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2, JUNE 2004
Abstract—The amount of energy obtained from a wind energy During the last few decades, many different maximum power
conversion system (WECS) depends not only on the characteris- point tracking (MPPT) control strategies have been developed
tics of the wind regime at the site, but it also depends on the con- [1], [2]. This enabled the selection of the optimal MPPT for each
trol strategy used for the WECS. In order to determine the gain
in energy derived from one concept as compared against another, WECS project. In addition, a number of theoretical studies have
models of several autonomous WECS have been developed using been made with the aim to establish the energy capture benefits
Matlab Simulink software. These allow easy performance evalu- associated with variable speed operation of WECS. A review of
ations and comparisons on different control strategies used, and the recent publications show there is very little agreement on the
determine the amount of energy injected to the grid in the case gain in projected energy [3]. It must be mentioned here that all
of the grid-connected systems. This paper also proposes a proto-
type version of the control strategy of a 20-kW permanent-magnet techniques of maximum energy capture in WECS so far have
synchronous generator (PMSG) for maximum power tracking and been based on signals available from an anemometer. Results
compares with the results produced by previous strategies. Advan- of some of these studies are as given below: According to [4],
tages of this mechanical sensorless control strategy for maximum the best of variable speed operation provided 4% more energy
power estimation are demonstrated by digital simulation of the than fixed speed. Whereas the authors in [5] are more optimistic
system.
suggesting that variable-speed system provided 16% more en-
Index Terms—Energy capture, maximum power tracking, ergy than fixed speed option, in contrast, the authors in [6] claim
PMSG wind turbine, sensorless control. that this gain is up to 20%. Finally, [7] says that it is 38%. To
date, no conclusive evidence is available as to which system is
I. INTRODUCTION likely to provide cheaper energy over its lifetime. The discrep-
ancies in energy capture indicate that there is considerable un-
(7) For maximum power extraction from the wind, the speed
of the rotor can be adjusted by controlling the difference be-
(8) tween the electrical output power and the aerodynamic power
captured. Lower to medium wind speed, with a power con-
The dc power available at the rectifier output is converted to verter, the electrical output power can be controlled by varying
ac power using a PWM current-controlled inverter (CCI) [14], the electrical torque applied to the turbine and, therefore, the
[15]. The CCI inverter is capable of operating on a wide range of rotor speed. As the wind speed increases toward the higher wind
dc voltages. In order to enable the inverter to track the maximum speed region, the power generated by the turbine also increases.
power output from the WTG, the output of the wind turbine Once the maximum rating of the turbine is reached, mechan-
generator must be controlled by adjusting the modulation index ical power shedding is usually invoked to protect the system.
M of the reference sinusoidal signal of the PWM inverter. The Protection mechanism can include passive pitch control, pas-
sensorless controller is designed to determine the operating dc sive yaw control, and dump load. As mentioned, this paper as-
voltage of the inverter at various speeds. This action is achieved sumes no active pitch control and assumes the turbine is oper-
by controlling the pulse width of the inverter. ating below the region of protection control. The use of pitch
control as a protective measure may, however, interfere with the
control system modeled in this paper.
D. Wind-Driven PMSG Characteristics
As mentioned in the introduction, a proper definition of
It is important to understand the voltage, current, and power the concepts under comparison is needed here. The authors
characteristics generated by the system at various constant wind have considered six control strategies for extracting maximum
speeds. Fig. 1 shows the components of a typical stand-alone power from the wind. The six different control strategies are
wind energy conversion system. The dynamic equations of the summarized in Table I. Brief descriptions of each control
various components involving WECS have been discussed in strategies are given below. Methods 1) and 3) to 6) have
various sections [9], [10]. Based on these equations, a dynamic been suggested by WECS practitioners in an effort to extract
model can be built using software such as Matlab for simulating maximum energy. As shown in Fig. 11, the required operating
the behavior of this entire system for various wind speed vari- voltages for different control strategies are superimposed on
ations and loads. As shown in Fig. 5, this WECS simulation actual operating voltages. The required operating voltage is
model is used to calculate the generator stator frequency, the dc obtained by converting the wind speed over the period to
link current, and voltage at various wind speeds. The dc power maximum power operating voltage using the maximum power
output at the dc link is then calculated following a step change operating voltage versus wind speed characteristic obtained
in operating dc voltages. The results of the calculations are for from Fig. 6. In this paper, all the control concepts are simulated
wind speed ranging from 4 to 12 m/s. Fig. 6 shows the corre- using the same wind turbine and PMSG generator model from
sponding output power of the PMSG at various wind speeds. the same manufacturer.
