LECTURE NOTES

RENEWABLE AND DISTRIBUTED ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES (R&DET)

(PROFESSIONAL ELECTIVE – III)

UNIT – II: Wind speed and energy - Speed and power relations - Power extraction from
wind - Tip speed ratio (TSR) - Functional structure of wind energy conversion systems -
Pitch and speed control - Power-speed-TSR characteristics - Fixed speed and variable speed
wind turbine control - Power optimization - Electrical generators - Self-Excited and Doubly-
Fed Induction Generators operation and control.
WIND SPEED AND ENERGY

Having the cubic relation with the power, the wind speed is the most critical data needed to
appraise the power potential of a candidate site. The wind is never steady at any site. It is
influenced by the weather system, the local land terrain, and the height above the ground
surface. The wind speed varies by the minute, hour, day, season, and year. Therefore, the
annual mean speed needs to be averaged over 10 or more years. Such a long term average
raises the confidence in assessing the energy-capture potential of a site. However, long-term
measurements are expensive, and most projects cannot wait that long. In such situations, the
short term, say one year, data is compared with a nearby site having a long term data to
predict the long term annual wind speed at the site under consideration. This is known as the
―measure, correlate and predict (mcp)‖ technique.

Weibull Probability Distribution

of days have low wind. The curve in the middle with k = 2 is a typical wind distribution
found at most sites. In this distribution, more days have lower than the mean speed, while few
days have high wind. The value of k determines the shape of the curve, hence is called the
‗shape parameter‘.

FIGURE 4-7: Weibull probability distribution function with scale parameter c=10 and shape
parameters k = 1, 2 and 3.

Figure 4-8 shows the distribution curves corresponding to k = 2 with different values of c
ranging from 8 to 16 mph (1 mph = 0.446 m/s). For greater values of c, the curves shift right
to the higher wind speeds. That is, the higher the c, the more number of days have high
winds. Since this shifts the distribution of hours at a higher speed scale, the c is called the
scale parameter.
 FIGURE 4-8: Weibull probability distribution with shape parameter k = 2 and the scale
parameters ranging from 8 to 16 miles per hour (mph).

The amount of power that can be harvested from wind depends on the size of the turbine and
the length of its blades. The output is proportional to the dimensions of the rotor and to the
cube of the wind speed. Theoretically, when wind speed doubles, the wind power potential
increases by a factor of eight.

Energy Distribution

If we define the energy distribution function:

Then, it would look like that in Figure 4-12, which is for the Rayleigh speed distribution. The
wind speed curve has the mode at 5.5 m/s and the mean at 6.35 m/s. However, because of the
cubic relation with the speed, the maximum energy contribution comes from the wind speed
at 9.45 m/s. Above this speed, although V3 continues to increase in cubic manner, the number
of hours at those speeds decreases faster than V3. The result is an overall decrease in the
yearly energy contribution. For this reason, it is advantageous to design the wind power to
operate at variable speeds in order to capture the maximum energy available during high
wind periods.
FIGURE 4-12: Rayleigh distributions of hours and energy per year versus wind speed with c
= 10 and k = 2.

The Power of the Wind: Cube of Wind Speed

The wind speed is extremely important for the amount of energy a wind turbine can convert
to electricity: The energy content of the wind varies with the cube (the third power) of the
average wind speed, e.g. if the wind speed is twice as high it contains 2 3 = 2 x 2 x 2 = eight
times as much energy.

Now, why does the energy in the wind vary with the third power of wind speed? Well, from
everyday knowledge you may be aware that if you double the speed of a car, it takes four
times as much energy to brake it down to a standstill. (Essentially this is Newton's second law
of motion).
Power Content of the Wind

In the case of the wind turbine we use the energy from braking the wind, and if we double the
wind speed, we get twice as many slices of wind moving through the rotor every second, and
each of those slices contains four times as much energy, as we learned from the example of
braking a car.

The graph shows that at a wind speed of 8 metres per second we get a power (amount of
energy per second) of 314 Watts per square metre exposed to the wind (the wind is coming
from a direction perpendicular to the swept rotor area).

At 16 m/s we get eight times as much power, i.e. 2509 W/m2.

Power of the Wind Formula

The power of the wind passing perpendicularly through a circular area is:
P = ½ ρ v3 π r2

Where P = the power of the wind measured in W (Watt). ρ = (rho) = the density of dry air =
1.225 measured in kg/m 3 (kilogrammes per cubic metre, at average atmospheric pressure at
sea level at 15° C). v = the velocity of the wind measured in m/s (metres per second). π =
(pi) = 3.1415926535. r = the radius (i.e. half the diameter) of the rotor measured in m
(metres).
SPEED AND POWER RELATIONS
Figure 2. Arbitrary power curve of a 1 MW wind turbine compared to wind speed. Notice the
cut out speed.

Wind speed largely determines the amount of electricity generated by a turbine. Higher wind
speeds generate more power because stronger winds allow the blades to rotate faster. Faster
rotation translates to more mechanical power and more electrical power from the generator.
The relationship between wind speed and power for a typical wind turbine is shown in Figure
2.

Turbines are designed to operate within a specific range of wind speeds. The limits of the
range are known as the cut-in speed and cut-out speed. The cut-in speed is the point at which
the wind turbine is able to generate power. Between the cut-in speed and the rated speed,
where the maximum output is reached, the power output will increase cubically with wind
speed. For example, if wind speed doubles, the power output will increase 8 times. This cubic
relationship is what makes wind speed such an important factor for wind power. This cubic
dependence does cut out at the rated wind speed. This leads to the relatively flat part of the
curve in Figure 2, so the cubic dependence is during the speeds below 15 m/s (54 kph).

The cut-out speed is the point at which the turbine must be shut down to avoid damage to the
equipment. The cut-in and cut-out speeds are related to the turbine design and size and are
decided on prior to construction.

POWER EXTRACTION FROM WIND

FIGURE 4-3: Rotor efficiency versus Vo/V ratio has single maximum. Rotor efficiency is the
fraction of available wind power extracted by the rotor and fed to the electrical generator.

