Proceedings of India International Conference on Power Electronics 2006
Novel Maximum Power Point Tracker for Stand-Alone
Self-Excited Induction Generator
G.V. Jayaramaiah
Energy Systems Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay,
Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra State, 400 076.
INDIA
Abstract - In this paper, a simple control strategy for maximum
power extraction from stand-alone wind energy conversion
system using induction generator under variable speed and load
conditions is proposed. This is achieved by varying the inverter
frequency and modulation index depending upon the changes in
load at the IG terminal. The proposed method eliminates the
need of a speed encoder, and hence it's an attractive sensor-less
control method. The developed model is simulated in
MATLAB/SIMULINK. The simulation results are presented to
validate the developed control strategy. The control algorithm is
implemented on TMS320F243 DSP. Experimental results
closely resemble the simulated results.
Keywords- Self-excited induction generator, PWM-VSI, DSP.
I. INTRODUCTION
Wind power generation is one of the most rapidly growing
technologies for renewable power generation. Stand-alone IG
can operate in the self-excited mode only when excitation
power is supplied from an external source. This reactive
power can be supplied by a variety of methods, ranging from
a simple bank of capacitors [1-5] to inverters with complex
power conversion techniques [6-9]. The well-known
advantages of IG are their low cost, robustness, brush-less
cage rotor construction, absence of separate D.C. source,
inherent overload protection and ease of maintenance. In
spite of all these advantages, the main drawback of stand-
alone IG is poor voltage regulation under change in speed
and load.
A review of the available literature reveals that many
researchers are engaged in analysis, control and application
aspects of SEIG over the years. Many schemes were
suggested for regulating the stator terminal voltage and
frequency. They include switched capacitors, controlled
static VAR scheme, saturable reactor and a combination of
the above. These schemes require complex control circuitry
and hence reduce the overall reliability of the system.
Most of the excitation schemes [10-12] involve power
electronic converters along with the capacitor bank
connected at the IG terminal to supply the required reactive
power to excite the IG. The field oriented technique or vector
control methods [13,14] are used to maintain constant
voltage and frequency for a range of load and speed [13,14].
These techniques are relatively complex in nature and use
speed encoders and ac voltage or current sensors for
controlling the terminal quantities. Hence the cost of the
control circuit increases and reduces the reliability of the
system.
110
B.G. Fernandes
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay,
Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra State, 400 076, INDIA.
E-mail: bgf@ee.iitb.ac.in
A speed governor is employed for regulation of voltage
and frequency when the power demand of the load changes.
The speed governor is quite expensive and is unable to
respond fast for changes in load due to large mechanical time
constant. Hence, voltage and frequency regulation is poor
[15]. To avoid the use of speed governor, the principle of
load governing is proposed [16] in order to keep the real and
reactive power seen by the IG constant. However, operating
range of IG with this control scheme is limited. Various
power control schemes [17-21] developed so far are meant to
control the power or torque acting on the wind turbine shafts.
The main objective of this paper is to develop a simple
maximum power tracker for an IG driven by a wind turbine
under variable speed and load condition. The excitation for
the generator and load is supplied by a PWM voltage source
inverter connected at the stator terminals. The developed
controller is used to keep the power produced constant at the
IG terminal on application/removal of load. This can be
achieved by changing the inverter frequency and variation in
modulation index depending upon the variation in load. This
further demonstrates that the controller has an extremely fast
dynamic response, robust operation during abnormal
operating conditions by avoiding over current condition. The
controller does not require mechanical speed encoder or ac
voltage sensor and a capacitor bank thereby reducing the
complexity of the hardware and enhances the overall system
reliability.
The complete system is simulated in MATLAB /
SIMULINK. The simulation results are presented to validate
the developed control strategy. In order to validate the
simulation results a prototype of the system is designed and
developed. The control algorithm is implemented on
TMS320F243 DSP and the experimental results are
presented.
II. MODELING OF IG AND WIND TURBINE
A. Induction Generator
Complete dynamic equations of IG taking saturation into
account in the synchronously rotating reference frame [22] is
represented in matrix form as follows:
d [Ads] = [VVds ] [ids] -OJ [01 -1][A
ds
dt A - Rs i 0 A
]
qs qs qs qs
Proceedings of India International Conference on Power Electronics 2006
0 . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ,
T_~ (4)
cp

...
.1 1 -
m
0.5

0.4
3_

11m's
.lOOO

03

1_
!
C!lI
10 m'5

oo! ~
!.
t
~ I_
0.1

I.

