1. A bridge rectifier will rectify both halves of a sine wave and give "continuous output" through
360 degrees of the input and you don't need a center-tapped transformer to use it.
2. Because its PIV rating is less than half wave rectifier.
3. It is more preferable over center tapped rectifiers because you dont have to use special centre
tapped transformer that has larger secondary windings thereby reducing the size and cost.
4. Because it is small in size and cost effective.
5. Inductors block high-frequency signals and conduct low-frequency signals, while capacitive
filter do the reverse.
For a small ripple in voltage and due to low frequency (60Hz), high current and small load, three
4700uF capacitors were used in parallel for a total filter capacitance of 14.1mF.
1.2.2. DC/DC Converter:
The PPT circuit is divided into two basic parts: the DC/DC converter and the microcontroller
control. The high side MOSFET is IRFZ44N. The inductor value is 42uH and it is sized to
handle 11A. The capacitor is 330uF and the diode used is Schottky diode for low power losses.
NMOS is driven by the IR2110 gate driver. It drives the high side MOSFET using the PWM
signal from the microcontroller. A diode is used to keep the battery current from flowing into the
system.


Initially, we designed the buck converter for a nominal output of 12v but later shifted to 24v.
Also, the PWM frequency was initially set to 5kHz, then increased to 10kHz and later to 100kHz
to improve efficiency and reduce component size. Finally, due to the limitation of inductor size
and value, the value was set at 200kHz. Accurate calculations were done using relations from
[11] for critical values of inductor and capacitor for continuous conduction mode, nominal,
minimum and maximum duty cycle and power dissipations for an assumed efficiency of 90%.
The whole design was simulated and experimented with by varying various parameters in
PSPICE.
Deciding and finding the power MOS, schottky diode and capacitor was not hard but the
inductor proved to be real challenge. For the frequency of 5kHz, the value of inductor was
calculated to be really high and was even raised further to smooth out the output current (14mH).
No inductor of this value that could handle 20A (at 12v output) was available. We started off
with winding an air-core inductor ourselves but the wire gauge to be used was low (thick wire).
Winding it was really hard and at the end we got only a few milli-henrys. We then looked for a
non-air core inductor. We bought a transformer which gave us approximately 14mH but it was
expensive and very bulky. Later, when we decided to increase the frequency, and reduce the
current, the requirements of the inductor were relaxed to 33uH and 10A. We found a torroidal
ferrite core and wound an inductor with parallel wires to reduce skin effect and ease of winding
(we still needed 10A rating so the wire was still thick). The inductor wound had an inductance of
42uH.
1.2.3. Gate Driver:
When an NMOS is used as the high side switch the gate voltage to drive it must be at 10V
greater than the source voltage. Since the source voltage is the input voltage on the high side
MOSFET, a high-side gate driver IC was required. The gate driver chip must generate a higher
voltage that the input voltage to turn on the high side switch. This is achieved by the bootstrap
circuit that increases the input voltage so the high switch can be driven on. The gate driver IC we
finally used was IR2110. It is powered by a 7812 linear regulator while the PWM is provided by
the PIC at TTL logic level. The minimum bootstrap capacitance for the operating frequency was
calculated and a 1uF capacitor was used.

Running the gate driver was the biggest challenge in the project. Everything worked well in
simulations but the same circuit didnt appear to work physically. After many attempts, we tried
using PMOS along with a totem-pole BJT configuration in place of NMOS and thus eliminating
the need for the gate driver IC. We even tried a pulse-transformer but rejected it because of its
poor performance at high frequency. We switched back to the gate driver IC and after a lot of
study and changes, we were able to successfully operate it at 200kHz. The biggest mistake that
we were making was not connecting the gate driver and power grounds together.
1.2.4. The Microcontroller, overload protection and feedback circuitry:
The DC/DC converter is controlled by the PIC16F877A microcontroller. The microcontroller is
clocked at 20Mhz by a crystal. The 5V to power the PIC16F876 is generated by a 7805 linear
voltage regulator. The PWM output of the PIC is used to control the duty cycle of the DC/DC
converter which sets its voltage conversion ratio. The frequency of the PWM is set to 200Khz by
the PIC software. The PWM duty cycle is controlled by the PIC software to optimize the power
output from the wind turbine.













