Power Smoothing in a Variable Speed Wind-Diesel System

Roberto Cbrdenas' RubCn Peiia' Jon Clare2 Greg Ashe?

(1) University of Magallanes (2) The University of Nottingham
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
P.O. Box 113-D Punta Arenas, Chile Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. University Park
rcd@ieee.org Jon.Clare@nottingham.ac.uk

Abstract- In wind-diesel systems wind speed variations can fluctuations can still be problematic if the Wind Energy
produce frequent startfstop cycles of the diesel engine in Conversion System (WECS) is feeding a weak grid or a
response to periods of low wind speed. Consequently, an energy
stand-alone load [2]. In some applications, the wind turbine is
buffer is very important in these schemes to avoid unnecessary
augmented by an additional source, usually a diesel generator.
deterioration of the diesel engine. In this paper, control systems
These generation schemes are called wind-diesel systems.
for the operation of a variable speed wind-diesel system,
including power smoothing, are analyzed. The power smoothing In wind-diesel systems, wind speed variations may
produce frequent startlstop cycles of the diesel engine in
system comprises a front-end converter, a flywheel energy store
and a vector controlled induction machine. The wind energy response to periods of low wind speed. An energy buffer is
conversion system comprises a variable speed wind turbine andtherefore very important to avoid unnecessary deterioration of
back to back converters for interfacing the variable speed the diesel engine. Fig. 1 shows the wind-diesel system studied
generator to the load. Control of the power smoothing system in this paper. A variable speed WECS is used to supply
compensates for the effects of wind variation and load electrical energy into a stand-alone load. A Power Smoothing
disturbances. The operation of the whole system including theSystem (PSS) composed of a front-end converter , a flywheel
wind turbine, front-end converter, control of active and reactive
energy store [3] and a vector controlled induction machine is
power supply is discussed as well as the vector control system of
used to compensate for the effects of the wind speed
the induction machine driving the flywheel. Simulation results
variations on the load. Energy is stored and released fiom the
for the entire system for a number of operational conditions are
flywheel, via the PSS fiont-end converter, to match the power
presented. Experimental results are provided for the control of
the flywheel energy store. absorbed fiom the wind with the load power. For sustained
periods of low wind power, the flywheel speed will drop
I INTRODUCTION below a threshold and the diesel generator is started,
synchronised and connected to the load. To avoid frequent
Variable speed operation of wind turbines has many startinglstoping of the diesel engine the flywheel should store
advantages that are well documented in the literature [l]. sufficient energy to supply the load for a couple of minutes
Torque peaks in the gearbox and shafts are reduced, the wind [4-51. The control of the diesel engine is considered outside
turbine can operate with maximum aerodynamic efficiency the scope of this paper.
and power fluctuations can be absorbed as inertial energy in
the blades. However, even for variable speed systems, power

Diesel based generation system

I I

I i Induction !

i Load IFronkend

Variable Speed Wind Energy Conversion System Power Smoothing System

Fig. 1. A wind diesel system with a variable speed wind turbine.

0-7803-7754-0/03/$17.0002003 IEEE 754

 In previous papers, control systems for the vector To regulate the DC link voltage El, at the WECS front-end
controlled induction machine driving the flywheel have been converter side, a small signal model is derived to obtain a
discussed [ 2 ] . In this paper the control of the complete transfer function relating the DC link voltage AE1 and the
electrical system, including the wind turbine and back to back direct axis current Aid supplied by the PSS side front-end
converters, is addressed. To the best of our knowledge this is converter. The transfer function is obtained by balancing the
the first publication where the control systems for a wind- power of the whole system , Neglecting the losses in the
diesel system based on a variable speed wind turbine are converters the power balance is calculated as:
discussed.
1 dE2
11 CONTROL SYSTEM PROPOSED
~i
I g
-2- cdtl =k(vdpicd + vqpicq ) + &ad (3)
in which k arises from the 3 to 2 axis transformation. Using
The electrical torque of the generator driven by the (2-3) the following equation is derived:
variable speed wind turbine is controlled according to the
well know% control law:
Te = K o p r 4 (1)
I&,t is dependent on the wind turbine parameters and W, is
the rotational speed. In steady state, the control strategy of (1)
drives the wind turbine generator system to the point of
maximum aerodynamic efficiency [ 11. The power captured by Using (4), and considering PL,,ad to be constant, a small
the wind turbine is supplied to the DC link capacitors (ig in signal model is obtained relating the DC link voltage El to the
Fig. 1). The power supplied by the WECS to the rest of the d-axis component of the compensating current i,. Linearising
system and the load can be represented by iL in Fig. 1. If the (4) respect to an operating point (icdO,El0 ,i, ) yields:
generation and the load are balanced then i, -- iL and the PSS
does nothing. When the generation and load are not balanced,
the power smoothing system supplies (or absorbs) energy to (5)
maintain the balance in i, and iL.
In previous papers related to wind-diesel systems, an
energy buffer regulates the electrical frequency of the system From ( 5 ) a controller can be designed that maintains
[4]. However, if a variable speed wind turbine is used, the power balance in the system by regulating the WECS DC link
load frequency is fixed by the WECS front-end converter and voltage E, using the PSS fi-ont-end converter. The PSS front-
power balancing is required to control the WECS DC link end converter may also be controlled to supply or absorb
voltage El. This is achieved by controlling the PSS front-end reactive power from the system if desired.
converter to supplylabsorbpower tolfrom the system.
B. Control of the WECS Front-End Converter
A. Control of the PSS Front-End Converter
Vector control of the PSS front-end converter is achieved
The PSS front-end converter is vector controlled using a d-q
using a voltage reference fiame provided by either the WECS
frame orientated along the load voltage VLd. Regulation of the
or the diesel generator voltages. When the diesel generator is
DC link voltage El is achieved using the direct component ofnot connected to the load, the WECS front-end converter is
the compensating current i,. The equations for the PSS front-
scalar controlled with a fixed frequency me.
end converter are: The power smoothing system discussed above achieves
power balance between the generation and the load. However
this is not sufficient to ensure that the load voltage is constant
and disturbance free. The approach used in this paper is to
regulate the load voltage by varying the modulation index
“m” at the WECS front-end converter. Assuming that the
Where vdp, V, are the voltages at the PSS front-end voltage drop in the inductance is small, then the load voltage
converter, icd and i,, are the d-q components of the can be regulated by small variations in the modulation index
compensating current i, (see Fig. l), R and L, are the using a PI controller as shown in Fig. 2.
equivalent resistance and inductance between the PSS front-
end converter and the load.

