A new automatic voltage regulator of self-excited induction generator using SVC magnetic energy recovery switch (MERS)

In this paper, a new voltage regulator applied to self-excited induction generator using SVC magnetic energy recovery switch (MERS) is proposed. Reactive compensation is required to maintain rated voltage when operating in load varying conditions or variable speeds. The proposed system consists of a bidirectional current switch, dc capacitor and inductor as a filter and operates as a variable reactive compensator. Two types of experiments were conducted to perform voltage control in load varying conditions at constant and variable speed. The proposed system has the following advantages: i) simple and fast control, where only two voltage sensors are required, PI controller for feedback operation gives fast response, ii) low switching losses can be achieved using zero voltage switching and low switching frequency, iii) low harmonic distortion; optimal selection of capacitor and inductor will lead to low distortion. The proposed system is proved to have good performance when being applied as a voltage regulation to induction generator. Further more, rating reduction of SVC MERS of about 60% can be achieved by connecting fixed capacitor in parallel to induction generator terminal.