EE3014 POWER ELECTRONICS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS

EE3014 POWER ELECTRONICS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS

UNIT IV-POWERCONVERTERS FOR WIND SYSTEMS

4.1-STAND POWER CONVERTERS: THREE-PHASE AC VOLTAGE CONTROLLERS.

THREE-PHASE AC VOLTAGE REGULATORS

There are many types of circuits used for the three-phase ac regulators (ac to ac
voltage converters), unlike single-phase ones. The three-phase loads (balanced) are
connected in star or delta. Two thyristors connected back to back, or a triac, is used for
each phase in most of the circuits as described. Two circuits are first taken up, both with
balanced resistive (R) load

Three-phase, star connected AC Regulator with Balanced Resistive Load

The circuit of a three-phase, three-wire AC regulator (termed as ac to ac voltage

converter) with balanced resistive (star-connected) load is shown in Figure. It may be
noted that the resistance connected in all three phases are equal. Two thyristors
connected back to back are used per phase, thus needing a total of six thyristors. The
current flow is bidirectional, with the current in one direction in the positive half, and
then, in other (opposite) direction in the negative half. So, two thyristors connected
back to back are needed in each phase. The turning off of a thyristor occurs, if its current
falls to zero. To turn the thyristor on, the anode voltage must be higher that the cathode
voltage, and also, a triggering signal must be applied at its gate.

Three-phase, three-wire star connected AC voltage

regulator
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The expression of the RMS value of output voltage is obtained by per phase for
balanced star-connected resistive load which depends on range of firing angle. If is the
RMS value of the input voltage per phase, and assuming the voltage, as the reference,
the instantaneous input voltages per phase are,

Then, the instantaneous input line voltages are,

Three-phase Delta-connected AC Regulator with Balanced Resistive Load

The circuit of a three-phase, delta-connected ac regulator (termed as ac to ac

voltage converter) with balanced resistive load is shown in Figure. It may be noted that
the resistance connected in all three phases are equal. Two thyristors connected back to
back are used per phase, thus needing a total of six thyristors. As stated earlier, the
numbering scheme may be noted. It may be observed that one phase of the balanced
circuit is similar to that used for single phase ac regulator. Since the phase current in
a balanced three-phase system is only (1/√3) of the line current, the current rating of the
thyristors would be lower than that if the thyristors are placed in the line.

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Assuming the line voltage as the reference, the instantaneous input line voltages are,

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EE3014 POWER ELECTRONICS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS

UNIT IV-POWERCONVERTERS FOR WIND SYSTEMS

4.2-AC-DC-AC CONVERTERS: UNCONTROLLED RECTIFIERS, PWM INVERTERS, GRID-

INTERACTIVE INVERTERS - MATRIX CONVERTER

THREE PHASE AC-DC-AC CONVERTERS (THE BACK-TO-

BACKCONVERTER)

The back-to-back converter is consists simply of a force-commutated rectifier

and a force-commutated inverter connected with a common dc-link shown in figure.
The properties of this combination are well known; the line-side converter may be
operated to give sinusoidal line currents, for sinusoidal currents, the dc-link voltage
must be higher than the peak main voltage, the dc-link voltage is regulated by
controlling the power flow to the ac grid and, finally, the inverter operates on the
boosted dc-link, making it possible to increase the output power of a connected machine
over its rated power. Another advantage in certain applications is that braking energy
can be fed back to the power grid instead of just wasting it in a braking resistor.
An important property of the back-to-back converter is the possibility of fast
control of the power flow. By controlling the power flow to the grid, the dc-link voltage
can be held constant. The presence of a fast control loop for the dc-link voltage makes
it possible to reduce the size of the dc-link capacitor, without affecting inverter
performance. In fact, the capacitor can be made small enough to be implemented with
plastic film capacitors.

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Back-to-back converter

Issues associated with a small DC-link capacitor

Smallest size of the dc-link capacitor is governed by the need to keep the switch-
frequent ripple at acceptable (i.e. small) levels. Fluctuations in the load cannot be
smoothed in the converter, but must be accommodated by other means. One alternative
is to simply transfer such fluctuations to the power grid, but this may re-introduce the
line-current harmonics the back to back converter is supposed to eliminate. However,
load fluctuations will be random and thus relatively harmless compared to the in-phase
harmonics generated by diode rectifiers. Another alternative is to use the load itself. In
a typical drive, the mechanical energy stored in the drive is several orders of magnitude
larger than the electrical energy stored in the DC-link capacitor in a back-to-back
converter. If the application does not need servo-class performance, there is no reason
why the rotational speed cannot be allowed to fluctuate slightly.