TIP SPEED RATIO (TSR)

The tip-speed ratio, λ, or TSR for wind turbines is the ratio between the tangential speed of
the tip of a blade and the actual speed of the wind, v. The tip-speed ratio is related to
efficiency, with the optimum varying with blade design.[1] Higher tip speeds result in higher
noise levels and require stronger blades due to larger centrifugal forces.

The tip speed of the blade can be calculated as ω times R, where ω is the rotational speed of
the rotor in radians/second, and R is the rotor radius in metres. Therefore, we can also write:

Where v is the wind speed in metres/second at the height of the blade hub.

Fig. The further away from the center, the faster the blades spin.

The Tip Speed Ratio (often known as the TSR) is of vital importance in the design of wind
turbine generators. If the rotor of the wind turbine turns too slowly, most of the wind will
pass undisturbed through the gap between the rotor blades. Alternatively if the rotor turns too
quickly, the blurring blades will appear like a solid wall to the wind. Therefore, wind turbines
are designed with optimal tip speed ratios to extract as much power out of the wind as
possible.

When a rotor blade passes through the air it leaves turbulence in its wake. If the next blade on
the spinning rotor arrives at this point while the air is still turbulent, it will not be able to
extract power efficiently from the wind. However if the rotor span a little more slowly the air
hitting each turbine blade would no longer be turbulent. Therefore the tip speed ratio is also
chosen so that the blades do not pass through too much turbulent air.
By definition, TSR is the speed of the blade at its tip divided by the speed of the wind. For
example, if the tip of a blade is traveling at 100 mph (161 kph) and the wind speed is 20 mph
(32 kph or 9 m/s), then the TSR is 5 (100 mph/20 mph). Simply put, the tip of the blade is
traveling five times faster than the speed of the wind.

For a particular generator, if the blade set spins too slowly then most of the wind will pass by
the rotor without being captured by the blades. If the blades spin too fast, then the blades will
always be traveling through used/turbulent wind. This is because the blades will always be
traveling through a location that the blade in front of it just traveled through (and used up all
the wind in that location). It is important that enough time lapses between two blades
traveling through the same location so that new/unused wind can enter this location. Thus, the
next blade that passes through this location will be able to harness fresh/unused wind. In
short, if the blades are too slow they are not capturing all the wind they could and if they are
too fast, then the blades are spinning through used/turbulent wind. For this reason, TSR‘s are
employed when designing wind turbines so that the maximum amount of energy can be
extracted from the wind using a particular generator.

Without going into details, physics and research have shown that the approximate optimal
TSR‘s for a given blade rotor are:

TSR Number of Blades

6-7 2
5-6 3
2-3 5

There are many important conclusions one can draw from analyzing TSR‘s. The most basic
and important points:

1. Rotors with many blades (i.e. 11 blades) are generally not a good idea. An 11 bladed
rotor would have an optimal TSR which is very low. This means an 11 bladed rotor
would operate most efficiently at extremely low rpm‘s. Because nearly all generators
(permanent magnet alternators) are not optimized for extremely low rpm‘s, there is no
advantage or reason to use a rotor with many blades. Remember, rotors with lots of
blades are capturing used/turbulent wind at high TSR‘s and are thus extremely
inefficient if used as a high-rpm blade set. This is a very important point because
many people intuitively think that more blades equal a faster and more efficient blade
set. But, the laws of physics say that this is not true.
2. If you already have a generator or a motor and it requires high rpm‘s to reach
charging voltage, then your best bet is a two or three blade rotor. These rotors operate
more efficiently at high rpm‘s. Also, keep the blades as short as pragmatically
possible because shorter blades obviously spin faster than longer blades.
3. Last but not least, keep in mind the Tip to Speed Ratio! If your wind generator rotor is
operating at a low TSR compared to the optimum value, then your wind turbine‘s
blades will tend stall before hitting maximum power/efficiency. If the wind turbine‘s
blades are spinning above the recommend TSR, then the blades will be traveling
through turbulent wind. Not only is this inefficient, the turbulent wind puts your
blades and entire wind turbine under unnecessary stress and fatigue.
The Tip Speed Ratio (TSR) is used by wind turbine designers to properly match and optimize
a blade set to a particular generator (i.e. the permanent magnet alternator). This is important
to answer one of the most common questions we get: What size blades should I choose to
match with my generator?

How to Measure TSR

Measuring the TSR of a blade set is fairly easy. To accomplish this measurement you will
need two things:

 A digital tachometer. These are available online for about 25 USD and can be used to
measure the rpm‘s of a blade set.
 A anemometer. A digital anemometer can be purchased online for fairly cheap (~20
USD) and is used to measure the wind speed.

With these two items, you can obtain the necessary measurements to calculate TSR‘s. But,
one question does remain. How do we calculate the speed at the tip of a wind turbine blade, if
we only know the rpm at the tip of the blade from our tachometer measurement? Well, we
have to do a little math. Let‘s break down this calculation step by step:

Distance the tip of the blade travels to complete one revolution = circumference of a circle
with radius r = (2)(?)(r)
where r = the length of the blade.

Sample Calculation

The tip speed ratio is given by dividing the speed of the tips of the turbine blades by the
speed of the wind – for example if a 20 mph wind is blowing on a wind turbine and the tips
of its blades are rotating at 80 mph, then the tip speed ration is 80/20 = 4.
Optimum Tip Speed Ratio

The optimum tip speed ratio depends on the number of blades in the wind turbine rotor. The
fewer the number of blades, the faster the wind turbine rotor needs to turn to extract
maximum power from the wind. A two-bladed rotor has an optimum tip speed ratio of around
6, a three-bladed rotor around 5, and a four-bladed rotor around 3.

Highly efficient aerofoil rotor blade design can increase these optimum values by as much as
25-30% increasing the speed at which the rotor turns and therefore generating more power. A
well designed typical three-bladed rotor would have a tip speed ratio of around 6 to 7.

If the tip speed ratio is too low – for example if poorly designed rotor blades are used – the
wind turbine will tend to slow and/or stall. If the tip speed ratio is too high the turbine will
spin very fast through turbulent air, power will not be optimally extracted from the wind, and
the wind turbine will be highly stressed and at risk of structural failure.