The PIC calculates the power output generated by reading the voltage and current of the battery
through its ADC using a voltage divider used to drop the input voltage into the 5v range and a
combination of current sense resistors. The small voltage generated by current sense resistors is
amplified and buffered by an LM358 op-amp. The op-amp is configured as a difference
amplifier.










The controller also operates the overload protection circuitry by turning on a relay through a BJT
and connects the transformer directly to dummy loads to load the turbine and reduce its output
voltage, thus preventing damage to the electronic circuitry. The controller displays duty cycle
and voltage, current values on a 16x2 LCD display.









1.2.5. Charge Controller:
One of the major proposed elements of the project that was incorporated since the inception of
the project, early this year, was the charge controller circuitry.

From uC
Vi
n
The charge controller is a block that maintains a desirable voltage at the battery terminals and
allows for the current from the previous block of the circuit to pass on successfully to the battery.
The charge controller is a combination of circuit elements that provide a current steering or
current sinking application from the preceding stage onto the final dumping ground that is the
battery or battery bank. In our criterion we had many aspects of charge controller topologies to
work and think about but ultimately we made two choices that proved them to be redundant and
excessive to the idea of Maximum Peak Power Generation. It is only fair that when describing
the charge controller circuitry we give significant knowledge about the type of battery utilized
for our project.
Following is the detailed description of work by work and phase by phase adaptation of the
projects charge controller circuitry along with ample information about the batteries it was
meant to charge which will ultimately revert the discussion to the final conclusion regarding this
block.

BATTERIES.. The charge banks
Although batteries include a huge variety of choices to work upon, we needed to choose at least
one that fits our suit of operation and is easy to gets hands on. Possible candidates for the battery
choices included deep cycle batteries and short cycle starter batteries.
The batteries described above have two or three differences but altogether their performance is
the same if their criterion of work is considered.
Starting Batteries, sometimes called SLI, for starting lighting ignition batteries, are commonly
used to start and run engines. Engine starters need a very large starting current for a very short
time. Starting batteries have a large number of thin plates for maximum surface area. The plates
are porous, similar in appearance to a very fine foam sponge. If deep cycled, this sponge will
quickly be consumed. Automotive batteries will generally fail after 30-150 deep cycles if deep
cycled, while they may last for thousands of cycles in normal starting use (2-5% discharge),
which makes their normal workable life to about 12 months, and for a industrial price of $80 -
$90
Deep cycle batteries are designed to be discharged down as much as 80% time after time, and
have much thicker plates. The major difference between a true deep cycle battery and others is
that the plates are SOLID Lead plates. This gives less surface area, thus less "instant" power like
starting batteries need. Although they can be cycled down to 20% charge, the best lifespan
against cost method is to keep the average cycle at about 50% discharge, which is unlikely for
many usage norms. They can be bought for a price of $317
The conclusion drawn from the above statements is that, except for the dis-charging and Cold
Crank Current delivery, the batteries exhibit the same performance in terms of charging and
charge delivery upon usage. So the team decided to go with the starter batteries and build a
circuitry over the principles that ensure the same working behavior for either starter or deep
cycle batteries. The workable prospect of our project was the ease of availability and usage for
the user, this was a strong influencer for us to incline towards the starter batteries that are used
on a day to day basis by everyone who owns an automobile.