TAN AND ISLAM: OPTIMUM CONTROL STRATEGIES IN ENERGY CONVERSION OF PMSG WIND TURBINE SYSTEM WITHOUT SENSORS 395
TABLE I
SUMMARY OF THE DIFFERENT CONTROL CONCEPTS
Fig. 12. WECS output characteristic for derivative and “power-mapping” technique.
each 30-s time frame, the control strategy (3) PMSG stator fre- of the time. is a nondimensional parameter in the WECS,
quency stays within an operating point and does not vary to cap- which varies with the tip-speed ratio, where the tip-speed ratio
ture the maximum power. Even though the wind speed is higher is the ratio between the linear speeds of the tip of the blade
than the operating set point, the electrical torque is still higher with respect to the wind speed. The characteristic can be
than the mechanical torque produced by the wind turbine. This very easily calculated using the simulation program. This will
results in loss of efficiency. For the control method (4) and (5), determine which control strategy provides the maximum
there is little variation in the stator frequency during each set of operation, correlating directly to the capability of capturing
time frame. The efficiency correspondingly becomes lower as maximum power quickly. The power coefficient for each
each set of time frame becomes longer and the number of wind control strategy is shown in Fig. 14. In Fig. 14(i), the
speed operating points reduces. for method (1) (with anemometer) is shown to occur most
The maximum power coefficient of this wind turbine is frequently in the maximum power range, regardless of wind
approximately 0.457. To maximize the aerodynamic efficiency, speed variation. There are some low values due to sudden
the wind turbine should be operated at maximum most large change in the wind speed. As a result, the overall energy
398 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 19, NO. 2, JUNE 2004
Fig. 13. WECS output characteristic for wind prediction control scheme. Strategy 2) Five-speed-30-s sampling.
Fig. 14. C characteristic for different control scheme. system, and complex computation. All of these requirements
will add to the cost and complexity of the controller.
captured is optimized throughout the range of wind speed. For During the whole simulation, the power that the wind turbine
control strategy (2) (proposed controller), the operation is feeds into the grid is integrated over time. The value at the end
very close to the value obtained by method (1). There are some of the simulation is the energy that the wind turbine fed into
lower values due to the proposed controller requiring longer the grid during the simulated time (10 min), and it includes the
response time as compare to anemometer method. For control consequences of the dynamical response of the different control
strategies (2) to (5), the length of sampling time and the number concepts regarding energy. The maximum power available from
of wind speed operating points have a measurable effect on the the wind is obtained by converting the wind speed over the pe-
capability of the maximum power point tracking controller to riod to maximum power using the maximum power versus wind
operate the wind turbine at maximum value. As a result, speed characteristic obtained from Fig. 5. The integrated value
average maximum reduces as the length of sampling time of the maximum power at the end of the simulation is the max-
increases and number of operating point reduces. From these imum energy available from the wind with this WECS. As the
characteristic comparisons, the maximum power capturing aim of this study is to show the differences between the strate-
capabilities for control strategies (2) to (5) can only be im- gies, the simplest method (6-Fixed voltage) is taken as a refer-
proved by increasing the sampling rate and more operating ence. All energy captured of the other concepts is normalized
points. This, however, demands a higher order of statistical to the energy capture of this strategy under the same circum-
models, a detailed WECS mathematical model in the control stances. Fig. 15 shows the total energy captured by each control
TAN AND ISLAM: OPTIMUM CONTROL STRATEGIES IN ENERGY CONVERSION OF PMSG WIND TURBINE SYSTEM WITHOUT SENSORS 399
strategy, and the percentage of gain in energy capture over the [3] R. Hoffmann and P. Mutschler, “The influence of control strategies on
baseline of constant voltage. energy capture of wind turbines,” in Proc. 35th IAS Annu. Meeting World
Conf. Ind. Applicat. Elect. Energy, Piscataway, NJ, 2000, pp. 886–893.