Different types of turbine have completely different optimal TSR values – for example a
Darrieus wind turbine is a vertical axis (VAWT) design with aerofoil blades which generate
aerodynamic lift and therefore the TSR can be high, but a Savonius wind turbine which is
also a VAWT is a drag design and so the TSR will always be less than 1 – i.e. it cannot spin
faster than the wind hitting it.

Pictured above is a graph showing the power coefficient for different values of tip speed ratio
for a two-bladed rotor. The theoretical maximum efficiency of a wind turbine generator is
given by the Betz Limit of around 59%. With a tip speed ratio (TSR) of just under 6, the
power coefficient for this example turbine is 0.45 (= 45%).

FUNCTIONAL STRUCTURE OF WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEMS

A wind turbine is a revolving machine that converts the kinetic energy from the wind into
mechanical energy. This mechanical energy is then converted into electricity that is sent to a
power grid. The turbine components responsible for these energy conversions are the rotor
and the generator.

The rotor is the area of the turbine that consists of both the turbine hub and blades. As wind
strikes the turbine‘s blades, the hub rotates due to aerodynamic forces. This rotation is then
sent through the transmission system to decrease the revolutions per minute. The
transmission system consists of the main bearing, high-speed shaft, gearbox, and low-speed
shaft. The ratio of the gearbox determines the rotation division and the rotation speed that the
generator sees. For example, if the ratio of the gearbox is N to 1, then the generator sees the
rotor speed divided by N. This rotation is finally sent to the generator for mechanical-to-
electrical conversion.

Figure 1 shows the major components of a wind turbine: gearbox, generator, hub, rotor, low-
speed shaft, high-speed shaft, and the main bearing. The purpose of the hub is to connect the
blades‘ servos that adjust the blade direction to the low-speed shaft. The rotor is the area of
the turbine that consists of both the hub and blades. The components are all housed together
in a structure called the nacelle.
 Figure: WECS operation modes in different wind speeds.

As Figure shows, according to the wind speed, the working region of WECS typically can be
divided into two regions, namely, partial-load region that has wind speed below the rated
wind speed and full-load region that has wind speed above the rated wind speed. In the
partial-load region, the control goal of the wind power system is generally to capture the
maximum wind energy in order to achieve the maximum economic benefit. At this time, the
partial-load region can also be called the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) region. In
the full-load region, the variable propeller is particularly important. At this time, the
generator-output power is limited at the rated value by the pitch control since the capacity of
the generator and converter is limited. Furthermore, pitch control is also needed in some
special working conditions such as the limited power control under rated wind speed, the
low-voltage crossing in power grid, power grid needs to be injected into the inertia, and
lighten the wind turbine loads. Meanwhile, it is pointed out that pitch control can also
smoothen the power. This paper focuses on the pitch control above the rated wind speed.

The Power Curve

It is important to understand the relationship between power and wind speed to determine the
required control type, optimization, or limitation. The power curve, a plot you can use for this
purpose, specifies how much power you can extract from the incoming wind. Figure 4
contains an ideal wind turbine power curve.
The cut-in and cut-out speeds are the operating limits of the turbine. By staying in this range,
you ensure that the available energy is above the minimum threshold and structural health is
maintained. The rated power, a point provided by the manufacturer, takes both energy and
cost into consideration. Also, the rated wind speed is chosen because speeds above this point
are rare. Typically, you can assume that a turbine design that extracts the bulk of energy
above the rated wind speed is not cost-effective.

From Figure 4, you can see that the power curve is split into three distinct regions. Because
Region I consists of low wind speeds and is below the rated turbine power, the turbine is run
at the maximum efficiency to extract all power. In other words, the turbine controls with
optimization in mind. On the other hand, Region III consists of high wind speeds and is at the
rated turbine power. The turbine then controls with limitation of the generated power in mind
when operating in this region. Finally, Region II is a transition region mainly concerned with
keeping rotor torque and noise low.

WECS is mainly constitutive of wind turbine, transmission chain, permanent magnet

synchronous generator, generator-side converter, DC bus, and the grid-side inverter. Its
structure is shown in Figure 3.
 Figure 3: Structure diagram of WECS.

PITCH AND SPEED CONTROL

Speed Control

The rotor speed must be controlled for three reasons:

• to capture more energy, as seen above.

• to protect the rotor, the generator and the power electronic equipment from overloading at
high wind.
• when the generator is disconnected accidentally or for a scheduled event, losing the
electrical load. Under this condition, the rotor speed may run away, destroying it
mechanically, if it is not controlled.

FIGURE 5-16: Five regions of the turbine speed control.

The speed control requirement of the rotor has five separate regions
(Figure 5-16):

1. The cut-in speed at which the turbine starts producing power. Below this speed, it is
not efficient to turn on the turbine.
 2. The constant maximum C p region where the rotor speed varies with the wind-speed
variation to operate at the constant TSR corresponding to the maximum Cp value.
3. During high winds, the rotor speed is limited to an upper constant limit based on the
design limit of the system components. In the constant speed region, the Cp is lower
than the maximum Cp, and the power increases at a lower rate than that in the first
region.
4. At still higher wind speeds, such as during a gust, the machine is operated at constant
power to protect the generator and the power electronics from overloading. This can
be achieved by lowering the rotor speed. If the speed is decreased by increasing
electrical load, the generator will be overloaded, defeating the purpose. To avoid the
generator overloading, some sort of brake, eddy current, or other type, must be
installed on the rotor.
5. The cutout speed. Beyond certain wind speed, the rotor is shut off producing power in
order to protect the blades, the electrical generator, and other components of the
systems.

You can use different control methods to either optimize or limit power output. You can
control a turbine by controlling the generator speed, blade angle adjustment, and rotation of
the entire wind turbine. Blade angle adjustment and turbine rotation are also known as pitch
and yaw control, respectively. A visual representation of pitch and yaw adjustment is shown
in Figures 5 and 6.
 Figure 5a: Showing direction of pitch control with motor controlling the angle of rotation.

Pitch controls adjust the blades in wind turbines by rotating them so that they use the right
fraction of the available wind energy to get the most power output, all the while ensuring the
turbine does not exceed its maximum rotational speed. This maintains the turbine‘s safety in
the event of high winds, loss of electrical load, or other catastrophic events.

