• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1305-1317
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• 2015

Distributed generation systems (DGSs) have been getting more and more attention in terms of renewable energy use and new generation technologies in the past decades. The self-excited induction generator (SEIG) occupies an important role in the area of energy conversion due to its low cost, robustness and simple control. Unlike synchronous generators, the SEIG has to absorb capacitive reactive power from the outer device aiming to stabilize the terminal voltage at load changes. This paper presents a novel static VAR compensator (SVC) called a magnetic energy recovery switch (MERS) to serve as a voltage controller in SEIG powered DGSs. In addition, many small scale SEIGs, instead of a single large one, are applied and devoted to promote the generation efficiency. To begin with, an expandable mathematic model based on a d-q equivalent circuit is created for parallel SEIGs. The control method of the MERS is further improved with the objective of broadening its operating range and restraining current harmonics by parameter optimization. A hybrid control strategy is developed by taking both of the stand-alone and grid-connected modes into consideration. Then simulation and experiments are carried out in the case of single and double SEIG(s) generation. Finally, the measurement results verify that the proposed DGS with SVC-MERS achieves a better stability and higher feasibility. The major advantages of the mentioned variable reactive power supplier, when compared to the STATCOM, include the adoption of a small DC capacitor, line frequency switching, simple control and less loss.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.1371-1379
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• 2013

Application of induction machines in wind turbine driven generators is a good alternative due to their good characteristics such as efficiency, reliability and low cost. Nevertheless, when isolated operation is required, the application of external capacitive bank, connected to the stator windings, to provide self-excitation results in a rather complex analysis. This paper presents an analysis of self-excited induction generator connected to a load either directly or by an intermediate of a power converter. At first a dynamic model of the induction generator accounting for magnetic saturation is developed. Then a number of balanced and unbalanced capacitors, passive and active loads are verified. Experimental results obtained from laboratory tests are compared to those simulated; the two are shown to be in good agreement.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.52-66
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• 2006

This paper proposes a wind energy conversion system connected to a grid using a self-excited induction generator (SEIG) based on the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control scheme. The induction generator (IG) is controlled by the MPPT below the base speed and the maximum energy can be captured from the wind turbine. Therefore, the stator currents of the IG are optimally controlled using the indirect field orientation control (IFOC) according to the generator speed in order to maximize the generated power from the wind turbine. The SEIG feeds a (CRPWM) converter which regulates the DC-link voltage at a constant value where the speed of the IG is varied. Based on the IG d-q axes dynamic model in the synchronous reference frame at field orientation, high-performance synchronous current controllers with satisfactory performance are designed and analyzed. Utilizing these current controllers and IFOC, a fast dynamic response and low current harmonic distortion are attained. The regulated DC-link voltage feeds a grid connected CRPWM inverter. By using the virtual flux orientation control and the synchronous frame current regulators for the grid connected CRPWM inverter, a fast current response, low harmonic distortion and unity power factor are achieved. The complete system has been simulated with different wind velocities. The simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed MPPT control scheme for a wind energy system. In the simulation results, the d-q axes current controllers and DC-link voltage controller give prominent dynamic response in command tracking and load regulation characteristics.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.459-465
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• 2017

This paper describes a performance analysis of self-excited eddy current brake(SECB). Stator winding of SECB is connected by capacitor instead of voltage source, and SECB's braking force is generated by L-C resonance. SECB has wide range of driving and nonlinear inductance as well. Therefore, it is important to select capacitance based on the value of inductance. This paper discusses about the process of deciding capacitance and the change of resonance frequency based on the inductance change in each speed. Also the braking force was confirmed by the experimental model of SECB.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.66 no.8
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• pp.1207-1214
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• 2017

In the case of frequent braking, when driving downhill or long distance, conventional brakes using friction are problematic in braking safety due to brake rupture and fading phenomenon. Therefore auxiliary brakes is essential for heavy vehicles. And several research has been actively conducted to improve energy efficiency by regenerating mechanical energy into electric energy when the vehicles brake. In this paper, a voltage control method is utilized to recover the electric energy generated in the electromagnetic retarder instead of the eddy current. To regenerate the braking energy into the electrical energy, a resonant L-C circuit is configured in the retarder. The retarder can be modeled as self-excited induction generator due to its operating principle. The driving conditions according to the retarder's parameters are made into 3-D maps. Also, the voltage of the resonant circuit changing depending on the driving pulse applied to the FET was analyzed. For the control of this voltage, we proposed an algorithm using the PI controller. The controlled voltage is converted by a 3-phase AC/DC converter and then charged to a battery inside the heavy vehicles through a DC/DC converter. Electromagnetic retarder and its controller are validated using Matlab Simulink. We also demonstrate the voltage controller through the actual M-G set experiment.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.192-197
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• 2008

