Educational experimental rig for Doubly-Fed Induction Generator based wind turbine

An experimental rig for grid-connected Doubly-Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) based wind turbine is presented. The experimental rig was developed for educational and research purposes at the University Duisburg Essen. The goal here is to give an overview of the structure, control and operation of the developed DFIG system. Independent control of active and reactive power of the generator is achieved by applying voltage-oriented control schemes. In the laboratory set up, a 9kW slip ring induction generator is used. The generator is driven by a torque-controlled squirrel cage induction motor. The control program of the wind turbine emulator generates the torque reference value for the drive. The commissioning procedure through the PC user interface is described. The performance of the developed rig is demonstrated through experimental results during nominal load operation.