Certain Investigations On A Grid C'onnected Irtduction

Generator With \'oi tage Control

V Subbiah E; (it.erlli1
Professor Rcse:irch Sc1iol:ir
Depanment of Electrical 6 Electronics Engneering Drprtniiteni of Elccti ical & Electronics Ei\giiwe:ing
PSG College of Technoioa PSC col leg^ of T e c ~ h i t ~ l o ~
Colnibatore 64 I 004 ISDl A Coimbntpre 04 I 004 INDIA

H,v ?\cr, n 1113JOr drawback of irtdiictioii Seiwatoi

IS that i t dminrtds si!;iiificant ai:tount of re;ictii. 2 p a t e r froill
Abstncx - With large number of w n d enera con\ersion systems
eurJM,shhHdin r,wmt , e J I ~i n counlr). uril,tr ix fadng the grid Hcrice. tlic power Eictot I.> low e q x ~ i d l :it
l ~ 11:111
=\ere problmi of p w r p o w t factor at l o w w n d speeds. 1 his is because load conjlrlon. 1 e, 'it reduced wlilcj sped 'T1115

of the reactive pcwer tahrti by t h t induction generator from the grid.

undesirable cliarxtei istic plnccs ;in undue bttrderl oii tllc
The use of an controller. ss in
ac r d t ~ g e the o s e of an induction motor,
suggwsloll oJ o, ,,,ethods tf, in,pro,e powrr ,sctor. ,',thi5 pouer nat\:urk and i n tiii II 011 otlwr uttI1s connrcted 13 I t

paper. d d e d inv-tiptions a r e cnrried out on a grid connected Wherr a fev, induct1011generators arc conilcctd to tilt. grid,
inducttan generator wth voltage c o n l r d . The generator perfomiance
the iiiipact of the supply of reaciibe power froni the gild
w s determined theoretird-ally under different operating conditions.
Expenmcntsl i n \ e s ~ g a t i u n s carried out using autotransfotnier a3
ma> not be felt vorq niuch However, wltcn a ciost?r of ~ t i i i d
v o l t a s controller confirm the thtwreticai results. Further, the fe3sibifity farins \ilth illore 1 l t n C h l n C S are SOlltlilg Up. t h l S prOblt.111 14111
01 uzinq a three phJse thyribtnrised 3c vdta?e cnnlrctller. u d in wind
be s e \ m
energy conversion system for the soft s t m t of rnduaion nischine ns U
motor, for the power factor itiiprovement of the s y s t ~ ISi studird. Here
the p w U e m is that the \oitage applied to the indocoon generator cnn not SeLeral attempts have been niade to inlpro.i:! the
be reduced M o w a pnrfjcular value. The reason for lhis problem i s
powx factor of the grid corinected induction gencrators
s n d j s e d in this paper 2nd a solution suggest&.
The most popular method IS the u s e of fixed capacitors
But, III app'i:atioiIs such as wild energy conversion s>stmls
where the r+xtive power demand varies with w n d 5pt.t-d.
1. INTRODUCTION
this cannot provide the required reactive pouer It nil tiiixs

Also, self excitation problems I* be inore pionoti1lced,

The de~elopnirntof suitable generators. driven by resulting 11, undue Over voltages I
renewble energy soiiices siicli :is w n d , 11:~s recently
iissurned greatel signifiratice due to incrc'asing cost and
rapid depletion of conveiitional e n e r a sources Remarkable
progress has 'wen itude III thc ccruixry i n the f b r m t i o n and
erection of 31id connected \hind pouer statioiis Invariably
in a11 these stations. induction generntcrs are bring used in

pretereiice to synchronous generators because of their

inh?rznt advnnt'iges like asynchroiious opr.ltion, less
i
iiinintennnce. I ugged and br ushiess rotor, low iiriit cost etc

