Maximum Power Observation of Small Wind Power System Based on Non-Isolated Buck-Boost Type DC-DC Converter

A rapid development of Small Wind Power Systems (SWPS) has occurred to meet the electricity demand in remote areas. However, there is an inherent difficulty in maximizing the power extraction in SWPS. To address this issue, the application of buck-boost type of DC-DC converters has emerged as a promising solution due to their numerous advantages. This research aims to observe the maximum power extraction of SWPS by employing two widely used buck-boost type converters: the conventional buck-boost converter and the SEPIC converter. A 10-kW SWPS is simulated using PSIM software with detailed calculations and designs for each part. The simulations were conducted under heavy and light load conditions at various wind speeds ranging between 3 and 11 m/s. The results show that both the buck-boost SWPS and SEPIC SWPS are capable of extracting the maximum power during all tests by adjusting the duty-cycle value. On average, the use of both converters can increase power extraction around 66% under heavy load and 41% under light load compared to an uncontrolled SWPS, which is only connected to a rectifier. Moreover, it was exhibited that the buck-boost SWPS has a better power extraction performance compared to the SEPIC SWPS, with only a 0.073% average difference.