PMSG based residential wind turbines: possibilities and challenges
¹Institute of Industrial Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Riga TechnicalUniversity, Kronvalda Blvd. 1, LV-1010 Riga, Latvia;
*Correspondence: lauris.bisenieks@rtu.lv
²Department of Electrical Drives and Power Electronics, Tallinn University ofTechnology, Ehitajate tee 5, EE19086 Tallinn, Estonia
Abstract:
This paper presents an overview of technologies for wind energy conversion intoelectrical energy with the help of residential wind turbines. The theory of wind energyconversion into mechanical energy is shown. Wind velocity distribution and normalised energyyield examples are given to improve understanding of wind energy availability and converteroperation modes. Additionally the wind velocity dependency of the height above ground isexplained. The pros and cons of wind turbine generators are analysed. Converter topologiesgalvanically isolated for interfacing a permanent magnet synchronous generator based variablespeed wind turbine with a residential power network is analysed. Main emphasis is on thecombination of a rectifier and an isolated quasi-Z-source (qZS) based DC/DC convertertopology proposed by the authors. The topology (rectifier coupled with a qZS basedgalvanically isolated step-up DC/DC converter) is essential to generate regulated DC voltage(400 V DC typical for 230 V AC output) despite wide variations in the output voltage of a windgenerator. The operation principle of the proposed topology is described. Experimental andsimulation results are presented and analysed.
Key words:
power converter, renewable energy, wind turbine.