A New Fault Ride-Through (FRT) Topology for Induction Generator Based Wind Energy Conversion Systems

Leading wind turbine manufacturers are running life extension programs for their installed wind farms which include fixed speed induction generator-based wind turbines (FSIG-WT). To accommodate the requirement of recent grid codes in these upgrades, this paper presents a new topological configuration to enhance the fault ride through (FRT) operation of FSIG-WT. The topology comprises ten semiconductor switches in total and performs shunt and series compensation concurrently in response to the dynamic grid conditions. A coordinated control strategy is developed for the proposed topology to ensure smooth steady state operation, enhanced transient response, and most importantly, FRT capability in adherence to the recent grid code requirements. In addition, the control strategy maintains the linear modulation range and uniform switching frequency across all the switches participating in series and shunt compensation. The validity of the proposed topology and the coordinated control strategy is verified through extensive simulation study under different operating conditions.