The pitch control monitors and adjusts the angle of the wind turbine‘s rotor blades, which can
measure up to 65 meters long, and thus controls the rotational speed of the turbine. Although
pitch controls play a vital role, they account for less than 3% of a wind turbine‘s capital
expense.

The purpose of pitch control is to maintain the optimum blade angle to achieve certain rotor
speeds or power output. You can use pitch adjustment to stall and furl, two methods of pitch
control. By stalling a wind turbine, you increase the angle of attack, which causes the flat side
of the blade to face further into the wind. Furling decreases the angle of attack, causing the
edge of the blade to face the oncoming wind. Pitch angle adjustment is the most effective
way to limit output power by changing aerodynamic force on the blade at high wind speeds.

Yaw refers to the rotation of the entire wind turbine in the horizontal axis. Yaw control
ensures that the turbine is constantly facing into the wind to maximize the effective rotor area
and, as a result, power. Because wind direction can vary quickly, the turbine may misalign
with the oncoming wind and cause power output losses. You can approximate these losses
with the following equation:

EQ 6: ∆P=α cos(ε) Where ∆P is the lost power and ε is the yaw error angle

The final type of control deals with the electrical subsystem. You can achieve this dynamic
control with power electronics, or, more specifically, electronic converters that are coupled to
the generator. The two types of generator control are stator and rotor. The stator and rotor are
the stationary and nonstationary parts of a generator, respectively. In each case, you
disconnect the stator or rotor from the grid to change the synchronous speed of the generator
independently of the voltage or frequency of the grid. Controlling the synchronous generator
speed is the most effective way to optimize maximum power output at low wind speeds.

Figure 7 shows a system-level layout of a wind energy conversion system and the signals
used. Notice that control is most effective by adjusting pitch angle and controlling the
synchronous speed of the generator.

Figure 7. System-Level Layout of a Wind Energy System

 Figure 4: 2-MW baseline wind turbine power coefficient.

Challenges in Pitch Control

Pitch controls are in the hub of the wind turbine where each blade requires a pitch actuator.
To repair or service a pitch controller, technicians must usually travel to a remote site, climb
260 to 525 ft (80 to 160 m), unless the turbine comes equipped with a lift or small elevator.
The expense of getting to the device requires that engineers develop low-maintenance,
compact mechanism. When pitch controls do break, the ideal replacement is something a
maintenance technician can carry, along with a satchel or kit of tools.

Besides the challenges of getting to the turbine‘s nacelle, equipment there must survive
ambient temperatures ranging from −40° to 130° F (−40° to +55°C) and prolonged vibrations
that put great stress on components. Whether it‘s scheduled or unscheduled, reducing the
frequency and length of downtime is crucial for wind turbine operators. This means the pitch
controls should be simple to maintain, relatively compact, lightweight, and reliable.
POWER-SPEED-TSR CHARACTERISTICS

The power coefficient, Cp is a quantity that expresses what fraction of the power in the wind
is being extracted by the wind turbine. It is generally assumed to be a function of both tip-
speed ratio and pitch angle. Below is a plot of the variation of the power coefficient with
variations in the tip-speed ratio when the pitch is held constant:

FIGURE 2. Characteristic curves of wind turbine: (a) power conversion coefficient versus
TSR and (b) turbine power versus rotational speed for different wind velocities.

Figure 2(a) shows that the value of Cp varies with respect to λ and reaches its maximum
value at a particular λopt. The power captured by the wind turbine is then a function of the
rotational speed and is maximal at λopt, and hence, for each wind velocity, maximal power
can be extracted at a given rotor speed (Figure 2(b)). Therefore, the turbine speed has to be
controlled to follow the optimal TSR. This is achieved by incorporating an MPPT control in
the system.
To have maximum possible power, the turbine should always operate at λopt. The TSR
control method regulates the TSR to maintain it at its optimal value to extract the maximal
power. This control requires the knowledge of the wind velocity, turbine speed, and reference
optimal point of the TSR, which can be determined experimentally or theoretically. The
difference between the TSR reference and its actual value feeds the controller and gives the
reference power.
The case for variable speed wind turbines
Originally, wind turbines were fixed speed. This has the benefit that the rotor speed in the
generator is constant, thus the frequency of the AC voltage is fixed. This allows the wind
turbine to be directly connected to a transmission system. However, from the figure above,
we can see that the power coefficient is a function of the tip-speed ratio. By extension, the
efficiency of the wind turbine is a function of the tip-speed ratio.
Ideally, one would like to have a turbine operating at the maximum value of Cp at all wind
speeds. This means that as the wind speed changes, the rotor speed must change to such that
Cp= Cp~max
A wind turbine with a variable rotor speed is called a variable speed wind turbine. Whilst this
does mean that the wind turbine operates at or close to Cp~max for a range of wind speeds,
the frequency of the AC voltage generator will not be constant. This can be seen in the
following equation:

where N is the rotor angular speed, f is the frequency of the AC voltage generated in the stator
windings, P is the number of poles in the generator inside the nacelle. That is, direct
connection to a transmission system for a variable speed is not permissible. What is required
is a power converter which converts the signal generated by the turbine generator into DC
and then converts that signal to an AC signal with the grid/transmission system frequency.
Drawbacks of variable speed wind turbines
As already mentioned, variable speed wind turbines cannot be directly connected to a
transmission system. One of the drawbacks of this is that the inertia of the transmission
system is reduced as more variable speed wind turbines are put online. This can result in
more significant drops in the transmission system's voltage frequency in the event of the loss
of a generating unit. Furthermore, variable speed wind turbines require power electronics,
which increases the complexity of the turbine and introduces new sources of failures. It has
also been suggested that additional energy capture achieved by comparing a variable speed
wind turbine to a fixed speed wind turbine is approximately 2%.

FIXED SPEED AND VARIABLE SPEED WIND TURBINE CONTROL

Recall that controlling the pitch of the blade and speed of the generator are the most effective
methods to adjust output power. The following control strategies use pitch and generator
speed control to manage turbine functionality throughout the power curve: fixed-speed fixed-
pitch, fixed-speed variable-pitch, variable-speed fixed-pitch, and variable-speed variable-
pitch. Figure 8 shows the power curves for different control strategies explained below, with
variable-speed variable-pitch, VS-VP, being the ideal curve.

