442 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 25, NO.

2, FEBRUARY 2010

Direct Power Control of Doubly-Fed-Induction-

Generator-Based Wind Turbines Under
Unbalanced Grid Voltage
Gonzalo Abad, Member, IEEE, Miguel Ángel Rodrı́guez, Member, IEEE, Grzegorz Iwanski,
and Javier Poza, Member, IEEE

Abstract—In this paper, the behavior of a doubly fed induc- αβ Stator reference frame axes (stationary).
tion generator (DFIG) is studied under unbalanced grid voltage ∗ Complex conjugate.
conditions. It is shown that if no special control efforts are em-
ployed, the behavior of the generator is deteriorated, basically due
to two reasons: electromagnetic torque oscillations and nonsinu-
I. INTRODUCTION
soidal current exchange with the grid. These phenomena are first
analyzed theoretically as a function of the stator active and reactive N RECENT years, the development of wind energy gener-
instantaneous power exchange by the stator of the DFIG and the
grid-side converter (GSC). This analysis provides the main ideas
for generation of the active and reactive power references for the
I ation has been associated with wind farms located onshore
and offshore. The wind farms are connected to strong transmis-
rotor-side converter (RSC) and the GSC, controlled by means of sion grids and their power range from some tens to a hundred
direct power control techniques. Therefore, this paper proposes megawatts.
a new algorithm that generates the RSC power references, with- More and more modern wind turbines are being installed in
out the necessity of a sequence component extraction, in order to distribution and rural grids, with low X/R ratios, and also in
eliminate torque oscillations and achieve sinusoidal stator currents
exchange. On the contrary, the GSC power references are provided developing countries where the distribution grid is very weak.
by means of voltage and current sequence extraction. Finally, sim- This application of modern power-electronics-based wind tur-
ulation and experimental results successfully validate the proposed bines has led to the development of new functionalities for the
power reference generation methods. wind turbines, such as voltage or frequency control or island-
Index Terms—Doubly fed induction generator (DFIG), direct ing operation, or the requirement of operating with unbalanced
power control (DPC), unbalanced voltage. voltages.
Nowadays, wind turbines based on a doubly fed induction
NOMENCLATURE generator (DFIG) [1] have arisen as a commonly used solution
Lh Mutual inductance. for many variable-speed wind turbine manufacturers. Several
Ls , Lr Stator and rotor self-inductances. authors [2]–[8] have shown that an unbalanced voltage operation
P, Q, S Active, reactive, and apparent powers. requires additional control efforts in order to avoid electromag-
Rs , Rr Stator and rotor resistances. netic torque oscillations and nonsinusoidal currents exchange.
Tem Electromagnetic torque. Traditionally, the techniques to control the rotor-side con-
Vbus Voltage of the dc side of the voltage-source con- verter (RSC) and the grid-side converter (GSC) of DFIG-based
verter (VSC). wind turbines include the vector control (VC) and the direct


v ,
i
Ψ, Flux, voltage, and current space vectors. torque control or the direct power control (DTC-DPC). The first
ωs , ω m , ω r Synchronous, rotor, and slip speeds. vector control proposal for the DFIG, which is associated with
a back-to-back converter, was presented in [1]; many authors
Superscripts and Subscripts
then proposed improvements such as sensorless operation or
s, r, g Stator, rotor, and grid reference frame for space new current regulators. After this, the direct control techniques
vectors. were proposed for this machine: the DPC in [9] and the DTC [10]
from ABB.
Manuscript received November 26, 2008; revised May 27, 2009. Current Until recently, the problems associated with the DFIG unbal-
version published February 12, 2010. This work was supported in part by the anced operation have not been a main research topic. A new
Departamento de Educación, Universidades e Investigación del Gobierno Vasco. speed regulator is proposed in [11] for compensating small
Recommended for publication by Associate Editor J. M. Guerrero.
G. Abad and J. Poza are with the Department of Electrical Engineer- asymmetries in weak transmission lines, and the first doubly
ing, University of Mondragon, Mondragon 20500, Spain (e-mail: gabad@eps. vector control (DVC) for the positive and negative sequences is
mondragon.edu; jpoza@eps.mondragon.edu). presented in [12].
M. A. Rodrı́guez is with Ingeteam Transmission and Distribution S.A.,
Basauri 48970, Spain (e-mail: miguelangel.rodriguez@ingeteam.com). More recently, several authors have analyzed the generator be-
G. Iwanski is with Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw 00-662, Poland havior in this situation [5]–[13] and others have proposed mod-
(e-mail: iwanskig@isep.pw.edu.pl). ifications to the classical vector control. In [4], two controllers
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. are added to the standard stator flux VC current controllers
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPEL.2009.2027438 in order to eliminate the 100 Hz power oscillation. In [2], the
0885-8993/$26.00 © 2010 IEEE