As shown in Fig. 15, the proposed controller shows an in- [4] D. Goodfellow, G. A. Smith, and G. Gardner, Control Strategies for Vari-
crease in energy gain over strategy (3) to (6) and close to the able Speed Wind Energy Recovery. Leicester, U.K.: Univ. Leicester,
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speed wind turbine transmission,” J. Solar Energy Eng., vol. 120, pp.
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obtain 55–61% of energy available from the wind and has a using variable speeds,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 33, pp.
1444–1447, Nov./Dec. 1997.
maximum of 9–11% gain over the constant voltage strategy. [8] L. L. Freris, Wind Energy Conversion System. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
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response time of the CCI inverter. The percentage of maximum [9] A. J. G. Westlake, J. R. Bumby, and E. Spooner, “Damping the power-
energy extracted by the WECS can be increased by reducing the angle oscillations of a permanent-magnet synchronous generator with
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result with [5], which is a variable-speed system providing 16% pled permanent magnet generator for wind turbine application,” in Proc.
more energy than the fixed speed option. Solar—Australian New Zealand Solar Energy Soc., 1997, pp. 1–6.
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prototype variable-speed sensorless WECS. The sensorless PD of a 20 kW grid interactive photovoltaic power conditioning system in
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be optimized over a wide range of wind speeds. The has Inter-University Postgraduate Elect. Eng. Symp., Perth, Western Aus-
shown to be at its maximum as the wind speed varies. With the tralia, 2000.
[17] P. Panikar, M. S. Rahman, S. M. Islam, and T. L. Pryor, “Adaptive control
dynamic behavior of the different control concepts, we are able strategies in wind diesel hybrids system,” in Proc. Australasian Univ.
to study most of the system characteristics, such as the tracking Power Eng. Conf., Perth, Western Australia, 2000, pp. 295–301.
performance and overall energy capture capability. Based [18] E. Muljadi and C. P. Butterfield, “Pitch-controlled variable-speed wind
on these simulations, we compared the performances of five turbine generation,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 37, pp. 240–246,
Jan./Feb. 2001.
different controller strategies. This study showed that all four
variable voltage strategies have improved the maximum power
point tracking capability without significantly increasing the
complexity of the control. Maintaining a simple and effective
controller was an important factor in the design process to
Kelvin Tan (S’01) received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from
ensure easy implementation for the industrial applications. Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia, in 1997. He is currently pur-
The proposed open-loop controller was easy to implement and suing the Ph.D. degree in renewable systems at the Centre for Renewable Energy
required very little computation. The controller design does and Sustainable Technologies Australia (CRESTA), Perth.
not required accurate uncertain parameters from the PMSG
WECS. The knowledge of the WECS maximum power versus
dc voltage characteristic is the only information required for
tuning the fixed gains controller. The next step is to see if the
cost of the proposed control strategy can be paid back in terms Syed Islam (SM’93) received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical
of increased output. In addition to the interference of wind power engineering from Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Aus-
turbine protection mechanisms (static pitch and yaw control), tralia, in 1979, 1983, and 1988, respectively.
Currently, he is a Professor and Head of the Department of Electrical En-
active and reactive power control on the voltage strategies must gineering at Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia. He is also the
be investigated. Deputy Director of the Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Tech-
nologies Australia, Perth, and Managing Editor of the International Journal of
Renewable Energy Engineering. He has published many research papers in the
REFERENCES area of electric power engineering including many in the IEEE. His current re-
[1] R. Chedid, F. Mrad, and M. Basma, “Intelligent control of class of wind search interests include power quality, energy efficiency, and hybrid renewable
energy conversion systems,” IEEE Trans. Energy Conversion, vol. 14, energy systems.
pp. 1597–1604, Dec. 1999. Dr. Islam is a member of the IEE. He is the recipient of the 1999 IEEE/PES
[2] A. Z. Mohamed, M. N. Eskander, and F. A. Ghali, “Fuzzy logic control prestigious T. Burke Haye’s outstanding Faculty Recognition Award and was
based maximum power tracking of wind energy system,” Renewable the General Chair for the 2001 Australasian Universities Power Engineering
Energy, vol. 23, no. 2001, pp. 235–245. (AUPEC) Conference.