755
 Gridnoad
.........-.....

EI (from WECS)

Fig. 2. Control system proposed for the front-end converter of the power smoothing system.

Feedforward compensation of the modulation index is also to obtain a linearised model. Neglecting the converter losses
used to compensate for the variation in the DC link voltage the power balance is:
El. For instance, if the DC link voltage drops because of a
load step, the modulation index is directly changed to avoid
voltage disturbances at the load. In practice, a more
sophisticated waveform filter and control loop would be Where vd, i d , V, and i, represent the voltages and currents of
required to maintain adequate harmonic attenuation, the induction machine (the coefficient k arises from the 2-3
particularly at light loads. However, the power smoothing axis scaling). Using (6), and the state equations of an
approach would be unaltered. In addition, if the wind turbine induction machine under rotor flux orientated control [8], a
is connected to the load using a transmission line other small signal model can be obtained as [2]:
control approaches could be necessary, for instance to
regulate the reactive power supplied by the PSS front-end
converter.
Power supplied or absorbed by the PSS front-end
converter is transferred tolfrom the rotating flywheel using a
vector controlled induction machine The control system for
this machine is discussed in the next section.
Where &, Rr, Lo and L,are the machine inductance and
C. Control of the induction machine and Flywheel.
resistances, (3 is the overall leakage coefficient, \~r,is the rotor
Power smoothing using an induction machine driving a flux, C is the PSS DC link capacitance and w, is the machine
flywheel has been discussed in [2,6-71. The control is rotational speed. The small signal model has been obtained
achieved by regulating the PSS DC link voltage using the about an operating point (iqo7iDco,wla,Ezo). It is noted that the
machine torque current i,. When the PSS front-end converter system is strongly non linear. The pole of (7) is dependent on
supplies energy to the load, the DC link voltage E2 tends to the current supplied from the front-end converter. The zero of
decrease. To regulate this DC link voltage the induction (7) is mainly dependent on the flywheel speed and rotor flux.
machine is controlled as a generator supplying energy into the A detailed discussion of (6-7) is addressed in [2,6-71. In [6]
DC link. If the PSS front-end converter is absorbing energy the control system of an induction machine, for power
from the system, the DC link voltage E2 tends to increase and smoothing, considering sensorless and flux weakening
the induction machine motors to increase energy storage in operation is presented.
the rotating flywheel. Equation (7) is used to design a control system for the DC
In order to design the control system for the induction link voltage E2,Because of the relatively large capacitance in
machine a small signal model is derived to relate the torque the DC link the induction machine control is loosely coupled
current i, with the DC link voltage E*. Again power balance with the control system of the PSS front-end converter and
between the machine side and the PSS DC link may be used the current iDc may be considered as an external disturbance