Application criteria for three-phase nine-switch converters

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The nine-switch topology is derived from two converters connected back-to-back

(BTB) shown in figure. Two phase legs from converter 1 and 2, respectively, are merged
together to compose one phase leg of the nine switch converter, and meanwhile one
switch is dismissed. Thus nine-switch converters have only three phase legs and each
of them has only three switches.

Nine-switch power converters

With such a topology, nine-switch converters retain the DC-link and can achieve
all the functions of twelve-switch BTB even with three switches less.

UNCONTROLLED RECTIFIERS

Half Wave Rectifier Circuit

A rectifier is a circuit which converts the Alternating Current (AC) input

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power into a Direct Current (DC) output power. The input power supply may be either
a single-phase or a multi-phase supply with the simplest of all the rectifier circuits being
that of the Half Wave Rectifier. The power diode in a half wave rectifier circuit passes
just one half of each complete sine wave of the AC supply in order to convert it into a
DC supply. Then this type of circuit is called a ―half-wave‖ rectifier because it passes
only half of the incoming AC power supply as shown below. During each ―positive‖
half cycle of the AC sine wave, the diode is forward biased as the anode is positive
with respect to the cathode resulting in current flowing through the diode. During each
―negative‖ half cycle of the AC sinusoidal input waveform, the diode is reverse
biased as the anode is negative with respect to the cathode.

Full Wave Rectifier Circuit

Like the half wave circuit, a full wave rectifier circuit produces an output voltage
or current which is purely DC or has some specified DC component. Full wave rectifiers
have some fundamental advantages over their half wave rectifier counterparts. The
average (DC) output voltage is higher than for half wave, the output of the full wave
rectifier has much less ripple than that of the half wave rectifier producing a smoother
output waveform. In a Full Wave Rectifier circuit two diodes are now used, one for
each half of the cycle. A multiple winding transformer is used whose secondary winding
is split equally into two halves with a common centre tapped connection.

This configuration results in each diode conducting in turn when its anode
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terminal is positive with respect to the transformer centre point C producing an output
during both half- cycles, twice that for the half wave rectifier so it is 100% efficient as
shown below. The full wave rectifier circuit consists of two power diodes connected to
a single load resistance (RL) with each diode taking it in turn to supply current to the
load. When point A of the transformer is positive with respect to point C, diode D1
conducts in the forward direction as indicated by the arrows. When point B is positive
(in the negative half of the cycle) with respect to point C, diode D2 conducts in the
forward direction and the current flowing through resistor R is in the same direction for
both half-cycles. As the output voltage across the resistor R is the phasor sum of the
two waveforms combined, this type of full wave rectifier circuit is also known as a
―bi- phase‖ circuit.

Three phase Half Wave Rectifier

A three phase half wave rectifier, as the name implies, consists of a three
phase transformer. Given below is a star connected secondary three phase transformer
with three diodes connected to the three phases as shown in the figure. The neutral
point ‗NTRL‘ of the secondary is considered as the earth for the circuit and is given
as the negative terminal for the load.

The input and the output wave forms for the circuit above is shown below. For
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each one- third of the cycle, each diode conducts. At the instant when one diode out of
three is conducting, the other two are left inactive, at that instant their cathodes becomes
positive with respect to the anodes. This process repeats for each of the three diodes.

Three Phase Full Wave Rectifier

A three phase full wave rectifier can also be called a six wave half wave
rectifier as shown in the figure. The diodes D1 to D6 will conduct only for 1/6th of the
period, with a period of π/3. As shown in the output wave form, the fluctuation of dc
voltage is less in a three phase circuit. The variation lies between the maximum
alternation voltage and 86.6% of this, with the average value being 0.955 times the
maximum value.

