Open-end-winding PMSG for wind energy conversion system with dual boost NPC converter

Commercial wind turbines have increased in size and power in the last decade, reaching 7.5MW. This has driven the development of new converter-generator wind turbine configurations where permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSG) have been at the forefront due to the higher power density, efficiency and lower maintenance, compared to the classic doubly fed induction generator (DFIG). In this paper a new WECS configuration is explored based on an open-end winding three-phase PMSG. The proposed converter configuration allows to elevate the low voltage at generator side to a medium-voltage at the grid side. Each three-phase terminal of the machine is connected to a full bridge diode rectifier, followed by a dc-dc boost converter to elevate the voltage level and control the MPPT. The grid side converter is a three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter operating at medium-voltage level. The performance of the proposed configuration is verified by simulation using PSIM and MatLab & Simulink platforms.