1

Selecting IGBT Module for a High Voltage 5 MW

Wind Turbine PMSG-equipped Generating System
Poopak Roshanfekr, Torbjorn Thiringer, Sonja Lundmark & Mikael Alatalo
Chalmers University of Technology
Goteborg, Sweden

AbstractIn this paper, a fairly high voltage generating system

for a 5 MW generating system is investigated. The generating
system consists of a surface mounted PMSG (Permanent Magnet
Synchronous Generator) with a 2-level transistor converter. The
focus is on utilizing three available high voltage IGBT-modules,
and to investigate the resulting losses when using them to compose
a converter, in order to observe the difference as well as the best
choice. In addition, the ideal dc-link voltage for a certain module
as well as for a certain main average wind speed is studied. It is
found that the most suitable module to use from the loss point
of view is the 1.7 kV module, the one with the lowest voltage
rating. The difference towards using the 6.5 kV module is a
loss increase in the converter at rated operation of 62 %. This
is in spite of that a converter composed of the 6.5 kV module
has less than half of the conduction losses compare to 1.7 kV
module. Accordingly, it can be understood that the switching
losses increase much stronger than the conduction losses decrease
when using a module with higher voltage rating. When looking at
the average annual energy efciency difference, the best annual
efciency is also achieved when the converter is composed with
the 1.7 kV modules.
Index Termswind energy, energy efciency, power electronic
2-level converter, IGBT, permanent magnet synchronous generator, dc-link voltage.

I. I NTRODUCTION

OST MW size wind generating systems of today, use

generator voltages of 690 V and then it is sufcient
to use 1700 V IGBT components. An example is the Gamesa
G10X 4.5 MW turbine which is a medium rotor speed permanent magnet generator [1]. There is, however, an interest to
increase this voltage since a medium voltage drive train can
be more convenient to install, due to the ability of operating
at high power levels and accordingly lower current levels,
leading to less extensive cabling. It then offers lower copper
losses than the same rated low voltage set-up [2]. According
to [3] the rated voltage of the IGBTs typically increases with
increasing DC-link voltage for synchronous type generators.
The off-shore Areva Multibrid M5000 wind turbine [4], which
is a 5 MW permanent magnet synchronous generator with
rated voltage of 3.3 kV uses the ABB converter platform PCS
6000 Wind since the end of 2009 [2] [5]. This medium voltage
converter has the voltage levels of 3.3 kV and 4.16 kV [6].
In [7] it was shown that the selection of dc link voltage using
a given module had an important impact on the losses. When
going up in voltage there is a variety of high voltage (HV)
E-mail:
poopak@chalmers.se,
torbjorn.thiringer@chalmers.se,
sonja.lundmark@chalmers.se, alatalo@chalmers.se

978-1-4673-1130-4/12/$31.00 2012 IEEE

IGBT modules that can be used, all the way up to 6.5 kV

modules. It should be mentioned that an IGBT module cannot
be operated at its rated voltage, instead there is a reference
voltage of about half that is suitable for an IGBT module.
Anyway, if the voltage goes up, then the question is: Is it
benecial to use modules of higher voltage, still a couple in
series, or is it better to use many of lower voltage modules?
From an on-state loss point of view, it seems benecial to
use a module of higher voltage but how is it then with the
switching losses, considering that a very low switching frequency of 500 Hz is used, and what is then the resulting total
energy efciency? It is stated in [8], that in industrial power
conversion, low voltage converters are most cost-efcient at
low power levels (up to 2 MW) while at high power levels
medium voltage is preferable. It is also mentioned that the
medium voltage converter has less components compared to a
low voltage level converter, hence it is more reliable. However,
the annual energy of the whole system was not mentioned.
The purpose of this paper is to present results regarding the
annual energy efciency for a HV 5 MW wind generating
system using various voltage ratings of IGBT modules; to
show the possible difference that such a choice can do, as
well as to present the ideal module for this application from
the annual energy efciency point of view. Yet another purpose
is, to establish the energy efciency consequence at a selected
average wind speed and switching frequency.
II. S YSTEM S ET- UP
The system consists of a 5 MW surface mounted permanent
magnet machine and an ac/dc converter. The machine data is
given in Table I. Iron and copper losses have been considered
for the machine losses whereas other loss components in the
machine have been neglected.
The machine is operated with MPTA (Maximum Torque Per
Ampere) up to about 2/3 of the rated power without using any
eld weakening. For the higher voltage used in this article the
MTPA can be maintained a bit higher up in power compared
to when using the lower dc link voltage. More information
about the losses for this machine can be found in [7].
The converter is an active rectier with IGBTs. Three
different modules has been investigated [9], [10] and [11].
The investigated losses in the converter are on-state and
switching losses in the IGBTs and diodes which are the most
dominant losses in the converter. The other losses such as
gate driver losses, auxiliary circuit losses, capacitor losses

