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Improving Fault Ride-Through Capability of DFIG-

Based Wind Turbine Using Superconducting Fault
Current Limiter
Mariam E. Elshiekh, Diaa-Eldin A. Mansour, Member, IEEE, and Ahmed M. Azmy

Abstract—With increased penetration of wind energy, as a grid faults [1].

renewable energy source, there is a need to keep wind turbines When fault occurs into the grid, stator current increases and
connected to the grid during different disturbances such as grid a voltage dip will appear at the generator terminals. In addition,
faults. In this paper, the use of superconducting fault current
excessive rotor current will flow due to the magnetic coupling
limiter (SFCL) is proposed to reduce fault current level at the
stator side and improve fault ride-through (FRT) capability of between stator and rotor [2]. This current can cause failure of
the system. To highlight the proposed technique, a doubly fed the rotor side converter (RSC). As a result, RSC will be
induction generator (DFIG) is considered as a wind-turbine blocked and wind turbine will be tripped. This problem
generator, where the whole system is simulated using becomes more severe with large penetration of wind energy
PSCAD/EMTDC software. Detailed simulation results are and will cause a negative impact on the overall stability of the
obtained with and without SFCL considering stator and rotor
system. So, there is a need to improve the ability of wind
currents. In addition, the voltage profile at the generator
terminals is analyzed. The effect of limiting resistance value is turbines to remain connected to the grid during faults, which is
also investigated. The obtained results ensure that the SFCL is termed as fault ride-through (FRT) capability.
effective in decreasing the fault current. Moreover, both the Several studies have been carried out to improve FRT
voltage dip at the generator terminals and the reactive power capability of DFIG-based wind turbine [3]-[5]. The most well-
consumption from the grid are decreased during the fault. The known method that is being used is the crowbar system.
voltage dip characteristics were discussed in accordance with
Crowbar system comprises a set of resistors connected with the
international grid codes for wind turbines.
rotor side through power electronic devices in order to bypass
Index Terms— Doubly fed induction generator (DFIG), wind the rotor side converter. By the crowbar system, rotor currents
turbine, superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL), fault ride- could be successfully reduced. However, when the rotor side
through (FRT) capability. converter is isolated by the crowbar, the DFIG behaves as a
conventional induction generator [6]. Thus, it consumes
reactive power from the grid leading to further decrease of grid
I. INTRODUCTION voltage [7]. As a result, several control techniques and

T HE last few years showed a great increase in electrical

power demand. This was coincided with increasing
strategies have been proposed to overcome these drawbacks
[8]-[10]. However, most of these methods are too complicated
for practical applications and need proper tuning of control
penetration of renewable energy sources in order to reduce
global warming and promote carbon free technologies. Among parameters. In addition, these methods are not failure safe since
different renewable energy sources, wind energy has the major they are usually based on power electronic devices.
share due to their relative inferior cost. In addition they have In this paper, the application of superconducting fault
low maintenance requirements and clean operation. Therefore, current limiter (SFCL) with DFIG-based wind turbine is
wind energy can be built on a large scale with prospective proposed to improve FRT capability. SFCL is considered as a
economical benefits. self healing method since it does not need any control action to
Recently, doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG), as a be changed from superconducting to non-superconducting
variable speed generator, has attracted a wide interest for states. To ensure the validity of the proposed technique, the
application with wind energy. Using DFIG could achieve many whole system is built using PSCAD/EMTDC software. Then,
advantages such as operation over a wide range of rotor speeds the effect of integrating SFCL on the stator and rotor currents
and decreasing the amount of power carried by the converter during fault is studied. Also, the change in the voltage dip at
with substantial reduction in converter cost. However, DFIG the generator terminals is obtained with different values of
suffers from high sensitivity to grid disturbances, especially limiting resistance as a conventional alternative.

II. INVESTIGATED SYSTEM

Manuscript received October 7, 2012.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Power and Machines A. System Description
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tanta University, Seperbay, Tanta Fig. 1 illustrates a DFIG-based wind turbine, where the
31521, Egypt (e-mail: [email protected]).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available stator is directly connected to the grid, while the rotor is
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.