Charging
Charging the battery required to build a topology that allows for a preset value of voltage to
appear on the output at the battery terminals which is generally higher than the terminal potential
at any stage, and allows for a path of current into the battery achieved by a very low internal
resistance of the battery (order of mili ohms)
The charge time of a sealed lead acid battery is 1216 hours and up to 3648 hours for large
stationary batteries. With higher charge currents and multi-stage charge methods, the charge time
can be reduced to 10 hours or less; however, the topping charge may not be complete. The three
possible charging techniques for a lead acid battery are [1] constant-current charge, [2]topping
charge and [3] float charge. The constant-current charge applies the bulk of the charge and takes
up roughly half of the required charge time; the topping charge continues at a lower charge
current and provides saturation, and the float charge compensates for the loss caused by self-
discharge. A figure showing the effect of each charge topology on the battery cell is shown
below: Figure(1.1)
















During the constant-current charge, the battery charges to 70 percent in about 58 hours; the
remaining 30 percent is filled with the slower topping charge that lasts another 710 hours. If
deprived, the battery will eventually lose the ability to accept a full charge and the performance
will decrease due to sulfation. The float charge in the third stage maintains the battery at full
charge.
The switch from Stage 1 to 2 occurs seamlessly and happens when the battery reaches the set
voltage limit. The current begins to drop as the battery starts to saturate, and full charge is
reached when the current decreases to the three percent level of the rated current. A battery with
high leakage may never attain this low saturation current, and a plateau timer takes over to
initialize the charge termination.
The correct setting of the charge voltage is critical and ranges from 2.30 to 2.45V per cell. On
one hand, the battery wants to be fully charged to get maximum capacity and avoid sulfation on
the negative plate; on the other hand, an over-saturated condition causes grid corrosion on the
positive plate and induces gassing.
The discussion above leads to the idea of smart charge controller, one that modifies its output in
between operation and provides for a maximum battery life. The available topologies in smart
charger applications are
Constant voltage variable current
Constant current variable voltage
Float charge
The selected methodology of charging selected at the initial stage was constant voltage variable
current in addition with float charger.
This led to a circuit design which basically took in an input voltage of 12 volts (bare minimum
for one battery at least) to 35 volts, with current completely dependent upon the value of the
voltage fed in from the output of the BUCK regulator block. As the duty cycle is varied by the
means of Pulse Width Modulation Controller, the gate driver acts suit and opens the buck
regulator as according to the signal received on its gate. This allowed for a varying signal to be
fed across the battery terminals for the charging to occur.
Two of the major designs adopted for the charge controller are defined below:
Make-shift smart charge controller using linear voltage regulator
Smart charger (3 stages of charge) using UC3906

Charge Controller
To justify the use of two stage battery charging we adopted for the charger in the initial stage of
constant voltage variable current we must define the state of charge of the battery against the
terminal potential difference at every state of charge.
The graphs show a variety of recharge and discharge rates from C/5 to C/100. This C/XX
number is actually a rate of charge or discharge in Amperes proportioned to the capacity of the
battery. In our design system we adopted the C/10 factor. This C is actually the rated battery
capacity and this factor determines the current pumped into the battery without damaging its
terminals. The battery modeled for use in our prototype is a 200Ah battery that makes the C/10
value to be 20 Amps. Although, this value was a subject to revision for testing purpose, so we
scaled down the value to approximately 22% and used the new value of 44Ah. Further
modifications in the battery bank will be discussed later.











