Design and analysis of a cost-effective back-to-back converter for a low voltage doubly fed induction generator

Distributed generation systems based on renewable energies, such as solar and wind energy sources, are nowadays one of the most promising ways to meet the power demand increase, the customer interests to generate electricity and the environmental issues. The scattering of small solar and wind generators should be promoted as a way to reduce the impact of the non-programmable production of these sorts of sources. For that, cost-effective solutions are sought to step up the use of these sources. This paper deals with the design and performance analysis of a cost-effective converter applied to control the power output of a small double fed induction generator for wind turbines connected to a low voltage network. A four-quadrant converter, suitable for low voltage and smart grids applications, is proposed and its characteristics are illustrated.