Wind generator with electronic variable-speed drives

摘要

Variable speed drives have been inserted between the network and the generator on certain recent wind power facilities. They have the following advantages: the drive allows the wind generator to operate at low speed with a significant reduction in acoustic noise, an important point if the facilities are sited near populated areas; the drive optimizes energy transfer, providing a gain of 4 to 10 %; the drive can possibly replace certain mechanical parts (the starting system and it in some cases, the reduction gear); the drive not only provides better transient management in relation to the network for less mechanical stress on the wind generator, it is also able to control reactive power. One commercial drive design sold by several manufacturers has already been installed on several wind generators with outputs of between 150 and 600 kw. In addition, such a solution is extremely well suited to mixed renewable energy systems. This design uses two inverse rectifier type converters and can therefore exchange energy in both directions. The equivalent drive with a single IGBT converter on the motor side and a diode converter on the network side is the solution most widely adopted throughout industry (with more than 50, 000 units installed in France per year). It still remains to be seen whether such a solution could be profitable in wind generator application (since the cost of the drive is quite high). This technical analysis is more destined for the converter-machine assembly specialists and is presented in this document, paying particular attention as it does to the modelling of the 'wind energy - generator - drive - network' assembly, the associated drive command and control strategies and the simulations obtained during various transients. A 7.5 kW test bed has been installed in the Laboratoire d'Electronique de Puissance de Clamart, enabling tests to be carried out which emulate the operation of a wind generator.