Another significant assumption in the build up to the charge controller was the battery state of
charge against the internal resistance of the flooded lead acid battery. In lead acid cells, the
electrolyte (sulphuric acid) participates in the cells normal charge/discharge reactions. As the
cells are discharged, the sulfate ions are bonded to the plates sulfuric acid leaves the
electrolyte. The process is reversed when the cell is recharged. A fully charged lead-acid cell has
an electrolyte that is a 25% solution of sulfuric acid in water (specific gravity about 1.26). A
fully discharged lead-acid cell has virtually no sulphuric acid in it but almost pure water
electrolyte (specific gravity about 1.00). As the sulfuric acid concentration in the electrolyte
changes so does the electrical resistance of the electrolyte, which in turn changes the internal
resistance of the entire cell. The bottom line is that the internal resistance of all lead-acid cells
changes with the cells state of charge. This character gives the lead-acid reaction its particular
signature on the voltage vs. SOC graphs. This signature is unique very different from alkaline
cells whose electrolyte resistance remains constant regardless of SOC.
Hence ultimately the final conclusion drawn from the article stated above is that as a battery
charges, its internal resistance increases and as the battery discharges, its internal resistance
lessens, which creates a huge dumping ground or current sink for the incoming signal from the
battery charger.
1) Constant Voltage Variable Current and Float Voltage Charging
For the principle of constant voltage usage, the linear regulator felt like a suitable choice for the
proposed scheme of charge controller
As described from the cell voltage figure above Fig(1.1), the constant voltage variable current
scheme sees the charger maintaining a 13.X volts (X values need to greater than 5) and steering
available current from the buck regulator output into the battery through the charger circuit. On
the other hand the float voltage charger scheme will require the charger to maintain a constant
14.1 volt to 14.3 volt and limit the current as the battery charges to near 100 percent state of
charge.
The very first choice for this design circuit was the adjustable voltage regulator LM317. But this
idea was soon dropped because of its hardware limitations and operation skew when a variable
resistor at the adjust pin of the IC was replaced with a fixed resistor. This behavior was the main
reason for abandoning this idea, because apart from that it worked very well with the two stages
of smart charging applications namely constant voltage variable current and float charging, but to
even achieve these two stages, this work needed to be done manually with a turn dial on the
variable resistor. Hence the word smart, lost its meaning.
The next immediate option was the adaptation of the linear fixed voltage regulator for the charge
controller scheme. The second design comprised of an LM7815 IC. This fixed linear voltage
regulator provided a desired fixed value of voltage against current that needed to be fed to the
battery for charging. A simple applied logic is shown as under







Q1 allows for a high current steer path from the input onto the output and the voltage regulator in
addition with this topology provides a constant voltage at the battery terminals. Considering this
way, the smart charger was to be formed with two dedicated LM7815 voltage regulators that
work in parallel to each other. One circuit works on the constant voltage variable current and the
other circuit works on the basis of float voltage. First Circuit provided 13.5 to 13.8 volts on the
output to the battery terminals and the second one provides a float voltage of 14.1 volts to the
battery terminals. These two charge circuits were to controlled via smart switching which
depended upon the time sharing principle. The interrupt generator was 555 timer, forming a
check status pulse at near 50 percent duty cycle, where the entire work cycle was defined for 10
minutes. As the switched were altered in their opening stands, the battery was monitored via a
comparator. This comparator formed a reference voltage for itself and determined what switch
truth table will be depending upon the open circuit voltage of the battery terminals.











The bulk charger provided a C/10 current (in this case around 20 Amps), which for test criterion
was scaled down to 5 Amps. And the trickle charger provided a float voltage at the terminals and
drives a current of near 1Amp (10% of C/10). The fold-back circuitry of the trickle charger
accounts for a decreased current into the load attached through a resistor capacitor bank.


A statistical chart of the readings taken from the constant voltage variable current charger on a
scaled down load model is given as under:
Terminal voltage
Current
(Amps)
10 5.65
10.5 5.12
11 5.05
11.5 4.85
12 4.85
12.5 4.78
13 4.5
13.xx 4.5
The above measurements were taken on a 70 percent state of charge battery and the updated
reading of the terminal voltage was noted for every 1 hour or so as a 0.5 volt increment in the
terminal voltage was noted.
Problem Statement
The major erroneous nature of the reading was observed when we came across the skewing
behavior of our design. As studied from the literature, it was noted that as the battery gets
charged the internal resistance alters or more specifically increases, this results in greater
terminal voltage drop and low current sinking abilities. However this suit is not followed right
down the very detail in actual practice. The battery was supposed to sink to draw a current of 4.4
Amps (in accordance with the scaled down model of 44Ah) but it was impervious to this, and the
value of current was maintained at a random. Hence we concluded that the only relation between
current drawn into the circuit should not be based upon the internal resistance of the battery, as
no two are the same.
Another problem that we encountered with the charger was that the use of the linear voltage
regulator outputted a fixed value on the battery terminals. This resulted in very sturdy 13.xx volts
on the charger regardless what value of voltage was input to it. This was a problem because this
clashed directly with our Maximum Peak Power Tracking theory. If the voltage is regulated at
the output always, then due to constant voltage at the output, the current will never vary (increase
or decrease) with varying input to the charger. Plus the high current steering transistors were
only working as an uncontrolled sink for the current produced with no control what so ever. This
was a highly undesired trait which was rectified later on.