:40
A
Fig. 2 Power coefficient vs A for the wind turbine chosen for the study
0
0 10 JO ... so 60
ID 41'8d/lofCt

~[Adr] = [V ]_ Rr[~dr] -(m -mr)[O

dr -1][Adr ]
r

Fig.3 Variation of output power of the turbine Vs Wind speed

dt Aqr Vqr lqr 1 0 Aqr
Combining the equations 4, 3 and 1, the expression for
torque can be written as
Equations for electromagnetic torque and mechanical
1 C p{A,) 2
speed of the SEIG are expressed as follows: T
1
= -pAr--v
2 A, (5)
1'" = 3P ~qrAdr - Aqridr )
4
C. Control scheme for Maximum power Transfer
d P (r.haft - 1'" )
-OJ=-----
dt r 2J A control technique is developed to extract maximum
power from the wind turbine driven IG with PWM-VSI
connected at the stator terminal. In equation 3, substituting
B. Wind Turbine characteristics value of v from equation 1, we get the shaft power as
Wind turbine is characterized by a non-dimensional curve follows:
of power co-efficient as a function of tip-speed ratio A. It can
be defined as follows: (6)
A=rm (1)
v p
where, r is the radius of the rotor measured at the blade tip
and v is wind velocity in mls. The power coefficient Cp r\lmt .... mpen..r
I
varies with A. For the wind turbine chosen for the study, Cp I .,1'

as a function of A is expressed by the following equation 2 \ .

[22] and its plot is shown in Fig. 2.

"',.,/
Cp = 0.043 - 0.108 A + 0.146 A2
- 0.0602 A3 + 0.0104 A4 - 0.0006 AS (2)
The amount of power, which the wind transfers, to the
rotor depends on the density of air, rotor area, and the wind
--_ .....

speed. The output power of the wind turbine Pt may be "el \'~CO

calculated as Fig. 4. Variation of Maximum Power Vs Wind speed

1 Optimum output power of the wind turbine can be
~ =-Cp {A)pAv 3 (3)
2 achieved at Cp = Cp (Opl), when A = Aopt,
where p is the air density kg/m 3 and A is the rotor disk area
2
m It can be observed from Fig. 2 that Cp is maximum when (7)
A is equal to 5.6. The torque developed by the wind turbine
can be expressed as
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Proceedings of India International Conference on Power Electronics 2006
Fig. 3 depicts the relationship between output power and controlled. Total d.c. link current Ide can be expressed in
rotor speed for various wind velocities for the simulated wind terms of inverter switching function as
turbine, and the variation of maximum power with wind
speed is shown in Fig. 4. During maximum power transfer Ide = Sa iea + Sb ieb + Se iee
the wind turbine operates at maximum power coefficient where, the suffix e identifies compensator phase currents.
Cp(opt) as shown in Fig. 2. For high power induction machine, The three switching functions take the value of 1 if the upper
the rotor angular speed is approximately equal to the switch in the given inverter leg is on and vice-versa.
synchronous angular speed
B. PWM Inverter
Using the switching function SFJa, b, c, V ao , Vbo and V co can
Therefore stator frequency is related to turbine speed in the be obtained as:
following manner:
V de ~A
OJ s = OJt 1JGB (8) Vao =-Vde S'I;' . (
rIa = -LJ n sin nOlt
)
2 2 n=I

The stator frequency can be expressed in terms of wind

velocity as: Vbo = Vdc SF;b = Vdc
2 2
IA
n=I
n sin(nmt-120')

(9) Veo = Vdc SF;c = Vdc

2 2
IAn
n=I
sin(nmt-240')

