A wind turbine emulator for generator control algorithm development

The paper describes an emulator for wind turbines which aims to be a base for the development of control algorithms for wind turbine generators. The emulator is physically composed by two servomotors in a back-to-back configuration, each of them controlled by a 4-kW power electronics converter. A FPGA-based control board is employed to model the effects of the wind, both in terms of turbulence and harmonics, and to emulate the mechanical characteristics of a wind turbine drive train. The models generate torque reference signals for the torque control of one of the two machines, which acts as a wind turbine. The second machine is used as a generator, controlled by the same FPGA-based board. The specific tasks of a wind turbine emulator are presented, describing in detail how they could be replicated on a small-scale test bench. The features of the actual emulator shown in the paper are discussed. Experimental results are presented, showing the benefits of a small-scale system for algorithm development.