The value of this paper is to use reduced size apparatuses to perform field measurement in order to identify and validate that the harmonic-current effects are due to the presence of self-excitation capacitance connected at stator's terminals of the studied SEIG. This paper has presented the measured electrical quantities of a three-phase $\Delta$-connected wind induction generator (WIG) under sudden connection and disconnection of resistive loads. An intelligent power-system recorder/monitor has been employed to measure three-phase voltages and currents of the studied system at the terminals of the studied WIG and the load. The measured electrical quantities have been analyzed. Total harmonic distortion (THD) of current using cumulative probability density function has been employed to determine the penetration of harmonic distortion at load side. The results show that the harmonic currents generated by the studied WIG can be severely amplified by the connected self-excited capacitance at the stator's terminals.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.944-953
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• 2018

This paper proposes an analysis method based on the magnitude-phase dynamic theory for isolated power systems with static synchronous compensators (STATCOMs). The stability margin of an isolated power system is greatly reduced when a load is connected, due to the disadvantageous features of the self-excited induction generators (SEIGs). To analyze the control process for system stability and to grasp the dynamic characteristics in different timescales, the relationships between the active/reactive components and the phase/magnitude of the STATCOM output voltage are derived in the natural reference frame based on the magnitude/phase dynamic theory. Then STATCOM equivalent mechanical models in both the voltage time scale and the current time scale are built. The proportional coefficients and the integral coefficients of the control process are converted into damping coefficients, inertia coefficients and stiffness coefficients so that analyzing its controls, dynamic response characteristics as well as impacts on the system operations are easier. The effectiveness of the proposed analysis method is verified by simulation and experimental results.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1869-1883
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• 2016

In recent years, some converter structures and analyzing methods for the voltage regulation of stand-alone self-excited induction generators (SEIGs) have been introduced. However, all of them are concerned with the three-phase voltage control of three-phase SEIGs or the single-phase voltage control of single-phase SEIGs for the operation of these machines under balanced load conditions. In this paper, each phase voltage is controlled separately through separated converters, which consist of a full-bridge diode rectifier and one-IGBT. For this purpose, the principle of the electronic load controllers supported by fuzzy logic is employed in the two-different proposed converter structures. While changing single phase consumer loads that are independent from each other, the output voltages of the generator are controlled independently by three-number of separated electronic load controllers (SELCs) in two different mode operations. The aim is to obtain a rated power from the SEIG via the switching of the dump loads to be the complement of consumer load variations. The transient and steady state behaviors of the whole system are investigated by simulation studies from the point of getting the design parameters, and experiments are carried out for validation of the results. The results illustrate that the proposed SELC system is capable of coping with independent consumer load variations to keep output voltage at a desired value for each phase. It is also available for unbalanced consumer load conditions. In addition, it is concluded that the proposed converter without a filter capacitor has less harmonics on the currents.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.396-403
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• 2016

Usually, large-sized buses and trucks have a very high load. In addition, frequent braking during downhill or long-distance driving, causes the conventional method using the brake friction to have a problem in safety because of brake fade and brake burst phenomenon. Auxiliary brakes dividing the braking load is essential. Hence, environment-friendly auxiliary brakes, such as contactless brake rather than the engine auxiliary brake system are needed. A study aimed at improving the energy efficiency by recharging electric energy with changing mechanical to electrical energy that occurs when braking is actively in progress. In this paper, the voltage control method is utilized to recover the electric energy generated in the electromagnetic retarder instead of the eddy current. To regenerate the braking energy into the electrical energy, the resonant L-C circuit is configured in the retarder. The voltage generated in the retarder is simply modeled as a transformer. However, retarder voltage control in this paper is simulated by modeling the induction generator because this induction generator modeling is more practical than transformer modeling. The changes in the voltage of the resonance circuit, which depends on the switch pulse duration of the control device, were analyzed. A PI controller algorithm to control this voltage is proposed. The feasibility of modeling retarder and voltage controller are shown by using MATLAB Simulink in this paper.