Maximum torque per inverter ampere control of brushless doubly-fed reluctance generators for wind turbines

This paper deals with field-oriented control (FOC) and vector control (VC) of a promising brushless doubly-fed reluctance generator (BDFRG) technology for large-scale wind turbines. The BDFRG has been receiving increasing attention because of the low operation & maintenance costs afforded by the use of partially-rated power electronics, and the high reliability of brushless construction, while offering performance competitive to its well-known slip-ring counterpart, a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG). The two robust control schemes have been developed for a custom-designed BDFRG fed from a conventional `back-to-back´ IGBT converter. The preliminary studies have evaluated and compared the algorithms under the maximum torque per inverter ampere (MTPIA) conditions allowing the improved efficiency of the generator-converter set and the entire wind energy conversion system.