Smart charger (3 stages of charge) using UC3906
The UC3906 works with varying the Pulse Width as opposed to the feedback it takes from the
battery itself. This active feedback which determines what state the battery is in results in a very
precise and need to get basis current for the battery without damaging it. The comparators with
in the IC provide this functionality with the proper calculation of resistances attached with it on
the basis of required value of voltage thresholds, float values and continue charging current.









Defined with a preset of
voltages for three states of operation, except for this property, this regulator is no different.

Problem Statement
This regulator suffered from the same problem as its predecessor. Although it monitored the
battery through a feedback and determined the state of charge for every magnitude of current
required to be put in, this still does not compensate the fact that with the input voltage varying
the current will never be provided to the battery as per change in output energy. Since it only
drove the base of the drive transistor through pin 16 depending upon the feedback taken from the
battery, it never fully utilized the available output power and was not efficiency friendly.
Conclusion of Chargers
Due to the problem which restricted the full use of available output power, the charger topologies
were dropped out of the project and it was established that the BUCK regulator will provide the
batteries with a direct output. With the varying voltage at BUCKs output which never goes
below the least value of the battery bank, up till the final value as achieved through varying duty
cycles, the battery bank will be able to utilize a full output power with no regulation what so ever
on the terminal voltage.

1.2.6. Inverter:
In the last progress meeting with the committee, the added work of inverter block was given to
us as a part of our final year project. This block greatly increases the user proposition value for
the entire system.
Inverter topologies were studied and analyzed and the most suitable configuration as per time
restraints and simplified logic was implemented.
Topology Selection
The first step in the inverter design was the selection of the design criterion. The strongest
contenders for this try out were
MOSFET based Inverter
BJT based inverter
Although to be noted here that both the above mentioned topologies make the use of Half
Bridge technique for inverters. It should be declared that the mosfet based inverters provide
superior performance in terms of less consumed power and good switching frequency handling
with proper gate operation for putting the mosfet into saturation and cutoff depending on what
input is applied. Although there some reasons which led to the dropping of this topology and
adaptation of the simple BJT based inverter design.
The first design prototype for the inverter comprised of the MOSFET based inverter design. A
block diagram is given as under:

The switching frequency module was composed of many different alterations of calculation at
different times. Most commonly adapted ICs were LM555 timer, CD4017, and CD4047.
A switching frequency thus set this way was responsible for driving the MOSFET inverter load.
Problem Statement
One of the biggest problems we came across in this topology was the MOSFET driving through
the gate driver circuitry. The MOSFETs were chosen to be IRFZ44N with Id=49 Amps and a
power of approximately 150 watt. The gate driver IC that was chosen for this purpose was the
IR2110, as chosen the same by the BUCK regulator. The IR2110 was to work in its push pull
configuration, which will allow for a ground path onto the load via the drain tapping of the
MOSFET onto the transformer. A push pull configuration is given as under:

the push pull configuration was implemented for testing stages but the results were satisfactory.
The IR2110 is very sensitive to its component ratings that enable the push-pull mode. Even the
slightest tolerance in capacitance and resistance throws the results off. The times when it even
did work, the inverter couldnt bear the output load and was subject to a short circuit.
This was a major problem considering the time constraints we were already in regarding the fyp
timeline and the sudden inclusion of the inverter block into the project. So the team decided to
work with the time tested and simple configuration of BJT inverters.

BJT Topology
The bjt inverter design comprises of a switching frequency component and a a transistor
cascading as shown in the block diagram below, providing a ground path onto the load via the
collector tapings of the transistors with the center tapped transformer.
The only major difference between this inverter criterion and the MOSFET based inverts was
that the part of the gate driver IC was secluded in case of BJT and the circuitry and greatly
simplified.