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ABAD et al.: DIRECT POWER CONTROL OF DOUBLY-FED-INDUCTION-GENERATOR-BASED WIND TURBINES 443

unbalance during stand-alone operation is partially compensated

by the GSC and no modifications are proposed for the RSC,
whereas in [3], the negative-sequence components are used in
RSC control for the output asymmetry correction. However, the
four-wire system described in [3] is employed for stand-alone
operation with single phase and unbalanced load and not for the
systems operated with the power grid. Current regulators are
added to VC in [6] for each harmonic of the direct and nega-
tive sequences. The harmonics extraction is based on low-pass
filters. Auxiliary controllers for the negative-sequence current
regulator similar to the DVC but without sequence extraction for
the positive-sequence VC are proposed in [14]. A coordinated
active power reference generator for the RSC and the GSC that
ensures constant active power output from the overall system
is also presented. Finally, the dc-link voltage fluctuations are Fig. 1. Wind energy generation system under unbalanced voltage grid
described in [15], and improvements in the GSC vector control conditions.
are proposed to minimize them. (ZN1 , ZN2 ), induces an unbalanced voltage in the stator and in
Major improvements have also been made in the DPC in order the GSC of the wind turbine.
to tackle the unbalanced operation. A new reference generator In this study, the DPC technique is adopted for both RSC
for the DPC is proposed in [7] in order to eliminate power, and GSC, as enunciated in [9] and [20]. By the RSC, the stator
torque oscillations, or current unbalances applying a factor that active and reactive powers (Ps and Qs ) exchanged with the grid
prioritizes the variable to be compensated (torque, current, or are directly controlled. Similarly, the active and reactive powers
power). (Pg and Qg ) exchanged through the GSC are also directly con-
The GSC control under unbalanced voltage has been more trolled. Hence, the pulses for the controlled semiconductors of
extensively studied. A feedforward voltage compensation for the two-level back-to-back converter are calculated from the sta-
the VC is proposed in [16] in order to compensate the negative- tor active and reactive power references, together with the GSC
sequence voltages. The double vector control for positive- and active and reactive power references. Thus, by means of these
negative-sequence currents was first introduced in [17]. In [18], direct control techniques, it is possible to achieve quick dynamic
resonant scalar converters are introduced, and more recently, performances, without using current regulators and with reason-
a new reference generation for the DPC is proposed in [19]. ably good implementation simplicity. This strategy can be un-
Hence, in this paper, DPC strategy for both the RSC and the derstood as an alternative solution to control methods based on
GSC is adopted. As will be later shown in this paper, and as current loops [21]. However, although several works [22], [23]
stated by several authors, e.g., [5] and [7], under an unbalanced have proposed improvements in order to address one of the most
situation, if the operation is carried out with constant active and important drawbacks of these control techniques, i.e., the non-
reactive powers, electromagnetic torque oscillations and a qual- constant switching frequency behavior, in this paper, an easy
ity deterioration of the current exchanged with the grid occur. and standard version of the DPC has been utilized. One of the
In this paper, in order to eliminate mechanical problems associ- most important reasons for this choice is that, in this study, it
ated with the torque oscillations, the main objective will be to is desired to show how the unbalanced problem can be tackled
achieve nonoscillating torque accompanied by a sinusoidal cur- by simply adding the appropriate power reference generation
rent exchange with the grid. In order to achieve this, both RSC strategy to a classic DPC technique.
and GSC control strategies are developed, based on the appro- Prior to the design of the control strategies, to address this
priate active and reactive power reference generation strategy unbalanced situation, the following sections present the theoret-
for the DPC control. A theoretical analysis of flux, torque, and ical bases for analyzing the effect of voltage unbalance in the
power disturbances created by the grid voltage unbalance in the active and reactive powers.
DFIG is developed. Later, different control solutions are pro-
vided. Finally, simulation and experimental results validate the A. Space Vector Representation Under Unbalanced Conditions
theoretical study.
In this section, the unbalance created by asymmetrical loads
is analyzed, with the mathematical symmetric decomposition
theory. An unbalanced three-phase system can be decomposed
II. WIND POWER ENERGY GENERATION SYSTEM UNDER AN into three balanced symmetric three-phase systems [24].
UNBALANCED VOLTAGE GRID These three-phase systems are called the zero-sequence, the
positive-sequence, and the negative-sequence components, and
The analyzed system considers the unbalance created in the
can be calculated according to the expression
grid voltage by the presence of an unbalanced load, as illustrated  o   
in Fig 1. In a general situation, not all the impedances (Rabc ) x 1 1 1 xa
of the load are equal. The unbalanced consumption of currents  x+  = 1  1 a a2   xb  (1)
3
of the load (iL abc ), together with the impedance of the lines x− 1 a2 a xc