Figure 8. Power Curves for Different Control Strategies (Variable-speed variable-pitch, VS-
VP, is the ideal curve.)
Fixed-speed fixed-pitch (FS-FP) is the one configuration where it is impossible to improve
performance with active control. In this design, the turbine‘s generator is directly coupled to
the power grid, causing the generator speed to lock to the power line frequency and fix the
rotational speed. These turbines are regulated using passive stall methods at high wind
speeds. The gearbox ratio selection becomes important for this passive control because it
ensures that the rated power is not exceeded. Figure 8 shows the power curve for FS-FP
operation.
From the figure, it is apparent that the actual power does not match the ideal power, implying
that there is lower energy capture. Notice that the turbine operates at maximum efficiency
only at one wind speed in the low-speed region. The rated power of the turbine is achieved
only at one wind speed as well. This implies poor power regulation as a result of constrained
operations.
Fixed-speed variable-pitch (FS-VP) configuration operates at a fixed pitch angle below the
rated wind speed and continuously adjusts the angle above the rated wind speed. To clarify,
fixed-speed operation implies a maximum output power at one wind speed. You can use both
feather and stall pitch control methods in this configuration to limit power. Keep in mind that
feathering takes a significant amount of control design and stalling increases unwanted thrust
force as stall increases. Figure 8 shows the power curve for FS-VP using either feather or
stall control.
Below the rated wind speed, the FS-VP turbine has a near optimum efficiency around Region
II. Exceeding the rated wind speed, the pitch angles are continuously changed, providing
little to no loss in power.
Variable-speed fixed-pitch (VS-FP) configuration continuously adjusts the rotor speed
relative to the wind speed through power electronics controlling the synchronous speed of the
generator. This type of control assumes that the generator is from the grid so that the
generator‘s rotor and drive-train are free to rotate independently of grid frequency. Fixed-
pitch relies heavily on the blade design to limit power through passive stalling. Figure 8
shows the power curve for VS-FP.
Figure 8 shows that power efficiency is maximized at low wind speeds, and you can achieve
rated turbine power only at one wind speed. Passive stall regulation plays a major role in not
achieving the rated power and can be attributed to poor power regulation above the rated
wind speed. In lower wind speed cases, VS-FP can capture more energy and improve power
quality.
Variable-speed variable-pitch (VS-VP) configuration is a derivation of VS-FP and FS-VP.
Operating below the rated wind speed, variable speed and fixed pitch are used to maximize
energy capture and increase power quality. Operating above the rated wind speed, fixed
speed and variable pitch permit efficient power regulation at the rated power. VS-VP is the
only control strategy that theoretically achieves the ideal power curve shown in Figure 8.

Fig. 2. Typical curves for a constant speed, stall controlled (dotted) and variable speed pitch
controlled (solid) wind turbine.
There are mainly two kinds of wind energy conversion systems in operation; fixed-speed or
constant speed wind turbines which operate at a nearly constant speed, predetermined by the
generator design and gearbox ratio, and variable speed wind turbines.
The overall operating strategy determines how the various components are controlled. For
example, as part of the overall control strategy, the rotor torque can be controlled to
maximize energy capture, or pitch angle control can help control the power output at high
wind speeds. Fixed-speed stall-regulated turbines have no options for control input. In these
turbines the turbine blades are designed with fixed pitch to operate near the optimal tip speed
ratio TSR at a specific wind speed. As wind speed increases, so, too does the angle of attack,
and an increasingly large part of the blade, starting at the blade root, enters the stall region
resulting in the reduced rotor efficiency and limitation of the power output. A variation of the
stall regulated concept involves operating the wind turbine at two distinct, constant operating
speeds, by either changing the number of poles of the electrical generator or changing the
gear ratio. The principal advantage of stall control is its simplicity, but there are significant
disadvantages; for instance, the stall regulated wind turbine will not be able to capture wind
energy in an efficient manner at wind speeds other than that it is designed for. Fixed-speed
pitch-regulated turbines typically use pitch regulation for startup and, and after start-up only
to control the power above the rated wind speed of the turbine. Variable speed wind turbines
In a constant speed, stall-controlled wind turbine the turbine output power peaks somewhat
higher than the rated limit, then decreases until the cut-out speed is reached. This feature
provides an element of passive power output regulation, ensuring that the generator is not
overloaded as the wind speed reaches above nominal values. With variable speed operation
although the energy capture is more, the cost of variable speed control is added to the overall
system cost. This tradeoff between the energy increase and cost increase has to be optimized
in the system design. The advantages and disadvantages of the variable and fixed-speed
operations can be summarized in the following table.
 Fig. 3. Typical pitch-regulated variable-speed wind turbine.
Variable speed pitch-regulated wind turbines have two methods for affecting the turbine
operation, namely speed changes and blade pitch changes. In other terms, the control
strategies employed in the operation of variable speed wind turbine system are:
1. Power optimization strategy, employed when the speed is below the rated wind speed,
to optimize the energy capture by maintaining the optimum tip speed ratio. This can
be achieved by maintaining a constant speed corresponding to the optimum tip speed
ratio. If the speed is changed by controlling the electrical load, the generator will be
overloaded for wind speeds above nominal value. To avoid such scenario, methods
like generator torque control are used to control the speed.
2. . Power limitation strategy, used above the rated wind speed of the turbine to limit the
output power to the rated power by changing the blade pitch to reduce the
aerodynamic efficiency, thereby reducing the wind turbine power to acceptable levels.
As mentioned in the previous subsection, pitch controller controls the wind flow around the
wind turbine blade, thereby controlling the toque exerted on the turbine shaft. If the wind
speed is less than the rated wind speed of the wind turbine, the pitch angle is kept constant at
its optimum value. It should be noted that the pitch angle can change at a finite rate, which
may be quite low due to the size of the rotor blades. The maximum rate of change of the pitch
angle is in the order of 3 to 10 degrees/second. In this controller a slight over-speeding of the
rotor above its nominal value can be allowed without causing problems for the wind turbine
structure
POWER OPTIMIZATION
 Fig-1 : WECS including IG,MC,turbine,gearbox and grid

