Self-excited single-phase and three-phase induction generators in remote areas

Self-excited induction generators are increasingly being used in remote areas to generate electrical power from both conventional and nonconventional energy sources. This paper describes a method of evaluating the steady state characteristics of a single-phase as well as a three-phase induction generator for stand-alone operation. The steady state problem is formulated in a very general way so that the same solution technique can be applied to both single-phase and three-phase generators. A numerical based routine is then used to solve the formulated problem and that eliminates the additional algebraic calculations needed to explicitly express the equations in terms of actual unknowns. The proposed method is then applied to evaluate the steady state characteristics of a number of single-phase and three-phase induction generators. The simulation results obtained by the proposed method are also compared with the corresponding experimental values and are found to be in very good agreement.