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UNIT IV-POWERCONVERTERS FOR WIND SYSTEMS

4.3-PWM INVERTERS

THREE PHASE PULSE WIDTH MODULATED (PWM) INVERTER

Pulse width modulated (PWM) inverters are among the most used power-
electronic circuits in practical applications. These inverters are capable of producing
ac voltages of variable magnitude as well as variable frequency. The PWM inverters
are very commonly used in adjustable speed ac motor drive loads where one needs
to feed the motor with variable voltage, variable frequency supply. For wide
variation in drive speed, the frequency of the applied ac voltage needs to be varied
over a wide range. The applied voltage also needs to varyalmost linearly with the
frequency. PWM inverters can be of single phase as well as three phase types.
There are several different PWM techniques, differing in their methods
of implementation. However in all these techniques the aim is to generate an
output voltage, which after some filtering, would result in a good quality sinusoidal
voltage waveform of desired fundamental frequency and magnitude. Nature of Pole
Voltage Waveforms Output by PWM
Inverters Unlike in square wave inverters the switches of PWM inverters are turned on
and off at significantly higher frequencies than the fundamental frequency of the output
voltage waveform.

The time instances at which the voltage polarities reverse have been referred here
as notch angles. It may be noted that the instantaneous magnitude of pole voltage
waveform remains fixed at half the input dc voltage (Edc). When upper switch (SU),
connected to the positive dc bus is on, the pole voltage is + 0.5 Edc and when the lower
switch, connected to the negative dc bus, is on the instantaneous pole voltage is - 0.5
Edc.

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3 phase VSI using power transistors

A typical pole-voltage waveform of a PWM inverter

The switching transition time has been neglected in accordance with the
assumption of ideal switches. It is to be remembered that in voltage source inverters,
meant to feed an inductive type load, the upper and lower switches of the inverter pole
conduct in a complementary manner. That is, when upper switch is on the lower is off
and vice-versa. Both upper and lower switches should not remain on simultaneously as
this will cause short circuit across the dc bus. On the other hand one of these two
switches in each pole (leg) must always conduct to provide continuity of current through
inductive loads. A sudden disruption in inductive load current will cause a large voltage
spike that may damage the inverter circuit and the load.

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EE3014 POWER ELECTRONICS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS

UNIT IV-POWERCONVERTERS FOR WIND SYSTEMS

4.4 - GRID-INTERACTIVE INVERTERS - MATRIX CONVERTER

GRID INTERACTIVE (GRID-TIE) INVERTERS

Introduction

A grid-tie inverter converts direct current (DC) into an alternating current (AC)
suitable for injecting into an electrical power grid, normally 120V RMS at 60Hz or 240V
RMS at 50 Hz. Grid-tie inverters are used between local electrical power generators:
solar panel, wind turbine, hydro-electric, and the grid. In order to inject electrical power
efficiently and safely into the grid, grid-tie inverters must accurately match the voltage
and phase of the grid sine wave AC waveform. Some electricity companies will pay for
electrical power that is injected into the grid. Payment is arranged in several ways. With
net metering the electricity company pays for the net power injected into the grid, as
recorded by a meter in the customer's premises. For example, a customer may consume 400
kilowatt-hours over a month and may return 500 kilowatt-hours to the grid in the same
month. In this case the electricity company would pay for the 100 kilowatt hours balance
of power fed back into the grid. Feed-in tariff, based on a contract with a distribution
company or other power authority, is where the customer is paid for electrical power
injected into the grid.

Operation

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Grid-tie inverters convert DC electrical power into AC power suitable for

injecting into the electric utility company grid. The grid tie inverter (GTI) must match
the phase of the grid and maintain the output voltage slightly higher than the grid
voltage at any instant. A high- quality modern grid-tie inverter has a fixed unity power
factor, which means its output voltage and current are perfectly lined up, and its phase
angle is within 1 degree of the AC power grid. The inverter has an on-board computer
which senses the current AC grid waveform, and outputs a voltage to correspond with the
grid. However, supplying reactive power to the grid might be necessary to keep the
voltage in the local grid inside allowed limitations. Otherwise, in a grid
segment with considerable power from renewable sources, voltage levels might rise too
much at times of high production, i.e. around noon with solar panels.
Grid-tie inverters are also designed to quickly disconnect from the grid if the utility grid
goes down. It ensures that in the event of a blackout, the grid tie inverter will shut down
to prevent the energy it transfers from harming any line workers who are sent to fix the
power grid.
Properly configured, a grid tie inverter enables a home owner to use an alternative power
generation system like solar or wind power without extensive rewiring and without
batteries. If the alternative power being produced is insufficient, the deficit will be sourced
from the electricity grid.

