Real-Time Emulation of a Grid-Connected Wind Energy Conversion System Based Double Fed Induction Generator Configuration under Random Operating Modes

Abstract

This paper presents the design, modeling, simulation and the experimental implementation of a 1.5 kW relatively low-cost wind energy conversion system (WECS) based on the double fed induction generator (DFIG) configuration. In the preliminary experiments, we test the DFIG power control under fixe speed by applying the vector control principle, then we insert the physical emulator presented in the controlled DC motor in order to simulate the static-dynamic behaviors of a real wind turbine with the use of the Tip Speed Ratio TSR based MPPT algorithm to extract the maximum available power on the emulator. The proposed structure is simulated using MATLAB Simulink environment, the obtained results are validated experimentally on our laboratory setup. We also develop an application with MATLAB AppDesigner that calculates the operating point of our system at steady state and visualize the power transfer, current, voltage and electromagnetic torque values of the DFIG and the DC motor before starting the stimulation or the experimental manipulation. The MPPT, the DC motor control and the DFIG power control algorithms are implanted in C, embedded on a dSPACE DS1104 control board. The obtained results confirm the reliability of the proposed WECS to manage all the probable operating modes, also the effectiveness of the physical simulator in the role of wind turbine emulation.