TABLE I
PMSG DATA
Rated Output Power (kW)
Number of Poles
Frequency (Hz)
Number of Stator Slots
Armature Phase Resistance R1 (ohm)
D-Axis main Reactance (ohm)
Q-Axis main Reactance (ohm)
Armature leakage Reactance (ohm)
Fundamental Induced RMS Line Voltage
RMS Line Current (A)
Specic Electric Loading (A/mm)
Armature Current Density (A/mm2 )
Iron-Core Loss at rated operation (W)
Armature Copper Loss at rated operation (W)
Power Factor
Rated (maximum) Speed (rpm)

where M ax|Is,RM S | is the maximum stator current magnitude in RMS and Irated is the rated current.
VCE0 and VF 0 are the resulting voltage offset for linearisation done using data from the data sheet.
Psw D in (3) is the switching losses for the diode and
Psw IGBT in (4) is the sum of the turn-on and turn-off losses
in the IGBT. fsw is the switching frequency and Iref is the
IGBT current level for which the switching loss values are
taken from the data sheet. Esw and Esw D are the switching
energy loss for the transistor and diode at Iref and Vref .
Vcc and Vref are respectively the voltage per module, and
the module reference voltage (voltage level for which the
switching losses are given). In order to determine the needed
dc-link voltage, the following expression has been used

5000
8
50
24
0.0375
2.93
2.93
1.9
5032.09
742.962
16.475
5.5
9883.42
62061.4
0.809748
750

Vdc =
and snubbers losses are not considered in this paper. The
operating temperature of the IGBTs and diodes is assumed to
be 125 C. It is assumed that the rated RMS current is equal
to half the rated value of the IGBT module, and that there is
sufcient heat transfer through water cooling of the converter
for these selections. The losses are calculated in steady-state
and averaged over fundamental periods.
A. Converter Loss Calculation
To calculate the losses in the converter, the expressions
originating from [12] have been used,




1
Ponstate IGBT = 2
VCE0 .I1
+ M cos
8



cos
rCE .I12
+ 18 + M 3




1
Ponstate D = 2
VF 0 .I1
M cos
8



+ 1 M cos rF .I2
8

Psw

Psw

IGBT


D

= fsw Esw

Esw = Esw

(2)

= fsw Esw

(1)

1 I1
. Iref

Ki 
K v
cc
. VVref

(3)

1 I1
. Iref

Ki 
Kv
cc
. VVref

(4)

IGBT On

+ Esw

IGBT Of f

(5)

where in (1) and (2) Ponstate IGBT and Ponstate D are the
conduction losses in the IGBT and diode, respectively. M is
the modulation index, cos is the power factor, I1 is the peak
value of the current through one module which is calculated
according to
I1 =

|Is |
nparallel

(6)

where |Is | is the magnitude of the stator current and nparallel

(the number of parallel modules to fulll the needed current)
is calculated according to (7).
nparallel =

M ax(|Is,RM S |)
Irated
2

(7)

2Vac
0.95

(8)

where Vac is the peak phase voltage of the machine.

