International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT)

ISSN: 2249 – 8958, Volume-2, Issue-5, June 2013

Voltage Control of Variable Speed Induction

Generator Using PWM Converter
Sivakami.P, Karthigaivel.R, Selvakumaran.S
requires complex pitch control to maintain a constant rotor
Abstract— The paper describes a simple control structure for a speed. During the last few years, the variable speed wind
stand-alone Induction Generator (IG) used to operate under turbines with Self-Excited Induction Generator (SEIG)
variable speeds. Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) has been developed to
dominant the wind energy conversion system (WECS). There
automatically vary the duty-cycle of the PWM converter such that
to maintain the DC-link voltage constant. The required reactive are several reasons for using variable-speed SEIG based wind
power for the variable-speed IG is supplied by means of the PWM turbines; among those are (i)Possibilities to reduce stresses of
converter and a capacitor bank to build up the voltage of the IG the mechanical structure, (ii)Acoustic noise reduction and (iii)
without the need for a battery and to reduce the rating of the PWM The possibility to control active and reactive power.
converter with the need for only three sensors. This proposed The Induction Generator (IG), with its lower maintenance
scheme has been used efficiently for variable speed wind or hydro demands and simplified controls, appears to be a good
energy conversion systems. The measurements of the IG system at solution for such applications [1]. For its simplicity,
various speeds and loads are given and show that this proposed
robustness and small size per generated kilowatt, the IG is
system is capable of good DC voltages regulation. The proposed
system has been simulated using MATLAB-SIMULINK software favoured for small hydro-and wind-power plants. It has a
and verified the theoretical analysis. great economic appeal. Standing alone, its maximum power
does not go much beyond 15 kW [2]–[4]. So, we need to think
Index Terms— DC power applications, Induction Generator in terms of a spectrum of power supplies from small (few
(IG), Pulse Width-Modulation (PWM) converter, voltage
regulation.
watts) to large (close to 100 kW or more). However, the major
drawbacks of the IGs are reactive-power consumption and
I. INTRODUCTION poor voltage regulation under varying load or speed, but the
development of static power converters has facilitated the
Energy is the primary and most universal measure of all control of the output voltage of the IG [5]–[9]. An
kinds of work by human beings and nature. Everything that induction-machine based stand-alone power generation
happens in the world is the expression of flow of energy in one scheme with a diode bridge rectifier and a PWM converter
of its forms Energy is an important input in all sectors of a that uses the rotor field orientation has been proposed to
country’s economy. Conventional sources of energy are control the output voltage of the diode-bridge rectifier [7].
increasingly depleted. Hence, Non Conventional Energy The major drawbacks of this system are that there are serious
Sources have emerged as potential source of energy in India voltage and current harmonics problems, because the output
and world at large. Among the various non-conventional voltage is rectified by means of a diode-bridge rectifier to
energy sources, wind energy is emerging as the potential charge a battery and the rotor field orientation is presented to
major source of energy for growth. Wind turbine generators regulate the output voltage without filtering the generated
(WTGs) can be divided into two basic categories: (i) fixed current harmonics. Moreover, the magnetization curve of the
speed and (ii) variable speed. The fixed-speed generator has a IG has not been included in the proposed control system for
low efficiency of wind power conversion and no ability to improving the accuracy in calculating the rotor flux position.
provide reactive power support. During the last few years, This is due to the fact that stable grid voltages are not
the variable speed wind turbines with Self-Excited Induction available.
Generator (SEIG) dominant the wind energy conversion Based on the instantaneous reactive power theory, the use of
system (WECS).There are several reasons for using a capacitor bank and an inverter simultaneously, without any
variable-speed SEIG based wind turbines; among those are mechanical speed sensor in the induction machine rotor, has
(i)Possibilities to reduce stresses of the mechanical structure, been proposed [8]. In this paper, aspects are investigated
(ii)Acoustic noise reduction and (iii) The possibility to related to voltage regulation, with Fuzzy logic control
control active and reactive power. The fixed-speed generator strategies, for a voltage source PWM converter connected to
has a low efficiency of wind power conversion and no ability self-excited Induction Generator in wind, mini/micro-hydro
to provide reactive power support. energy application. Fuzzy logic based voltage controller has
been proposed for voltage source PWM converter to regulate
DC-link voltage. The fuzzy logic controller is designed to
vary the duty-cycle of the PWM converter automatically such
that to maintain the load voltage constant.
Manuscript received on June, 2013.
Sivakami.P, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,,
Anna University, Chennai, India.
Karthigaivel.R, Department of EEE,PSNA college of Engineering and
Technology, Dindigul, India.
Selvakumaran.S, Department of EEE, PSNA college of Engineering and
Technology, Dindigul, India.

