Low-switch count based excitation of induction generator in wind power generation

Abstract

The power sector is undergoing sea changes from conventional forms of power generation towards renewable energy due to diminishing resources of conventional sources of energy and also to deal with environmental issues. Three-phase self-excited induction generators (IGs) are popular in power generation from renewable sources in grid-connected as well as standalone systems. The single-phase induction generators (SPIG) with self-excitation capacitors are used in domestic applications. This paper proposes a novel reduced switch-based converter excitation system for an asymmetrical split-phase induction generators (ASPIG) application in a standalone wind energy-based power generation system. Instead of the normal six-switch inverter, the excitation scheme proposed here comprises of four numbers of power switches and four capacitors. Proper control shows that variable excitation can be effectively provided to the ASPIG using only four switches with reasonably good performance on sufficient loading and wide speed range. The proposed system is implemented and tested on load and at varied speeds in MATLAB/Simulink. This paper presents a novel excitation scheme, modeling, control, simulation, and analysis. The results obtained are reported to be effective and satisfactory in wide speed range in the standalone system.