756
into the PSS DC link voltage control loop. Fig. 3 shows the
control system for a sensored vector controlled induction 8.5
machine for power smoothing (see [2]).
- 8
7.5 -s
111 SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS B
1 7 *
The system shown in Fig. 1 has been simulated using a a
VI 6.5
computer model. A second order model for a wind turbine lo
U
.e

has been implemented using a typical blade profile. Real wind 5.5
samples obtained from Rutherford Appletton Laboratories
(UK) have been used to test the control system proposed. The I
front-end converters have been modelled using ideal switches o ; 2 3 I k 6 ; 6 $4.5
operating with a switching frequency of 2KHz. Inductances Time (s)
Fig. 4. Wind profile and current generated.
of 12mH, 0.352 are used to connect both front-end converters
to the load. The DC link capacitance is lOOOpF for both back
to back converters. The nominal load is approximately 5KVA C ’
with a power factor of 0.85.
In Fig. 4 nine seconds of the wind profile, with the
corresponding generated current i,, are shown. Fig. 5 shows
the DC link voltage El for the wind profile of Fig. 4.
Additionally, at F l . 4 ~and F 3 s a pure resistive load step of
approximately 2kW (in addition to the nominal load) is
connected and disconnected respectively. The regulation
against wind variations is almost perfect. The DC link has a
relatively large dip and overshoot, due to load switching,
n 650t
550L ’
which is compensated by the power smoothing system (the 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
bandwidth of the El control system is approximately 5Hz). Time (s)
Fig. 6 shows the load voltage and the compensating Fig. 5. DC link voltage.
current i, (only one phase is shown). Before the load step the
PSS front-end converter is absorbing an energy surplus and 600 8
storing it into the flywheel. When the load step is applied the
front-end converter changes the direction of the power flow in A

less than two electrical cycles supplying energy into the load.
Fig. 7 shows the conditions when the 2kW load is L
300 5
-
.-
5

disconnected. Again the PSS front-end converter reverses the

power flow in few cycles.
a,
cn
-
3 0 O C J
s
>”
m
U
3 -300 -5
-c
0
I-

0
E
I I I+ I
-600 -8
1.36 1.38 1.4 1.42 1.44 1.46 1.48 1.5
Time (s)
Fig. 6. Load voltage and compensating current iC.

Fig. 8 shows the direct component of the load voltage

Vu. Despite the relatively large DC link voltage disturbance,
and the variation on the generated power from the WECS, the
control system maintains the voltage at the load constant with
a small dip and overshoot produced by the load disturbance.
Fig. 9 shows the d-axis component of the compensating

Flywheel w current icd. The PSS front-end converter is balancing the

power of the system by supplyinglabsorbing power tolfrom
the system. Even the relatively large load step is easily
Fig. 3. Sensored control system proposed.

757
 h

300 8 s
.-0
h
er
150 3 i
Q)
m
0 a
Z O O .-s
#

U
m -3
8
c
o -150
J

-300 -8 8E
2.96 2.98 3 3.02 3.04 3.06 3.08
Time (s) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Fig. 7. Load voltage and compensating current ic.
Time

Fig. 9 icd current supplied by the PSS front-end converter.

-
378
316 -
4.5 , I 4.5

372 3.5

3 3
2.5 E
a
366 2 E
U
364 2 1.5 1.5

S I
.r(

1
I 0.5 0.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 n l I n
Time 0 5 10 15 20 25

Fig. 8. V u voltage (load voltage).

Time (Seconds)

compensated by the fast current control of the PSS front-end Fig. 10. Wind sample and the corresponding im current.
converter. The performance of the system can be improved
by adding a feed-forward term into the control system of the
front end converter to take into consideration the fast -
595
variation of the load current.
The control system for the induction machine-flywheelset
has been experimentally tested using a 2.5kW experimental
0
%J
ir
590 1 / 4 1.8 j

rig. Fig. 10 shows a wind sample and the corresponding iDc z 585 d

supplied into the PSS DC link capacitors. The iDccurrent has

>
Y
1.6 3
.E 580
+ m
P
been emulated using a computer model of the system shown V 1.4 Z
.-w

r
Q 575
in Fig. 1 and a step up chopper.

1 ;
4-

Fig. 1 1 shows the DC link voltage E2 and the rotational 1.2

speed of the flywheel system. For this experimental test the 5 7 4

induction machine control employs field weakening (up to
twice base speed) allowing more energy to be stored with a
relatively small flywheel.
565
560 i
0 5 10 15 20 25
o:

Time (Seconds)
IV CONCLUSIONS

This paper has presented a new control strategy for power

smoothing in a variable speed wind energy conversion Fig. 1 1. PSS DC link voltage and flywheel speed.

758
system. The wind-diesel system is based on a variable speed
wind turbine connected to the system via a scalar controlled
front-end converter. The power smoothing system is based on
a vector controlled front-end converter and a vector controlled
induction machine dnving a flywheel. Because the electrical
frequency is fixed by the front-end converter, a new approach
for power smoothing is proposed in this paper. Power
balancing is achieved by regulating the DC link voltage on
the WECS side using the direct component of the
compensating current icd in the power-smoothing converter.
Simulation results have been presented and the results
obtained are very good. For a typical wind profile the
regulation in the AC load is almost perfect. Even with a
relatively large load step of 2kW the dip and overshoot at the
load are small.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work has been hnded by Fondecyt Chile, contract Nr.

1020721. The support of the British Council is also kindly
acknowledged

REFERENCES

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