Design and implementation of power electronic converters in wind turbine system

Wind power generation is experiencing a tremendous growth over the past few decades in terms of the individual turbine size as well as the total installed capacity. Power electronics has played a significant role in bringing about this change as they are a technical solution to wind turbine's electrical difficulties. This paper analyses the need for power electronic converters in wind turbine systems. Nowadays, the proportion of power integrated into the grid is accelerating at a very fast pace. A grid fault might lead to a decline in the voltage (dip) resulting in an extensive tripping of the wind turbines leading to voltage instabilities and blackouts. To ensure continuous operation, low voltage ride through (LVRT) requirements of the wind turbines must be met. LVRT is achieved by using energy storage devices. High voltage ride through prevents the occurrence of overvoltage conditions across the network by using a crowbar circuit arrangement across the DC link. In this paper, a 2MW wind turbine system (WTS) employing a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) connected to the network through a back-to-back power converter is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink. From the results, it can be observed that to meet the interconnection requirements of the grid such as voltage, frequency, power, harmonics, etc. with the wind turbine characteristics, it is essential to employ power converters. Control system on generator side converter is designed to control the speed of the PMSG to ensure Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) while the grid side converter control system controls the DC link bus voltage and the sinusoidal nature of the voltage and current given to the grid.