Design of a maximum power tracking system for wind-energy-conversion applications
Koutroulis, E.; Kalaitzakis, K.
Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on
Volume 53, Issue 2, April 2006 Page(s): 486 - 494
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIE.2006.870658
Summary: A wind-generator (WG) maximum-power-point-tracking (MPPT) system is presented, consisting of a high-efficiency buck-type dc/dc converter and a microcontroller-based control unit running the MPPT function. The advantages of the proposed MPPT method are that no knowledge of the WG optimal power characteristic or measurement of the wind speed is required and the WG operates at a variable speed. Thus, the system features higher reliability, lower complexity and cost, and less mechanical stress of the WG. Experimental results of the proposed system indicate near-optimal WG output power, increased by 11%-50% compared to a WG directly connected via a rectifier to the battery bank. Thus, better exploitation of the available wind energy is achieved, especially under low wind speeds.
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