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http://dx.doi.org/10.6113/JPE.2011.11.2.188

Highly Efficient AC-DC Converter for Small Wind Power Generators  

Ryu, Hyung-Min (Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Dong-Eui University)
Publication Information
Journal of Power Electronics / v.11, no.2, 2011 , pp. 188-193 More about this Journal
Abstract
A highly efficient AC-DC converter for small wind power generation systems using a brushless DC generator (BLDCG) is presented in this paper. The market standard AC-DC converter for a BLDCG consists of a three-phase diode rectifier and a boost DC-DC converter, which has an IGBT and a fast recovery diode (FRD). This kind of two-stage solution basically suffers from a large amount of conduction loss and the efficiency greatly decreases under a light load, or at a low current, because of the switching devices with a P-N junction. In order to overcome this low efficiency, especially at a low current, a three-phase bridgcless converter consisting of three upper side FRDs and three lower side Super Junction FETs is presented. In the overall operating speed region, including the cut-in speed, the efficiency of the proposed converter is improved by up to 99%. Such a remarkable result is validated and compared with conventional solutions by calculating the power loss based on I-V curves and the switching loss data of the adopted commercial switches and the current waveforms obtained through PSIM simulations.
Keywords
Energy saving; High efficiency; Small wind power generator; Super Junction FET; Three-phase bridgeless converter;
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