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444 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 25, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2010

with a = ej (2π /3) being the time operator; xa , xb , and xc repre- By expanding (9), the active and reactive power expressions as
sent the three-phase unbalanced system; x0 the zero-sequence a function of the positive and negative sequences of the voltage
component; x+ the positive-sequence component; and x− the and currents yield
negative-sequence component. P = AP + BP + CP + DP (10)
It must be stressed that all sequences and the system consid-
ered before are expressed in the theory of complexors used for Q = AQ + BQ + CQ + DQ (11)
steady-state analysis of sinusoidal voltages and currents, as was with
initially enunciated by Fortescue.
3 3
The three-phase systems considered in this analysis assume a AP = Re{
v + ·
i +∗ } = (vα+ i+ + +
α + vβ iβ ) (12)
three-wire connection system, i.e., there does not exist any neu- 2 2
tral point connection. This fact means that the sum of the cur- 3 3
BP = Re{
v − ·
i −∗ } = (vα− i− − −
α + vβ iβ ) (13)
rents will always be zero, i.e., ia + ib + ic = 0; consequently, 2 2
the zero sequence of the current will be zero as well. Due to 3 3
this reason, the zero sequence of the voltages will also be zero CP = Re{
v + ·
i −∗ } = (vα+ i− + −
α + vβ iβ ) (14)
2 2
(va + vb + vc = 0). 3 3
Related to this, by using the space vector definition DP = Re{
v − ·
i +∗ } = (vα− i+ − +
α + vβ iβ ) (15)
2 2
2 3 3
xa + axb + a2 xc .


x = xα + jxβ = (2) AQ = Im{
v + ·
i +∗ } = (vβ+ i+ + +
α − vα iβ ) (16)
3 2 2
The unbalanced three-phase system can be represented by a 3 3
BQ = Im{
v − ·
i −∗ } = (vβ− i− − −
α − vα iβ ) (17)
space vector
x, calculated from the addition of two space vectors 2 2

x + and
x − , rotating in opposite direction and same pulsation 3 3
CQ = Im{
v + ·
i −∗ } = (vβ+ i− + −
α − vα iβ ) (18)

x =
x + +
x − = |
x + |ej (ω t+θ
+
)
+ |
x − |e−j (ω t+θ ) .
−
(3) 2 2
3 3
Hence, the positive- and the negative-sequence space vectors DQ = Im{
v − ·
i+∗ } = (vβ− i+ − +
α − vα iβ ). (19)
2 2
describe circular trajectories, while the space vector
x describes Note that for simplicity, the time dependence of each term
an ellipsoid trajectory [19]. has been omitted. On the other hand, terms AP , AQ and BP ,
BQ are constant at steady state, since they are composed by the
B. Instantaneous Power Representation Under same sequence product. However, terms CP , CQ and DP , DQ
Unbalanced Conditions oscillate at 2ω pulsation, since they are composed by positive-
On the other hand, the apparent power can be calculated by and negative-sequence products [16], [25]. In the following two
using the following equation [25]: sections, this basic analysis is applied to the DFIG and the GSC.

= P (t) + jQ(t) = 3
v ·
i∗ III. DFIG ANALYSIS AND CONTROL

 
S(t) (4)
2
A. DFIG Analysis
which yields the following active and reactive power expres-
sions: The DFIG can be modeled with the following voltage and
3   3 flux equations in the stator reference frame [19]:
P (t) = Re
v ·
i∗ = (vα iα + vβ iβ ) (5)
2 2
s
dΨ

vs = Rs
is + (20)
dt
3 
∗  3
r
dΨ
Q(t) = Im
v · i = (vβ iα − vα iβ ). (6)
vr = Rr
ir +
r
− jωm Ψ (21)
2 2 dt
Note that since the voltage is unbalanced, all the space vectors
s = Ls
is + Lh
ir
Ψ (22)
could have positive and negative sequences. Hence, considering
the positive and negative sequences, voltage and current space
r = Lr
ir + Lh
is .
Ψ (23)
vectors yield
On the other hand, the electromagnetic torque can be ex-

v = (
v +
+
v ) = vα + jvβ = −
(vα+ + vα− ) + j(vβ+ + vβ− ) (7) pressed using the following equation:

i = (
i+ +
i− ) = iα + jiβ = (i+ − + − 3
·
is = 3 p(Ψsα isβ − Ψsβ isα ).