The needed number of modules in series can be found
through
nseries =

Vdc
Vref

(9)

The semiconductor resistive values, rCE and rF are taken

from the module data sheet. Ki and Kv are scaling parameters,
0.6 is used for the diode while for the IGBT Ki is 1 and Kv
is 1.35 according to [12].
The on-state and switching losses of the converter built up
with the different modules for two DC-link voltages are shown
in Fig. 1 to Fig. 3. The various modules are composed to
complete phase legs that have the same total voltage withstand
ability as well as current ability. In order to have a high
accuracy, the phase legs were composed using non-integer
values of the modules. The switching frequency is 0.5 kHz. In
[7] three dc link voltages were investigated for this machine
and it was found that 10 kV was a choice giving low losses. By
investigating the losses for various voltage levels it was found
that for the high average wind speed (around 12 m/s), 10.7 kV
was an even better choice for the total system. Accordingly,
10 and 10.7 kV dc-link voltages will be used in this paper.
As can be seen in Fig. 1 to Fig. 3 there is a very strong
trend that the switching losses decreases when the phase legs
consisting of modules having a lower voltage rating was used.
For the 6500 V module the switching losses already at this low
switching frequency of 500 Hz, becomes very large. In order
to compare the converter losses when using the three types
of modules, the total converter losses for 10.7 kV is shown in
Fig. 4. Undoubtedly the module with the lowest voltage rating
is the most favorable one.
The switching frequency that is generally used in this paper
is 0.5 kHz since it was considered to be the lowest possible
frequency that can be used. In Fig. 5 the resulting losses can
be observed if it is needed to use a higher switching frequency.
It can be observed from the gure, that the switching losses
are lower up to a switching frequency of about 1 kHz. After
that the switching losses are higher than the on-state losses,
even for this fairly low voltage module.

60

70

50

60
Converter losses [kW]

Switch and Conduction losses [kW]

40
On-state 10kV
Switching 10kV
On-state 10.7 kV

30

Switching 10.7 kV

20
10
0
0

40
30
Module 6500V
Module 3300V
Module 1700V

20
10

10
15
wind speed [m/s]

20

0
0

25

Fig. 1.
On-state and switching losses for 6500 V/750 A Module with
Fsw =0.5 kHz.

10
15
wind speed [m/s]

20

25

Fig. 4.
Total converter loss for different Modules with Fsw =0.5 kHz.
Vdc =10.7 kV

30

50
45

25
20
15
10
On-state 10.0kV
5

Switching 10.0kV

On-state 10.7kV
Switching 10.7kV

0
0

10
15
wind speed [m/s]

20

25

Fig. 2. On-state and switching losses for 3300 V/1500 A Module with
Fsw =0.5 kHz.

Switching and conduction losses [kW]

Switch and Conduction losses [kW]

50

On-state

40

Switching losses fsw=0.5 kHz

Switching losses fsw=1 kHz

Switching losses fsw=2 kHz

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0

10
15
wind speed [m/s]

20

25

Fig. 5.
On-state state and switching losses for Vdc =10.7 kV using
1700 V/2400 A Module with Fsw =0.5, 1 and 2 kHz.

Switch and Conduction losses [kW]

30

for different wind speeds, the relation

25
20

On-state 10kV
Switching 10kV
On-state 10.7kV

2
PF e = kel

Switching 10.7kV

was used, where PF e is the iron loss, k is a constant extracted

from the iron losses at rated speed, and is found to be 0.1.
Further, el is the electrical speed of the machine in rad/s.
The copper losses are calculated according to

15
10
5
0
0

Pcu = 3Rs |Is |

5

10
15
wind speed [m/s]

20

25

Fig. 3. On-state state and switching losses for 1700 V/2400 A Module with
Fsw =0.5 kHz.

B. Machine Losses
As previously mentioned, iron and copper losses have been
considered for the machine losses. To calculate the iron losses

(10)

(11)

Pcu is the copper loss, Rs is the armature phase resistance

which is taken from Table I and |Is | is the RMS magnitude
value of the phase current. The machine losses are shown
in Fig. 6. From Fig. 6 it can be observed that the machine
losses go down with increasing voltage which is due to better
power factor at high load. Now, we are of course interested in
knowing which voltage is the best choice for the total system.
However, in order to answer this question we need to know
the wind distribution.