A variable wind turbine (WT) generates power in subrated and rated power regions. In the
subrated region Fig.2. region II , the maximum achievable turbine power is a function of the
turbine speed at any velocity. T

Fig-2 : Power curve including four operating regions

Fig-3 : Turbine power v/s turbine speed
Three system performance attributes are related to the TSR:

• The centrifugal mechanical stress in the blade material is proportional to the TSR. The
machine working at a higher TSR is stressed more. Therefore, if designed for the
same power in the same wind speed, the machine operating at a higher TSR would
have slimmer rotor blades.
• The ability of a wind turbine to start under load is inversely proportional to the design
TSR. As this ratio increases, the starting torque produced by the blade decreases.
• As seen above, the TSR is also related to the operating point for extracting the
maximum power. The maximum rotor efficiency Cp is achieved at a particular TSR,
which is specific to the aerodynamic design of a given turbine. The TSR needed for
the maximum power extraction ranges from nearly one for multiple-blade, slow-speed
machines to nearly six for modern high-speed, two-blade machines.

The wind power system design must optimize the annual energy capture at a given site. The
only operating mode for extracting the maximum energy is to vary the turbine speed with
varying wind speed such that at all times the TSR is continuously equal to that required for
the maximum power coefficient Cp. The theory and field experience indicates that the
variable speed operation yields 20 to 30 percent more energy than with the fixed speed
operation. Nevertheless, cost of the variable-speed control is added. In the system design, this
trade-off between the energy increase and the cost increase has to be optimized. In the past,
the added costs of designing the variable-pitch rotor, or the speed control with power
electronics, outweighed the benefit of the increased energy capture. However, falling prices
of the power electronics for speed control, and availability of high-strength fiber composites
for constructing high-speed rotors, have made it economical to capture more energy when the
speed is high. In the fixed-speed operation, on the other hand, the rotor is shut off during
high-wind speeds, losing significant energy.

FIGURE 5-11: Rotor efficiency and annual energy production versus rotor tip-speed ratio.

Maximum Power Operation

As seen earlier, operating the wind turbine at a constant tip-speed ratio corresponding to the
maximum power point at all times can generate 20 to 30 percent more electricity per year.
However, this requires a control scheme to operate with variable speed. Two possible
schemes used with the variable speed operation are as follows:

5.6.1 Constant Tip-Speed Ratio Scheme

This scheme is based on the fact that the maximum energy is extracted when the optimum
tip-speed ratio is maintained constantly at all wind speeds. The optimum TSR is a
characteristic of the given wind turbine. This optimum value is stored as the reference TSR in
the control computer. The wind speed is continuously measured and compared with the blade
tip speed. The error signal is then fed to the control system, which changes the turbine speed
to minimize the error (Figure 5-14). At this time the rotor must be operating at the reference
TSR generating the maximum power. This scheme has a disadvantage of requiring the local
wind speed measurements, which could have significant error particularly in a large wind
farm with shadow effects. Being sensitive to the changes in the blade surface, the optimum
TSR gradually changes. The computer reference TSR must be changed accordingly many
times over the life. This is expensive. Besides, it is difficult to determine the new optimum
tip-speed ratio with changes that are not fully understood, nor easily measured.
 FIGURE 5-14: Maximum power operation using rotor tip-speed control scheme.

5.6.2 Peak Power Tracking Scheme

The power versus speed curve has a single well-defined peak. If we operate at the peak point,
a small increase or decrease in the turbine speed would result in no change in the power
output, as the peak point locally lies in a flat neighborhood. Therefore, a necessary condition
for the speed to be at the maximum power point is as follows:
 FIGURE 5-15: Maximum power operation using power control scheme.

ELECTRICAL GENERATORS

When the wind passes over the blades, it exerts a turning force. The rotating blades make a
shaft turn inside the nacelle, which goes into a gearbox.

Next, the gearbox speeds up the rotation to an appropriate level for the generator, which uses
magnetic fields to convert the rotational energy into electricity.

There are basically two types of wind turbines — fixed-speed turbine and variable wind
turbine.

Out of these two types of wind turbines, the most commonly used is the fixed-speed turbine,
where the induction generator is directly connected to the grid. However, this system has its
flaws because it often fails to control the grid voltage.

To avoid the flaws of a fixed-speed wind turbine, variable-speed wind turbines are used.
These turbines provide stability to the dynamic behaviour of the turbine and reduce the noise
at low wind speeds.

To operate a variable-speed wind turbine, however, an electronic converter is needed, and

this is where the role of a wind turbine generator comes into play.

To equip a wind turbine with any three-phase generator, such as a synchronous generator and
asynchronous generator, ensure more consistent operations.
There are four types of wind turbine generators (WTGs) which can be considered for the
various wind turbine systems, those are:

• Direct Current (DC) Generators

• Alternating Current (AC) Synchronous Generators
• AC Asynchronous Generators, and
• Switched Reluctance Generators.

Each of these generators can be run at fixed or variable speed. Due to the dynamic nature of
wind power, it is ideal to operate the WTGs at variable speed.

Operating a generator at variable speed reduces the physical stress on the turbine blades and
drive, and which improves aerodynamic system efficiency and torque transient behaviours.

1. DC Generator

A DC wind generator system has a wind turbine, a DC generator, an insulated gate bipolar
transistor (IGBT) inverter, a transformer, a controller, and a power grid.

For shunt-wound DC generators, the field current increases with operational speed, whereas
the balance between the wind turbine drive torque determines the actual speed of the wind
turbine.

Electricity is extracted through brushes, which connect the commentator that is used to
convert the generated AC power into DC output.

These generators need regular maintenance and are relatively costly because of using
commutators and brushes.

Using DC WTGs are unusual in wind turbine applications except in the situations of low
power demand.

2. AC Synchronous Generator

AC synchronous wind turbine generators can take constant or DC excitations from either
permanent magnets or electromagnets.

This is why they both are called ―permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs)‖ and
―electrically excited synchronous generators (EESGs)‖.‖

When the wind turbine drives the rotor, three-phase power is produced in the stator windings
that are connected to the grid via transformers and power converters.

