Study of saturation phenomena on asynchronous generators used in wind farms

Squirrel cage induction machines represent a common solution widely adopted in wind generation. In fact, the induction machine is simple, reliable, cheap and requires very little maintenance. The asynchronous machine is usually used in motor operation so the model used to simulate its behavior does not take into account saturation phenomena. The paper investigates the effect of saturation phenomena in modeling the asynchronous machine in a generation group for wind farms. In order to conduct the analysis two models are considered: a simplified model, constructed by neglecting the saturation of the magnetic circuits, and a second model set up considering the effect of saturation. The validation and the comparison of the two models have been made by means of experimental results. Some considerations into the error connected with the use of the simplified model and into the suitability of using it are reported.