1

Improved Operation of DFIG Based Wind Generation Systems

Under Network Unbalance

Lie Xu
1
Liangzhong Yao
2
Norman Macleod
3
Yi Wang
1

1
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XW, United Kingdom
2
AREVA T&D Technology Centre, Stafford, ST17 4LX, United Kingdom

3
AREVA T&D PES, Stafford, ST17 4LX, United Kingdom
SUMMARY

This paper investigates the improved control strategies for operation of DFIG based wind generation
systems under unbalanced network conditions. Due to the fact that many wind farms are located some
distance from the grid connection point, the wind generators can periodically experience voltage
unbalance and this can result in wind farm disconnection. Small steady network voltage unbalance can
create unequal heating on the stator windings due to unbalanced current, extra mechanical stresses due
to torque oscillations, and output power fluctuations whereas large transient network voltage
unbalance may cause excessive over current and mechanical vibrations. Thus it is vital that DFIG
control systems are designed to minimise the impact of such unbalance on their operation. This paper
develops a complete DFIG system model in the form of positive and negative sequence components to
accurately describe the system behaviour under unbalanced conditions. Voltage unbalance
compensation using negative sequence current injection is also analyzed. Two different control
strategies for enhancing the DFIG system performance under grid voltage unbalance are proposed.
The first one uses the rotor side converter to eliminate the torque ripple whereas the ripple of the total
active power output and the converter DC voltage are eliminated by the operation of the grid side
converter. For the second control method, while torque oscillation is minimised by the rotor side
converter the grid side converter is controlled to contribute to the rebalance of the network by injecting
negative sequence current. The performance of the proposed control strategies is evaluated by
simulation studies of a 30MW DFIG based wind farm using Matlab/Simulink. It shows that with the
proposed control strategies, the torque oscillations can be successfully eliminated using the rotor side
converter, whereas the output active power fluctuation or the grid voltage unbalance can be
significantly reduced using the grid side converter.


KEYWORDS

Compensation, Control, Doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG), Positive sequence, Negative
sequence, Network voltage unbalance, Wind generation.


21, rue dArtois, F-75008 PARIS A1-201 CIGRE 2008
http : //www.cigre.org

2

I. INTRODUCTION

Wind turbines based on Doubly-fed induction generators (DFIGs) have been widely used for large
scale wind generation systems and their control and operations have been the subject of intense
research and development during the last few years. The response and performance of DFIG based
wind turbines during steady state and transient conditions under symmetrical stator voltage supply are
now well understood [1, 2]. However, both transmission and distribution networks can have both
small steady state and large transient voltage unbalances and it is important that DFIG based wind
generation systems can operate satisfactorily under such conditions. If voltage unbalance is not taken
into account by the DFIG control system, a small unbalanced stator voltage could result in large
oscillations of both torque and output power and this has led to a large number of trips [3]. Therefore,
minimising the impact of voltage unbalance on wind farm operation on one hand, contributing to the
network support on the other hand, are two of the important aspects when designing the DFIG control
systems.

Control and operation of DFIG systems during network unbalance have been studied in [4-6]. In [4],
control of the rotor side converter (RSC) for compensating DFIG torque pulsation under unbalanced
supply voltage was investigated. The system was based on controlling the double frequency
compensating currents which were generated from the oscillating torque at the same frequency. In [5],
a detailed investigation of the impact of unbalanced stator voltage on the pulsations of DFIG stator and
rotor currents, torque, and stator active and reactive powers, is provided. Various control targets
including minimising the stator/rotor currents unbalance, or stator active/reactive powers and torque
oscillations, were proposed. However, only the RSC was considered and due to its limited control
variables, it is not possible to achieve simultaneous elimination of both power and torque oscillations.
In [6], the studies were on controlling the grid side converter (GSC) to provide similar functions as a
STATCOM [7]. However no interaction between the RSC and GSC was considered.

This paper investigates the improved control strategies for operation of DFIG based wind generation
systems under unbalanced voltage conditions. A complete DFIG system including both the RSC and
GSC are analyzed under unbalanced voltage supply. Two different control methods, one for
eliminating the torque and active power ripple, and the other for eliminating torque ripple and
providing network rebalance control are discussed. MATLAB/SIMULINK is used to validate the
system performance under the proposed control methods for a 30MW DFIG based wind farm under
unbalanced supply.

II. DFIG SYSTEM MODEL UNDER UNBALANCED CONDITIONS

A typical configuration of a DFIG based wind generation system is shown in Fig. 1. Under unbalanced
supply, both positive and negative sequence components of voltage and current have to be considered
in order to accurately describe the system behaviour. In order to obtain a decoupled control between
torque/active power and reactive power, stator voltage orientation (SVO) is used in this paper where
the d-axis is fixed to the positive sequence stator voltage vector.



Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of a DFIG based wind generation system

3



Fig. 2. Equivalent circuit of a DFIG in synchronous
reference frame
Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit of the back-to-back converter
in synchronous reference frame

A. DFIG model

A DFIG model under unbalanced supply has been studied in [5], thus only a brief description is given
here. A complex vector equivalent circuit of a DFIG in an arbitrary dq reference frame rotating at
angular speed of
e
is shown in Fig. 2. According to Fig. 2, the flux and voltage in the dq reference
frame are given as

r slip
r
r r r s e
s
s s s
s m r r r r m s s s
j
d
d
, j
d
d
,

I V

I V
I I I I
+ + = + + =
+ = + =
t
R
t
R
L L L L
. (1)
where , V and I represent the flux, voltage and current. Subscripts s and r denote the stator and rotor
quantities respectively. L
s
and L
r
are the stator and rotor self inductances, L
m
is the mutual inductance.
r e slip
= is the slip frequency where
r
is the rotor angular frequency.

The stator output active and reactive power and the electromagnetic torque are given as
[ ]
s s n e s s s s

Im
2
3
,

2
3
j I I V p T Q P = = + . (2)
Based on (1) and (2), and considering the negative sequence component, the active and reactive power
shown in (2) can be expressed as [5]

( ) ( )
( ) ( ) t Q t Q Q Q
t P t P P P
e s_cos2 e s_sin2 s_av s
e s_cos2 e s_sin2 s_av s
2 cos 2 sin
2 cos 2 sin


+ + =
+ + =
(3)
where P
s_av
, Q
s_av
, P
s_sin2
, P
s_cos2
, Q
s_sin2
, and Q
s_cos2
are given by

( ) ( )
(
(
(
(
(

(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(

+
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(

=
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(

n
rq
n
rd
p
rq
p
rd
p
s
n
sd
n
sq
p
s
n
sq
n
sd
p
s
n
sq
n
sd
p
s
n
sd
n
sq
n
sd
n
sq
p
s
n
sq
n
sd
p
s
s
m
n
sq
p
sd
n
sd
p
sd
2
n
s
2
p
s
e s
s_cos2
s_sin2
s_cos2
s_sin2
s_av
s_av
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
3
0
0
2
2
0
2
3
I
I
I
I
V V V
V V V
V V V
V V V
V V V
V V V
L
L
V V
V V
V V
L
Q
Q
P
P
Q
P

. (4)
Similarly, the electromagnetic torque T
e
is expressed as
( ) ( ) t T t T T T
e e_cos2 e e_sin2 e_av e
2 cos 2 sin + + = (5)
where T
e_av
, T
e_sin2
and T
e_cos2
are given by

(
(
(
(
(

(
(
(

=
(
(
(

n
rq
n
rd
p
rq
p
rd
p
s
n
sq
n
sd
p
s
n
sd
n
sq
n
sq
n
sd
p
s
s e
m n
e_cos2
e_sin2
e_av
0
0
0
2
3
I
I
I
I
V V V
V V V
V V V
L
L p
T
T
T

. (6)
4

B. Converter model

Similar to the DFIG equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 2, a complex vector equivalent circuit of the
back-to-back converter in an arbitrary dq reference frame rotating at angular speed of
e
is shown in
Fig. 3. The converter voltage equations in the dq reference frame can be expressed as

dc
r
dc
g
dc
g
g
c g c e g c s
d
d
,
d
d
j
V
P
V
P
t
V
C
t
L L R = + + + = V
I
I I V . (7)
where subscripts g denotes the GSCs quantities. V
dc
and C are the DC bus voltage and DC
capacitance respectively. R
c
and L
c
are the resistance and inductance of the GSCs interface inductor.
The instantaneous active and reactive power input to the GSC and the active power output from the
RSC are given as

r e s r g s g g
,

2
3
j = = + T P P Q P I V . (8)
where
r
is the rotor mechanical speed.

Under unbalanced conditions, the grid side active and reactive power can also be expressed as

( ) ( )
( ) ( ) t Q t Q Q Q
t P t P P P
e g_cos2 e g_sin2 g_av g
e g_cos2 e g_sin2 g_av g
2 cos 2 sin
2 cos 2 sin


+ + =
+ + =
. (9)
where P
g_av
, Q
g_av
, P
g_sin2
, P
g_cos2
, Q
g_sin2
and Q
g_cos2
are given by

(
(
(
(
(

(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(

=
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(

n
gq
n
gd
p
gq
p
gd
p
s
n
sd
n
sq
p
s
n
sq
n
sd
p
s
n
sq
n
sd
p
s
n
sd
n
sq
n
sd
n
sq
p
s
n
sq
n
sd
p
s
g_cos2
g_sin2
g_cos2
g_sin2
g_av
g_av
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
3
I
I
I
I
V V V
V V V
V V V
V V V
V V V
V V V
Q
Q
P
P
Q
P
. (10)
According to (4), (6) and (8), the rotor side active power can be expressed as
( ) ( ) t P t P P P
e r_cos2 e r_sin2 r_av r
2 cos 2 sin + + = (11)
where P
r_av
, P
r_sin2
, P
r_cos2
, are given by

