2019 IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Asia

Multi-Phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator

Variable Speed Constant Frequency Offshore Wind
System Based on Modular Multilevel Converter
Yao Gang* Li Dongdong Li Xing
Gao Yichang Department of Electric Power Engineering, Electrical consultion BU.,
Zhou Lidan Shanghai University of Electric Power Beijing Join Bright Digital Power
Department of Electrical Engineering, Shanghai, China Technology Co.,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University [email protected] Beijing, China
Shanghai, China [email protected]
[email protected]

Abstract—Large scale offshore DC wind farms are developing direct-driven permanent magnet synchronous generator
rapidly in recent years, which leads to large demands of high- (PMSG) is getting more application in the wind generators
power generator sets, high voltage converters and DC grid recently for its convenient maintenance without gearbox. In
technologies. In wind energy system, multi-phase permanent
magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) used is superior than
addition, multi-phase PMSG has high reliability, high power
traditional three phase generator due to its lower torque ripple, density, efficiency and good performance in fault tolerance [3-
high efficiency, high reliability and high-power generation. As its 5], which makes it considered to be one of the most appropriate
power conversion equipment, modular multilevel converter types among the large-scale offshore wind power generators.
(MMC) has shown well application performances in high-power Structure of medium-voltage six phase PMSG wind power
and high-voltage wind systems. In this paper, MMC is applied as generation system is as shown in Fig. 1(a). A hybrid back-to-
the AC/DC converter to six-phase PMSG variable speed constant
frequency offshore wind system. Six-phase PMSG-MMC model is
back topology converter is adopted [6]. Two-level converters
built based on the vector space decomposition theory. An optimal are connected in series in PMSG-side to adapt the DC voltage
electromagnetic torque reference control method, combining the and keep low voltage at the AC terminals. But its redundancy
principle of the maximum power point tracing, ensures the is low, which causes its high-voltage withstanding and high
minimum torque ripple and minimum harmonics. Additionally, a switching loss of the series IGBTs. By comparison, modular
voltage averaging and voltage balancing method of sub-modular multilevel converter (MMC) can provide better performance
is adopted to suppress voltage fluctuation. The correctness and
effectiveness of the proposed topology is verified in simulation
than normal two-level or three-level converter. MMC is high
results. modular structured which makes it easy extensible of voltage
and power level. It is widely used in the field of high-power,
Index Terms— Six-phase permanent magnet synchronous high-voltage conversion and offshore wind power generation
generator, Modular multilevel converter, Variable speed constant systems with high equivalent switching frequency, low the
frequency, Maximum power point tracking, Vector control. switching loss and low output harmonics. As shown in Fig. 1(b),
a three phase PMSG-MMC topology applied as wind power
I. INTRODUCTION converter for large offshore DC wind farm is proposed in [7]. It
Wind power systems will play an important part in the future analyzed MMC operating characteristics and verified that the
renewable source generation for its economy, large-scale and system can achieve single-stage high-voltage ratio compared
great sustainable development potential compared with other with the other AC/DC converters. In [8], MMC is used in
types of renewable power generation systems. Superior to the driving six phase induction motor in flywheel energy storage
onshore wind farms in many aspects, the offshore wind farms system as shown in Fig. 1(c). Its modular topology is
is rapidly developing in single machine capacity and in farm considered to achieve higher voltage level expansion and lower
scales, which makes huge requirements of large capacity switching frequency, which are desired characteristics for the
generators and high-power converters. However, for long future offshore generators in HVDC systems. According to [9],
distance offshore transmission, similar technical problems as in 9A-MMC topology is used in medium voltage six-phase
traditional AC heavy cables transmission like voltage stability, induction motor power generation and rectification system as
frequency stability and power loss lead it to high cost and low shown in Fig. 1(d). The scheme reduces the power device by
efficiency. So, the far offshore wind power generation with 25% and effectively reduces system complexity and cost.
large capacity is predicted to be the inevitable trend of Up to now, relevant research on application of MMC in the
renewable power generation systems. [1-2] multi-phase PMSG drive relatively is inadequate. In this paper,
To meet the need of large-scales offshore wind power mathematical model of six-phase PMSG-MMC wind power
development, capacity and output-voltage level of the wind generation, connecting with the DC grid system, is established.
turbines have been obviously improved. The multi-phase A current vector control strategy is carried out to control the
Supported by Shanghai Natural Science Foundation (18ZR1418400) machine-side MMC and voltage equalization control on sub-