In the case of fixed-speed synchronous generators, the rotor speed needs to be at exactly the
synchronous speed. Or else, the synchronism will be lost.
When using fixed-speed synchronous generators, random fluctuations of wind speed and
periodic disturbances happen due to tower-shading effects.

Moreover, synchronous WTGs tend to have a low damping effect so that they do not allow
drive train transients to be absorbed electrically.

When synchronous WTGs are integrated into the power grid, synchronizing their frequency
with the grid requires a delicate operation.

In addition, these generators more complex, costly, and prone to failure compared to
induction generators.

During the past decades, PM generators have increasingly been used in wind turbine
applications due to their high-power density and low mass.

The structure of PM generators is relatively straightforward. The rugged PMs are installed on
the rotor to generate a constant magnetic field, and the produced electricity is collected from
the stator by using the commutator, slip rings or brushes.

Sometimes the PMs are integrated into a cylindrical cast aluminum rotor to lower the cost.
The basic principle of operating PM generators is similar to synchronous generators except
that PM generators can be operated asynchronously.

Some of the advantages of PMSGs are the elimination of commutator, slip rings, and brushes
so that the machines are rugged, reliable, and simple.

Due to the variability of the actual wind speeds, the PMSGs can not produce electricity with a
fixed frequency. For this, the generators should be connected to the power grid through
rectifying AC-DC-AC by power converters.

It means the generated AC power containing variable frequency and magnitude is first
rectified into fixed DC, and then converted back into AC power.

Also, these permanent magnet machines can be useful for direct-drive applications as, in this
case, they can get rid of troublesome, gearboxes which cause failures for the majority of wind
turbines.

One of the potential variants of synchronous generators is the high-temperature

superconducting generator.

The superconductor generators have components such as the stator back iron, stator copper
winding, HTS field coils, rotor core, rotor support structure, rotor cooling system, and others.

Superconducting coils may carry nearly 10 times the current than traditional copper wires
with moderate resistance and conductor losses.
Also, using superconductors can stop all field circuit power losses. Moreover, the increase in
current density allows for high magnetic fields, which will result in a significant reduction in
mass and size for wind turbine generators.

So, superconducting generators can have more potential in high capacity and weight
reductions and may suit better for wind turbines rated 10 MW or more.

In 2005, Siemens launched the first superconducting wind turbine generator in the world,
which was a 4MW synchronous generator.

Along with higher capacity, synchronous generators may pose several technical challenges,
especially for the long-life, low-maintenance wind turbine systems.

One such challenge, for example, is cooling down the system and restoring operation
following a technical snag.

3. AC Asynchronous Generators

When the traditional way of power generation uses synchronous generators, modern wind
power systems use induction machines, extensively in wind turbine applications.

The induction generators are classified into two types: fixed-speed induction generators
(FSIGs) with squirrel cage rotors, and doubly-fed induction generators (DFIGs) with wound
rotors.

Generally, induction generators are simple, reliable, inexpensive, and well-designed.

These generators have a high degree of damping and can absorb rotor speed fluctuations and
drive train transients.

In the case of fixed-speed induction generators, the stator is connected to the grid through a
transformer, and the rotor is connected to the wind turbine through a gearbox.

Until 1998, most wind turbine makers produced fixed-speed induction generators of 1.5 MW
and less.

These generators were normally operated at 1500 revolutions per minute (rpm) for the 50 Hz
utility grid, along with a three-stage gearbox.

Squirrel cage induction generators (SCIGs) can be used in variable speed wind turbines, as in
controlling synchronous machines.

In such cases, the output voltage, however, can not be controlled, and the external supply of
reactive power is required.
It means fixed-speed induction generators have restrictions when it comes to operating only
within a narrow range of discrete speeds.

Other disadvantages of these generators are about the machine size, low efficiency, noise, and
reliability.

These days, more than 85% of the installed wind turbines use DFIGs, and the largest capacity
for the commercial wind turbine product has an increased capacity towards 5MW.

The increased capacity offers several advantages, including high energy yield, reduced
mechanical stresses, power fluctuations, and controllability of reactive power.

Induction generators are also prone to voltage instability. Additionally, the damping effect
may result in power losses in the rotor. There is no direct control over the terminal voltage,
nor sustained fault currents.

In these cases, it is possible to regulate the speed and torque of the DFIG by controlling the
rotor side converter (RSC).

In sub-synchronous operation, the rotor-side converter works as an inverter and the grid-side
converter (GSC) as a rectifier.

On the other hand, in the case of super-synchronous operation, the RSC operates as a rectifier
and the GSC as an inverter.

4. Switched Reluctance Wind Turbine Generator

Switched reluctance wind turbine generators have features such as strong rotor and stator.
With the rotor‘s rotations, the reluctance of the magnetic circuit linking the stator and rotor
changes. It then, in turn, induces currents in the winding on the armature (stator).

The reluctance rotor is built from laminated steel sheets, and it does not have any electrical
field windings or permanent magnets.

For this reason, the reluctance generator is simple, easy to produce, and assemble. Another
obvious feature of these generators is their high reliability. It is because they can work in
harsh or high-temperature environments.

Due to the fact that the reluctance torque is only a fraction of electrical torque, the rotor of a
switched reluctance generator is usually larger than the other with electrical excitations for a
given rate of torque.

When reluctance generators are combined with direct drive features, the machines would be
quite large and heavy, making them less useful in wind power applications.
SELF-EXCITED AND DOUBLY-FED INDUCTION GENERATORS OPERATION
AND CONTROL

a) Self-excited induction generators (SEIG)

Delta connected capacitor bank is connected across the terminals of the induction machine as
shown in the below figure.

These Delta-connected capacitors provide the excitation current required for the machine to
work as a generator. These capacitors supply necessary reactive power to the induction
generator to build voltage. These capacitors also supply reactive power to the load.

When the prime-mover rotates the rotor, a small amount of emf is induced in the stator due to
residual magnetism present in the rotor. The frequency of the induced emf depends upon the
rotor speed. This way the machine works as a self-excited induction generator.

The prime mover may be a windmill here.

The wind turbine is coupled to the shaft of an induction generator (IG) through a gear box.
The IG is connected to capacitor banks for self-excitation and an uncontrolled converter to
supply a DC load.

