Simulation for Wind Turbine Generators: With FAST and MATLAB-Simulink Modules

Abstract

This report presents the work done to develop generator and gearbox models in the Matrix Laboratory (MATLAB) environment and couple them to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence (FAST) program. The goal of this project was to interface the superior aerodynamic and mechanical models of FAST to the excellent electrical generator models found in various Simulink libraries and applications. The scope was limited to Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 generators and fairly basic gear-train models. The final product of this work was a set of coupled FAST and MATLAB drivetrain models. Future work will include models of Type 4 generators and more-advanced gear-train models with increased degrees of freedom. As described in this study, the developed drivetrain model can be used in many ways. First, the model can be simulated under different wind and grid conditions to yield further insight into the drivetrain dynamics in terms of predicting possible resonant excitations. Second, the tool can be used to simulate and understand transient loads and their couplings across the drivetrain components. Third, the model can be used to design the various flexible components of the drivetrain such that transmitted loads on the gearbox can be reduced. Several case studies are presented as examples of the many types of studies that can be performed using this tool.

Insights on the Provision of Frequency Support by Wind Power and the Impact on Energy Systems

“…In the examined test systems, the controls of the NREL 5 MW [19,20] are adapted to integrate each of the proposed supplementary controllers separately as illustrated in Figure 5. The WTG rated speed is 11.5 m/s, moments of inertia of the slow and fast rotating parts are 534 and 35 Mkg.m 2 resp., the gearbox ratio is 95.…”

The Parallel Virtual Infinite Capacitor Applied to DC-Link Voltage Filtering for Wind Turbines

“…Similarly, the objective function for parameter optimization of the HF-VIC controller is |k 3 | +|k 4 |, with the inequalities constraints (7), (8), (30), (31), (34), (38), (39), and equality constraint (29). The results of these optimizations provide the boundaries for k 1 , k 2 , k 3 and k 4 to ensure the successful control of both LF-VIC controller and HF-VIC controller.…”

“…The simulations are conducted using a grid-connected DFIG model [36,37] driven by the WP 1.5-MW wind turbine model [38][39][40]. The parameters of the DFIG are listed in Table 2.…”

“…Typically, the rotor side converter is controlled to maximize wind power extraction, and the grid side converter is controlled to stabilise the DC-link voltage. In this paper, we use a grid-connected DFIG model [36,37], driven by the popular WindPact (WP) 1.5-MW wind turbine [38][39][40] under turbulent wind generated by NREL Turbsim [41]. We have replaced the DC-link capacitor seen in Figure 3 with a PVIC with the same total capacitance and we compare the performance of the DC-link capacitor with that of the PVIC in stabilizing the DC-link voltage.…”

Power generation control of a hydrostatic wind turbine implemented by model‐free adaptive control scheme

“…This paper employs the detailed HWT simulation model developed by Tong and Zhao, which is transformed from the NREL 5‐MW gearbox‐based wind turbine model within FAST (fatigue, aerodynamics, structures, and turbulence) code by replacing its gearbox drivetrain with a HST. Because of this, we think this HWT simulation model has big potential to be widely applicable for HWT research.…”