978-1-7281-3520-5/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE 2127

module capacitor aims to reduce the capacitance voltage
fluctuation. According to the optimal electromagnetic torque
reference control method based on the principle of the
maximum power point tracing (MPPT), A direct-driven wind
PMSG is considered for verification of the proposed control
method. Simulation results are provided for validation.
This paper is organized as follows. Section II presents the
mathematical model of the PMSG-MMC system. And Section
III introduces the control strategy of the six-phase PMSG and
the MMC section. In Section IV series of simulation results are
provided to prove the theories. Section V concludes this paper.

(d)
Fig. 1. Large capacity converter topology for offshore wind farm

(a) II. SYSTEM MATHEMATICAL MODEL

A. The mathematical model of six-phase PMSG
The circuit diagram of six-phase PMSG-MMC applied in
wind power generation is shown in Fig. 2. The PMSG is consist
of two three-phase winding sets with Y-shifted 30 electrical
degrees containing six phases with the same structure, a, b, c, d,
e and f. Each phase of the MMC consists of two arms, the upper
and the lower arms, while each arm consists of four cascaded
half-bridge sub-modular (SM) and a current limiting inductor
L. The SM contains a parallel capacitor C0, two connected
IGBT in series and two antiparallel diodes. The two large
capacitors C work as the common DC side capacitor.

(b)

Fig. 2. Six-phase PMSG wind power generation system based on MMC

Based on the vector space decomposition theory, decoupled

model of the six-phase PMSG in rotating coordinate system is
established. For the non-salient pole PMSG, the
electromagnetic torque model is given as follows:
(c)
Te = 3 p (ψ q id + iqψ d ) (1)

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where p is the number of pole-pairs. When adopted the id=0
control strategy, from (1) it can be found that Te is linear with
iq. So the electromagnetic torque can be controlled by the q-axis
current component.
The voltage equation is shown in (2), where ud, uq, uz1, uz2,
id, iq, iz1, iz2 are the dq and z1z2 components of phase voltage
and current, Ld, Lq are the dq components of the equivalent self-
inductance, Laal is the leakage inductance, Rs is the resistance,
ω is the rotating speed and ψfd is the d-axis flux component.

 R ω Lq 
 did   − s 0 0 
 dt   Ld Ld 
    i 
 diq   − ω Ld −
Rs
0 0  d 
   Lq Lq   iq 
 dt  =   i 
 diz1   Rs
0  
z1
 dt   0 0 − Fig. 3. The circuit diagram of PMSG-side MMC
Laal   z2 
i
   
 diz 2   Rs  From Eq. (3), by combing the two sub equations there are:
  −
 dt   0 0 0
Laal 
 dicir
udc =up +un +2L (4)
 1  dt
L 0 0 0 
 d  un − up L dis
us = − (5)
 1  ud  2 2 dt
 0 0 0  
Lq   uq − ωψ fd  is =ip − in (6)
+ (2)
 1  u z1 
 0 0 0  ip + in
 icir = (7)
 Laal  uz 2  2
 1 
 0 0 0 
 Laal  where icir is the circulating current of phase to phase.

According to the Kirchhoff’s voltage Law (KVL):
B. The mathematical model of six-phase PMSG-side MMC
d is
The circuit diagram of six-phase PMSG-side MMC is shown us = Ls + Rs i s + e s (8)
dt
in Fig. 3, ej is the rotor flux linkage induced electromotive force
and where j ∈ (phase a, b, c, d, e, f); Ls is the equivalent self- Using (5) and (8), the equivalent voltage equation [19] of
inductance; Rs is the equivalent resistance; uj is the MMC AC PMSG-MMC can be obtained as
voltage; upj and unj are the modulation voltages of upper (p) and
lower (n) arms of phase j respectively; L is the arms inductance; dis
uo − es =Leq +Rs is (9)
ipj and inj are the modulation currents of upper and lower arms dt
of phase j; udc is the DC voltage. Point o is the neutral point and up − un
the voltage value between P and o is udc/2, half of DC voltage uo = (10)
2
value, and the voltage between N and o is –udc/2. The reference
direction is shown in the Fig. 3. where uo is the equivalent voltage of MMC AC side.
In the six-phase AC system, we can know from the Fig. 3 The equation (9) can be transformed into the rotating
diagram the AC voltages of modulation have the relationship coordinate system as (11),
with the upper and lower arms voltage:
 ∗ d id
 udc di p u d − ed = Rs id + Leq − ω Leq iq
−L − up dt
 us =  (11)
2 dt (3) d iq
 u ∗ − e = R i + L + ω Leq id
 u = − udc + L din + u  q q s q eq
dt
 s 2 dt
n

