A study on a wind turbine simulator with a DC motor considering various moments of inertia

When researching and developing wind turbine generator systems, there is a need to predict and evaluate the responses of a wind turbine generator system for various cases of wind conditions. Since it is difficult to carry out such researches by actual wind turbines, a wind turbine simulator is necessary. In this paper, a wind turbine simulator which can anticipate the dynamic performances of the target wind turbines is proposed. This simulator consists of a DC motor which can provide the demanding torque precisely, and has a compact system configuration. Experiments and simulations under natural wind conditions by changing the moments of inertia are executed, and a way of controlling the tip speed ratio to be constant, as well as the responses comparison of changing the P gain of PI controller, are also discussed. These studies verified the usefulness of the simulator.

I. Introduction

Recent years, due to the energy crisis and environment problems involving worldwide, an increasing emphasis on renewable energy, including hydropower, wind power, solar energy, biomass, etc., has been made by more and more countries^[1]. For wind turbine generator systems, which can convert the kinetic energy of wind to electrical energy, considerable development have also been made, as a result of the environment-friendly merit and the low cost on generating electrical power. Furthermore, some new studies, such as the offshore wind farms, and the series connected wind turbine generator systems, are becoming a significant issue because of the requests on large-scale power plants^[2].