AC/DC power conversion interface for self-excited induction generator

A new AC/DC power conversion interface for the self-excited induction generator (SEIG) is proposed here. The proposed AC/DC conversion interface includes an excitation system and a diode rectifier connected in parallel. The variable frequency AC power generated by the SEIG is converted into DC power by the diode rectifier. The DC power of the diode rectifier can charge a battery set and supply DC loads or be further converted into fixed-frequency AC power by an inverter for AC loads. The DC voltage is expected to be regulated in the above applications. The excitation system supplies an exciting reactive current to maintain the amplitude of the SEIG output voltage to be a constant value. Moreover, it can also serve as an active power filter to suppress the harmonic current generated by the diode rectifier. The excitation system is composed of an AC power capacitor and a power converter connected in series. The AC power capacitor is adapted to provide a basic reactive power, and it can also reduce the voltage rating and the capacity of the power converter. The salient point of the proposed AC/DC power conversion interface is that the capacity of the power converter in the AC/DC power conversion interface can be minimised, and the power loss of the AC/DC power conversion interface can also be reduced. A prototype is developed and tested to verify the performance of the proposed AC/DC power conversion interface.