Annual average efficiency of the total [%] 6500 module

60

40

20

Copper Losses 10kV

Copper Losses 10.7kV
Iron Losses 10kV
Iron Losses 10.7kV
Total Gen Losses 10kV
Total Gen Losses 10.7kV

10

0
0

Fig. 6.

97.75
97.7
97.65
97.6

10
15
wind speed [m/s]

20

97.5
97.45
97.4

5.5

6.5

25

7
7.5
8
8.5
Average Wind speed [m/s]

9.5

10

Fig. 7. Annual average efciency of the whole system for 6500 V/750 A
module with Fsw =0.5 kHz.

Machine losses for Vdc =10 kV and Vdc =10.7 kV.

III. A NNUAL AVERAGE EFFICIENCY OF THE GENERATING

SYSTEM

In many drives applications it is of very high importance

what the efciency is at the highest power level. However,
this is not the case for wind energy applications. In particular
for low average wind speeds, the efciency at low power level
is of higher importance.
To calculate the annual energy loss of the system, Ew , (12)
is used for different average wind speeds. P (w) is the sum of
copper and iron losses of the machine as well as the on-state
and the switching losses of the inverter, T is the number of
hours per year and f (w) is the probability of having wind
speed w during the year which is calculated using

Ew = T (f (w) P (w))dw
   
   w k1
w k
f (w) = Ck C
exp C

10 kV
10.7kV

97.55

97.35
5

(12)
(13)

where k is the shape factor which is considered to be 2, w is

the wind speed and C is the scale factor which is calculated
according to
w

C = 1+
(14)
( k1 )
where w
is the average wind speed and is the gamma
function which is expressed in (15).

(x) = 0 tx1 et dt
(15)
The annual energy efciency, E in percentage, of the system
(inverter and the drive system) is calculated using the expression


loss
E = 1 EEpower
100
(16)
where Eloss is the annual energy loss of the machine and
the inverter and Epower is the annual energy power of the
machine.
The annual energy efciency for the two investigated voltages for different modules are shown in Fig. 7 to Fig. 11.
From the gures, the following observations can be made.
The 1.7 kV module is the one that provides the highest annual
efciency. With a 1 kHz switching frequency for the 1.7 kV
module, the efciency is almost similar to when using the 3.3

Annual average efficiency of the total [%] 3300b module

30

98.2

98.15

98.1

10 kV
10.7 kV

98.05

98

97.95

97.9
5

5.5

6.5

7
7.5
8
8.5
Average Wind speed [m/s]

9.5

10

Fig. 8. Annual average efciency of the whole system for 3300 V/1500 A
module with Fsw =0.5 kHz.
Annual average efficiency of the total [%] 1700 module

Generator losses [kW]

50

97.8

98.3
98.28
98.26
98.24
10 kV
10.7 kV

98.22
98.2
98.18
98.16
98.14
5

5.5

6.5

7
7.5
8
8.5
Average Wind speed [m/s]

9.5

10

Fig. 9. Annual average efciency of the whole system for 1700 V/2400 A
module with Fsw =0.5 kHz.

kV module using the 0.5 kHz switching frequency and with

a 2 kHz switching frequency using the 1.7 kV module the
efciency is similar as to using the 6.5 kV module having the
lowest switching frequency, 0.5 kHz.
In gures, it can be noted that for the higher average speeds,

98.4

98

97.95
10 kV
10.7 kV
97.9

97.85

98.3
98.2
98.1
98
1700 V module
3300 V module
6500 V module

97.9
97.8
97.7
97.6
97.5

5.5

6.5

7
7.5
8
8.5
Average Wind speed [m/s]

9.5

97.4
5

10

Fig. 10. Annual average efciency of the whole system for 1700 V/2400 A
module with Fsw =1 kHz.
97.6

6.5

7
7.5
8
8.5
Average Wind speed [m/s]

9.5

10

98.3

97.55
97.5
97.45
97.4
10kV
10.7kV

97.35
97.3
97.25
97.2
97.15
97.1
5

5.5

Fig. 12.
Annual average efciency for 10 kV dc-link voltage with
Fsw =0.5 kHz.