 ∗ 
α + iα ) + j(iβ + iβ ). (8) Tem = pIm Ψ s (24)
2 2
Substituting expressions (7) and (8) into (4), we get It must be highlighted that as the stator voltage is unbalanced,

= P (t) + jQ(t) all the space vectors of (20)–(24) may present positive and
S(t)
negative sequences.
3  +
+∗ First of all, the influence of the unbalanced voltage will be

v · i +
v − ·
i −∗ +
v + ·
i −∗ +
v − ·
i +∗ . (9)

=
2 analyzed in the stator flux. From expressions (7) and (20), the

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ABAD et al.: DIRECT POWER CONTROL OF DOUBLY-FED-INDUCTION-GENERATOR-BASED WIND TURBINES 445

share four common terms, i.e., As P , Bs P , Cs P , and Ds P .

Hence, it can be shown that the relation between the torque and
the active power results in
Tem ωs
Ps = + 2Bs P + 2Ds P + Es T . (33)
p
This expression is used later in order to improve the control
performance under unbalanced grid voltage conditions.

B. Active Power Oscillations Cancellation (APOC) Strategy

As depicted in Fig. 1, the control strategy for the DFIG is
divided into two different general blocks. The first block is a
DPC technique controlling the stator active and reactive powers
Fig. 2. Relation between stator voltage, current, and flux space vectors. directly.
Then, the second block performs the required stator power ref-
erences to deal with the problems generated by the grid voltage
relationship between the stator flux and the stator voltage can unbalance, i.e., electromagnetic torque oscillations and nonsi-
be obtained as follows: nusoidal stator currents.

vs+ = Rs
i+
+
+ jωs Ψ (25) However, in this section, the control strategy that produces
s s
constant active power will be analyzed. From the stator active

vs− = Rs
i−
−
− jωs Ψs. (26) power expression (31), it can be noted that by making the sum
s

The stator flux evolves as the superposition of the positive- of the two oscillating terms zero, i.e.,
and negative-sequence fluxes: the first one rotating clockwise Cs P + Ds P =0 (34)
and the second one anticlockwise, as illustrated in Fig. 2.
Substituting the positive- and negative-sequence components the active power will remain constant, and since Cs P and Ds P
of the stator current and the stator flux into the torque expression depend on both positive and negative stator currents sequences,
(24), we obtain it is impossible to make both oscillating terms zero at the same
time (Cs P = 0 and Ds P = 0), because it will require zero
3
s
is + Ψ
 +∗ +

+∗
−
−∗
+
−∗
−

Tem = p Im Ψ s is + Ψs is + Ψs is . (27) stator currents imposition. The required power (Ps required ) is
2
equal to the reference active power (Ps ref )
It is deduced that the torque is composed of two constant terms
associated with equal sequence products and two 2ω pulsating Ps ref = Ps required = As P + Bs P (35)
terms associated with nonequal sequence products.
but the electromagnetic torque (30) will present oscillating terms
Substituting the flux from expressions (25) and (26) in torque
equation (27), we get p
Tem = (As P − Bs P − 2Ds P − Es T )
3 1 ωs
Tem = p Re
vs+
is+∗ −
vs−
is−∗ −
vs−
is+∗ +
vs+
is−∗

p
2 ωs = (As P − Bs P + 2Cs P − Es T ). (36)
ωs
− Rs (|
is+ |2 − |
is− |2 ) .

(28)
C. Torque Oscillations Cancellation (TOC) Strategy
By similitude with the active power expression (10) and defin-
ing the constant term Es T as As is the case with the active power, the analysis of expression
(30) shows that the only way to achieve constant electromagnetic
Es T = Rs (|
is+ |2 − |
is− |2 ) (29)
torque under unbalanced grid voltage conditions is by imposing
the torque can be expressed as
Cs P − Ds P = 0. (37)
p
Tem = (As P − Bs P + Cs P − Ds P − Es T) (30)
ωs which results in an electromagnetic torque
where the subindex s indicates stator variables. p
Tem = (As P − Bs P − Es T ). (38)
On the other hand, the stator active and reactive power ex- ωs
pressions as a function of the positive and negative sequences
This imposition for a given voltage unbalance, in general,
of the voltage and currents yield
does not make the positive or the negative sequences of the
Ps = As P + Bs P + Cs P + Ds P (31) stator currents zero.
Under this situation, the required power and the reference
Qs = As Q + Bs Q + Cs Q + Ds Q. (32)
stator active power are related by the following expression:
As can be observed from (30) and (31), the stator active power
Ps ref = Ps required + 2Cs P = Ps required + 2Ds P . (39)
and the electromagnetic torque are closely related since they

