Control of Brushless Doubly-Fed Reluctance Generators for Wind Energy Conversion Systems

This paper presents the conceptual analysis, comparative simulation, and experimental evaluation of voltage and flux vector-oriented control of a promising low-cost brushless doubly-fed reluctance generator (BDFRG) technology for variable-speed wind turbines with maximum power point tracking. The BDFRG has been receiving increasing attention because of the use of partially rated power electronics and the high reliability of brushless design, while offering performance competitive to its popular slip-ring counterpart, the doubly-fed induction generator. The development and viability of the two parameter-independent controllers have been validated on a custom-made BDFRG prototype using the maximum torque per inverter ampere strategy for the speed and loading conditions commonly encountered in wind power applications.