Basically what is happening in the circuit is that the IC CD 4047 wired as an astable
multivibrator produces two 180 degree out of phase 1/50 Hz pulse trains. These pulse trains then
are pre amplified by the two D313 transistors. The outputs of the D313 transistors are input to
the 2N3055 transistors to drive the transformers ground switch path. The 220~240V AC will be
available at the secondary of the transformer
Component Details
IC CD 4047
This IC is the heart of the circuit. It generates square-wave at the output. The square-wave is
always at 50% of duty ratio. The frequency of this IC can be set by vary the resistor and the
capacitor. Pin 1 is connecting the IC and external capacitor. This external capacitor as known as
timing capacitor should be connected between pin 1 and RC common terminal, pin 3. The
external resistor also known as timing resistor, should be connected between pin 2 and RC
common terminal, pin 3.
This IC has 2 mode, astable and monostable. In this project the mode used is astable. To apply
this mode pin 4 should ground or pin 5 is connected to supply voltage. Pin 14 is the supply
voltage for the IC and pin 7 is for ground. The output is attained at pin 10 and 11, where at pin
11 the output is 180 from the output at pin 10. Pin 9, 12 and 13 is the special feature of this IC.
If the input is high at pin 9, no output pulse at pin 10 and 11 during ON power condition. For
UPS this feature enable this inverter to turn off during normal condition. When fault happen the
control unit should sending low input to this pin to permit this inverter to work. Pin 12 is for
retriggering the waveform. In UPS system it not really compulsory. Pin 13 the connection of this
IC to other IC to synchronize.


D313 and 2N3055
The operation of these two transistors is not very different from each other. The D313 transistor
makes use of the fact that the input signal from the CD4047 is pre-amplified before putting into
the base of the switching ground transistors on 2N3055. D313 outputs a signal suitable enough
for proper saturation of the base of 2N3055 in conduction mode.
A figure showing the output of D313 transistor is given as under
<CRO diagram>
Transformer
The final output of the inverter is a square wave AC signal taken across the secondary windings
of the 12-0-12 center tapped transformer. The windings of the transformer are made with
accordance of the power in : power out ratio. As the power input to the transformer is 250 watt,
because of the total power content of the system. This power drives a current of 250 watt/24
volts which comes out to be approximately 11 Amps. For safety measures the AWG wire chosen
is of greater power wattage. The wire chosen is AWG 14.
Conclusion of the Inverter
The inverter design selected proves to be a very simple yet powerful topology over the MOSFET
based design. However the BJT inverter provides some sort of advantage as well. The major
advantage it gives is in the form of avoiding shoot-through fault and less losses due to low
switching frequency. Shoot through fault happens in the half bridge configuration when both the
transistors are simultaneously conducting, which shows a short across the DC rail.
The inverter circuit though successfully built for UPS application, but for UPS application there
are many other aspects needed to be considered. The circuit built is nothing when compared with
inverter using PWM. PWM based inverters show great decrease in the Total Harmonic
Distortion factor and produce high quality sine wave.
The circuit built has certain advantages. First it avoided the dead-through fault since it is working
on lesser switching frequency. Second, the IC has certain functions that allow the circuit to
operate in UPS system. Like synchronizing with other controller and the output can be controlled
on and off.

2. Software Description:
[bilal]
3. Simulation Results:
3.1. Changing duty cycle from 45 to 65% at Vin=48V, Rload=0.5ohms:




3.2. Changing Rload from 0.25 to 0.75ohms at Vin=48V and 55% duty cycle:













3.3. Excellent Line Regulation! (Vin from 36 to 60V, 55% duty cycle, Rload=0.5ohms):


3.4. Load Regulation (Vin=48V, 55% duty cycle):
From graph below:
Change in Vo = 25.584 - 23.164 = 2.42
Change in Io = 9.673 - 4.437 = 5.236
Load regulation = 2.42/5.236 = 0.46 V/A








