Control method and snubber selection for a 5 MW wind turbine single active bridge DC/DC converter

In this paper the design and control aspects of the single active bridge DC/DC converter are investigated for the application to be used in a 5 MW wind turbine. The control of the converter is discussed as well as different design considerations as turn-off snubber circuits and leakage inductance of the transformer. It is found that the variable frequency control with a turn-off snubber capacitor gives the lowest losses for the application in a wind turbine. The losses for the single active bridge converter using variable frequency control is 3.2 - 3.8 % of the input power, depending on the position in the wind farm, compared to 3.8 - 4.1 % for the converter with constant frequency control.