where ud*, uq*are the dq components of uo; ed, eq are the dq

components of es.
In these equations the voltage, current and impedance vectors
can be defined as

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 us = [ua uf ] ;  * 
T
ub uc ud ue kI  ∗
ud =  kp + s  ( id − id ) − ω Leq iq
 
udc = [udc udc ] ; 
T
udc udc udc udc
 *  kI  ∗
up = upa upb upc upd upe
T
upf  ; uq =  kp +  ( iq − iq ) +ω Leq id + ωψ f
  s
 (12)
un = [una unf ] ; u * =  k + k I  i ∗ − i
T

 z1  p s  ( z1 z1 )
unb unc und une
T
ip = ipa ipb ipc ipd ipe ipf  ; 
 *  kI  ∗
uz2 =  kp + s  ( iz2 − iz2 )
in = [ina inf ] ;
T
inb inc ind ine   
is = [ia if ] ;
T
ib ic id ie Overall control of six-phase PMSG-MMC wind power
es = [ ea eb ec ed ee ef ] ;
T generation system is based on carrier phase shifting PWM
(CPS-SPWM) [10] modulation strategy. In order to achieve the
L = LI 6 ; Ls = Ls I 6 ; R s = Rs I 6 , balanced and stable SM output voltage, controllers for voltage
balancing are added,
I 6 is sixth order array.
Δvcj p i = vAji + vBj p i (13)
III. CONTROL STRATEGY OF SIX-PHASE PMSG-MMC
The vector control strategy under the rotor field orientation Δvcj n i = vAji + vBj n i (14)
is adopted to the control of the six-phase PMSG-side MMC.
The model of six-phase PMSG contains dq base wave where vAji is the control volume for SM voltage averaging; vBjpi,
components and the z1z2 harmonic components according to vBjni are the control volume for SM voltage balancing control in
the space vector decomposition theory. The main upper and lower arms.
electromechanical energy is related to the dq current According to the MPPT principle [11-12], the optimal
components, but not related to the z1z2 components. The z1z2 electromagnetic torque reference control method is designed to
components only reflects the harmonics that cause the heating control the energy. The overall control block diagram is shown
loss in windings. So these components need to be controlled to in Fig. 4.
improve the energy conversion efficiency. The specific control IV. SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS
equation is shown in (12): To validate the model and control strategy proposed above, a
simulated six-phase 5-level PMSG-MMC wind power system is
built. The simulation parameters are shown in Tabs.1~3. And the
outputs at rated power are shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 4. Control block diagram of system.

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 (a) (b) (c)

Fig. 5 The simulation outputs under rated power: (a) Six-phase PMSG current; (b) Six-phase PMSG voltage and partial magnification; (c) Module capacitor voltage of phase a

In order to analyze stability under MPPT, the VSCF wind contain the wind speed step change and asymptotic change.
power generation simulation system is designed to work under Simulation waveforms show that under different wind speed
variable wind speed conditions. The outputs of overall picture conditions, both of the torque and electrical speed can quickly
and some partial magnifications are shown in Fig. 6. In Fig. 6(a), be well tracked, which ensures the dynamic stability of the the
the wind speed changes at 2s, 3s, 4s, 6s and 7s. The changes machine side outputs and MMC sub-module capacitor voltages.

(a)

(b) (b1) (c)

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 (c1) (c3) (d)

(c2) (c4) (d1)

Fig. 6. Simulation output of system with variable wind speed: (a)Electrical speed, torque and power curves under changed wind speed, (b)The voltage of six-phase PMSG, (c)The
current of six-phase PMSG, (d)Submodule capacitor voltage of phase a

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V. CONCLUSIONS frequency isolated current-fed modular converters,” IEEE Industrial
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pp.000129-000134, 2015.
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