System efficiency of a DC/DC converter‐based wind farm

In this paper, three DC/DC converter topologies are evaluated from an energy efficiency point of view regarding their suitability for the application in a DC wind farm grid. The three investigated topologies are the fullbridge (FB) converter, the single active bridge (SAB) converter and the series parallel resonant (LCC) converter. The energy efficiency of the three converter topologies is evaluated for different control strategies. It is found that the LCC and FB converters have the lowest losses of the three topologies. It is also shown that the wide range of operation creates problems for all three converters. The SAB converter has the largest increase in losses caused by the wide range of operation. The FB converter also has an increase in losses for this variable operating range, whereas the LCC converter has large stresses for the input and output filters. By considering some further factors, such as the contribution to the energy production cost, the design and the control of the converters, the FB converter is found to be a suitable choice for wind farm application. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[1]  Tore Undeland,et al.  Power Electronics: Converters, Applications and Design , 1989 .

[2]  F. Udrea,et al.  Accurate conduction and switching loss models of IGBTs for resonant converter design , 2004, 2004 IEEE 35th Annual Power Electronics Specialists Conference (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37551).

[3]  Torbjörn Thiringer,et al.  Control by variable rotor speed of a fixed-pitch wind turbine operating in a wide speed range , 1993 .

[4]  Georgios D. Demetriades,et al.  On small-signal analysis and control of the single- and the dual-active bridge topologies , 2005 .

[5]  R. Steigerwald,et al.  A comparison of half-bridge resonant converter topologies , 1987, 1987 IEEE Applied Power Electronics conference and Exposition.

[6]  D. Divan,et al.  New high power DC-DC converter with loss limited switching and lossless secondary clamp , 2003 .

[7]  S. Norrga,et al.  Switching Frequency Limit for Soft-Switching MF Transformer System for AC-fed Traction , 2005, 2005 IEEE 36th Power Electronics Specialists Conference.

[8]  Lena Max.  Energy efficiency for DC/DC converters in a DC grid system for wind farms , 2006 .

[9]  Lena Max.  Energy Evaluation for DC/DC Converters in DC-Based Wind Farms , 2007 .

[10]  Robert W. Erickson,et al.  Fundamentals of Power Electronics , 2001 .

[11]  Robert L. Steigerwald,et al.  A comparison of high power DC-to-DC soft-switched converter topologies , 1994 .

[12]  Georgios D. Demetriades.  Evaluation of different topologies for high-power dc-dc converters , 2001 .