Annual average efficiency of the total [%]

Annual average efficiency of the total [%] 1700 module

Annual average efficiency of the total [%]

98.05

98.2
98.1
98
97.9
1700 V module
3300 V module
6500 V module

97.8
97.7
97.6
97.5
97.4

5.5

6.5

7
7.5
8
8.5
Average Wind speed [m/s]

9.5

10

Fig. 11. Annual average efciency of whole system for 1700 V/2400 A
module with Fsw =2 kHz.

the 10.7 kV dc link voltage level gives a slightly higher average

efciency. The reason for this is that MTPA control can be
used higher up in power, which creates lower currents (better
power factor) and thus lower copper losses in the machine.
Figure 12 and Fig. 13 show the comparison of the system
energy efciency using the three investigated modules for the
two different dc-link voltages at 0.5 kHz switching frequency.
As can be seen in the gures the 1.7 kV module has higher
energy efciency for both of the voltages. Figure 14 shows
that the results are the same for a higher switching frequency.
This means that the 1.7 kV module has the highest annual
energy efciency.

5.5

6.5

7
7.5
8
8.5
Average Wind speed [m/s]

9.5

10

Fig. 13.
Annual average efciency for 10.7 kV dc-link voltage with
Fsw =0.5 kHz.
98.5
Annual average efficiency of the total [%]

Annual average efficiency of the total [%] 1700 module

98

97.5
1700 V module
3300 V module
6500 V module

97

96.5

96
5

5.5

6.5

7
7.5
8
8.5
Average Wind speed [m/s]

9.5

10

IV. C ONCLUSION
The selection of HV IGBT modules for a 5 MW generating
system was investigated in this paper. The generating system
consisted of a surface mounted PMSG (Permanent Magnet
Synchronous Generator) with a 2-level transistor converter,
where two different voltage levels and three different switching
frequencies were used. Finally, the average efciency for
various average wind speeds was determined.

Fig. 14.
Annual average efciency for 10.7 kV dc-link voltage with
Fsw =1 kHz.

Generally it can be concluded that the module with the

lowest voltage rating (1.7 kV) module gave the best results,
both regarding annual efciency of the system as well as
regarding losses at various wind speeds. The dominating factor

that makes the 1.7 kV module so benecial, although it gave

the highest conduction losses, is the fact that the switching
losses for the converter composed with the high voltage
modules had very high switching losses.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the Swedish National
Energy Administration for the nancial support.
R EFERENCES
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the gamesa G10x 4.5 MW wind turbine, in Power Electronics and
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already here, in EWEA, Brussels, Belgium, September 2011, pp. 329
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B IOGRAPHIES

Poopak Roshanfekr conducts her Ph.D studies at Chalmers University

of Technology, in Goteborg Sweden. She acquired her M.Sc at Chalmers
University of technology in 2007. Her area of interest is electrical drives for
wind turbine applications.
Torbjorn Thiringer works at Chalmers University of Technology, in
Goteborg Sweden, as a professor in applied power electronics. He took his
M.Sc and Ph.D at Chalmers University of Technology in 1989 and 1996
respectively. His areas of interest include the modeling, control and grid
integration of wind energy converters into power grids as well as power
electronics and drives for other types of applications, such as electried
vehicles, buildings and industrial applications.
Sonja Lundmark was born in Gavle, Sweden, in 1966. She received her
M.Sc. (Eng.) and Ph.D. degrees from Chalmers University of Technology,
Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1992 and 2005, respectively. Since July 2008, she
is an Assistant Professor at the Division of Electric Power Engineering at
Chalmers University of Technology. Her research interests are in the areas
of electrical machines and drives and numerical analysis of electromagnetic
elds.

Mikael Alatalo was born in Kristinehamn Sweden, on June 21, 1959. He

studied at Chalmers University of Technology and took a Ph.D. in 1996.
His employment experience included ABB in Vasteras, Volvo AB and Aros
Electronics AB. His special elds of interest include permanent magnet
machines, wind power and electried vehicles.