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446 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 25, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2010

IV. GSC ANALYSIS AND CONTROL

A. Grid-Side Converter Analysis
In a DFIG-based wind turbine [1], the GSC is used to control
the dc bus voltage (Vbus ) of the back-to-back converter and the
reactive power exchanged through this converter to the grid Qg .
As illustrated in Fig. 1, in this research, this objective is achieved
by means of a DPC method, with references Pg ref and Qg ref .
Fig. 3. Stator active power generation strategy. In fact, the GSC must deal with disturbances caused by the
grid voltage unbalance and the oscillatory rotor active power
supplied by the RSC to the dc bus.
Note that by equating the oscillating terms of this expression The grid voltage unbalance, as can be demonstrated from (10)
and (31) yields (37). On the other hand, as a function of elec- and (11), generates the exchange of active and reactive powers
tromagnetic torque from (33), the active power reference results with oscillatory terms (Cg and Dg )
in
Pg = Ag P + Bg P + Cg P + Dg P (44)
Tem ωs
Ps ref = + 2Bs P + 2Cs P + Es P Qg = Ag + Bg + Cg + Dg
p Q Q Q Q. (45)
Tem ωs The stator voltage unbalance produces active power oscil-
= + 2Bs P + 2Ds P + Es P . (40)
p lations in the dc bus. Since the rotor active power exchanged
through the rotor of the machine can be calculated according to
In addition, as is later shown in simulation and experimental
(5) and (6)
results, with this power reference generation strategy, the stator
currents exchanged with the grid are also unbalanced, but they 3 
∗ 
are sinusoidal, thus ensuring that there is no further deterioration Pr = Re
vr · ir (46)
2
in their quality [7].
by combining this expression with (20)–(24), the approximated
relation between the stator and rotor active powers yields
D. Torque Oscillations Cancellation Without Sequence
Calculation (TOC-WSC) Lr Ls
Pr ∼
= − 2 [(As P + Cs P )slip
In the previous two power reference generation strategies, Lh
positive- and negative-sequence calculations of voltages and + (Bs P + Ds P )(2 − slip)]. (47)
currents were needed to avoid power–torque oscillations. In this
section, an improved method to avoid these sequence calcula- where the slip is calculated as follows:
tions is presented.
For a given active power reference (Ps required ), suppose an ωs − ωm
slip = . (48)
oscillating term obtained from the electromagnetic torque and ωs
stator power is added as follows (Fig. 3): Hence, the stator active power oscillations of (43) required

ωs

to achieve constant torque and sinusoidal stator currents will be
Ps ref = Ps required + Ps − Tem . (41) instantaneously propagated through the rotor of the machine, as
p
a function of the mechanical speed according to (47). This fact
demands additional control efforts that are addressed in the next
Now, by substituting (30) and (31) into (41), the stator active section.
power reference expression yields However, for a control strategy that cancels torque oscilla-
tions, as proposed by (39) and (43), the rotor power expression
Ps ref = Ps required + (2Bs P + 2Ds P + Es T ). (42) is given as follows:
Again, this expression must be equal to (31); thus, the oscil- Lr Ls
lating terms yield Pr ∼
= − 2 [slipAs P + (2 − slip)Bs P + 2Ds P ]. (49)
Lh
Cs P + Ds P = 2Ds P . (43) It can be noted that the speed of the machine does not affect
the oscillatory term of the rotor power.
Thus, with (41), the condition to cancel the torque oscillations
has been obtained.
Note that with this reference generation strategy, as mentioned B. Power References Generation Strategy
before, since the positive- and negative-sequence calculations By applying sequence analysis to this side of the converter,
are not needed to avoid the electromagnetic torque oscillations, it is possible to eliminate the negative-sequence component of
the implementation simplicity of the strategy is highly improved. the GSC currents, exchanging balanced and sinusoidal currents,

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ABAD et al.: DIRECT POWER CONTROL OF DOUBLY-FED-INDUCTION-GENERATOR-BASED WIND TURBINES 447

Fig. 4. GSC active and reactive power generation strategy. Fig. 5. DC bus voltage oscillations.