By self-excited induction generators, we mean cage rotor induction machines with shunt (and
series) capacitors connected at their terminals for self-excitation. The shunt capacitors may be
constant or may be varied through power electronics or step-wise.
The induction generator with capacitor excitation is driven by a prime mover with the main
power switch open as shown in figure(1). As the speed increase, due to prime-mover torque,
eventually, the no-load terminal voltage increase and settles on a certain value, depending on
machine speed, capacitance, and machine parameters. The equivalent circuit of induction
machine shown in figure (2-a) is further simplified by neglecting the stator resistance and
leakage inductance and by considering zero slip( S = 0: open rotor circuit ) for no-load
conditions as shown in figure(2-b). Erem represent the no-load initial stator voltage(before
self-excitation), at frequency w10 = wr , produced by the remnant flux density in the rotor left
there from previous operation events. To initiate the self-excitation process, Erem has to be
nonzero.

The magnetization curve of the induction generator, obtained from typical motor no-load
tests, E1(Im ) has to advance to the nonlinear (saturation) zone in order to firmly intersect the
capacitor straight-line voltage characteristic (figure(3)) and thus, produce the no-load voltage
E1.
The increasing of terminal voltage from Vrem to V10 unfolds slowly in time (seconds), and
figure (3) presents it as a step-wise quasi-steady-state process. It is a qualitative
representation only. Once the self-excited induction generator is self-excited, the load is
connected. If the load is purely resistive, the terminal voltage decreases and so does (slightly)
the frequency w1 for constant (regulated) prime-mover speed wr . With w1 < wr , the SEIG
delivers power to the load for negative slip S < 0.
 Figure 2 the cage rotor induction machine : (a) the equivalent circuit, (b) oversimplified
equivalent circuit.

Figure 3: Quasi-steady-state self-excitation characteristics

Proceduer:

• Connect the circuit shown in the Figure 1.

• Switch on the supply after checking connection by concerned teacher.
• Increase the speed of the prime mover by increasing supply input voltage slowly until
reach the rated speed.
• Increase the speed of induction machine beyond its synchronous speed( S<0).
• Note the voltage build-up process in the induction machine.
• Increase the excitation capacitance in steps until reach the rated voltage of the
induction machine as an induction generator.
• Connect the load (resistive) by closing power switch in steps and record the values of
all meters.

b) Doubly-fed induction generators (DFIG)

Doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) wind turbines are nowadays increasingly used in
large wind farms [78, 79]. The main reason for the popularity of winddriven DFIGs
connected to the national grid is their ability to supply power at constant voltage and
frequency as the rotor speed varies. The DFIG configuration also provides a possibility to
control the overall system power factor. One form of DFIG uses a wound-rotor induction
machine in which the rotor is fed via a frequency converter to give variable speed operation.

Atypical DFIG system is shownin Figure 2.4. TheAC/DC/ACconverter consists of two

components: the rotor-side converter (Rcon) and the grid-side converter (Gcon). Rcon and
Gcon are voltage-sourced converters that use forced–commutated power electronics devices
(IGBTs) to synthesize an AC voltage from a DC voltage source. A capacitor connected on the
DC side acts as the DC voltage source. The generator slip rings are connected to the rotor-
side converter, which shares a DC link with the grid-side converter in a so-called back-to-
back configuration. The AC side of the grid-side converter is connected through a three-phase
series inductance to the power network, while the stator winding of the generator is directly
connected to the network. The power captured by the wind turbine is converted into electric
power by the IG and is transmitted to the grid by the stator and the rotor windings. The
control system generates the pitch angle command and the voltage command signals for Rcon
and Gcon to control the power of the wind turbine, DC bus voltage and reactive power or
voltage at the grid terminals.

Operation of Doubly Fed Induction Generator:

Doubly fed Induction generators fed ac currents into both stator and rotor windings. The wind
power captured by the turbine is converted into electric power by the generator and is
transferred to the grid by stator and rotor windings.

The major advantage of DFIG is that it allows the amplitude and frequency of their output
voltages to be maintained at a constant value, irrespective of the speed of the wind turbine
rotor. Hence DFIG can be directly connected to the ac power network and remained
synchronized at all times.

When the rotor moves faster than the rotating magnetic field from the stator, it means that the
stator induces a strong current in the rotor. The harder the rotor rotates, the more power will
be transferred as an electromagnetic force to the stator, and in turn converted to electricity
which is fed into the electrical grid. The speed of the asynchronous generator will vary with
the turning force applied to it. Its difference from the synchronous speed in per cent is called
the generator‘s slip.With the rotor winding short-circuited, the generator at full load is only a
few per cent.
 Figure 2.4 A DFIG and wind turbine system

With the DFIG, slip control is provided by the rotor- and grid-side converters. At high rotor
speeds, the slip power is recovered and delivered to the grid, resulting in a high overall
system efficiency. If the rotor speed range is limited, the ratings of the frequency converters
will be small compared with the generator rating, which helps in reducing converter losses
and the system cost.
Since the mechanical torque applied to the rotor is positive for power generation and since
the rotational speed of the magnetic flux in the air gap of the generator is positive and
constant for a constant frequency grid voltage, the sign of the rotor electric power output is a
function of the slip sign. The rotor electric power output is positive for negative slip (speed
greater than synchronous speed) and negative for positive slip (speed lower than synchronous
speed). For supersynchronous speed operation, the rotor electric power output is transmitted
to the DC bus capacitor and tends to raise the DC voltage. For subsynchronous speed
operation, the rotor electric power output is taken out of the DC bus capacitor and tends to
decrease the DC voltage. Gcon is used to keep the DC voltage constant. At steady state for a
losslessAC/DC/ACconverter, the grid-side converter electric power output is equal to the
rotor electric power output and the speed of the wind turbine is determined by the rotor
electric power output absorbed or generated by Rcon. Rcon and Gcon have the capability of
generating or absorbing reactive power and could be used to control the reactive power or the
voltage at the grid terminals. The pitch angle is controlled to limit the generator output power
to its nominal value for high wind speeds. The reactive power absorbed by the induction
generator is provided by the grid or by some devices such as capacitor banks or synchronous
condensers.