0-7803-2795-0
series wth the generator is suggested in [2] as one of the Hence, investigations have beer? carried out to fiiid
methods to improve the power k t o r The results of soiiie out the reason for tlie liiiiited range of voltage conrrol in the
I

experimental investigations carried out on a grid connected case of induction generator wth static voltage controller
induction generator wth voltage contrdi are presented in Bj represenling the induction machine rbTth its RLE
[6,7] However. a comprehensive analysis on the equit'nlent circuit, the authors are able to pinyidc ;I

performance of the grid connected induction generators with satisfactoy explanation to this problem and also a soiution
voltage control has not yet been reponed to overcome this difficulty Here again, the exptlrimeiii:il

intsstigitions closely agree bb51 1 the rriialvt~calresu!is

Hence, a detailed study IS undertaken by the
authors on the perforinance of grid connected induction
generators with voltage control at ltght load conditions The I1. ANALYSIS WITH CONVENTIONAL ~ ~ ~ I V A ~ ~
ClRCUIT
effecr of w l q e control is analysed using the conventional
equivalent circiiit Investigations are carried out under
different operating conditions such as constant current, The effect of voltage coiitrol on the perfornimce of
constant slip. constanf power output and constant poww grid connected induction generator IS atialysed using the

input I n all the operating canditions. tlie power factor IS conventional equivalent circuit The power factor of tlic

found to iiiiprove wth appropriate reduction In applied grid connected systeni IS dcteriiiiucd under iiifferciit
voltage to the generator Experimental invetigatrons, carried operating conditions sucli as coilstatit c w w t t . u x i s i w i slip,
out using autotransformer as the voltage controllet, confirm constant power output and constant power 1iIQlit 1 SkiV,
the theoretical results 1OOV. 10A. 3-phase induction inactiine \-\.as used for the
Invstigations To determine the machine paraiiieters at
lnvesttgations on the performance of induction
differerit operating voltages, no load tests at various Yoltages
generators \\qth static voltage controllers. have also been
and blocked rotor test were conducted. The macIiine
cam& out by fabricating a three phase thyristorised ac
paranieters under different applied voltages are esriinatcd
voltage controller As in the previous case. the performance and @\en in table I As lire t c :mge is reduced. the rronloss
of the induction generator is observed under different as ne11 as tlie reactive current taken by the generator get
operating conditions More or less the same tniprovenient reduced contributing to improvginent i n power factor
in p o w r factor could be achieved w t h appropriate reduction

in voltage However. the control range of the static voltage

With tlie help of these equivalent circtiit
controller was found to be limited and as a result the voltage
parmeters, the power factor of tlie grid connected induction
could not be reduced below a particular value.
generator for different applied voltages IS estiniated

The above problem has already been reported in Analysis has been carried out under different operating

[7] For a 1 5kW. 14OV. 8 pole machine, it is reported that conditions like constant cur rent operation , constant slip

the voltage could be reduced to nearly 350V only and for a operation, constant power output operation and constant

7kW. JOOV, 6 pole machine the voltage could be reduced to power input operation The curves illustrating the variation
-
nearly 310V only. However, the reason €or such a liiiiited of power factor wth voltage are given in Fig 1-4

control range has not yet been reported.

440
 111: EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATIONS

To supplenient the theoretical analysis.

experimental investigations have been carried out on the test
machine

10-

09-

The perforniance of the induction generator is 06-

0 7.
tested under all the above operating conditions using
. 0 6.
autotransformer for controlling the applied voltage
The experimental observations. p e n in Fig 1-4, closely
agree K i t h the theoretical results
-0 0 5 -
:OL, \ - fh*ortlirol
-----Practical

In the light of the above discussions, it can be

0 100 ZOO 100 400 500
concluded that the power factor of the grid connected Vollapr

induction generator can be improved by appropriate control

over the applied voltage.

0T-O); 300 t60 5bO

Voltagr

441

To observe the behavior of the system w t h static
voltage controller, a thyristorised 3-phase voltage controlIer
is fabncated and tested. Comparison of the performance of
the generator wth rated voltage condtion shows an
improvement in powerfactor of about 15% at 0.8 per unit
load wth 0 85 per unit voltage and about 50% at 0 35 per
unit load with 0.8 per unit voltage
When the back emf leads the supply voltage, the
+ +
control range of ~1 wdl be from 0 y to x @ and when i t
lags the range of CL will be Ron) -@ + y to X - @ Hence.
when the back en$ lags the supply voltage. the oueput
voltage x n be brought to zero before a reaches ?T, whereas
in the case of back en$ leadmg the supply voltage. has to
be varied beyond x to bring the output voltage to zero For
example. for a back emf of half that of the supply voltage
and l a g g n g by 30" out pur voltage can be brought to zero at
a = I52 degrees, and when i t leads by 30" the output
voltage can be brought to zero at =208 degrees