by adding only two oscillating terms to the active and reactive a factor of the rotor power Pr , derived from (47) or a simpli-
power references [19]. fied calculation of the rotor power. In this manner, the stress of
The proposed reference generation strategy is shown in Fig. 4. the Vbus regulator would be reduced, for instance, under high-
The active and reactive power references result in speed variations. However, for easy understanding and in order
Pg = Pg + Dg (50) to improve the implementation simplicity of the proposed con-
ref required P
trol technique, only the most important features are taken into
Qg ref = Qg required + Dg Q. (51) account.
Consequently, by this control procedure, it is possible to ad-
Note that in this case, the positive and negative sequences of
dress two main difficulties: unbalance voltage operation con-
ig and vs must be calculated to achieve the oscillating terms
ditions and exchanging balanced currents with the grid when
Dg P and Dg Q
the active and reactive powers exchanged through the rotor are
3 − + − + oscillating.
Dg P = (v i + vsβ ig β ) (52)
2 sα g α
3 − + − +
Dg Q = (vsβ ig α − vsα ig β ). (53) C. DC Bus Voltage Oscillations
2
The unbalanced grid voltage situation requires an increase of
In this paper, this positive- and negative-sequence calculation,
the voltage at both ac sides of the converter due to the induced
together with the synchronization system, is implemented based
voltage oscillations. This fact increases the necessary dc bus
on the method proposed in [27]. Compared with other more
voltage, as described, for instance, in [13] and [14].
sophisticated methods, it provides enough accuracy by using
However, as described in previous sections, since the active
only basic axis transformations and a delayed signal cancellation
and reactive powers at both sides of the back-to-back converter
(DSC) calculus for the symmetrical components extraction.
present oscillatory behavior to achieve good performance of cur-
The main characteristics of this reference generation strategy
rents and torque, it is necessary to further analyze the effect that
are summarized as follows.
they produce in the dc bus voltage. Hence, as graphically shown
1) The oscillating terms Dg P and Dg Q must be the unique
in Fig. 5, different P and Q oscillations at both ac sides of the
oscillations of the powers Pg and Qg in order to elimi-
converter generate different oscillatory ir dc and ig dc currents
nate the negative-sequence component of the exchanged
in the dc bus voltage. Neglecting the losses and assuming an
currents ig .
ideal converter, the average value of both these currents is equal
2) The Vbus regulator provides only the mean value of the
and leads to the average power flow from the rotor to the grid
exchanged active power Pg , i.e., the mean value of the
transmitted rotor active power (Pr ) plus the active power
losses of the back-to-back converter. For this purpose, it ig dc = ig dc  + ĩg dc (54)
should be tuned with very smooth dynamics; otherwise, it ir dc = ir dc  + ĩr dc . (55)
will produce additional oscillations in Pg that will generate
a nonproper cancellation of the negative sequence of the Consequently, the remaining current oscillations will be de-
currents. livered through the capacitor, thus generating dc bus voltage
3) The oscillations of the active power Pr due to the grid oscillations at two times the frequency of the grid (Fig. 5)
voltage unbalance will produce oscillations of the Vbus
voltage value.
ĩr dc − ĩg dc
Note that it is possible to add special features such as a feed- Ṽbus = . (56)
forward term at the output of the Vbus regulator by means of 2ωs Cbus

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448 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 25, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2010

The oscillating components of currents ir dc and ig dc can be TABLE I

NOMINAL RATINGS OF THE SIMULATED AND EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM
accurately approximated with the expressions

P̃g conv− Q̃g conv

ĩg dc = (57)
3 Vbus 
P̃r conv− Q̃r conv
ĩr dc = . (58)
3 Vbus 
The oscillations of the powers at both sides of the converter
are equal to

P̃g conv = P̃g = Dg P Q̃g conv = Q̃g = Dg Q (59)

P̃r conv = P̃r ∼
= −2Ds P
Q̃r conv = Q̃r ∼
= −2Ds Q (1 − slip). (60)

Hence, the amplitude of the dc bus voltage oscillations de-

pends on the exchanged active and reactive powers at both sides
of the converter for a given unbalance of the grid. In order to
reduce these oscillations, it is possible to increase the value of
the dc bus capacitor.
As stated in the previous section, it is very important that the
dc bus voltage regulator does not generate additional oscillations
in the active power. Due to this reason, it should be tuned in such
a way that it produces only the mean value of the exchanged
Fig. 6. Schematic of the laboratory setup.
active power, i.e., Pg .