It also imposes mechanical stress on the turbine and

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 Voltage Control of Variable Speed Induction Generator Using PWM Converter

II. METHODOLOGY at the output terminal, a closed loop fuzzy controller is

incorporated to automatically vary the duty cycle of the
A. Block Diagram voltage source converter to obtain constant DC voltage.
Duty cycle (D) is defined as the ratio of on time to the
total time. The total time is equal to the sum of on time
and off time.
Duty cycle

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of voltage control of

induction generator with PWM converter
The schematic diagram of the proposed induction
generator is shown in Fig.1. This proposed IG consists on
a conventional three-phase Self-Excited Induction
Generator, wind turbine, fixed capacitor bank, voltage
source PWM converter, Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC),
AC and DC loads. The Self-Excited Induction Generator
(SEIG) is driven by a prime mover (PM). The stator of a Fig. 2 Power circuit of three-phase voltage source
induction machine is connected to an AC load, to a converter using IGBT modules
capacitor bank and to a voltage source converter with a
DC load. The DC load may be employed in applications C. Reactive Power Control and Capacitor Bank Switching
such as cogeneration, battery charging, heating or an Techniques
association of these options. The AC load can be used in
other applications, like pumping water to reservoirs in The equivalent circuit in Fig 3 is added to explain this
irrigation systems. The proposed control strategy is situation of switching capacitor bank due to the duty cycle.
based on a Fuzzy logic controller which is useful to The details of this circuit is given in [10]. For the circuit of
regulate the DC-link voltage under a variable load and Fig.3 the switches are operated in anti-phase, i.e., the
speed conditions. switching function fs2 which controls switch S2 is the inverse
The fuzzy logic controller is designed to vary the duty-cycle function of fs1 which controls switch S1.
of the PWM converter automatically such that to maintain the
load voltage constant. The capacitor bank and a voltage
source converter provide reactive current needed to
excite the induction generator. Capacitor bank is used to
supply reactive power and starting the stand alone induction
generator without the need for a battery and to reduce the
rating of the PWM converter. The output of an induction
generator is three-phase AC source which is converted
into DC using voltage source converter (VSC) and
supply to the DC load. The voltage across the capacitor
Fig. 3 Semiconductor switch (S1, S2) circuit for capacitor
DC link voltage (V o ) is measured using voltage sensor
bank
and compared with the reference voltage (V r ) and an
error (e) is generated. After a delay, change in error (∆e)
In other words, switch S2 is closed during the time when
is generated. The error and change in error is given as an
switch S1 is open and vice versa. This mean that S1 and S2 of
input to the Fuzzy logic controller. The FLC generates
branch 1 and 2 are operated in such a manner that one switch
gate signal which is given to the voltage source converter
is closed while the other is open. As shown in Fig 1, the input
for appropriate IGBT switches. The FLC regulates the
to the controllers is the voltage error while the output of the
output voltage by generating the gate signal with
controllers is used to execute the duty cycle (D). The value of
appropriate duty cycle such that the voltage across the
calculated D is used as an input to semiconductor switches to
DC load is maintained constant. This proves the
change the value of the capacitor bank according to the need
self-regulating mechanism of the proposed system.
for the effective value of the excitation. Accordingly, the
B. Power Circuit and Control Schemes terminal voltage is controlled by adjusting the self-excitation
Fig.2 represents the power circuit of the three-phase through automatic switching of the capacitor bank. There are
voltage-source converter using IGBT power modules. The different types of control schemes are Dead-beat controller,
output of an induction generator is converted into DC Direct vector control, Indirect vector control, Fuzzy logic
using voltage source converter (VSC) and supply to the controller, Direct torque control Among all the control
DC load. As the converter DC voltage varies with schemes Fuzzy logic controller is highly accurate and simple.
variation in the supply voltage, to obtain constant voltage Some of the advantages of FLC over other control schemes

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 International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT)
ISSN: 2249 – 8958, Volume-2, Issue-5, June 2013

are, simple control, very robust, can be easily modified, can A. Fuzzification
use multiple inputs and outputs, much simpler than its
predecessors, very quick and cheaper to implement, since
they do not require the knowledge of the exact model.