(10)

where Kwind is constant. Thus, for an optimal power transfer

the frequency of the stator should be proportional to wind
speed Vw :
(11)

Hence, by operating the IG at suitable stator frequency, it

is possible to set the reference power which will make Cp =
Cp(opt). The expression for torque under this condition is:

(12)

Fig. 5. Overall System block diagram

(13) Line-to-Line voltages generated by the inverter can be

derived as:
Hence, torque is proportional to the square of stator Vab = Vao - Vbo
frequency or the power drawn is proportional to cube of the
frequency Vbe =Vbo - Veo
~a = Veo -Vao
III MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF 3-~ PWM - VSI
c. Mathematical model ofthe Load
The complete mathematical modeling of PWM-VSI and A R-L load connected to the stator terminals of IG can be
load is explained in the following sections. represented in the synchronously rotating reference frame as:

A. Model ofthe d. c. side ofthe inverter Vd> =RLiLds +LL !!....iLds -me LL iLqs
dt
The capacitor voltage equation is governed by:
Vqs = RLiLqs + LL !!....iLqs +me LL iLds
d V _ Ide dt
dt de - - C
IV. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
Where Vde is the voltage across the capacitor and Ide is the
current flowing through it. The developed schematic of the system is shown in Fig 5.
The set point of Vde must be higher than the peak value of When IG is used in a stand-alone application, the reactive
the generated phase voltage so that the stator current can be power is supplied by PWM VSI. A 12 V battery on the DC
side of inverter is provided for initial excitation. During
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Proceedings of India International Conference on Power Electronics 2006

startup, the controller sets the stator frequency lower than the
rotor frequency so that the power produced by the IG is used
to charge the capacitor connected across the dc link to a set
reference value. Under this condition

!start = Kf vw(CI)

where Kf is constant and vw(CI) is the cut-in wind speed.

The error between the reference dc link voltage and the
actual voltage determines the dc link current, which in tum is
used to determine the actual power. Depending upon the
error between the actual and reference power, controller
generates the required stator frequency. For each value of the
....Sl
stator frequency the corresponding reference power is
generated using the relationship between power and stator Fig. 6 Simulated results ofSEIG during no-load
frequency given above. If the measured power is higher than (1) IG line voltage (2) Capacitor voltage (V) (3) Load current (A)
the reference power then the frequency of the stator of the IG
is increased. This reduces the slip speed and hence the
developed torque.
The output of the PI regulator, which generates the
required stator frequency, is fed to a harmonic oscillator to
generate the sine and cosine waveforms. These waveform are
multiplied by modulation index (rna) to get Vr , Vy and Vb as
shown in Fig. 5. The amplitude of the stator voltage is
controlled by the modulation index. The modulation index is
generated by sensing the inverter currents and comparing
with the reference current. This feature of the control scheme
also provides overload protection to the inverter. The
sinusoidal waveforms generated by the harmonic oscillator
are compared with 1 kHz triangular carrier signal to generate
the switching pulses to 1GBT inverter. When the generator is
Fig. 7 Experimental results of SEIG during no-load
driven by wind turbine with high speed under this condition (1) IG line voltage [200 V/div] (2) Capacitor voltage[100V/div]
the AC load power is not high enough to absorb excess
power then it is necessary to activate the dump load that is If any over load occurs at the IG terminal, the modulation
provided on dc link capacitor side. This can be controlled by index decreases so that it protects the inverter and IG. The
the control circuit. Hence Maximum power can be extracted simulated results are shown in Fig. 8 and Fig.9 is the
at any time. experimental one during increase in load.