D. Contribution to Balance the Grid Voltage Unbalance tive to reproduce and predict as close as possible the behavior
Once it has been seen that it is possible to simultaneously of the experimentally implemented system.
eliminate the torque oscillations and exchange sinusoidal cur- The main characteristics of the simulated and experimen-
rents with the grid (unbalanced stator currents and balanced tal system are shown in Table I. The simulated generator is a
GSC currents), the next task is to analyze how the generated 2-MW DFIG, while the scaled experimental prototype is a
total currents affect the unbalance of the grid voltage. 15-kW generator. Thus, by means of the simulation results, it
Hence, the current demanded by the unbalanced load will be is shown that the proposed control strategies are valid for a real
partially provided by the DFIG system (grid side and stator side). wind turbine. Then, by means of the experimental results, the
Unfortunately, the unbalance of the stator voltage is equivalent performances are compared and validated in a real prototype.
to the unbalance of the generated stator currents. This means On the other hand, the experimental platform is basically
that, for example, for an unbalanced load with Ra = Rb = Rc , composed of the elements schematically represented in Fig. 6.
the stator currents (is abc ) will also be unbalanced. The GSC The grid voltage unbalance has been generated by the “Pro-
currents (ig abc ) will be balanced, while the total current (iL abc ) grammable AC source 61705” from Chroma. By using the dif-
will still be unbalanced and will not contribute to reduce the ferent operating modes of the source, the system will be fed
unbalance in the grid voltage since, in general, the GSC operates by different ac voltage waveforms, thus allowing to analyze
only with 30% of the total power [2]. different behaviors and performances. The speed is controlled
Consequently, although the proposed control strategy avoids externally by a dc machine [26]. All the proposed control strate-
the necessity to disconnect the wind turbine due to the elimina- gies have been implemented in a dSPACE 1103 platform at
tion of the mechanical torque oscillations, it is not possible to 100 µs sample time.
palliate the unbalance of the grid. Grid-side and rotor-side inductive filters are introduced in
order to achieve a reasonably good quality of the generated
power [26]. For the high-power system, a lower filter require-
V. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
ment is needed compared to the low-power prototype. In fact,
In this section, the proposed control strategies are validated. the rotor-side filter is not needed for the studied 2-MW system.
Different experimental and simulation results are presented in This particular filter necessity is basically due to the following
order to validate the theoretical performance and the resultant reasons.
practical behavior in the experimental rig. 1) DPC techniques (in this case, implemented at 100 µs), if
For simulation results, MATLAB–Simlulink software has not special improvements are considered, provide lower
been used together with the Power System Blockset library tool. quality of currents than modulation schemas such as
Several simulation models have been developed with the objec- pulsewidth modulation (PWM), space vector (SV), etc.

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ABAD et al.: DIRECT POWER CONTROL OF DOUBLY-FED-INDUCTION-GENERATOR-BASED WIND TURBINES 449