(
(
(
(
(

(
(
(

=
(
(
(

n
sq
n
sd
p
sq
p
sd
p
s
n
sq
n
sd
p
s
n
sd
n
sq
n
sq
n
sd
p
s
r_cos2
r_sin2
r_av
0 ) 2 ( ) 2 (
0 ) 2 ( ) 2 (
) 2 ( ) 2 ( 0
2
3
I
I
I
I
sV V s V s
sV V s V s
V s V s sV
P
P
P
(12)
where ( )
e r e
= s .
According to (7), the amplitude of DC bus voltage ripple can be expressed as
( )
r g
dc_ref e
r g
dc_ref e
dc
~ ~
2
1
) (
~
) (
~
2
1 ~
P P
CV
t P t P
CV
V + =

. (13)
where refers to ripples.

III. IMPROVED SYSTEM CONTROL AND OPERATION

The performance of DFIG systems can be improved by properly controlling the positive and negative
sequence currents of the RSC and GSC. According to (6), (10), (12) simply controlling the converters
5

negative sequence currents to zero will not be able to eliminate the oscillations of torque, DC bus
voltage and output power which are generated by the negative sequence supply voltage and positive
sequence current under such conditions as

p
g
p
s
n
s g s
p
s
p
g
dc_av e
n
s
dc
p
r
n
s
s e
m n
e
2
3
) (
~
) (
~ ~
) 2 (
4
3 ~
,
2
3 ~
I I
I I
+ = =
+ = =
V t P t P P
s
CV
V
V I V
L
L p
T

(14)

A. Control of RSC

According to (6), to eliminate the oscillations of electromagnetic torque, i.e., 0
~
e
= T , the required
negative sequence rotor current is given as
( )
p
r
n
s p
s
* n
r

1
I V I
V
= . (15)
Therefore, the required negative sequence rotor current for compensating the torque ripple depends on
the negative sequence stator voltage and positive sequence rotor current. According to (15), the
required negative sequence current is relatively small compared to the positive sequence current for
small voltage unbalance.

Under this condition, the average stator active power/torque and reactive power can also be estimated
based on (4) as

( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( )
|
|

\
|
+

=
+
=
p
rq m
e
p
s
p
s
2
n
s
2
p
s
s
s_av
p
rd p
s
2
n
s
2
p
s
s e
m n
e_av
p
rd p
s
2
n
s
2
p
s
s
m
av _ s
2
3
2
3
,
2
3
I L
V
V
V V
L
Q
I
V
V V
L
L p
T I
V
V V
L
L
P

(16)
B. Control of GSC

For the GSC, two different control methods can be applied depending on how its negative sequence
current orders are generated, i.e., one to minimize the oscillation of the overall output active power
from the DFIG generation system and the other to compensate the network unbalance.

Method 1: To eliminate output active power oscillation

The overall output power from a DFIG based wind generation system consist two parts, i.e., one from
the stator and the other from the GSC. To eliminate the overall output active power oscillations, it is
necessary to make 0 ) (
~
) (
~
g s
= t P t P . Thus, the required negative sequence current from GSC can be
derived according to (4) and (10) as
( )
p
g
p
s p
s
n
s n
s
* n
g

I I
V
I I + =
V
(17)
According to (8) and (13), the DC voltage ripple is
( ) 0 ) (
~
) (
~
) (
~
2
1 ~
r e s g
dc_ref e
dc
= = t T t P t P
CV
V

(18)
Equation (18) indicates that, under such control strategies, there will also have no DC bus voltage
oscillation.

6



Fig. 4 Equivalent circuit of transmission network in
synchronous reference frame rotating at
e

Fig. 5. Schematic diagram of the negative sequence
compensating current calculation

Method 2: To compensate network unbalance

Similar to the regulation of positive sequence voltage using positive sequence reactive current,
negative sequence voltage can also be controlled by injecting negative sequence current. The
equivalent circuit of the negative sequence components of a simple transmission network in the
synchronous reference frame rotating at
e
is shown in Fig. 4. As shown, the voltage unbalance is
represented using a negative source voltage
n
L
V , whereas
n
L
I and
n
C
V are the injected negative current
and the negative voltage at the point of common coupling (PCC) respectively. According to Fig. 4, the
voltage
n
C
V is given by

t
L L R
d
d
j
n
L
L
n
L L e
n
L L
n
L
n
C
I
I I V V + + = (19)
Therefore, the negative sequence voltage at the PCC can be controlled by regulating
n
L
I . For a DFIG
based wind farm, the total compensating current
n
L
I consists of both the RSC and GSC currents as

n
s
s
n
r
s
m n
g
n
s
n
g
n
L
1
) ( I I I I I
L L
L
+ = + = . (20)
If the RSC is controlled to minimize the DFIGs torque oscillations in which the rotor negative
sequence current reference is given in (15), the required GSC negative current is given by
( )
(
(