However as reported in the earlier work [7], it is For a three phase ac voltage controller. the above
observed that the voltage applied to the induction generator investigations are valid if the load is star connected and the
canna be reduced below a particular value w t h the static neutral of the load is connected to the neutral of the supply
,SUPPLY VOLIAGE
voltage controller In this regard. investigations carried
Out. are reported in the subsequent sections
NE1 V O L l A G E

. AC VOLTAGE CONTROLLERS WITH RLE LOAD

In the case of single phase ac voltage controller 1

w t h a resistive load (R load), control of the load or output /

volGe is possible for the entire range of the finng angle (
a ) from 0 to x However, w t h inductive load (RL load),
the control of the output voltage is possible only when a is
greater than the load inipedence angle, y Hence, the
control range of a I S from y to TC When an ac back enlfis
V
also present (RLE load), the control range of is hrther
depndent on the emf and 6 , the phase drfference between
supply voltage and the back emf Some investigations on ac
voltage controller w t h RE and LE loads are gven in [SI
Proceedmg i n similar lines, investigations have been carried
out for RLE loads The net voltage across the thyristors will
be the Merenee between the supply voltage k d back emf
The phase difference of the net voltage with respect to the
supply voltage is gwen by angle a.which depends on the
nlagrutuQe and phase of the back emf When the back enif
lags the supply coltage, the net voltage wll be leading and
vice versa The voltage and current waveforms are gwen in
Fig 5 (a) Lk (b)

442
 V. INDUCTlON MACHINE AS RLE LOAD

An induction machine, for steady state sinusoidal R

t
operation. is often represented as an equiyalent passive
inductance and resistance

involved in
How\er such a representation
is grossly inaccurate when harmonic components are
the supply to the machine Under such
t
E

con&tions.’it IS better to represent induction iliachine as an

equivalent counter emf and a series impedence [9] An
equivalent circuit of induction machine. farly valid for
operation w t h both the fundamental frequency as well as
harmonic ones is Sven in Fig 6 where the back emf is
given by

VI. APPLICATION CONSIDERATlONS

where rl” = r2’ ( I-s)/s

In wind energy conversion system. a 3- phase
When the induction machine runs as a 11iotor. the counter thyristorised ac voltage controller is being used for the soft
enif lags the supply voltage and when it mns as a generator, s?anof the induction inachine as a motor The same voltage
the counter enif leads [ I O ] controller can be effectively 11 de use of for the power factor
inipro\enient of the system At light wind speeds it is
4 s mentioned in the previous section. the control obsened thnt the power factor of the system is very poor.
“&e of a depends 011 the mA%nitudeand phase of the back Under such condmons if the voltage applied to the generator
en’f In the case Of ~ n d u c t l nri’Xhlne. the supply voltage can :ippropriutely controlled, tlie reactive volt alnpere
Is vaned. both the r”agnltudeand phase Of the back ell1f taken b? the generator can be reduced resulting in a better
Lwles TaklilgInto accouilt this valatlon. the a&‘sls has power factor The release of the reactive burden in the
been =led Out It found that whrle running as a network could outweigh the harinonics introduced due to
generator when cx = x the voltage across the generator is phase col,trol
nearly 30OV The voltage can be reduced further whena IS
vaned beyond x
VXI. COKCLUSION
Eltpenmentally also i t mas observed that when CC =
x the voltage across the generator has around 300V and it
was decreasing when C( \\as\aried beyond x Analysis of an lnductlon generator wttli voltage
control has been carried out using the conventional
In the case of an induction motor the voltage could eqiiikale-.‘ circuit It was found that the power factor of the

be brouglit to zero before a reaches x . generator could be improved by voltage control at light load
conditions Expe_rinieiit,,. investigations with

443
a u t o t d o r t i i e r confirm the theoretical resuIts However,
when tested with thyristorised 3- phase voltage controller, it
that the voltage across the generator could not
below a particular value. lnvestlgations have
n m e d out in this connection by representing the
machine as an RLE load and found that the

voltage can be further reduced if the firing angle is varied

beyond 180 degrees Hence, i t IS concluded that the ac
controller in wind energy conversion system can be
effectively utilised for improving the power factor at low

w n d speeds

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors thank the Principal and Head of the Department

ef Electrical B Electronics Engineenng,PSG College of
Technology. Coimbatore. for providmg the research
facilities
REFERENCES

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