match exactly, the behavior of the overall system is reasonably

validated, probably because nonlinearities and losses of the real
machine are not considered.
In addition, when the torque oscillation cancellation strategy
is operating, the stator currents are unbalanced, but sinusoidal
[Fig. 8(b) and (e)]. A short deterioration in the quality of the
experimentally achieved stator currents is observed as compared
with the currents obtained under simulation results.
On the other hand, as mentioned before, in Fig. 9, the grid-
side simulation and experimental results are presented. These
results are part of the same experiment, represented with Fig. 8,
but for simplicity in the exposition, they have been separately
grouped in Figs. 8 and 9. Hence, first, Fig. 9(a) and (d) shows
the grid-side active and reactive power performance. Again, in
the first half of the experiment, the oscillatory behavior of the
Fig. 7. Grid voltage unbalance of both simulation and experimental results. powers to achieve the negative-sequence cancellation is shown.
V s a lfa versus V s b e ta . Then, in the second half of the experiment, the compensation is
disabled.
Thus, as reported in Fig. 9(b) and (c), during the compen-
2) The high-power system operates with higher fundamental sation, the currents exchanged with the grid are balanced and
currents than the low-power system. sinusoidal, while when the negative-sequence cancellation is
3) Since the scaled prototype presents equal rated stator and disabled, the exchange of currents is deteriorated.
rotor voltage, it operates with higher scaled rotor currents Finally, due to the oscillating behavior of the stator active
than high-power generators with 1/3 stator–rotor voltage power or electromagnetic torque of the experiment, the ex-
ratio characteristic. changed rotor active power will also oscillate. As justified in the
4) The high-power system needs scaled lower dc bus voltage previous section, for a proper negative-sequence cancellation of
than the low-power system. the grid-side currents, this rotor active power oscillation must
not be transmitted to the grid side, thus yielding an oscillating
dc bus voltage behavior, as shown in Fig. 9(c) and (f).
A. Steady-State Performance Under Unbalanced Voltage Grid
First of all, the performance of the system will be analyzed
under steady-state operation conditions. Simulation and exper-
imental results of the system will be compared under the same B. Variable-Speed Performance Under Unbalanced
operation conditions. Thus, the grid voltage unbalance pro- Voltage Grid
grammed for this experiment is shown in Fig. 7 (vsa = 0.95|0◦ , In this section, the performance of the system is analyzed
vsb = 0.83|−113◦ , vsc = 0.99|−231◦ , yielding 0.91 of positive at variable speed. For this purpose, a ramp that covers a wide
sequence and 0.09 of negative sequence in per unit (p.u.) value). range of speeds is performed, as presented in Fig. 10(a). The
In the first half of the experiment, the behavior of the machine- unbalanced grid voltage programmed in this experiment is
side magnitudes and the grid-side magnitudes are presented less severe than in the previous experiment: vsa = 0.73|0◦ ,
when the system is commanded with the electromagnetic torque vsb = 0.7|−116◦ , vsc = 0.79|−237◦ , yielding 0.74 of positive
oscillations cancellation strategy without sequence calculation sequence and 0.04 of negative sequence.
(TOC-WSC), as proposed in Section III-D. After this, in the There is no significant additional control requirement for the
second half of the experiment, the cancellation strategy is dis- GSC under these operation conditions, and since the most chal-
abled (Figs. 8 and 9). Only the most representative magnitudes lenging performance is that of the machine side, the grid-side
of the experiment are shown. results have been omitted from this experiment. Hence, in this
Hence, in Fig. 8, the machine-side results are presented. The case, the electromagnetic torque oscillations cancellation strat-
stator active and reactive power references are set to 0.166 and egy is enabled during the whole experiment. Fig. 10(a) and (d)
0.33 p.u. at a constant speed of 1100 r/min. The first half of shows the speed of the machine and the rotor-side currents dur-
Fig. 8(a) and (d) shows the power tracking behavior in order ing the entire experiment. The rest of the figures show the tran-
to cancel the electromagnetic torque oscillations. Fig. 8(b) and sition to the synchronous speed under detail. Hence, Fig. 10(b)
(e) shows the currents exchanged through the stator under these represents the stator currents during this transition. To achieve
operation conditions. In both experimental and simulation re- these currents, the stator active and reactive powers represented
sults, a strong deterioration of the currents can be observed after in Fig. 10(c) are set. Under these circumstances, there is an
0.05 s. This fact is due to the oscillating behavior of the elec- absolute absence of low-frequency oscillations in the electro-
tromagnetic torque during this second half of the experiment, magnetic torque, as shown in Fig. 10(f). Finally, from the rotor
as shown in Fig. 8(c) and (f). It can be noted that although the currents point of view as well, there is a reasonable uniform and
torque behavior of simulated and experimental results does not safe behavior, as inferred from Fig. 10(d) and (e).

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450 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 25, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2010

Fig. 8. Simulation and experimental results comparison of the DFIG behavior, with and without torque oscillations cancellation (TOC-WSC) strategy.
(a) Simulated, stator active, and reactive powers. (b) Simulated, stator currents. (c) Simulated, electromagnetic torque. (d) Experimental stator active and
reactive powers. (e) Experimental stator currents. (f) Experimental electromagnetic torque.

Fig. 9. Comparison of simulation and experimental results of the GSC magnitudes’ behavior, with and without negative sequence of currents cancellation
strategy. (a) Simulated, grid-side active, and reactive powers. (b) Simulated grid-side currents. (c) Simulated dc bus voltage. (d) Experimental grid-side active and
reactive powers. (e) Experimental grid-side currents. (f) Experimental dc bus voltage.

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ABAD et al.: DIRECT POWER CONTROL OF DOUBLY-FED-INDUCTION-GENERATOR-BASED WIND TURBINES 451

Fig. 10. Experimental results under a ramp speed of the DFIG under unbalanced grid voltage with TOC-WSC strategy. (a) Speed. (b) Stator currents. (c) Stator
active and reactive powers. (d) Rotor currents. (e) Rotor currents (zoom). (f) Electromagnetic torque.

VI. CONCLUSION REFERENCES

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current research interests include electrical machines
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ferent research projects in the field of wind energy systems, lift drives, and
Gonzalo Abad (M’07) was born in Bergara, Spain, railway traction.
on October 11, 1976. He received the B.Sc. degree
in electrical engineering from the University of
Mondragon, Mondragon, Spain, in 2000, the M.Sc.
degree in advanced control from the University of
Manchester, Manchester, U.K., in 2001, and the Ph.D.
degree in electrical engineering from the University
of Mondragon, in 2008.
In 2001, he joined the Electronics Department,
University of Mondragon, where he is currently an
Associate Professor. He teaches courses in power
electronics, power converters, and control and robotics. His current research
interests include renewable energies, power conversion, and motor drives. He
has authored or coauthored several papers in the areas of wind power genera-
tion, multilevel power converters, and direct torque control of ac drives. He has
participated in different industrial projects related to these fields.

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