Impact of intermittent misfire and fire-through on the performance of full converter based WECS

The integration of wind turbines into modern power grids has significantly increased during the last decade. The wind turbine equipped with full converter based wind energy Conversion System (FCWECS) represented about 20.3% of the worldwide total wind capacity in 2003. Since FCWECS is equipped with a voltage source inverter (VSI), it is vulnerable that misfire and fire-through may occur within the VSI switches. In this paper, impact of these switching malfunctions on FCWECS performance is investigated and discussed. Detailed simulations of the system under study are carried out using Matlab/Simulink to highlight the influence of these converter internal faults on PCC voltage, DC link voltage and shaft speed, as well as generator active and reactive power. Furthermore, compliance of the FCWECS with Spain fault ride through (FRT) grid codes is also investigated.