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compact size and simple principle of operation. Resistive type

Wind SFCL is based on the transition from superconducting to
turbine
normal state, which is recalled quenching process. With the
0.9MW, 0.69kV Transformer second generation Yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO)
0.69/20 kV Grid
coated conductors; it became possible to build SFCL of high
Gear
box
DFIG SFCL current density as well as fast transition and recovery.
Pt Pg, Qg The current limiting behavior of the resistive type SFCL can
Fault be characterized by the resistance transition of YBCO tapes in
terms of temperature and current density as described by the
RSC GSC
following equation [12]:

Control system

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of DFIG-based wind turbine with SFCL

0 , Superconducting state
/ , Flux flow state (6)
connected to a controlled back-to-back converter. The back-to- Normal state
back converter consists of the rotor-side converter and the grid-
where J and T are the current density and temperature,
side converter. The rotor-side converter controls the torque and respectively, while Jc and Tc are their critical values and n
the speed of the DFIG and the grid-side converter keeps the dc represents the exponent of E-J power law relation.
link voltage constant between the two converters. The DFIG is The n value of E-J power law has a large value for YBCO
controlled by vector control strategy of the power converter. coated conductors, normally higher than 20 [12]. Therefore, the
Under normal operating conditions, the active power is
flux flow resistance will increase in a step form within the first
generated based on wind speed and wind turbine half cycle of the fault current [13]. From the dynamic point of
characteristics, while the reactive power is set at zero. The grid view for DFIG, the flux flow resistance will play an important
is represented as an infinite bus with frequency of 50 Hz and role in the present study, where after the first cycle of the fault
voltage of 20 kV. The DFIG is connected to the grid through a current, the control action becomes active and the current drops
0.69/20 kV step-up transformer and the SFCL is introduced rapidly. Therefore, the developed model of SFCL on
after the transformer. The system has been simulated and PSCAD/EMTDC is represented as a constant resistance. The
analyzed using PSCAD/EMTDC software. rms current is used to determine the critical point at which the
B. DFIG-Based Wind Turbine Model SFCL will be converted to normal conducting state. The
Detailed modeling of DFIG-based wind turbine is explained critical current of the developed model is set to 1 kA.
in the literature. Here, only the important relations will be
highlighted [7], [11]. III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The mechanical power extracted from the wind turbine is A. Current Limitation Results
given by the following equation: In order to evaluate the effectiveness of SFCL for current
0.5 (1) limitation of DFIG-based wind turbine, a symmetrical fault
where Cp is the power coefficient, A is the swept area of rotor, was considered at the integration point with the grid as shown
ρ is the air density and V is the wind speed. in Fig. 1. The fault is applied at 1.32 s and is cleared by normal
The voltage equations of the stator and rotor circuits of the protection devices after 0.1 s. For the results in this paper, the
generator are expressed in the d-q reference frame as follows: wind turbine operates at a wind speed of 11.5 m/s.
Fig. 2 shows the current limitation capability of the SFCL
(2) through illustrating the stator current behavior regarding the
mentioned fault. A 60 Ω current limiting resistance was
(3) considered in this study. Without connecting SFCL as shown
in Fig. 2(a), the first peak of the current signal reaches about
4.4 kA for phase a, 3.1 kA for phase b and 5.6 kA for phase c.
(4) After fault clearance, the current exhibits an inverse peak,
where fault clearance normally results in transient components
(5) similar to that at fault initiation but with less severity. After
inserting the SFCL as represented in Fig. 2(b), the fault peak
where λ is the flux linkage, ω is the angular frequency and R is current was limited effectively to reach 3.3 kA for phase a, 2.4
the resistance per phase. The subscripts d and q denotes the kA for phase b and 3.5 kA for phase c. The difference of peak
direct and quadrature axes, respectively, while the subscripts s currents and corresponding limiting behavior between phases
and r denotes the stator and rotor quantities, respectively. is attributed to the different fault starting angles. It is
important to note that the inverse peak after fault clearance has
C. SFCL Model
also been decreased for all phases after connecting SFCL. So,
In this study, the resistive type SFCL is considered due to its the overall dynamic performance of DFIG has been improved.

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6 1.2
Ia
Ib 1.0

Terminal voltage (pu)

4
Ic 0.8
2
Current (kA)

0.6
0
0.4 Without SFCL
-2 With SFCL
0.2
USA grid code
-4
0.0
1 2 3 4 5
-6
Time (sec)
1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
Time (sec)
(a) Without SFCL 1.2
6 1.0

Terminal voltage (pu)

Ia
4 Ib 0.8
Ic
2 0.6
Current (kA)

