Novel scheme for enhancement of fault ride-through capability of doubly fed induction generator based wind farms

Enhancement of fault ride-through (FRT) capability and subsequent improvement of rotor speed stability of wind farms equipped with doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) is the objective of this paper. The objective is achieved by employing a novel FRT scheme with suitable control strategy. The proposed FRT scheme, which is connected between the rotor circuit and dc link capacitor in parallel with Rotor Side Converter, consists of an uncontrolled rectifier, two sets of IGBT switches, a diode and an inductor. In this scheme, the input mechanical energy of the wind turbine during grid fault is stored and utilized at the moment of fault clearance, instead of being dissipated in the resistors of the crowbar circuit as in the existing FRT schemes. Consequently, torque balance between the electrical and mechanical quantities is achieved and hence the rotor speed deviation and electromagnetic torque fluctuations are reduced. This results in reduced reactive power requirement and rapid reestablishment of terminal voltage on fault clearance. Furthermore, the stored electromagnetic energy in the inductor is transferred into the dc link capacitor on fault clearance and hence the grid side converter is relieved from charging the dc link capacitor, which is very crucial at this moment, and this converter can be utilized to its full capacity for rapid restoration of terminal voltage and normal operation of DFIG. Extensive simulation study carried out employing PSCAD/EMTDC software vividly demonstrates the potential capabilities of the proposed scheme in enhancing the performance of DFIG based wind farms to fault ride-through.

Research highlights
► Proposed Fault ride-through (FRT) scheme for DFIG is aimed at energy conservation.
► The input mechanical energy is stored during fault and utilized at fault clearance.
► Enhanced Rotor speed stability of DFIG.
► Reduced Reactive power requirement and rapid voltage recovery at fault clearance.
► Improved post fault performance of DFIG at fault clearance.