Types

Grid-tie inverters include conventional low-frequency types with transformer

coupling, newer high-frequency types, also with transformer coupling, and transformer-
less types. Instead of converting direct current directly into AC suitable for the grid, high-
frequency transformers types use a computer process to convert the power to a high-
frequency and then back to DC and then to the final AC output voltage suitable for the grid.
Transformer-less inverter are lighter, smaller, and more efficient than inverters with
transformers. But transformer-less inverter have been slow to enter the market because of
concerns that transformer-less inverters, which do not have galvanic isolation between the
DC side and grid, could inject dangerous DC voltages and currents into the grid under fault
conditions.

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MATRIX CONVERTERS

Introduction

The main advantage of matrix converter is elimination of dc link filter. Zero

switching loss devices can transfer input power to output power without any power loss.
But practically it does not exist. The switching frequency of the device decides the THD of
the converter. Maximum power transfer to the load is decided by nature of the control
algorithm. Matrix converter has a maximum input output voltage transfer ratio limited to
87 % for sinusoidal input and output waveforms, which can be improved. Further, matrix
converter requires more semiconductor devices than a conventional AC-AC indirect power
frequency converter. Since monolithic bi-directional switches are available they are used
for switching purpose. Matrix converter is particularly sensitive to the disturbances of the
input voltage to the system. The instantaneous power flow does not have to equal power
output. The difference between the input and output power must be absorbed or delivered
by an energy storage element within the converter. The matrix converter replaces the
multiple conversion stages and the intermediate energy storage element by a single power
conversion stage, and uses a matrix of semiconductor bidirectional switches connecting
input and output terminals. With this general arrangement of switches, the power flow
through the converter can reverse. Because of the absence of any energy storage element,
the instantaneous power input must be equal to the power output, assuming idealized zero-
loss switches.

Single Phase Matrix Converter

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Single Phase Matrix Converter

The AC/AC converter is commonly classified as an indirect converter which
utilizes a dc link between the two ac systems and converter that provides direct conversion.
This converter consists of two converter stages and energy storage element, which convert
input ac to dc and then reconverting dc back to output ac with variable amplitude and
frequency. The operation of this converter stages is decoupled on an instantaneous basis by
the energy storage elements and controlled independently, so long as the average energy
flow is equal. Figure shows the single phase matrix converter switching arrangement.

Three Phase Matrix Converter

Three phase matrix converter consists of nine bidirectional switches. It has been
arranged into three groups of three switches. Each group is connected to each phase of the
output. These arrangements of switches can connect any input phase. These 3x3
arrangements can have 512 switching states. Among them only 27 switching states are
permitted to operate this converter. Here A, B and C are input phase voltage connected to
the output phase. Figure shows synchronous operating state vectors of three matrix
converter. It shows that the converter switches are switched on rotational basis. In this
case no two switches in a leg are switched on simultaneously. These states will not
generate gate pulse when one phase of the supply is switched off.

Circuit scheme of a three phase to three phase matrix

converter
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The matrix converter consists of 9 bi-directional switches that allow any output
phase to be connected to any input phase. The input terminals of the converter are connected
to a three phase voltage-fed system, usually the grid, while the output terminal are
connected to a three phase current-fed system, like an induction motor might be. The
capacitive filter on the voltage- fed side and the inductive filter on the current-fed side
represented in the scheme are intrinsically necessary. Their size is inversely proportional
to the matrix converter switching frequency. It is worth noting that due to its inherent bi-
directionality and symmetry a dual connection might be also feasible for the matrix
converter: a current-fed system at the input and a voltage-fed system at the output. Taking
into account that the converter is supplied by a voltage source and usually feeds an
inductive load, the input phases should never be short- circuited and the output currents
should not be interrupted. From a practical point of view these rules imply that one and
only one bi-directional switch per output phase must be switched on at any instant. By this
constraint, in a three phase to three phase matrix converter 27 are the permitted switching
combinations.

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