Power Control of Wind Turbine Driven Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator Using Maximum Power Point Tracking Algorithm

Abstract

The wind turbine generator considered in this work employs a directdriven (Without gearbox) PMSG, which is directly coupled to the wind turbine and connected to the electric grid through the power conditioning system (PCS). The stator windings of the PMSG are directly connected to the PCS composed of a fullscale power converter built using a back-to-back AC/DC/AC power converter topology which includes a three-phase rectifier bridge (AC/DC conversion), a DC/DC converter and a grid-side converter with an intermediate DC link (DC/AC conversion). A maximum power point tracking algorithm is used to track the maximum power output to increase the power conversion efficiency in the system. Thus the generator produces the maximum power continuously.Keywords PMSG Á MPPT Á Wind energy Á Power conditioning system (PCS) IntroductionWind-powered machines have been used by humans for thousands of years. Until the 20th century the application of wind power is limited. Now-a-days wind energy is considered as feasible source of renewable energy. The reason is that it is considered inexhaustible and can be converted easily into electrical energy through various wind energy conversion systems.Previously constant speed turbines are used for the conversion. Due to the fixedspeed operation for constant speed turbines, all the variations in the wind speed are transmitted as fluctuations in the mechanical torque and then as fluctuations in the electrical power grid. This can be avoided by the use of variable-speed wind turbine