III. FUZZY LOGIC CONTROLLER

Normally PI controller’s used in control of PWM rectifier,
here, in the control scheme; rule based fuzzy logic is
established in the control strategy. One control loop are
adopted, to achieve reference current tracking and DC-link
regulation. The functions of the control scheme are to obtain Fig. 5 Fuzzy logic control scheme
improved power factor at the AC-side, and to obtain better Fig 5 shows the Fuzzy logic control scheme. Fuzzification
voltage regulation. The use of fuzzy logic control has become comprises the process of transforming numerical crisp inputs
popular over the last decade because it can deal with into linguistic variables based on the degree of membership to
imprecise inputs, does not need an accurate mathematical certain sets. Membership functions are used to associate a
model and can handle nonlinearity. Fuzzification comprises grade to each linguistic term. The number of membership
the process of transforming numerical crisp inputs into functions used depends on the accuracy of the controller.
linguistic variables based on the degree of membership to Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) is suitable for systems that are
certain sets. Membership functions are used to associate a structurally difficult to model due to naturally existing non
grade to each linguistic term. The number of membership linear ties and other model complexities. The membership
functions used depends on the accuracy of the controller. function values are assigned to the Linguistic variables using
Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) is suitable for systems that are seven fuzzy subset called as nb (negative big), nm (negative
structurally difficult to model due to naturally existing non medium), ns (negative small), ze (zero), ps (positive small),
linear ties and other model complexities. A fuzzy controller pm (positive medium) and pb (positive big). Fuzzy
determines the operating condition from the measured values associative memory for the proposed system is given in
and selects the appropriate control actions using the rule base Table-1. Variable e and ∆e are selected as the input variables,
creating from the expert knowledge. Fuzzy logic is where e is the error between the reference voltage (Vr) and
appropriate for nonlinear control because it does not use actual voltage (Vo) of the system, ∆e is the change in error in
complex mathematical equation. The two FLC input the sampling interval. The output variable is the reference
variables are the error (e) and change of error (∆e). The signal for PWM generator U. Triangular membership
behavior of a FLC depends on the shape of membership functions are selected for all these process. The range of each
functions of the rule base. Fig 4 shows the power circuit of membership function is decided by the previous knowledge of
fuzzy logic controller. the proposed scheme parameters.
B. Inference Engine
Inference engine mainly consist of Fuzzy rule base and fuzzy
implication sub blocks. The inputs are now fuzzified are fed
to the inference engine and the rule base is then applied. The
output fuzzy set are then identified using fuzzy implication
method. Here we are using MIN-MAX fuzzy implication
method.
C. Defuzzification
Once fuzzification is over, output fuzzy range is located.
Since at this stage a non-fuzzy value of control is available a
defuzzification stage is needed. Centroid defuzzification
method [11] is used for defuzzification in the proposed
scheme. The membership function of the variables error,
change in error and change in reference signal for PWM
Fig. 4 Power Circuit of Fuzzy Logic Controller generator are shown in Fig.6.

Rule based fuzzy logic is used in control of PWM rectifier

established in the control strategy. The functions of the
control scheme are to obtain improved power factor and to
obtain better voltage regulation. If the DC-side voltage is
lower than the reference voltage, the output value of the Fuzzy
controller will increase the amplitude of the line current
command to increase the input AC power for compensation of
DC-bus voltage drop. If the DC-bus voltage is higher than the
reference voltage, the output value of fuzzy controller will (a) Membership function plots for ‘e’
decrease the input AC power for compensation the DC-side
voltage.

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 Voltage Control of Variable Speed Induction Generator Using PWM Converter

(b) Membership function plots for ‘∆e’

Fig. 7 Simulation diagram for Fuzzy logic Controller of

IG with PWM Converter

(c) Membership function plots for ‘U’ A. Results and Discussions

The simulation results for three phase source current and
Fig. 6 Membership function source voltage of SEIG is shown in Fig (a) and (b). The given
input voltage is varied from 200V to 280V at the same time
Table 1. Fuzzy Associative memory for the proposed system the output voltage is maintained constant at 230V by varying
the duty cycle of the voltage source converter automatically.
Some harmonics have been introduced in the proposed
scheme found in the waveforms it can be eliminated by
introducing necessary filters. FLC is a simple control method
to control the voltage across the load compared to the existing
method. In the Fig (a) shows the input source voltage at 220V
and the Fig (b) shows the source current at 8A..

IV. SIMULATION
The proposed system has been simulated using MATLAB
simulink software and is shown in Fig.7. The machine
parameters details are also given in table 2. The voltage and
current characteristics are discussed, also, the voltage
characteristics of the induction generator under varying speed
and load conditions are discussed. The triggering pulses
(a) Source Voltage
required for all switching devices are generated by using
Fuzzy logic controller.

