A New 3-Phase 3-Wire 3-Level AC-DC Converter for Wind Energy Conversion Systems

This paper presents a new 3-phase 3-level 3-wire AC-DC converter structure for wind energy conversion systems (WECS). The multi-channel converter architecture with a phase shifting principle is proposed to solve the technical challenges of future MV PMSG WECS with 5 - 20 MW power rating. Also, the Discontinuous Conduction Mode (DCM) operation is used to achieve a low-cost solution and to reduce the control complexity. In case of 5 - 20 MW output power levels, the input and output ripple currents at the inductance and capacitance filters are studied using PSPICE simulation analysis. Simulation results demonstrate that the input and output ripple currents are reduced significantly, which lead to smaller inductance and capacitance values so that high-efficiency, high-reliability and light-weight WECS can be realized.