Control of emerging brushless doubly-fed reluctance wind turbine generators

This chapter is concerned with field-oriented control (FOC) and vector control (VC) of a promising brushless doubly fed reluctance generator (BDFRG) technology for large-scale grid-connected wind turbines. The BDFRG has been receiving increasing attention because of the low capital and operation and maintenance costs afforded by the use of partially rated power electronics and the high reliability of brushless construction, while offering performance competitive to its well-known slip-ring counterpart, a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG). The two parameter independent control schemes have been developed for a custom-designed BDFRG fed from a conventional "back-to-back" IGBT converter. The preliminary studies have evaluated and compared the algorithms under the maximum torque per inverter ampere (MTPIA) conditions allowing the improved efficiency of the generator-converter set and thus the entire wind energy conversion system.