= =
p
r
n
s
p
s
m
e
n
s
s
* n
s
* n
s
* n
L
* n
g

j
1
, I V
V
I I I I
V
L
L
(21)
Fig. 5 shows the schematic diagram of the generation of the respective negative sequence
compensating currents. In this case, while the unbalanced voltage at PCC is minimized, the active
power and DC voltage oscillations still exist. If the network unbalance can be fully compensated, i.e.,
0
n
s
V , the output active power ripple and DC bus voltage ripple can be simplified as

n
s
n
g
dc_av e
p
s
dc
n
g
n
s
p
s g s
4
3 ~
,
2
3
) (
~
) (
~ ~
I I I I s
CV
V
V V t P t P P + = + = =

(22)

Table I Parameters of the simulated DFIG system
Rated power 152MW
Stator voltage/Frequency 690V/50Hz
Stator/ Rotor turns ratio 1:3
R
s
/ R
r
0.0108pu / 0.012pu
L
m
3.362pu
L
s
/ L
r
0.102pu / 0.11pu
DFIG
Lumped inertia constant 3s
DC capacitor C
dc
1510000F
Choke L
g
0.25mH/15
Filter R
f
/C
f
0.06/1000F
Network V
eN
/Z
L
120kV/7.2+j72

7


Fig. 6 Simulated results of the proposed control performance compared with the conventional one with 4%
voltage unbalance: (a) Conventional control; (b) Proposed control with Method 1; (c) Proposed control with
Method 2.


Fig. 7 Comparison of simulated results with 15% voltage unbalance: (a) Conventional control; (b) Proposed
control with Method 1.

Table II Comparison between the proposed and conventional designs (4% voltage unbalance)
Conventional control Target 1 Target 2
Stator voltage unbalance (%) 3.9 3.8 0.4
Stator current unbalance (%) 9.0 8.5 1.0
DFIG torque pulsation (%) 10 1.0 1.2
Converter DC voltage pulsation (%) 1.9 0.5 2.9
DFIG active power pulsation (%) 3.0 1.2 5.6

IV. SIMULATION STUDIES

In order to verify the performance of the proposed control methods, simulations were carried out using
Matlab/Simulink. The wind farm is simulated as a lumped 30MW DFIG model containing 15 DFIGs
each rated at 2MW. The parameters of the simulated system are given in Table I. The switching
frequencies for both the RSC and GSC were 2 kHz. The high frequency switching harmonics have
been filtered out from the waveforms shown below for clarity.

With 4% voltage unbalance, the simulated results of the conventional control without taking into
account voltage unbalance and the proposed control with Methods 1 and 2 are shown in Figs. 6 (a), (b)
8

and (c) respectively and are further compared in table II. As can be seen, for the conventional control,
the torque, DC bus voltage and output active power all contain significant 100Hz oscillations. For the
proposed control with Method 1, as shown in Fig. 6(b) and Table II, the oscillations of the torque, DC
bus voltage and output active power are all reduced significantly. For the proposed control with
Method 2, the grid voltage unbalance and torque ripple are significantly reduced. However as expected,
the DC bus voltage and output active power still contain oscillations. Further tests during a bigger
voltage unbalance of 15% which might be caused by remote asymmetric faults have been conducted
and Fig. 7 (a) and (b) compares the results for the conventional control and the proposed Method 1. As
can be seen, the torque and output active power ripple have been reduced respectively from 30% and
10% by conventional control to 3% and 4% by the proposed scheme under such a large
unbalanced condition.

V. CONCLUSION

A complete DFIG system model containing the positive and negative sequence components has been
presented in this paper to accurately describe the DFIG system behaviours under unbalanced
conditions. Two control methods for enhancing the DFIG system control and operation under network
voltage unbalance are proposed based on the developed mathematical model. Method 1 uses the RSC
to eliminate the torque ripple whereas the ripple of the total active power output and the converter DC
voltage are eliminated by the operation of the GSC. For Method 2, while torque oscillation is
minimised by the RSC, the GSC is controlled to contribute to the rebalance of the network by negative
sequence current injection. The simulation conducted on a 30MW wind farm during 4% and 15%
voltage unbalances confirm the improved performance of the proposed control schemes. Compared
with system under conventional control without considering network unbalance, significant reductions
of DFIG torque and power oscillations have been achieved with proposed Method 1 whereas Method
2 minimises torque ripple and reduces network unbalance.

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th
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