v. SIMULATION RESULTS ;:
-~ 0 1
In order to predict the performance of the proposed ,;
-50
strategy extensive simulation studies using MATLAB / -100
SIMULINK are carried out. Parameters used for the 3.5 ~ -1.5

simulation study are given in Appendix. The simulated

results showing the variation of terminal voltage of the
generator and the voltage across dc link capacitor during start
up are shown in Fig. 6 is the simulated and Fig 7 is the
::F~~:~J2
experimental one. When the IG is suddenly loaded the
1~
~ -t u
capacitor voltage tend to fall. This is due to mis-match of
power produced by the IG and power drawn by the load. For .5 I ,I I ! ~ I ! I , '.:' r~ .! ! "~ ,I ': iLl'. :' I /; , " ': ~
I "

any change in load the speed of the wind turbine also :.:. :i,:::";>\:/:~:::~:(:\::!::,":;::::,\:' 3

changes. The developed closed loop controller is able to -t.s

,li'lll;jil,lill:III'I,;liillll'
track the maximum power according to the change in load by -1~---------------_-----I
~ ~ U
adjusting the inverter frequency and modulation index. .... 4S.
Fig. 8 Simulated results ofSEIG during step increase in load
Hence the power balance is maintained and the terminal (1) IG line voltage (2) Capacitor voltage (V) (3) Load current (A)
voltage of the IG is held constant.

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Proceedings of India International Conference on Power Electronics 2006
10k 10k
II o
: 1'I~ln ~in

......... .~ : ~ ~ IG LiNE VOLTAGE. IG LINE VOLTAGE

.. .. .. LOAD CURRENT
:,::::LOAD CURRENT

TIME
Fig. 9 Experimental results ofSEIG during step increase in load
(1) IG line voltage [200 V/div] (2) Capacitor voltage [200V/div] (3) Load Fig. 11. Experimental results of SEIG during step decrease in load
current (A) [lA/div] (1) IG line voltage[200V/div] (2) Capacitor voltage [200V/div] (3) Load
current (A) [lA/div]

Similar behaviour of IG is observed when there is a step

decrease in load as shown in Fig 10 & 11 respectively
simulation & Experimental results. The power produced by ~
3"'
::1
u ....
1525
.- ---- --j ,.,
the IG is higher than the power drawn by the load. The
developed closed loop controller is able to act fast enough to
lS. , 6 "!

prevent the dc link voltage overshoot, which may damage the

inverter. Under such circumstance the control circuit should
either decrease the modulation index of the inverter or
~:[ - ."',.~.
---- _:,J.
-. .. ",
increase the inverter frequency so that the excitation current ~ .. \/.~--. --..
-I - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
of the IG decreases. The variation of the modulation index is "!

shown in Fig. 12(c). The variation in speed, torque and the

modulation index for sudden application/removal of load are
shown in Fig. 10 In order to validate the proposed control
strategy a laboratory prototype is designed and developed.
The control algorithm is implemented on TMS320F243 DSP.
II..... MC.

... Fig. 12 Simulated results of SEIG

(a) OJr (b) Te (N-m) (c) Modulation index
50

~~ 1
VI. CONCLUSION
-!li'
-1~O50S 6 ..5 i
A simple maximum power point tracker for stand-alone
wind energy conversion using Induction generator is
proposed. The developed control algorithm is able to track
the maximum power according to the change in load and
speed of the wind turbine. The proposed controller response
I ... L . . . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I
5.5 6.5 is quite fast, and its performance is reliable and robust. The
controller also protects the inverter and IG during overload
conditions without the speed sensors. Hence an attractive
speed sensor-less control method is adopted for the stand-
alone induction generator. The simulated results indicate the
viability of the control strategy that the maximum power is
.........s.
being extracted from variable speed of the wind turbine. The
Fig. 10. Simulated results ofSEIG during step decrease in load complete system is simulated using MATLAB / SIMULINK.
(1) IG line voltage (2) Capacitor voltage (V) (3) Load current (A)
A laboratory prototype is designed and developed. The
control algorithm is developed on TMS320F243 DSP.
Experimental results closely resemble the simulated results.
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Proceedings of India International Conference on Power Electronics 2006
APPENDIX
SIMULATION PARAMETERS
Wind turbine: Air density p = 1.08, Radius r = 1.525 m.
Parameters of the Induction Machine at 50 Hz
Phase
Connection
Rated voltage
Rated current
Speed
Stator resistance (rs)
Rotor resistance (rr)
Stator inductance (Is)
Rotor inductance (lr)
Magnetizing inductance (unsaturated)
Rated power
Number of Poles
Rotor inertia (1) 0.664 (kg.m 2)
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