Wind turbine generator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9593667-B2
Application number	US-201214366837-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2012
Priority date	Dec 29, 2011
Publication date	Mar 14, 2017
Grant date	Mar 14, 2017

Abstract

A wind turbine generator is disclosed herein. In a described embodiment, the wind turbine generator comprises an electrical generator 101 configured to generate AC signals, a plurality of power converters 110,112,111 operated by a gating signal with each power converter configured to convert the AC signals from the electrical generator 101 into fixed frequency AC signals. The wind turbine generator further comprises a controller configured to enter a fault mode when a grid voltage falls outside an acceptable threshold, and during the fault mode the controller is configured to provide a reactive current reference dependant on a grid voltage distant from the wind turbine generator. A method of controlling a wind turbine generator is also disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wind turbine generator comprising:
an electrical generator configured to generate AC signals,
a plurality of converters operated by a gating signal, the converters are configured to convert the AC signals from the electrical generator into fixed frequency AC signals,
a transformer having an input coupled to the generator, and
a controller configured to enter a fault mode when a grid voltage falls outside an acceptable threshold, and during the fault mode the controller is configured to provide a reactive current reference dependent on an estimated grid voltage at a point on a transmission link coupled to an output of the transformer, wherein the grid voltage is estimated based on an impedance between the point and the wind turbine generator and wherein a first terminal of the transmission link is coupled to the output of the transformer, and a second terminal of the transmission link is coupled to a point of common coupling.

2. The wind turbine generator in claim 1 , wherein the estimated grid voltage is estimated based on a relationship including a terminal voltage of the wind turbine generator.

3. The wind turbine generator in claim 2 , wherein the relationship also includes a terminal reactive current of the wind turbine generator.

4. The wind turbine generator of claim 3 , wherein the relationship further includes an impedance of the transformer.

5. The wind turbine generator in claim 3 , wherein the relationship is deducting or adding a voltage drop across the transformer and a voltage drop across an effective impedance of a wind farm as seen by the wind turbine generator from the terminal voltage of the wind turbine generator.

6. The wind turbine generator in claim 5 , wherein the effective impedance of the wind farm is determined based on the operational status of a plurality of transmission links with the wind farm or the effective impedance of the wind farm is determined at a predesign stage of the wind farm.

7. The wind turbine generator in claim 1 , wherein the acceptable threshold relates to a predetermined wind turbine generator limit comprising at least one of: high voltage limit, low voltage limit, positive sequence voltage limit, negative sequence voltage limit, and voltage imbalance limit.

8. The wind turbine generator in claim 1 , wherein the reactive current reference also depends on one or more of: a rated maximum reactive current rating, reactive current/voltage gain (K), active power ripple, reactive power ripple, active power delivery, reactive power delivery, grid support requirement, active power priority, reactive power priority, current limit, voltage limit, DC-link voltage ripple, DC-link voltage limit, torque ripple, converter voltage limit, turbine supervision limits, and temperature of chopper resistors.

9. The wind turbine generator in claim 1 , further comprising a voltage transducer to measure the grid voltage at the point on the transmission link.

10. A method of controlling a wind turbine generator comprising:
determining whether to enter a fault mode,
while in the fault mode, estimating a grid voltage at a point on a transmission link coupled to an output of a transformer of the wind turbine generator, wherein the grid voltage is estimated based on an impedance between the point and the wind turbine generator, and providing a reactive current based on the estimated voltage and wherein a first terminal of the transmission link is coupled to the output of the transformer, and a second terminal of the transmission link is coupled to a point of common coupling.

11. The method in claim 10 , wherein estimating the grid voltage comprises measuring a terminal voltage of the wind turbine generator voltage and deducting or adding a voltage drop across impedances to the point.

12. The method in claim 11 , wherein the voltage drop is determined based on the reactive current and a determination of the impedance of the transformer and an effective impedance of a wind farm as seen by the wind turbine generator from the terminal voltage of the wind turbine generator.

13. The method in claim 10 , wherein determining whether to enter a fault mode is based on a predetermined wind turbine generator limit comprising at least one of: high voltage limit, low voltage limit, positive sequence voltage limit, negative sequence voltage limit, and voltage imbalance limit.

14. The method in claim 10 , wherein the reactive current is based on at least one of: a rated maximum reactive current rating, reactive current/voltage gain (K), active power ripple, reactive power ripple, active power delivery, reactive power delivery, grid support requirement, active power priority, reactive power priority, current limit, voltage limit, DC-link voltage ripple, DC-link voltage limit, torque ripple, converter voltage limit, turbine supervision limits, and temperature of chopper resistors.

15. The wind turbine generator of claim 1 , wherein the fault mode further comprises operating the wind turbine generator independently of a power plant controller based on locally measured parameters at the wind turbine generator.

16. The method in claim 10 , wherein the fault mode further comprises operating the wind turbine generator independently of a power plant controller based on locally measured parameters at the wind turbine generator.

Assignees

• Vestas Wind Sys As

Inventors

• Gupta Amit Kumar
• Gupta Manoj

Classifications

• H02P2101/15

  for wind-driven turbines · CPC title

• F03D9/255

  connected to electrical distribution networks; Arrangements therefor · CPC title

• H02M5/458

  using semiconductor devices only · CPC title

• F03D9/257

  the wind motor being part of a wind farm · CPC title

• H02J2101/28

  Wind energy · CPC title