Application of Thyristor Bridge-Type Non-Superconducting FCL with Buck Series Charging to Improve the FRT Capability of the DFIG System

Abstract

Wind power generation is observing a significant use of doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) due to its improved efficiency, but the converter used in the configuration is sensitive to the presence of a fault in the grid. This paper presents a fault ride-through (FRT) configuration, which includes a thyristor-based bridge-type non-superconducting fault current limiter (ThyBT-NSFCL) augmented with a buck converter. It has been observed that the proposed topology works fine under a temporary symmetrical fault. The analytical analysis has been carried out to observe the operating principle of the proposed ThyBT-NSFCL under both normal and fault conditions. A comparative study with other topologies such as switched impedance transformer-type non-superconducting fault current limiter (TT-NSFCL), series dynamic breaking resistor (SDBR), and without any current limiter (WCL) have been done to show the effectiveness of the proposed topology. The simulation results show that the proposed ThyBT-NSFCL is a better fault current limiter as compared with other limiters like TT-NSFCL, SDBR, and WCL. The simulation of the proposed ThyBT-NSFCL connected in series with a DFIG system is carried out using PSCAD/EMTDC software. The performance of the proposed topology is quite good, and it can be used as a reliable limiter for future wind energy applications.

Keywords:

• bridge-type fault current limiter (BTFCL)
• buck converter
• doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG)
• fault ride-through (FRT) capability
• wind energy

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Umesh Chaudhary

Umesh Chaudhary received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering from the Bhagalpur College of Engineering Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, in 2009, and the M.E. degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, in 2011. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India. His current research interests include applications of power electronics in renewable energy especially wind turbine, wind turbine blade modeling, fault current limiter, power quality issues, power system dynamics, and control.

Praveen Tripathy

Praveen Tripathy received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India, in 2011. He is currently an Associate Professor with the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India. His research interests include wide area monitoring and control, power system dynamics, power system operation and control, FACTS, distribution automation, and wind energy systems.

Sisir Kumar Nayak

Sisir Kumar Nayak received his MS and PhD degree from IISc Bangalore, India in 2003 and 2009 respectively. Before joining IIT Guwahati as an Assistant Professor, he was Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Royal Institute of Technology-KTH, Sweden in 2009. He is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, IIT Guwahati, India. His research interest includes renewable energy, wireless power transfer, high voltage and pulsed power.