Terminal voltage build-up and control of a DFIG based stand-alone wind energy conversion system

The paper presents the voltage build-up process and the terminal voltage control of a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) driven by a pitch controlled wind turbine for the supply of autonomous system without any auxiliary source. A control strategy for the complete system including voltage build-up phase is developed with a view to provide as well as possible the required power for load. Indirect stator flux-oriented vector control is proposed to keep the stator voltage constant by means of a back-to-back converter connected to the rotor side, while the management system is supported by the pitch angle and the load shedding controllers. A novel scheme for voltage build-up is presented, which requires no additional hardware support, and physical interpretation of how self-excitation can occur from residual magnetism in the machine core is examined. A reliable start-up process is accomplished by using an appropriate voltage reference ramp which enables minimizing energy loss during the starting. The proposed system is modeled and simulated using Matlab/Simulink software program to examine the dynamic characteristics of the system with proposed control strategy. Dynamic simulation results for different transient conditions demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. •A novel scheme for voltage build-up is presented.•Voltage reference ramp is a deciding factor for the successfully of self-excitation process.•Energy management method is a key factor for the feasibility of the proposed system.•Dynamic model of the whole system is developed for dynamic behavior investigation.•Proposed control achieves excellent performance in terms of voltage and frequency stability.