Table 2. Machine Parameters

Si No Machine Parameters Ratings

1 Source Voltage 200V-280V
2 Source Current 8A
3 RS 0.9Ω
4 Frequency 50Hz
5 Inductance 5mH
6 Capacitance 100µF (b) Source Current

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 International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT)
ISSN: 2249 – 8958, Volume-2, Issue-5, June 2013

Fig.10 shows the FFT analysis of Source Current with

Dead-Beat Controller. In the FFT analysis method used to
reprsent the percentage of total harmonic distorsion available
in the source current. The three phase input source current
wave form is selected for harmonic analysis. In this fig 10
consider the sinusoidal input current wave form, 4.38% of the
total harmonic distortion is present between the time period
of 0.055 – 0.07S. Fig 11 shows the FFT analysis of source
current for existing method of Dead-Beat controller. The
total harmonic distortion for the existing method is 4.38%.
The total harmonic distortion is reduced by fuzzy logic
Fig. 8 Simulated Output Voltage Waveform for 230V
controller. The proposed method of fuzzy logic controller is
Source Voltage
developed for IG and PWM converter, the total harmonic
The simulated per phase voltage waveform across the load is distortion is reduced from 4.38% to 0.17%, and also the
shown in Fig 8. the output voltage is maintained constant at power factor has been improved.
237V under varying speed and load conditions. The FLC
regulates the output voltage by generating the gate signal with
appropriate duty cycle such that the voltage across the DC
load is maintained constant.

Fig. 11 FFT analysis of Source Current with Fuzzy logic

control

(c) Source Voltage V. CONCLUSION

In the Fig (c) shows the input source voltage at 210V. The In this paper, a fuzzy logic controller has been proposed for
input voltage is varied continuously with a specified limit the the stand-alone IG working with variable speed and supplying
output voltage is maintained constant. Fig. 9 shows the output a DC load with voltage regulation. Fuzzy logic based voltage
voltage. controller has been proposed for voltage source PWM
converter to regulate DC-link voltage. In order to achieve the
load voltage constant the actual voltage is compared with the
reference maximum voltage and an error is calculated,
accordingly the reference signal to the PWM generator is
changed. The significant effects of the capacitor bank on the
IG system, such as supplying reactive power and starting the
stand-alone IG without the need for a battery are
demonstrated. Hence, high system reliability and low system
cost are achieved. In the proposed system the control of an
SEIG using fuzzy logic controller is simulated in
MATLAB/Simulink and the simulation results are compared
with the dead-beat current controller. From the comparison, it
Fig. 9 Simulated Output Voltage Waveform for 210V was found that the SEIG with fuzzy logic controller attained
Source Voltage more power factor and the total harmonic distortions were
observed to be less compared with dead-beat current control.
The results show that the fuzzy logic controller based SEIG
has better performance which has improved harmonic profile
and system performance and also better AC & DC voltage
regulation can be achieved.

REFERENCES
[1] Ahmed, T., Noro, O., Hiraki, E., and Nakaoka, M.: “Terminal voltage
regulation characteristics by static VAR compensator for a
three-phase self-excited induction generator”, IEEE Transa. Ind.
Appli., 2004, 40, (4), pp. 978–988.
Fig. 10 FFT analysis of Source Current with Dead-Beat [2] Suarez, E., and Bortolotto, G.: “Voltage-Frequency Control of A
Controller Self-Excited Induction generator”, IEEE Trans. Energy Convers.,
1999, 14, (3), pp. 394–401.

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 Voltage Control of Variable Speed Induction Generator Using PWM Converter

[3] Muljadi, E., and Lipo, T.A.: “Series compensated PWM inverter with
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AUTHER’S PROFILE

Sivakami.P has obtained B.E degree from Anna

University, Trichy, in the year 2011 and presently
pursuing M.E., under Anna University Chennai. Her
areas of interest are power electronics and Electronics
Devices. She is a student member of IEEE

Dr.R.Karthigaivel obtained his M.Tech and Ph.D from

National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli in
2005 and 2012 respectively. He is Presently working as a
Professor at PSNA college of Engineering and
Technology, Dindigul, India. His field of interest is
Design and development of Power Electronic
Controllers for Renewable Energy Sources and Power
System Operation and Control.

S.Selvakumaran was born in Dindigul, Tamilnadu on

December 21, 1977. He graduated from the PSNA
College of Engineering and Technology, Madurai
Kamaraj University.He post graduated from
Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamilnadu in
2000. He is currently working towards the Ph.D.
degree with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
Anna University Chennai, India. He is working as
Associate Professor at PSNA College of Engineering
and Technology, Dindigul, Tamilnadu. His special fields of interest included
Power System Control, Operation, Protection, Transmission and
Distribution.

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