0.4
0
0.2
-2
0.0
-4 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
Time (sec)
-6
1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Fig. 3. Voltage-dip characteristics at the generator terminals
Time (sec)
connecting SFCL. SFCL limits the deviation of reactive power
(b) With SFCL
at the fault instant, and also limits the reactive power drawn
Fig. 2. Stator current behavior with and without SFCL
from the grid at fault clearance. This would enhance the
stability of the overall system.
B. Voltage Dip Characteristics
The evaluation of rms voltage in pu at the terminals of the 1.0
wind turbine generator is shown in Fig. 3. Without SFCL, it is 0.8
shown that the voltage is decreased to 0.12 pu during fault.
After adding the SFCL, the voltage dip is decreased, where the 0.6
Power (kW)

voltage reaches 0.18 pu during fault. In accordance with

0.4
international grid codes for wind turbines [14], this
enhancement led to compliance with most of these codes. For 0.2
instance, the grid code requirements issued by USA, Ireland Without SFCL
0.0
and Canada AESO (Alberta Electric System Operator) are With SFCL
depicted in Fig. 3 as a solid line. It is recognized that the -0.2
required minimum voltage level of 0.15 pu was achieved after 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
using SFCL. Time (sec)
(a)
The highest minimum voltage level required worldwide is
0.2
0.25 pu [14] that is not attained by the current limiting
resistance considered here (60 Ω). But it is expected to 0.0
Reactive power (kVAR)

achieve various grid codes with increasing the current limiting -0.2
resistance as will be described later in this paper.
-0.4
C. Active and Reactive Power Behavior
-0.6
Fig. 4 shows the active and reactive power responses with
-0.8
and without connecting SFCL. As shown in Fig. 4(a), the Without SFCL
active power drops to approximately zero after fault without -1.0
With SFCL
connecting SFCL. So, the electromagnetic torque of DFIG is -1.2
reduced to zero and the rotor accelerates. After connecting 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
SFCL, the drop in the active power decreased, where it is Time (sec)
attained about 0.15 kW. In addition, the reactive power (b)
characteristics have been improved as shown in Fig. 4(b), after Fig. 4. Active and reactive power responses: (a) Active power response. (b)
Reactive power response

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1.0 0.30

Minimum voltage level (pu)

0.5 0.25

0.0 0.20
Current (kA)

-0.5 0.15

-1.0 0.10
Without SFCL
-1.5 With SFCL 0.05

-2.0 0.00
1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Without 30 Ω 60 Ω 100 Ω
Time (sec)
RSFCL
Fig. 5. Change of rotor current under fault with and without SFCL
Fig. 7. Effect of SFCL resistance on voltage dip at the generator terminal
D. Rotor Current Behavior
in current limitation will be achieved as shown in Fig. 6. Three
Increased current in the rotor circuit is very harmful to the SFCL resistance values were considered and compared with
rotor side converter. It may exceed the rating of the converter zero limiting resistance. The difference among phases is
leading to failure of its components. In addition, the protection attributed to the different fault starting angles. Regarding
setting on rotor circuit is governed by current. This setting is voltage dip characteristics at the generator terminals, it was
responsible of blocking the rotor circuit and tripping the wind also improved for higher SFCL resistance values. The
turbine from the grid. minimum voltage level under fault attained 0.25 pu at a
Fig. 5 shows the change of rotor current under fault with and current limiting resistance of 100 Ω as shown in Fig. 7. This
without SFCL. After connecting SFCL at the stator circuit, the achieved the highest minimum voltage level required
rotor current is limited to about 0.9 kA by the effect of worldwide [14]. Accordingly, the wind turbine integrated with
magnetic coupling between rotor and stator, while this current a current limiting resistance of 100 Ω became complied with
was about 1.7 kA without SFCL. With adjusting the current various international grid codes.
limiting resistance to a proper value, the rotor currents can be
limited within their safety margins. This would prevent the IV. CONCLUSION
rotor side converter from disconnection from the generator
The utilization of superconducting fault current limiter
during faults and keep the wind turbine connected to the grid.
(SFCL) to improve fault ride-through capability of DFIG has
Consequently, fault ride-through capability will be improved.
been proposed. The DFIG model integrated with SFCL has
Moreover, with using SFCL, the rotor current after fault
been built using PSCAD/EMTDC software. With using SFCL,
clearance returns to its steady state value without any further
the stator currents have been limited effectively and the
oscillations.
minimum voltage level at the generator terminals has been
E. Effect of Current Limiting Resistance increased leading to compliance with international grid codes.
Several cases have been studied with varying the value of The reduction of stator current has been reflected on the rotor
the SFCL resistance in order to evaluate the effect of current currents due to the magnetic coupling. Rotor currents have
limiting resistance. Only the stator currents and the voltage dip been limited to about 50% of its value without SFCL. In
characteristics will be presented, since they are the main addition, the overall dynamics of DFIG, represented by active
motivations for other characteristics of DFIG. For stator and reactive power, has been improved. With increasing the
currents, with increasing SFCL resistance further enhancement current limiting resistance, further improvements in the
obtained characteristics have been achieved. The obtained
Without SFCL
results pointed out the effectiveness of using SFCL with
7 DFIG-based wind turbine.
With RSFCL = 30 Ω
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Copyright (c) 2011 IEEE. Personal use is permitted. For any other purposes, permission must be obtained from the IEEE by emailing [email protected].
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