Robust vector controllers for brushless doubly-fed wind turbine generators

The paper is concerned with field-oriented control (FOC) and vector control (VC) of a promising brushless doubly-fed reluctance generator (BDFRG) technology for adjustable speed wind turbines with maximum power point tracking. The BDFRG has been receiving increasing attention because of the low capital and operation & maintenance costs afforded by using partially-rated power electronics and the high reliability of brushless design, while offering performance competitive to its well-known slip-ring counterpart, a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG). The preliminary studies have evaluated the performance of the two parameter independent control algorithms on a custom-made BDFRG under the maximum torque per inverter ampere (MTPIA) conditions for the improved efficiency of the generator and the entire wind energy conversion system (WECS).