3.5. Step change in input (Vin = 60 to 48V at t = 50ms):


4. Test Results:
5. Conclusion:

Bibliography

Web:
1. http://earthtrends.wri.org/updates/node/277
2. http://englishabc.wordpress.com/2008/03/11/the-leading-wind-energy-trade-fair-2008/
3. http://wings.buffalo.edu/ubgreen/energyforthefuture/technologies/wind.htm
4. http://environmentengineering.blogspot.com/2008/04/wind-energy-renewable-energy-
by.html
5. http://saferenvironment.wordpress.com/2008/11/03/wind-energy-renewable-energy-
harnesses-natural-wind-power-%E2%80%93-effective-answer-for-emission-problem-
towards-cleaner-safer-and-greener-environment/
6. http://science.howstuffworks.com/wind-power.htm/printable
7. http://www.otherpower.com/bottom_line.shtml
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions
9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ratio_of_GDP_to_carbon_dioxide_
emissions

Respective websites of:
A. Proven Energy
B. Skystream
C. Wind Energy Solutions
D. Bergery Energy Systems
E. Whisper Energy
F. International Energy Commission
G. Wikipedia
H. World energy Report 2008, 2009
I. Wind Statistics Journal Pakistan
J. GOOGLE!

Papers:
1. Maximum Power Point Tracking Based Optimal Control Wind Energy Conversion
System - Ahmad Nadhir & Takashi Hiyama - Kumamoto University, JAPAN
2. Design and Analysis of a Microprocessor-Controlled Peak-Power-Tracking System
by P. Huynh and B.H. Cho, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
3. Voltage Controller of a Single Phase Self-Excited Induction Generator
4. R. Ahshan and M.T. Iqbal - Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial
University of Newfoundland, Canada
5. Voltage Controller For Stand-Alone Induction Generator Using Instantaneous Power
Control - G.V.Jayaramaiah & B.G.Fernandes - Indian Institute of Technology
Bombay, INDIA
6. Microprocessor-Based Voltage Controller for Wind-Driven Induction Generators -
N. AMMASAIGOUNDEN AND M. SUBBIAH
7. Cage Induction Generators for Wind Turbines with Power Electronics
8. Converters in the Light of the New Grid Codes - Marta Molinas, Bjarne Naess,
William Gullvik, Tore Undeland - NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE
AND TECHNOLOGY
9. DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF A VARIABLE SPEED WIND TURBINE EQUIPPED
WITH A VOLTAGE SOURCE AC/DC/AC CONVERTER INTERFACE - F.D.
Kanellos S.A. Papathanassiou N.D. Hatziargyriou M.P. Papadopoulos - National
Technical University of Athens
10. Output Voltage Control of PWM Inverters for Stand-Alone Wind Power
Generation Systems Using Feedback Linearization - Dong-Choon Lee & Jeong-Ik
Jang - Yeungnam University, Korea

Texts:
[1] Wind and Solar Power Systems by Mukund R. Patel
[2] Wind Power in Power Systems - Thomas Ackermann
[3] Power Electronics Handbook - M. Haroon Rashid
[5] WIND ENERGY EXPLAINED Theory, Design and Application - Second
Edition by J. F. Manwell, J. G. McGowan and A. L. Rogers
[6] Wind Turbine Technology by A.R. Jha
[7] WIND ENERGY HANDBOOK - Tony Burton, David Sharpe, Nick Jenkins,
Ervin Bossanyi
[8] WIND ENERGY GENERATION Modelling and Control - Olimpo Anaya,
Nick Jenkins, Janaka Ekanayake, Phill Cartwright, Mike Hughes
[9] POWER ELECTRONICS FOR MODERN WIND TURBINES by Frede
Blaabjerg and Zhe Chen
[10] THE WIND TURBINE COMPONENTS AND OPERATION by Henrik
Stiesdal
[11] Pulse-width Modulated DCDC Power Converters, MARIAN K.
KAZIMIERCZUK